When I was a wee lad:

I started singing Barbershop when I was 10, did that for about 4 years, at the time I was the youngest member to go to international competition. We came in 3rd.

Took piano and guitar, kept the guitar and played in high school bands and sang in jazz group.

Took more guitar in college and was introduced to an 8 track home studio. built my own 4 track studio.

Interned at Lion's Gate studio in LA for feature films on the foley stage.

went to full sail in 88' 4 people graduated in my class. moved to NY and interned/assisted at a 1 room jazz and jingle SSL studio.

Was trained as a tech by SSL and Studer.

Engineered at a karoke studio for 2 years. Learned more here than anywhere else.

Staff engineer at soundtrack studios NY for several years.

Freelance mixer/engineer for many years. I received 30+ gold and platinum awards, a few grammy winning records.

Built a small indie mastering room in my apt and did that on the side while I was still mixing big projects.

Built a commercial mastering room in NJ and operated out of there as a full time mastering engineer for about 4 years.

Built my current mastering room in NYC and have been there for about 4 years.

Started to discover music at the age of 13 (1976) when I found in garbages in the street many albums such as The Stooges, VDGG, early Deep Purple and PFM. At the age of 15, I bought a used elect bass for $20 and started to play since then. I took 5 years of bass lessons and harmony lessons in a Music Conservatory and private lessons also.

During this time, I was introduced to a studio owner in Montreal and I learn a lot of things over there. I became an associate of this studio when I was 22. I was playing a lot of Jazz and being sub for several artists in the Quebec music scene. Started to play Double bass also.

Beside Recording/mixing studios activities, I was doing music arrangements for singers (mostly pop & some folk) and got composer gig for few TV channels in Montreal and Canada. During the 90's, I have met several music producer that used to come at our studio and at some Mastering studios to complete their projects. I used to go there everytime I had a chance and sit there to see and hear what is going on.

I never stopped playing since the last 5 years, still play but rarely. I still find the time to get some recording gigs as a bass player but once or twice a year only. The new cats are pushing pretty hard and this is fine with me :wink: .

Still in the 90's, I was pretty busy recording and mixing at our studio. I realized in 2000 that I was a perfectionist and got on my partner's nerves :lol: which he was more a business type of guy (but a heck of a sound taker :shock: ) and learnt so much from him...still good friends 8) .

In 2002 I bought a house on the North Shore of Montreal and build a new studio from scratch and it became a Mastering facility since 2003. I sometimes do some voice overs for commercial purposes. I am also asociate with an Recording and mixing studio owner in Montreal for mixes services that comes to us.

I am the only owner of the studio and have a part time assistant. I love doing this even when sometimes it is tough and co$tly. 8)

Richard

Do you still play Mike ?

TrilliumSound wrote: Were you a musician, audiophile, composer or crazy?

all the above... esp crazy :lol:

I would tell mine... but I can already hear the yawns.

Peace 8)

prepare to yawn!!! :D

started linstening to music at age 4.... mostly bob dylan/doors/dr.hook on reel to reel

at 12 my dad gave me a stereo... and thereby a oneway ticket to economic ruin :)

i rented a brand new thing called cd (this was 83) and 6 cd's!!..... got a 10 band graphic eq and a record player so i could play my mom's dylan records....

age 16 i had 2 monoblocks with 500W each as was quicly becoming a hifi geek

at 18 i sold my sixth(!) cd-player after getting electrostatic speakers and a truly great record player.... and i gave away alot of cd's.... couldn't stand listening to them....

parallel with this i had developed an interest in samplers after listening to jarre/art of noise.... i got an atari with cubase and a mirage sampler....

but it was only the technical side that interested me so i spent more and more time fiddling with new gear that i borrowed in the local musicstore..... and less time trying to make music

age 21 i started at a school that had an entire studio with studer and soundtracs inline mixer..... i got to fiddle with it and i was hooked!

at 23 i got a jod as a live engineer doing alot of different styles on a really poor P.A....... but mostly amateur heavy/death metal!

then i faded over into studio jobs with less and less live work.... only an occasional jungle rave.......

and for the last 5 years or so i've worked solely as a mix/mastering engineer.......

that made me ill with stress (and 50 pounds heavier).... and i have not been working for 3/4 of a year.....

but now i've taken up my old hobby with hi-fi..... now with audionote dac that kicks any benchmark converters ass...... and generally better sound that i've heard in ten years.....

