WHO IS TEK?
Chris ‘TEK’ O’Ryan, known in the industry as TEK, is a Grammy-award winning musician who has played a part in thousands of major label records over two decades as either a producer, vocal producer, mixer, vocal tuner or recording engineer – including over 100 platinum records, dozens of #1’s, vocals for major motion pictures and television, and has received six Grammy nominations with one win. Throughout his career spanning multiple genres of music, from pop to hip-hop to EDM, TEK is highly sought out for his creative contribution, artistic sensibility, and has pioneered perfectly tuned, natural sounding vocals. TEK’s extensive discography includes some of the music industry’s biggest names such as Justin Bieber, Alan Walker, Usher, Katy Perry, Ciara, David Guetta, Mariah Carey, Frank Ocean, Mary J. Blige, Ariana Grande, Diddy, Rihanna, J.Lo, Celine Dion and more.
THE EARLY YEARS
At an early age, TEK found his love for music and was fortunate enough to receive a well-rounded musical education. TEK starting playing piano and singing in the choir at eight years old, and by high school he was playing percussion, upright bass and electric bass in various school bands and orchestras. He also performed as part of Australia’s premier opera company, Opera Australia, for one season, all while playing guitar, producing, composing and engineering for his rock/EDM outfit. Upon graduating high school, TEK studied at Melbourne’s Box Hill College of Music majoring in classical composition and electric bass with a focus on jazz. When he was 21, TEK knew that he needed to be in the heart of the industry so he sold his car for a plane ticket to Los Angeles, packed a suitcase and took a leap of faith.
MAKING IT IN LA
After arriving in LA in 2002 with his suitcase and hardly any money, TEK was determined to be successful and to make it to the top, but life was tough. He shared a one-bedroom apartment with 5 roommates and had to sleep on the floor in between two beds for a year to make ends meet. TEK stayed focused, persevered and landed an unpaid internship at TUG, a small indie label with a studio off La Cienega Boulevard in Hollywood. TEK jumped right in and worked extremely long hours at the studio, sometimes working for over 36 hours straight to meet tour and album deadlines. After about a year of scrimping by on the Taco Bell dollar menu, TEK was able to negotiate a small salary.
Despite the long hours and steep learning curve, the opportunity was invaluable as TEK was finally able to study under and learn from incredible artists who would go on to be titans of their industry such as Rufus Blaq, Mischke, Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, Bilal, Dre & Vidal, The Underdogs, J Que Smith, Bobby and Izzy Avila and it was also here that TEK met The-Dream & Tricky Stewart. This experience was the foundation of TEK’s career and where he learned the power of impeccable vocal production, something he has worked to achieve in his own records to this day.
In 2005, while building his career in L.A., TEK signed the Australian recording artist Adrian Hood to his own label. Over the course of two years, TEK and Adrian produced over 100 records with one of their first original songs, “Brown Eyed Blues” landing on the soundtrack for the Tyler Perry film Daddy’s Little Girls. The song generated strong interest, which led to Hood being signed to Diddy’s label, Bad Boy Records in a multi-million dollar record deal. The two went on to create many records as a team and although the future looked extremely bright, Hood abandoned the project and moved back to Australia.
TEK was devastated to lose all the years of work invested in the project however, he was determined to not let anything hold him back. TEK picked up and got back to work, focusing on vocal production and engineering. Before social media, word of mouth was everything. TEK’s skills and his strong work ethic were the key to continued success and is what led to TEK working with Chris “Tricky” Stewart. From this partnership, TEK was fortunate to work with artists he’d only dreamed his career would take him to – Mariah Carey, Usher, Rihanna and Mary J Blige.
TEK’s CAREER
In 2007, TEK recorded and mixed Marques Houston’s album which went to #1 on the R&B Billboard charts. During this year, TEK also recorded The-Dream’s first album, Love/Hate, at Studio at the Palms, in Las Vegas. The experience of recording this album was different than any other, as the songs were produced and written sequentially. As the end of one song continuously blended into the next, TEK captured the entire album in one ProTools session, automating everything from tempos, keys and plug in settings with limited resources. The album was considered a huge success and to this day, still considered one of the best R&B albums of the early 2000’s.
