| Jim Boyer | |
| Birth Date: | 19 May 1951 |
| Birth Place: | Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Death Place: | San Francisco Bay area, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Audio engineer, record producer |
James Boyer (May 19, 1951 – June 15, 2022) was an American audio engineer, known for having recorded and mixed many recordings including Billy Joel's The Stranger, 52nd Street and The Nylon Curtain, and the soundtracks for Yentl and Silkwood, as well as producing Billy Joel's The Matter of Trust: A Bridge to Russia, Rupert Holmes' Partners in Crime and Peter Cetera's Peter Cetera.
Boyer was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Cedar Crest High School and went on to earn a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Delaware in 1973.[1] During his high school and college years, he played keyboards in a number of east coast regional bands including Rain, which he was with from 1970 to 1975. Boyer attended and graduated from the Institute of Audio Research to prepare him for work in the business. His first job in the industry was at Phil Ramone's A&R Recording Studios where he was hired by Don Frey as an assistant engineer. Initially, he assisted on commercial jingles with engineers Elliot Scheiner and Don Hahn. Soon after, Boyer became Phil Ramone's assistant engineer. His first credit with Ramone was on the film A Star is Born with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.[2] [3] Over the years, Boyer engineered many of Billy Joel's records including The Stranger, 52nd Street, The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man as well as produced Joel's documentary, The Matter of Trust: A Bridge to Russia and Концерт [live],[4] Rupert Holmes' Partners in Crime featuring "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"[5] and "Him"/"Get Outta Yourself",[6] and Peter Cetera's Peter Cetera.
In 1987, Boyer, along with David Dering, founded AmericanHelix, a primary CD manufacturer for the independent record label industry.[7] After it was sold, Boyer worked in Silicon Valley as a software services sales executive, and 2015 found him returning to Pro Tools studio mixing, live concert technical management and FOH mixing for a number of Bay area communities during their summer concert seasons.[8]
Boyer died in the San Francisco Bay area of California on June 15, 2022.[9]
Recording and mixing
Film scores and soundtracks
Broadway albums
Radio and television
Production