The Australian connection behind Mac Miller’s Circles

When Mac Miller passed away in September 2018, he left behind a nearly finished album. The team entrusted with completing Circles had to honour an artist who could no longer speak for himself. Every decision in the studio carried weight. 
Stefan Du Randt was the recording engineer on “Hand Me Downs,” one of the album’s standout tracks.

Circles debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200, has been certified Platinum in the US, and went on to win a Grammy in 2022 as part of Mac Miller’s boxed set release. It is widely regarded as one of his finest records.

Stefan started his career in Johannesburg, South Africa, engineering records for acts like Die Antwoord and Spoek Mathambo before relocating to Sydney in 2015. Two decades of work across three continents earned him the Music Producers and Engineers Guild’s Mixing Engineer of the Year award two years running.

Today, Stefan is at Studios 301, where he serves as Recording, Mixing and Dolby Atmos Engineer and General Manager. What makes him unusual is that he doesn’t just do one thing. He records, produces, mixes, and delivers Atmos mixes, all with the same level of care. For clients, that means one person can take a project from the first take through to the final master, and nothing gets lost in translation between stages.

That continuity matters.

When the person who tracked your vocals also understands how they’ll sit in the final mix, or how they’ll translate into an Atmos environment, the result is more cohesive. Stefan has completed over 150 Atmos mixes, so he’s thinking about that dimension from the moment he sets up a microphone.

His credits reflect his range:

He’s also worked in various roles, from assistant to recording engineer, on recording sessions with Coldplay, Katy Perry, Zedd, Wolfmother, Elton John, Daniel Johns, Vera Blue, and Peking Duk. Across his career, Stefan’s credits have accumulated over 500 million combined streams.

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