Wiley Ross was a treasured member of the University of Arizona School of Music community for more than four decades, serving as director of the Jeffrey Haskell Recording Studio, recording engineer, assistant professor of practice, mentor, and educator. He passed away on April 18.
Through his teaching, leadership, and dedication to students, Wiley helped shape generations of musicians, producers, and artists. His passion for music, innovation, and mentorship left a lasting impact on all who had the privilege of learning from and working beside him.
We mourn his passing and extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, students, colleagues, and all who knew him. His legacy will continue to resonate throughout the School of Music for years to come.
With gratitude and remembrance, we honor Wiley Ross.
His family has created an endowment in his honor:
Wiley Ross Educational Recording Studio Endowment.
Four Decades of Devotion
Wiley’s sudden passing has come as a shock to all who knew him. For more than four decades, he devoted his life and talents to the School of Music, where he shaped generations of students through teaching, mentorship, and his extraordinary work in recording and sound production.
Wiley’s greatest joy was working with students. Whether in the classroom through MUS 302 Recording Studio Production, in the internship program he helped establish and sustain, or in recording sessions with students, faculty, and guest artists, he was deeply committed to helping others learn, grow, and succeed.
His impact is felt not only in the studio and classroom, but also in the community he built around him, one grounded in curiosity, collaboration, and care for students and their futures. Wiley’s work helped launch countless careers in music and audio production, and his influence will continue to be heard in studios and performance spaces around the world.
Arthur Vint, friend and colleague of Wiley Ross, shared a heartfelt reflection on their time working together and the friendship they built over many years at the University of Arizona.
A Heartfelt Reflection by Arthur Vint
“I first met Wiley in the year 2000 when I got a tour of the U of A recording studio with my middle school jazz band. I was just getting into recording music at home, and it was my first time ever being in a professional studio, so I remember being impressed, intimidated, and inspired by all the equipment that was packed into the space. I went home dreaming about getting the chance to work in a studio like that someday. Thankfully, my career later took me into many professional recording studios and eventually led me to teaching MUS302 “Recording Studio Production” here at the U of A – with Wiley Ross as my co-teacher!
“Shortly after Jeff Haskell hired Wiley to run the U of A recording studio in 1981, they developed the MUS302 course together to impart knowledge of recording technology, sound science and music business to music and Film/Television students. Wiley would teach about the technical aspects of sound engineering while Jeff would teach about theoretical aspects of music production. When Jeff Haskell retired in 2020, I took his place teaching the production side of MUS302 and have taught alongside Wiley for the past 12 semesters! Our shared love of the Beatles, ECM records and Star Trek connected us, even though Wiley was twice my age.
Changing Recording Technology
“What has always made the MUS302 class challenging is that recording technology and the music business are constantly changing! In the 45 years that Wiley taught at the U of A, he saw technology change dramatically from magnetic tape and giant consoles to MIDI and Digital Audio Tape, to Digital Audio Workstations and plugins and so much more. He was able to keep up with all these changes and incorporate them all in his teaching, learning new techniques and programs so he could walk his students and interns through them.
“Wiley spoke often to me about the importance of the internship program that he developed at the recording studio. He maintained 5-6 interns a semester who would help him in his daily tasks recording faculty and students, plus various mixing and editing projects, and mundane studio tasks like wrapping cables and organizing files. He was very proud of his interns, some of whom went on to have successful music careers in LA, NYC and right here in Tucson. (I work with several of Wiley’s former interns regularly at the Century Room and at local studios.)
“Wiley spoke to me about wanting to retire several times, but I think he didn’t really want to stop teaching. As the founder of the recording studio, I can understand why he was not in a hurry to leave – the studio at the University of Arizona was such a huge part of his life and he truly loved what he did, listening to and recording music! A dream job for someone passionate about music, sound, and science.
Keeping His Legacy Alive
“One of the last projects we did together was to move MUS302 online, which required many hours of meetings, brainstorming and recording lectures which allowed us to really rethink how we taught the class together. We ended up changing the format and content of the in-person class drastically as a result, which spoke to Wiley’s desire to always keep learning and improving. We felt this semester’s class has been the best yet with the most engaged students we’ve had to date as a result of the changes we made.
“Wiley would often talk about his interns, the studio and the MUS302 class and how he worried what would happen to those programs if he left. Now that he’s no longer with us, we owe it to him to keep his legacy at the University of Arizona recording studio, its internship program and the MUS302 class going! It was an honor to work alongside him for the past six years and his presence will be felt in the School of Music for many years to come.”
Wiley Ross leaves behind a remarkable legacy at the University of Arizona: the Jeffrey Haskell Recording Studio, the MUS 302 course, the internship program he developed, and the many students whose lives and careers were shaped by his mentorship.
We extend our deepest condolences to Wiley’s wife, family, friends, colleagues, students, and all who had the privilege of knowing him. He will be deeply missed and long remembered.