Matthew J Barnhart, mastering engineer in Chicago, Illinois.

My name is Matthew and I'm an audio engineer. I love helping people make the records of their dreams.

I'm a mastering engineer at Bob Weston's Chicago Mastering Service where since 2012 I've mastered and cut vinyl master lacquers for hundreds of releases from Merge Records, Sub Pop, Matador, Fat Possum, Polyvinyl, Jagjaguwar, Numero Group, Goner, and many, many others.

I've also recorded and mixed dozens and dozens of projects (mostly at The Echo Lab and Electrical Audio) and offer remote mixing services.

I co-founded The Echo Lab recording studio in Denton, Texas. I'm a member of the bands Mint Mile and Tre Orsi, and have been tour manager and live sound engineer for Superchunk, Destroyer, Bob Mould, The New Pornographers, Ex Hex, Jawbox, CHVRCHES, and the Mountain Goats.

I'd love to help you on your next project. Get in touch.

Recent Mastering Projects

for Merge Records:

• Bob Mould Sunshine Rock
• Bob Mould Blue Hearts
• Superchunk What A Time To Be Alive
• Superchunk Superchunk (2017 remaster)
• Superchunk “I Got Cut” b/w “Up Against The Wall” 7"
• Superchunk “Break The Glass” 7"
• Superchunk “Our Work Is Done” 7"
• Superchunk “Break The Glass (acoustic)” 7"
• Mac McCaughan The Sound of Yourself
• Titus Andronicus An Obelisk
• Torres "Too Big for the Glory Hole" b/w "Good Scare (demo)"

for Sub Pop Records (and related artists):

• METZ II
• METZ Strange Peace
• METZ Automat
• METZ "Acid" / "Slow Decay"
• METZ Eraser / Pure Auto 7"
• Pissed Jeans Why Love Now
• The Gotobeds Blood // Sugar // Secs // Traffic
• The Gotobeds Fucking In The Future + 5
• The Gotobeds Debt Begins At 30

for Numero Group:

• Bedhead 1992 - 1998(box set)
• Bedhead Live 1998

for Goner Records:

• Aquarian Blood A Love That Leads To War
• The Archaeas The Archaeas
• Benni I & II
• Carbonas Your Moral Superiors: Singles And Rarities
• Cobra Man TOXIC PLANET
• Nots Live at Goner
• Nots "Cruel Friend" b/w “Violence” 7"
• Nots 3
• Optic Sink Optic Sink
• Quintron and Miss Pussycat Goblin Alert
• Sick Thoughts Sick Thoughts
• Sick Thoughts Poor Boys (Goodbye Boozy)

for Damnably Records:

• David Boring Unnatural Objects and Their Humans
• didi Like Memory Foam
• Former Utopia Magnetar
• Grrrl Gang Here to stay!
• Leggy Leggy (2017 reissue)
• Otoboke Beaver Okoshiyasu​!​! Otoboke Beaver (2018 reissue)
• Say Sue Me Where We Were Together
• Say Sue Me Christmas, It’s Not a Biggie
• Say Sue Me We’ve Sobered Up (Remastered 2018)
• Say Sue Me it’s just a short walk!
• Say Sue Me Your Book / Good People
• Say Sue Me Good for Some Reason (Winter​/​Spring)
• Wussy Getting Better

for Comedy Minus One Records:

• Mint Mile In Season and Ripe
• Mint Mile The Bliss Point
• Mint Mile Heartroller
• Mint Mile Ambertron
• OUT Billie
• Andrew Cohen + Light Coma Unreality
• Silkworm In The West (reissue)

for ever/never Records:

• Dan Melchior Plays the Greys
• Stefan Christensen American Pastoral Again
• Dan Melchior Road Not Driving
• Ragtime Frank I Know Said The King
• Spray Paint And The Rebel Charles And Roy’s Purple Wang
• Mosquitoes Drip Water Hollow Out Stone
• Mosquitoes Minus Objects
• Patois Counselors Proper Release
• Patois Counselors The Optimal Seat
• Sparrow Steeple A Aardvark

for 12XU:

