Slavic Livins has been in the industry for over two decades – moving seamlessly from engineer to producer and back again – and has collaborated with such talent as G Herbo, Chief Keef, Ann Marie, Jeremih, Quando Rondo, Gucci Mane, Todd Dulaney, Avant, and Snoop Dog. His entrepreneurial spirit has led him to start several businesses including, Chicago Audio Mastering, a professional mastering studio, and Recording Studio Designers, an acoustic design and consulting business.
After graduating Columbia College Chicago top of his class, Livins quickly began moving up the ranks. He turned internships at Jive Records and Chicago Trax into assistant engineering positions followed by production and head engineering positions. While at Battery Studios he worked on Avant’s first album My Thoughts, which generated the Top 40 hit “Separated” and reached RIAA Platinum status.
During his tenure at Chicago Trax he began working on high profile projects, which led to music composition and production for nationwide commercial campaigns like Jeep, Sprite, Kmart, Verizon, Dominos, and Pop Tarts (which featured Fabulous and debuted during the half time of the 2002 NBA play-offs.) He also engineered a remix for R. Kelly’s hit “Ignition” and collaborated on several other projects with him. The industry took notice of Livins’ work when he achieved RIAA Platinum status for his remix of Sisqo’s single “Incomplete” and RIAA Gold for his remix of Joe’s single “Stutter.”
Wanting to make the most of on his success, Livins co-founded Milk Bros with Eric LeRoc. The duo quickly became known for their dynamic, high-energy mixes and began to produce remixes for major labels like Sony, Columbia, and Universal with clients like John Legend (“Green Light”), Amerie (“Touch”), Omarian (“I’m Tryna”), and Korn’s Jonathon Davis (“Money”). Not one to rest on his laurels, Livins started 8 Mile High Productions with Ghostdog at the same time. This project offered him a new challenge in a genre Livins had not worked in before – House. The two began producing house tracks for artists like Felix the Housecat and Farley “Jackmaster” Funk.
With the growth of his endeavors, Livins realized he needed his own studio space. In 2005 he opened Fragile Music Group (FMG) in Chicago with Tim Grossi – a full service, state of the art recording facility. Here Livins found himself a home and a place to grow professionally. He began to build a loyal client roster that trusted only Livins with their art. Among those was Syleena Johnson. Their work together culminated in a Grammy nomination for the song “Stonewall” recorded and mixed by Livins. During that time, he also mixed the radio version of Lupe Fiasco’s smash hit “Kick Push” and made a gradual return to production, which led him to reunite with Avant. Livins engineered Avant’s albums The VIII and latest album Can We Fall In Love, also producing tracks “I’m Not Telling,” and “Worth It” which brings a modern twist to the classic R&B sound. Additionally, he worked with gospel artists likes of Deitrick Hadden, Tye Tribbet, and Todd Dulaney, and his work with Patrick Hayes and Diane Williams on “Jesus Can Work It Out” won three Stellar Awards for song of the year.
In 2007, after realizing that Chicago doesn’t have a mastering house, Livins launched Chicago Audio Mastering – a professional mastering studio specializing in achieving radio quality standards, which has been certified by Apple as one of their go to mastering houses.
Today, Livins continues to push himself outside the box. He most recently started Recording Studio Designers, an acoustic design and consulting company. He began working with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to build recording studios in their facilites. This project evolved into Livins developing a full curriculum Recording class at CPS where the next generation can learn about music production. In addition, Recording Studio Designers found a niche in the past years with building out professional grade at home studios.
Livins attributes his success and longevity in this industry to his ability to constantly reinvent himself and continue learning. Though he has achieved much he stays grounded and focused on his craft.