Salim Akram: Monitor engineer for Billie Eilish and Finneas

Salim Akram is a live sound engineer specializing in mixing monitors. He currently works as the Monitor Engineer for seven-time Grammy Award-winning artist Billie Eilish and eight-time Grammy Award-winning producer and artist Finneas.  In 2019, he was featured in FOH Magazine and was a Parnelli nominee for the Monitor Engineer of the Year.

After attending Art Institute of New England, Salim began to synthesize his technical skills in engineering with his life-long passion for playing music. He and his closest friends co-founded the band Bad Rabbits, where Salim would go on to not only tour with major artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Steve Aoki, Allen Stone, and Taking Back Sunday – but he would have the opportunity to work with producers Teddy Riley, Michael Elizondo, James Fauntleroy, et. al. in the studio. Bad Rabbits has won numerous Boston Music Awards, including Artist of the Year, perform as guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Arsenio Hall, and Craig Ferguson, and perform at huge festivals such as Vans Warped Tour, Reading and Leeds, and SXSW.

While Bad Rabbits was writing music and taking an interlude on touring, Salim dove head-first into regular house engineering roles with local venues owned and operated by Bowery/AEG and City Winery, while simultaneously expanding his freelancing repertoire to include contract work for corporate juggernauts such as Dell, Apple, and Google, as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Chanel, Puma, Sephora, and the Simmons Leadership Conference. However, when he was asked to build the touring monitor rig for Glassjaw, he realized it was just the catalyst he needed to get back on the road. 

Salim was introduced to Ms. Eilish in 2018 and continues to work as her Monitor Engineer through today. When he isn’t on tour, he resides in Boston, Massachusetts, and enjoys photography, cooking, and traveling. 

Interviewer Host & Producer: Rebecca Wilson

Executive Producers: Beckie Campbell & Susan Williams

Edited by: Robbie Mortimer

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