Joanna Nickrenz

Joanna Nickrenz was an American record producer. She won four Grammy Awards, and received nine Grammy nominations over the course of her career, including two wins and five nominations for Classical Producer of the Year. Early life Nickrenz was born in Seattle to Herbert C. and Mary Volz and had four older siblings (two brothers and two sisters). A year after her birth, her family moved to Bremerton, Washington, where they had lived previously. Her father worked at the naval shipyard.

Nickrenz learned piano on an upright piano given to the family. She graduated from Bremerton High School in 1953 and went on to study piano at University of Washington. According to her daughter, Erika, Nickrenz moved to New York City "to seek her fame and fortune on the piano."

Elite Recordings Nickrenz was hired as an assistant at Elite Recordings, owned by Marc Aubort. Elite was started in 1965. She worked as an engineer, producer, and editor, and went on to become a full partner in the company. Aubort said of Nickrenz, "Her ears were legendary; she was nicknamed 'Ms. Razorears.'" including Leonard Slatkin.

While their counterparts in the 1960s and 1970s were doing multi-microphone/multi-tracked recordings, the pair decided to continue with a more simple and natural approach using fewer microphones. Their approach was sometimes more difficult and time consuming but the results were recognized for their natural sound quality. Joanna Nickrenz produced five of the Eroica Trio's albums.