Sylvia Lenore Massy is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, instructor and author. Massy is renowned for her multifaceted production/mixing and engineering skills, with her first major breakthrough occurring with 1993's Undertow, the full-length triple platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles alternative metal band Tool as well as her work with System of a Down, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Brazilian band South Cry. History Massy's first project was in the mid-1980s as producer, engineer, and mixer for a compilation album titled Rat Music for Rat People, Vol. 3 on the CD Presents label. Acts featured included Adolescents, Raw Power, Doggy Style and Mojo Nixon. She followed this with producing the punk band Verbal Abuse for Boner Records, engineering two projects for metal band Exodus and co-producing the Sea Hags independent album with a young guitarist Kirk Hammett, who had just finished the Master of Puppets album with thrash metal group Metallica. She also produced "Television, Drug of a Nation" by the Beatnigs, the former band of the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy's Michael Franti. From Green Jellö to Tool Towards the end of the 1980s, Massy moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and worked at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. At Tower she met the members of a Buffalo, New York, band named Green Jellö (later known as Green Jellÿ) and recorded their debut album. After becoming a staff engineer at Larrabee Sound in West Hollywood, she was hired by Zoo Records/BMG to produce Green Jellö's major label debut album, which featured members of a new Los Angeles group called Tool. On Green Jellö's Cereal Killer album, Tool's Maynard James Keenan sings on "Three Little Pigs", and Tool's drummer Danny Carey plays on the album. This began a relationship Massy would have with the band Tool that would span two records: Opiate and Undertow. Los Angeles and Larrabee Sound In Los Angeles, Massy was an engineer, producer or mixer on recordings from artists including Aerosmith, Babyface, Big Daddy Kane, Bobby Brown, Prince, Julio Iglesias, Seal, Skunk Anansie, Paula Abdul, Ryuichi Sakamoto and many more. She worked with manager Gary Kurfirst on Irish rock band Cyclefly for Kurfirst's Radioactive Records. At Larrabee Sound, Sylvia connected with producer Rick Rubin and would work with him on several projects spanning seven years. Sound City From 1994 until 2001, Massy's vintage Neve 8038 console and other specialized recording equipment occupied Studio B