Also in 2007 alongside Tricky Stewart, TEK recorded Mary J Blige’s album, Growing Pains. The album was critically acclaimed and Grammy nominated and ultimately won a Grammy, earning TEK his first Grammy nomination and subsequent trophy.
In 2008, TEK engineered on the albums of Gym Class Heroes, Jamie Foxx, Jesse McCartney and Usher. While TEK was recording Usher’s album, Here I Stand, Usher remarked that the song, “Trading Places” would sound great with a guitar solo. Early the next day, TEK arrived to the studio before everyone else, put the solo down, Usher loved it and they kept it for the song.
In 2009, TEK recorded Mariah Carey’s album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel in Miami and also at her penthouse in New York City. TEK also recorded for The Dream’s album Love vs. Money, Fabolous and cuts off Rihanna’s Rated R album.
2010 was a year of many successful projects as well. TEK continued to work closely with Tricky Stewart, but also partnered with Max Martin, Dr. Luke & Benny Blanco on some significant pop projects. During this year, TEK recorded and vocal produced Kesha, Diddy, The Wanted, Nelly, Ciara, The Dream, Katy Perry & Britney Spears. TEK earned another Grammy nomination for his work on Teenage Dream which was nominated for Album of the Year. Notably, Tricky Stewart brought TEK in to engineer Justin Bieber’s first record “Baby”, which led to him engineering nearly every Bieber record since. TEK was also called in to vocal tune Justin Bieber’s first Ellen TV show performance at the studio before it went live, within an hour of recording, to air. Everyone was amazed by Justin’s performance, and from then on, almost every vocal, whether it was live or from the studio went through TEK to be tuned culminating in over 400 records throughout Bieber’s career.
In 2011, TEK engineered numerous pop records, and worked on the albums of Lauren Alaina, Jessie J, Justin Bieber, Cher Lloyd, Mary J. Blige, JLo, Kelly Rowland, Britney Spears, Big Time Rush and The Wanted. During this year, TEK was also enlisted to work on American Idol, sometimes turning around songs from scratch within days to meet filming deadlines.
2012 brought additional projects to TEK as an engineer and vocal producer, including records for Flo Rida, Adam Lambert, Nicki Minaj, Cheryl, Cody Simpson, Karmin, Jessie J including “Price Tag”, which featured on A Symphony of British Music: Music for the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Britney Spears, JLo and Justin Bieber’s Believe album. TEK also engineered for Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston.
While TEK was back home in Australia in 2012 for short visit, his phone kept ringing at 4:30 in the morning. When he reluctantly picked up the phone, to his surprise on the other end was legendary Music Producer and record company executive, Clive Davis. Whitney Houston had just passed, and Clive needed TEK to take a demo of Whitney’s vocal and combine it with a demo of R. Kelly’s vocal which was to be played at the funeral. They were both in different keys and tempos, so TEK had to make them meet in the middle, tuning one vocal up one vocal down, slowing one vocal down and speeding one vocal up. Since TEK was without a studio, he had to do this while on the plane to London (as he was about to record Cher Lloyd at the legendary SARM Studios) with headphones and sent it off the next day and it was played at Whitney’s funeral.
In 2013, TEK’s influence on the pop music industry was irrefutable. TEK continued recording, vocal producing and mixing songs for many big artists, including Ariana Grande, Linkin Park, Celine Dion, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Cher, Ciara, Miley Cyrus’s Bangerz, Quadron, Raheem DeVaughn, will.i.am, Aloe Blacc’s hit “Wake Me Up”, The-Dream, Marcus Canty, Jacquie Lee, Jasmine V and Madison Beer. Near the end of 2013, TEK contributed as an engineer and vocal producer to The Smurfs 2: Music From and Inspired By and was also the Music Director for Justin Bieber’s Believe film.
