Wayne Connolly is an ARIA Award-winning producer, engineer, musician and composer with over two decades’ experience in the music industry.
He began his career as an electrical engineer writing software for Fairlight, and in 1990 started as studio manager and in-house producer at Paradise Studios, which at the time was home to rooArt, a company set up by INXS and their manager Chris Murphy to develop new Australian talent.
Some of the significant artists Wayne worked with as engineer and/or producer at Paradise include Underground Lovers, Died Pretty, The Fauves, Grant McLennan, Custard, and You Am I. Wayne won his first ARIA Award in 1996 as engineer on You Am I’s platinum-selling Hourly Daily.
Over his career, Wayne has worked with hundreds of bands and artists. In 2006. Youth Group’s single ‘Forever Young‘ reached Number 1 on the Australian charts. That year Wayne also received two ARIA nominations for his work with both Youth Group and The Vines. The following year Wayne received two ARIA Awards for Best Producer and Best Engineer for his work with Josh Pyke on the album Memories and Dust.
In 2009, Wayne produced the first solo album for Something for Kate’s Paul Dempsey. Titled Everything Is True, the album achieved Gold status, and Wayne won an ARIA for his work with Dempsey.
Alberts
Through his work with Dallas Crane,Wayne developed a close relationship with their label, Alberts – also Australia’s oldest music publishing company.
Over the following years, Wayne recorded many artists in the studio at Alberts including Hungry Kids of Hungry, The Paper Kites, All Our Exes Live in Texas and Boy and Bear, as well as Neil Finn, The Living End and Jimmy Barnes for an Easybeats tribute album.
In 2011, Wayne produced two tracks at Alberts that reached the top 20 of Triple J’s Hottest 100 – Boy and Bear’s version of Crowded House’s ‘Fall At Your Feet’ and Cloud Control’s ‘There’s Nothing in the Water We Can’t Fight’.
The Music Farm
Wayne restored a 1973 vintage Neve 8026 console, now housed at The Music Farm Studios, in the Byron Bay hinterland. Under Wayne’s extensive consultation, The Music Farm has been both completely refurbished and lovingly restored to retain an updated but original atmosphere, and provide a seamless digital or analogue recording facility. Since its completion, artists including Matt Corby, Client Liaison, Amy Shark, Babe Rainbow, Josh Pyke and Delta Goodrem have recorded there.
Film and Television
Wayne’s film and TV credits include TV series Friday on my Mind and The Kettering Incident, the Del Kathryn Barton short film RED and feature films Black Balloon, Newcastle, Mullet, Prime Mover, Monkey Puzzle, and Little Fish, for which Wayne collaborated with Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie on the feature track, a cover of Cold Chisel’s ‘Flame Trees’, by Sarah Blasko.
Other clients have included Sydney Opera House (Temper Trap) and Qantas. From 2011–2014, Wayne also acted as music adviser for Qantas, curating playlists for boarding music, where he was able to feature many contemporary and established Australian artists, and he composed the music for a series of ABC TV station ids that aired from 2008–2011.
As a musician and songwriter, his personal discography includes a dozen albums under various guises. He was one of the three principal writers in The Welcome Mat. His current band Knievel released their album Emerald City through Alberts, and he also performs in his own electronic project under the name Earls Court.
Awards
In 1992, Connolly produced the Underground Lovers album, Leaves Me Blind, and subsequently received Rolling Stone magazine’s Best Australian Record award.
The following year he engineered You Am I’s fourth EP Coprolalia and their debut album Sound As Ever alongside Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, which went on to win the 1993 ARIA for Best Alternative Release.
In 2006, Youth Group received the Breakthrough Artist ARIA Award for their single ‘Forever Young’.
Wayne’s work has been recognised with several ARIA Awards and nominations over the years:
ARIA Awards:
- 1996 ARIA Engineer of the Year, You Am I, Hourly Daily
- 2007 ARIA Engineer of the Year for Josh Pyke, Memories and Dust
- 2007 ARIA Producer of the Year for Josh Pyke, Memories and Dust
- 2010 ARIA Engineer of the Year for Paul Dempsey, Fast Friends
ARIA Nominations:
- 2006 ARIA Producer of the Year, Youth Group, Casino Twilight Dogs
- 2006 ARIA Engineer of the Year for The Vines, Vision Valley
- 2023 ARIA Engineer of the Year for The Teskey Brothers, The Winding Way