Trace Ellington has helped craft songs for some big names in music. The son of a Milwaukee auto body shop owner, Ellington went to Milwaukee Trade and Technical High School and then dipped out to the West Coast as a young man and created Mood Indigo Recordings in the mid-1980s. Early in his career as an audio engineer, he recorded and produced some of the first music from hip-hop legends like Digital Underground, Too $hort and even Tupac Shakur.
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The mixmaster’s skills and network grew larger over the years, as he worked with other musicians like Blues Traveler and Jamie Foxx, while also releasing his own soulful R&B albums and honing his craft as a songwriter and producer. By necessity of the job, he’s stayed on the cutting edge of sound recording technology and techniques.
And recently, Ellington – now 61 and tall, fit and always freshly dressed – brought all that expertise and experience back home to help develop artists here in Milwaukee.
Part of that means teaching local artists skills in sound, and another part is career guidance. In a constantly changing music landscape, Ellington says artists must think about making music beyond song creation.
“They’ve got to be thinking about how to create projects that can be used in video gaming, in show soundtracks and on social media,” he says. “That’s how artists can still be independent but also make an impact and make an income – and we can do that here.”
Returning to Milwaukee a few years back to care for his elderly father, Ellington re-established Mood Indigo Recordings in its new home in the North Side’s Arlington Heights neighborhood in 2022.
The recording studio is equipped with top-of-the-line gear, including Wisconsin’s only Dolby Atmos audio system, which allows him to mix advanced immersive audio. And the upstairs hosts an AirBnb where artists stay overnight for multi-day recording sessions.
“It’s important that we have this here in the center of the city,” he says. He wants the studio to be accessible to people like himself who are growing up there. And keeping ahead of the technology curve means “that in 30 years, the project you made can still sound like a classic,” he says.
Ellington also mentors students from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee Area Technical College and UW-Milwaukee, giving them hands-on experience in his studio to help them become the next crop of expert audio professionals.
“Sound is really all around us – we can capture it, and we can create it,” he explains. “And we can build the city into a place known for creating sound and building on what’s already out there – Milwaukee has its own magnetism, and we can tap into that.”