In 2014, TEK recorded and tuned songs for the albums of Keyshia Cole, Danny Mercer, Rita Ora, Nicole Scherzinger, Snootie Wild, Niykee Heaton, Major Lazer, Karmin, Marsha Ambrosius, and David Guetta. TEK’s partnership with David Guetta has produced such hits as “What I Did For Love”, “Listen”, “Bang My Head”, and “2U”.
In 2015, TEK continued to add to his discography by engineering, vocal producing, and mixing songs on albums for Pia Mia, Jamie Foxx, Travis McCoy, David Guetta, Karina Pasian, Jodeci, DJ Mustard, Mariah Carey, Tiësto, Stanaj, Tinashe, Starley, Nico & Vinz, Ciara, Diplo, Skrillex, and Justin Bieber. TEK vocal produced and mixed Deborah Cox on The Whitney Story, a made for TV movie about the legendary Whitney Houston.
In 2016, TEK recorded and vocal tuned records for Justin Bieber, We The Folk, Lewis Hamilton. Alan Walker, and also vocal produced Alex Marshall, Selena Gomez & Cashmere Cat’s “Trust Nobody” and John Legend & Tiësto’s hit “Summer Nights”.
TEK signed the young Australian producer, Black Summer in 2016, who later rebranded to Seren Emyr. His first single, “Young Like Me” was released in 2017 and featured Lowell. Seren Emyr is still signed to TEK’s label, TEKZENMUSIC, as a production partner and artist.
In 2017, TEK mixed Deborah Cox’s album, I Will Always Love You, vocal produced and recorded Hailee Steinfeld’s “Starving ft. Zedd” and “Most Girls” which are her best selling songs to date, Justin Bieber’s “Let Me Love You”, Noah Cyrus’s “Stay Together”, David Guetta ft. Justin Bieber’s “2U”, and songs for Machine Gun Kelly, Alan Walker, The Get Down Soundtrack, Tallia Storm, Lowell, Fifth Harmony and Ananya Birla. TEK notably vocal tuned Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber’s “Despacito”, which earned TEK another Grammy nomination for Record of the Year.
In 2018, TEK vocal produced and engineered on Chromeo’s album, Head Over Heels, earning another Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album. TEK also recorded and vocal tuned Plaid Brixx, Justin Bieber’s “Friends”, Julia Michaels, Miles Wesley, Ananya Birla, Black Summer, Farhan Saeed, David Guetta’s “Battle” and “Drive”, DJ Khaled ft. Justin Bieber’s “No Brainer”, Asim Azhar’s “Jo Tu Na Mila”, Loren Gray, Kevin McHale and Tallia Storm. TEK also vocal tuned multiple songs for Ariana Grande’s TV appearances – the BBC Special and Sweetener Sessions.
In 2019, TEK continued to develop his artist Black Summer and they released two original songs and an EP in 2019, “Big Dreams” featuring Skrizzy and “Double Edge” featuring Aston. TEK also recorded and vocal produced and tuned songs for Ananya Birla, Niko Moon, Loren Gray, Tallia Storm, Zac Brown Band, Lisa Mishra, Starley and Ciara. TEK engineered Alan Walker’s “On My Way”, Justin Bieber and Chris Brown’s “Don’t Check on Me”, Dan+Shay ft. Justin Bieber’s “10,000 Hours”, which earned another Grammy nomination for TEK, Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran’s “I Don’t Care”, and Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber’s “Bad Guy (remix).
In 2020, TEK primarily vocal produced and engineered records for well known worldwide artists such as Asher Angel, Starley, John K, David Archuleta, Alan Walker, Jacob Satorius, Amine, Mau y Ricky, and Pop Smoke. Additionally, TEK mixed songs for Asim Azhar, Ananya Birla and 12AM. Ten tracks from the film The High Note featuring Tracee Ellis Ross were vocal produced and engineered by TEK as well as Jaden Smith & Justin Bieber’s “Fallin For You”, and TEK engineered and vocal tuned Justin Bieber’s entire “Changes” album, including the songs “Yummy”, “Intentions”, “Holy” and “Lonely” featuring Benny Blanco.