• Chris Brokaw Puritan
• Dark Blue Victory Is Rated
• The Gotobeds Poor People Are Revolting
• Flesh Lights Free Yourself
• Ghetto Ghouls “Plastic Violence” b/w “Things I Do”
• The Golden Boys Better Than Good Times
• Jonly Bonly Put Together
• OBN III’s Worth A Lot Of Money
• Schooley Daniels Dead Mall Blues
• Snooty Garbagemen Snooty Garbagemen
• Sweet Talk Double Perfect
• Unholy Two Talk About Hardcore
• Unholy Two The Pleasure To End All Pleasures
• Xetas “The Redeemer” + “The Silence” b/w “The Knife”
• Xetas The Redeemer
• Xetas The Tower
• Xetas The Cypher

for Dirtnap Records:

• Mind Spiders Furies
• Radioactivity Silent Kill
• Lost Balloons Hey Summer

for Super Secret Records (and related labels):

• Knife in the Water Plays One Sound And Others (reissue)
• Knife in the Water Reproduction
• Nameless Frames Nameless Frames
• Quin Galavis The Battery Line

• 1 N D E X PROGRESS
• Actuers Corridor MILD VILNC
• Advance Base Animal Companionship (Run For Cover)
• Al Harper Promises I Kept (Homing Instinct Records)
• Anachronist Static and Light (State and Main Records)
• Annihilus Follow a Song From the Sky (Federal Prisoner)
• The Aubreys Soda & Pie
• August Henry South Ramp (Lotuspool Records LLC)
• Autogramm What R U Waiting 4? (Nevado)
• Autogramm No Rules (Nevado)
• Baños y Baños Singles Going Broke
• Ben Trickey & Burnt Sky Horizon Line Fires
• Black Giraffe Talk Cheap
• Blackplate Everyday is Sadderday (Muddguts)
• Blaine Billingsley The Special Interests
• Bludded Head Bludded Death (Sleeping Giant Glossolalia)
• Bludded Head Reign in Bludd (Sleeping Giant Glossolalia)
• Bret Egner Tapestry
• Bridal Shower Negatives
• Campo-Formio Piedra y Tijera (Dead Mofongo Records)
• Campo-Formio Plan Maestro (Dead Mofongo Records)
• Casiotone For The Painfully AloneEtiquette (2018 remaster) (Orindal)
• Chris Cardwell Burning Heart (Lotus Pool)
• Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band The Rarity of Experience (No Quarter)
• Claude Enactor
• Cocaine Piss The Dancer
• Cocaine Piss Passionate and Tragic (Hypertension Records)
• Compressorhead Party Machine
• Creepeth Creep Feed
• Dead Sun mother // father
• Down the Lees Bury the Sun (Off White House Records)
• Dream Version Fight Fair
• Dream Version Dream Version
• El Toro El Toro ·· (Vol. 2) Los Niños del Poder
• FACS Void Moments (Trouble in Mind)
• FACS Present Tense (Trouble in Mind)
• Fishboy Waitsgiving (Lauren Records)
• Forest Bees Forest Bees
• Friendship Commanders BILL (Trimming The Shield Records)
• The Gary Fallow (Act Your Age / Sinkhole TX, Inc)
• Glen Hansard It Was Triumph We Once Proposed | Songs of Jason Molina (Overcoat Recordings)
• The Gold Farmers Low 3
• Gramps The Vamp s/t
• Gramps The Vamp The Cave of 10​,​000 Eyes
• The Great Tyrant The Trouble With Being Born (Relapse)
• The Gypsy Moths Alright!
• Holly and the Mystery Lights Holly and the Mystery Lights
• The Insufferables Argument Clinic
• Jake McKelvie & the Countertops Here's What You Do
• Judson Claiborne When a Man Loves an Omen
• Kapitan Korsakov Physical Violence Is The Least Of My Priorities
• Karima Walker Waking The Dreaming Body (Orindal Records)
• Kate Renegade New Unquiet Life
• Korean Jeans Heat (Single Action Rider)
• Korean Jeans No Trust (Single Action Rider)
• Los Mundos Calor Central (Avandadoom)
• Los Mundos No Hay Quien Se Salve (Remaster)
