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Where are they now? Phil McGowan- Class of 2006

Phil McGowan graduated Messalonskee High School in 2006 and has since gone on to establish a successful career in the film industry as a Music Recording Engineer.  Phil specializes in Recording and Mixing music for Film, Television, and Video Games and has worked on over 100 projects throughout his career.  

Whilst at Messalonskee, Phil was very involved in the music department, playing saxophone in the Concert Band, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, and Pep Band.  Phil also ran sound for several Ripple Dipple shows and for the Drama Department’s rendition of Les Miserables in 2005.  As a result of his increasing interest in recording technology, Phil was a proponent of expanding Messalonskee’s recording equipment and capabilities and continues to consult with the music department on their music technology and recording techniques today.

During his time as a student, the positive influence, encouragement, and musical passion exhibited by the entire Music Department inspired Phil to pursue a career in the Music Industry.  In 2005, Phil applied to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated in 2009 with a Bachelors of Music in Music Production & Engineering. Phil’s experiences at Berklee gained him invaluable knowledge and experience involving a wide variety of topics relating to Music and Sound Production.  During his time at Berklee, Phil toured with the Portland, Maine based band The Wrecking as their sound engineer, including engineering a performance of theirs on the WCSH 6 show 207.

In 2010, Phil relocated to Los Angeles, CA with the goal of becoming a recording engineer specializing in music for Film, Television, and Video Games.  After working as an assistant to a few other established Engineers, Phil began working directly with Film and Television composer Trevor Morris, where he was the staff engineer at Trevor’s music mixing facility, TMS.  During his time with Trevor, Phil worked on projects such as Immortals, Vikings, Olympus Has Fallen, The Borgias, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

After building experience and gaining a solid reputation within the music scoring industry, Phil transitioned into his current role as a freelance recording engineer in 2015 and subsequently founded his own studio and production company, McGowan Soundworks, Ltd.  Over the past couple of years working as an independent engineer, Phil has engineered the musical underscore for projects such as Ozark, The Defenders, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, London Has Fallen, Emerald City, and Iron Fist.

written by Andy Forster

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