In 2021, TEK vocal produced Asia Fuqua’s “I’m Alive” from the motion picture Infinite, vocal produced, engineered and mixed songs for Alan Walker, Avi Angel, Ananya Birla, Asher Angel, Arizona Zervas, Grimes, Starley, JLo, Skrizzy, Illy and Jessie Murph. TEK also engineered and vocal tuned the majority of Justin Bieber’s “Justice” album, including “2 Much” and “Off My Face”. TEK vocal produced the 5SOS single “You Make Me Complete”.
In 2022, TEK vocal produced the single, “A Hard Working Man” by the Avila Brothers featuring Billy Ray Cyrus and Snoop Dogg which was released in the first part of the year. TEK also recorded songs for artists spanning many genres including Jutes, Vassy, Ananya Birla, Dixie D’Amelio, Miles Wesley, Asim Azhar, Avila Brothers, Deborah Cox, and Tyla Jane. TEK also vocal produced and engineered Alan Walker’s EDM hits “Catch Me If You Can”, “Ritual” “Shut Up” and “Love Sick”.
In 2023, TEK’s reach crossed genres and stretched across the globe. TEK engineered, vocal produced and mixed for Deborah Cox, Jojo Siwa, Nelly Furtado, Leah Kate, Benjamin Elgar, Jourdin Pauline, Miles Wesley, Vassy, IVE, Jessie Murph, as well as Alan Walker’s “Better Off Alone” ,“Hero”, “Who I Am”, “Yesterday”,“Heart Over Mind” and “Fire”. TEK was also brought in to vocal tune “Finally” by Jorja Smith from The Color Purple Soundtrack.
2024 is shaping up to be a promising year as TEK is focusing on honing his vocal production craft as well as developing his artist, KYOTOCLAN.
CHALLENGES
The working relationship with Justin Bieber hit rocky ground in 2018. At this point, TEK had tuned more than 300 records for him and had been a loyal and constant creative partner, constantly putting Bieber first as a priority in his schedule at the expense of other artists. TEK felt it was time to ask for a small royalty. TEK had helped Bieber and his producers, managers and record label make hundreds of millions of dollars over eight years of solid work and helped create the image of Bieber’s flawless vocals which was a constant throughout his career, regardless of any media drama and blowback he’d received. TEK humbly asked for one producer point going forward on every Bieber song, which is far less than any other creative partner or producer would usually receive on a track. TEK emailed Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun and as it was considered a very reasonable request, the deal was approved within hours. TEK was elated. He felt that all those years of work had contributed to something bigger for himself and his family. The deal was finalized in long form and was to start beginning with Justin’s album Changes. TEK received his royalty from Changes and when the next single “Holy” was released, TEK’s attorney reached out to Bieber‘s attorney to paper the same deal as it was clear that this agreement was made to be going forward as a reward for TEK’s loyal service and not a one-off.
Unfortunately, TEK received the news that management had over allocated points for “Holy” and there were none for TEK to receive. Bieber’s management team offered neither recourse nor solution. They simply said there was nothing they could do. TEK pushed back as he felt he had rightfully earned this and as Justin himself became aware of the deal, a decision was made to end communication with TEK and sever their working relationship.
TEK had no recourse but to file suit against Justin and his company JRC Entertainment in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The case was an arduous and stressful experience, however, TEK again persevered and the case was settled before trial for an undisclosed sum.
PERSONAL LIFE
TEK’s perseverance through the ups and downs of his career wouldn’t have been possible without the constant love and support from his wife, Danielle Victoria. They met in 2003, married in 2007 and have two daughters, Isabelle born in 2013 and Katherine in 2016. TEK spends his free time teaching his daughter’s piano and the music creation process, cooking, watching The Simpsons and 80’s horror films and tuning vocals and making more songs.
