Austin Birdy

Austin is a Brooklyn-based drummer and percussionist with extensive performance and recording experience in the theater, pop, rock, jazz, and classical fields. A multi-faceted musician with music technology expertise, as well as a comprehensive knowledge of pitched-keyboard percussion, hand drums, orchestral percussion, and drum set. A passionate person with a strong attention to detail.

- Live triggering of samples, click and backing tracks with the Roland SPD-SX and the Pearl Mallet Station
- Experience in venues as small as basements, and up to 3000 cap stages.
- Versatile performance experience - bands, musical theatre, orchestra, wind ensemble, solo recitals, weddings, marching arts, cabaret, corporate events.
- Orchestral experience and knowledge of contemporary percussion repertoire / instruments / extended techniques.
- Audio engineering / recording / mixing / mastering / live sound.
- Experience in Pro Tools, Logic, MainStage, Max, and Adobe Suite.

Austin Birdy is a Drummer and Percussionist in New York City. He is an experienced session drummer and an owner/engineer at Lorien Sound Recording Studios, where he has been tracking live and remote sessions for two years. His playing can be heard on over 120 commercially released tracks from 28 different projects. Since moving north from San Antonio, Texas, he has performed hundreds of concerts and productions in the Northeast area. In venues like Carnegie Hall, Proctors Theatre (Schenectady), The Strand Theatre (Boston), Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center (Vermont), Magic Hat stage at The Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, and John Hancock Hall (Boston). He has also made music with groups like the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, MassOpera, Huntington Theatre Company, Mid-Atlantic Symphony, Boston Theater Company, NYU Tisch, Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, and The Boston Ballet School.

​Austin’s diverse yet precise approach to drumming has led to collaboration with talented engineers like Benny Grotto (Ben Folds, Aerosmith), James Plotkin (Sunn O))), Oneohtrix Point Never), Perry Geyer (Robin Thicke, Sarah McLaughlin), Geoff Sanoff (Bruce Springsteen, A Perfect Circle), Tony Maimone (Jeff Buckley), Miranda Serra G (PILE, 2018 Boston Music Awards Producer of The Year) and Grammy nominated engineers like Jeff Lipton (Bon Iver, Lake Street Dive, City and Colour) and JP Berreondo (Dave Chappelle). Austin can be heard playing all of the percussion, as well as three drum sets recorded in surround on Corpus Vice - the 2022 debut album from composer Eden Rayz (Moon Tooth, Third Eye Blind, cello on grammy-winning soundtrack to Assassin's Creed Valhalla). Austin has also recorded material with Pehuenche, Noé Socha, JaneX, Nyol Manswell, (link hidden), Eden Rayz, Man in The Ring, Archie's Weird Parody, Gilian Eve, Joe Boccia Jr, Brooke Wexler, Finnigan Faye, Squid Holiday, Gabbi McCarren, Gerberding, Benjamin Foley, Hayden Fogle, Sarah Chung, Teresa Hayden, Big Fuzzy, Kira McSpice, Thomas Holmes, Sharon Chen, Aüva, Gamma Pope, Cyberbully Spaceship, and Dent.

Over his 15 years of playing musical theatre, Austin has covered the drum or percussion role in 50+ Youth, College, Community, Regional, or Off-Broadway productions, including an equity production at Boston's Tony Award-winning Huntington Theater Company. Austin has worked under accomplished directors and production designers like Michael Greif (Rent, Dear Evan Hansen), and Tony Award Honoree Michael McElroy (Next to Normal, The Who's Tommy), for the 42-show run of Man in The Ring by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award recipient Michael Cristofer (The Shadow Box, The Witches of Eastwick, Mr. Robot). Austin played drums and served as assistant music director for 22 shows of Jersey Boys at The Cape Playhouse under the direction of Joyce Chittick (Cabaret, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, Grease). Also under the baton of Lidiya Yankovskaya (Chicago Opera Theatre) for the workshop of Freedom Ride by Dan Shore before it's 2020 Chicago Opera premiere, and with seven-time Emmy Award winner Mark Salzman on the 2018 Boston workshop of his new musical Another Roll of The Dice. Austin has also assisted with music direction and orchestration on the SAG-affiliated, Off-Broadway taping of Kyle Jarrow's cult-hit musical A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant. Most recently, Austin subbed the percussion role in the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play War Words at the A.R.T./New York Stages, as well as drums on Winesday Off-Broadway. In January 2025 Austin opened Catching Fireflies Off-Broadway for 12 shows, two years after playing its first workshop.

He's also had the privilege of performing or recording with artists like Danny Blu (Echo Black, iTunes Top 100 Dance), blues guitarist Noé Socha, Albanian pop artist JaneX, Acclaimed New Jersey duo Williams Honor, Pehuenche (Nacional Records), jazz-trombonist Bob McChesney (Ray Charles, Michael Jackson), The G Clefs (1950's Billboard Charting Doo-Wop from Boston, MA), Jason Treuting of Sō Percussion. Also on shows with acts like Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary tour, Machine Girl, Downtown Boys, as well as True Widow while drumming briefly for Elizabeth Colour Wheel (The Flenser). Additionally, Austin has played and helped organize 5 DIY tours with independent bands, performing in a slew of basements, bars, and small venues across 25 states.

In a cabaret setting, Austin has supported Broadway performers like Andy Mienus (Spring Awakening, Les Miserables, CW's The Flash), Brandon Victor Dixon (Hell's Kitchen, Hamilton, Rent) Jelani Remy(Back to the Future, The Lion King), Will Roland (Dear Evan Hansen, Billions), Nic Rouleau (Book of Mormon), Bradley Gibson (Hercules, Lion King), Sonya Balsara (Aladdin), Jojo Fleites (CW's The Winchesters), Marc Delacruz (Hamilton), Dawn Cantwell (Wicked, 1776, Sting's The Last Ship).