DREA YOUNG
AUDIO ENGINEER l PRODUCER l GRAMMY WINNER
Contact Drea to record, mix, and/or master your next project: admin@musicisourhero.com
Follow Drea: linktr.ee/drea__young
Drea Young, the founder and creative director of Nice Rack LLC and MUSIC IS OUR HERO®!, has always been passionate about music. From producing and engineering to writing and DJing, Young consistently collaborates with contemporary musicians, adds new effects and techniques to her technical repertoire, and supports emerging artists in making their visions into realities.
After graduating from the Art Institute of Philadelphia with a degree in graphic design, Young was picked up by Electric Factory Concerts, a Philadelphia-based concert promotion firm affiliated with the popular music venue of the same name. There, she created and distributed promotional material for headliners such as the Grateful Dead, the Gorillaz, Britney Spears, Disco Biscuits, Eminem, and Dave Matthews Band.
Looking to expand her brand beyond digital design and better embrace her love of music, Young attended Full Sail University's prestigious Recording School. With a degree in sound engineering in hand, she moved to Manhattan, where she was hired by Area 51 NYC (formerly SevenSeas Studio). Young was mentored by the studio's owners, music moguls Brian McKenna, former VP for Sony Studios, and Tony Drootin, former studio manager for Sony Studios.
Within the first two years of her working at the studio, Young had risen to lead engineer status, and by 2010, had won her first Grammy LP credit with Esperanza Spalding's award for 'Best New Artist'. In 2011, she snatched her second Grammy with Adams: Doctor Atomic 'Best Opera Recording' as well as a nomination for a Latin Grammy for Yeahwon Shin's 'Best MPB Album'. Young would go on to work with music icons: Bjork, Beyonce, Lucie Arnaz, Avishai Cohen, and Justin Timberlake; engineering greats: Joe Ferla, Jim Caruana, Robert Smith, Richard King, and Kenny “KNS” Lloyd; and finally producing legends: Steve Epstein, Rob Fusari, David Frost, NERVO, Gil Goldstein, and Al Pryor.
In 2015, Young opened her own independent entertainment business, Nice Rack LLC. In the following two years, she would sign her first four artists, record and engineer dozens of tracks, and host a series of highly successful shows and concerts in and around Philadelphia. In the same year that she started Nice Rack LLC, Young met fellow musician, Keith Moffett, a drummer and budding producer. Moffett formally joined forces with Young in 2016 to create savage_machine productions (s_mp), a subsidiary of Nice Rack LLC, that produces music for games apps, artists, and video.
In 2017, Young’s path led her to come out from behind the scenes. With an extensive background in recording arts, and her experience as a sound engineer/producer, she began to DJ. Young, who goes by the stage name da_BooBoo, got her start in DJing at Toasted Walnut Bar and Kitchen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which she opened as a bartender with colleague Denise Cohen. After first performing in 2017, she got hooked on producing and creating remixes, enjoying the ability to play off of the emotions of a crowd and to control the energy of a room through music. With her experience and expertise growing continually, da_BooBoo currently DJs / hosts weekly for karaoke, dance parties, and Philly Drag Mafia. Along with that, she continues to grow BooBoo's Babes, The Fire Open Mic Monday Night Meetup, and is part of many other exciting events public and private across Philadelphia and the tri-state area.
Young is a leader in Philadelphia's entertainment industry. She believes in the core values of: Unity, collaboration, not letting ego get in the way of all things creative, and always moving forward. From producing music from all angles of the industry to stepping out front and being the key energy of the party, Young has no plans of slowing down and is excited for what is to come next!