Draft:Manfred Little Konzett

Manfred "Little" Konzett (born June 1, 1975) is an Austrian audio recording / mixing / mastering engineer, producer and musician living and working in the Principality of Liechtenstein, in central Europe. Little Konzett is owner of the "Little Big Beat Studios". The studios are based in the Western part of Austria and in Liechtenstein. Little Big Beat Studios, is an audio/visual recording, mixing and mastering studio facility, servicing record labels and independent artists, mainly focused on new recordings.

Little Big Beat Studios are in two locations. One studio for record-mastering is in Weiler, Vorarlberg, Austria. The second facility is a multi-roomed audio/visual-recording and mixing studio founded in 2013 in Eschen, in the Principality of Liechtenstein, and houses a vinyl cutting machine, and a collection of 50,000 vinyl albums on bookshelves functioning as sound-panels.

Manfred "Little" Konzett received citizenship in the Principality of Liechtenstein in January 2019, after operating his recording studio in Liechtenstein for six years.

Early life
Konzett was born on June 1, 1975, in Feldkirch, Austria, and grew up with four siblings on a farm in Satteins in the county of Vorarlberg, Austria. The youngest of five children, Little Konzett was influenced by the rock music (AC/DC, Scorpions, KISS) to which his older siblings listened. At 13-years-old, Konzett bought his first professional drum set.

In 1989, Little Konzett began studying stonemasonry, specifically the crafting of gravestones. He also studied drums and percussion, and opted for music as his profession. After five years of drum lessons with Swiss drummer, Carlo Lorenzi, Little Konzett founded his first band, Mayfair, with three friends and his brother, René Konzett, playing bass guitar.

Career
Konzett is a self-taught audio-recording, visual-recording, and mastering engineer. He has engineered, mixed and mastered thousands of sound-recordings using equipment manufactured by companies such as Sennheiser, and the Liechtenstein-based Neutrik. Little Big Beat Studios has endorsements with Sennheiser and Neutrik, among other audio equipment manufacturers such as AKG Headphones.

In March 2021, Konzett was nominated for Liechtenstein's annual culture award, the 2020 Prix Kujulie (Kultur Junges Liechtenstein). In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic's impact on the culture sector of both Liechtenstein and Switzerland, Konzett was nominated for the award for his "flexible adjustment to the current situation and his accompanying creativity", .--Konzett created and produced a globally-accessible web-based recording platform called "Boat of Souls".

During the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020, in addition to the Boat of Souls online recording platform, Little Konzett hosted the Studio Live Session Live Stream. The country of Liechtenstein's culture sector acknowledged Konzett for his initiative for interactive, online global recording and streaming possibilities.

Musicianship
Manfred "Little" Konzett is a drummer/percussionist, having performed and recorded as drummer in bands such as Mayfair, Matt Boroff & The Mirrors, Stompin' Howie & the Voodoo Train and Tequila Sharks. The band Mayfair received a distribution deal with Witchhunt Records in 1993, and two years later were signed for their second album by the record company WMMS. In 1998, Mayfair's third album, Fastest Trip to Cyber-Town, was recorded and mixed at Real World Studios London, which documented the musical development of Little Konzett and his band.

Associated art
Konzett works with musicians such as American funk trombonist Fred Wesley, who called Little Konzett "one of the top engineers in the world, with one foot in the old school and one foot in the new school." Artists such as Die Fantastischen Vier Judith Hill, Simon Phillips, Milow, Adam Ben Ezra (who said of his recording session with Konzett, “Playing and recording the ‘Pin Drop’ album at Little Big Beat Studios in Liechtenstein has undoubtedly been one of the most unique and creative experiences I’ve ever had..."), Elise Trouw, and the Horny Funk Brothers have recorded and performed in the Little Big Beat "Studio Live Session" in Eschen, Liechtenstein. Konzett records and produces the live studio sessions using video, and analog and digital recording equipment, with a live studio audience in attendance.

Little Konzett works with Liechtenstein's culture sector by providing studio and audience space for Liechtenstein's annual international LiGiTa, the country's classical guitar festival. In July 2021, Konzett's Little Big Beat studio in Eschen, Liechtenstein, was the venue for the young acclaimed Ukrainian classical guitar player, Dmytro Omelchak.

Record label
In 2004, LoEnd Records was founded by Little Konzett. LoEnd Records releases both CD-format and vinyl albums from the mastered recordings at Little Big Beat Studios. Artists such as Fred Wesley, Judith Hill, Simon Phillips, Mojo Monkeys, and Adam Ben Ezra have released vinyl albums from their Studio Live Sessions on the LoEnd Records label.

Awards

 * In March 2021, Little Konzett was nominated for Liechtenstein's annual culture award, the 2020 Prix Kujulie (Kultur Junges Liechtenstein).
 * In 2015, Little Konzett was nominated twice for the Amadeus Austrian Music Awards: Best Mastering for artists Aja+Toni Eberle; and Best Album for artist Mia Lutz.