Rusty Santos specializes in mixing, mastering, and producing for the genres of indie pop, chillwave, art rock, alt pop, industrial hip hop, dream pop, psychedelic rock, folk, indie rock, chamber pop, dance-punk, experimental, new rave, alternative dance, synth pop, avant-garde jazz, and more (see discography). He is based in Los Angeles, California.
He began his recording career working with Animal Collective when he produced their celebrated Sung Tongs album. He then collaborated again with Panda Bear mixing his landmark album Person Pitch and co-producing and mixing his more recent album Buoys. Rusty spent formative time in the NYC scene and other artists in their orbit, working with Dirty Projectors, Born Ruffians, Black Dice, Weyes Blood, Beach House, and many more.
His fascination with new sounds has led him to record music worldwide. He co-wrote/co-produced Dino d’Santiago’s single Nos Funana (reworked by Madonna into Funana), engineered for the Chinese rapper Vinida Weng (including her DJ Mustard collaboration Run This), mastered DJ Rashad’s groundbreaking dance album Welcome to the Chi, produced songs for the Chilean artist Lizz, and mixed modern classics like Dawn of Midi’s album Dysnomia and Owen Pallet’s album Heartland.