• Los Mundos La Fortaleza del Sonido (Little Cloud Records)
• LOVVS Modern Culture
• Lost Balloons Hey Summer (Dirtnap Records)
• Low Horizon Eternal Depressed Summer ()
• Low Lumens The Distant, Everyday (Burnt Toast Vinyl)
• Mad Denizen Starved
• Marine Todd Especially Heinous (Beef Wizard Records)
• Marine Todd Everyone Stood and Clapped (Beef Wizard Records)
• Marine Todd Absolute Unit (Beef Wizard Records)
• Melody Angel She Black
• The Miami Dolphins “Becky” (FPE Records)
• Mike Adams At His Honest Weight Casino Drone (Joyful Noise)
• Mike Maimone The High Hat Club EP
• Mountain Man The Flower Moon
• More Gorgeous Wormtoe
• The Mutilations Emtionally Inarticulate
• The Mutilations Someone Kill Me Please, Lol
• The Mutts Stuck Together (8eat8 Records)
• New Mexican Take it on Our Shoulders
• New Wonders Yes, Please!
• The New Year Snow (Undertow)
• North by North Get Weird (Double Hex Records)
• Overnight Hikes Overnight Hikes [EP]
• Paper Mice 1-800-MONDAYS (Three One G)
• Pleasant Grove The Heart Contortionists (We Know Better Records)
• The Prof.Fuzz 63 Owls
• Raketkanon RKTKN #2
• Seratones Get Gone (Fat Possum)
• Sheep & Horses Sing with the Seven
• Shrug Life Maybe You're The Punchline
• Silkworm Lifestyle (2016 reissue) (Touch and Go)
• Slowkiss Ultraviolet
• Split Single Metal Frames
• Split Single Live EP (Deuce Records)
• Split Single Amplificado (Inside Outside Records)
• Stagnant Pools Geist (Polyvinyl)
• Strange Americans Borrow You, Brother
• The Sudden Walk EP1
• Suneaters Suneaters III: Unfathomable Darkness (Lotuspool Records LLC)
• Sunflower Bean Human Ceremony - Fat Possum
• Tancred Nightstand (Polyvinyl)
• Telegraph Canyon You From Before (Velvet Blue Music)
• Tenemos Explosivos Victoria
• Thee Conductor Cotton Tornado (Sixgunlover)
• Thee Conductor Spirit Of A Ghost (Sixgunlover Records / Spaceflight Records)
• TJO Songs for Peacock (Orindal Records)
• Touched By Ghoul Christmas Sluts (Under Road Records)
• Trevor Sensor Andy Warhol’s Dream (Jagjaguwar)
• Trust Punks Discipline (Spunk Records)
• Trust Punks Double Blind (Spunk Records)
• Twin Peaks Side A
• Two Houses Unfriend
• The Vacant Shapes Furniture Rearranged (Thick Honey Records)
• Voice of Action Voice of Action (Lotuspool Records LLC)
• Yeesh Saw You Up There
• Yes I’m Leaving Slow Release (Homeless)
• Young Rival Interior Light (Paper Bag)
• Zigtebra The Brave (FPE Records)
• Zoom Helium Octipede (reissue) (Lotus Pool)

• Additional credits at discogs.com

Recording and mixing

I co-founded The Echo Lab recording studio in Denton, Texas in 1997 and have recorded, mixed, and produced projects such as:

• Power Trip "Nightmare Logic" (Southern Lord)
• Pinkish Black "Bottom of the Morning" (Relapse), "Razed To The Ground" (Century Media), "s/t" (Handmade Birds)
• The New Year "Snow" (Undertow), "The New Year" (Touch and Go Records), "The End Is Near" (Touch and Go Records)
• David Bazan "Live at Electrical Audio" (Undertow)
• Shearwater "Rook" and "Palo Santo: Expanded Edition" (Matador)
• as well as projects by: Mint Mile, Nervous Curtains, American Werewolf Academy, Bludded Head, Fishboy, Luggage, White Drugs, Savak, Tenemos Explosivos, Tre Orsi

Production samples

Get in touch

I'd love to help you on your next project. You can email me mb@matthewbarnhart.com or use the contact form below.