Loved Yes...Drama, 90125, Big Generator
Loved Asia...Asia, Alpha

Found out that they all had Trevor Horn in common.
Decided I wanted to be him.

Worked in or around bands/clubs throughout highschool and after. Went to "The Recording Workshop". Interned at Criteria for a year or so.

Left the music biz to "make a living" but still did the occasional band/club thing here and there. Became a MIDI junkie.

Getting back into the music biz to "have fun living".

...I'm still not Trevor yet. :(

Long story short:

At age 11 inspired by the likes of JimiHendrix, The Who, etc. picked up a guitar and joined a rock band.

During the period when I was playing music ran live sound for various bands and started getting involved in recording at local studios.

After the 257th or so band decided that I enjoyed the technical part of music more than dealing with band politics and the girlfriends of the other members of the band. Started a studio with a musician/friend recording various local acts.

Built up client list, getting work from various labels including work for The King Buscuit Flower Hour where we produced a weekly radio show that included nearly every major Rock act from the 70s and 80s (Cocker, Stones, Allman Bros, The Who, Bowie, Iggy Pop, Benetar, Billy Idol, etc).

Started my own mastering/multimedia studio to expand business further and develop relationships with new clients.

Where are you coming from ?

I'm coming from Denmark, now I'm in the UK.
I started getting inspired by music at the age of 0, as my mom deliberately played guitar when she was pregnant to enhance my musicality.

It has worked great, you should try it.

Ammitsboel wrote:

Where are you coming from ?

I started getting inspired by music at the age of 0, as my mom deliberately played guitar when she was pregnant to enhance my musicality.

It has worked great, you should try it.

What, being pregnant ?(that will be tough) or going back at the age of 0 ? Hmmm, looks like there was some great stuff to smoke in Denmark, wish you will find as good in the UK.

I think I 'was' crazy...
I think i'm the first person in Indonesia in circa 1993 who opened adat head and blow the dust off it... And still works fine :-)
Good God...

TrilliumSound wrote: [quote=Ammitsboel]

Where are you coming from ?

I started getting inspired by music at the age of 0, as my mom deliberately played guitar when she was pregnant to enhance my musicality.

It has worked great, you should try it.

What, being pregnant ?(that will be tough) or going back at the age of 0 ? Hmmm, looks like there was some great stuff to smoke in Denmark, wish you will find as good in the UK.

Thanks :lol:

My Life it's very simple, complicated, fun and sad at the same time.
I was 5 years old when i realized that my father was playing guitar, never wonder more, until 92 when i found, i do not remember where, an album of electronic music.
In 93 i moved from Central America, Guatemala to Montreal Canada.
here i discovered music from all latin america but ROCK music stole my heart.
1994 I started taking piano lessons untill 98. then i found that a lot of people said that i must let go the music.
i Quit playing an instrument but still Music was a big part of me.
then i realized that i wanted to become a recording enginner and again family said nop.
i start working in a shop and always was reading EM, Recording mag.
then in 2001 i started with a band doing production and we finished with an EP that did not went as we wished.
2004 i started buying studio equipement and here i am.
it is not been easy for me cuz people think that if you don't have a diploma you're wothless.
My main goal is to provide songwriters, bands and solo singers an opportunity to get heard without get in bankrupcy. i'm not charging anything for them if they don't have.
thank you.

Ammitsboel wrote: my mom deliberately played guitar when she was pregnant to enhance my musicality.

My Mom sang in the choir and around the house when she was PG, so I got to hear the melody... not just the chords :D

My mom used to beat me with a stick when I was young. That's how I got my sense of rhythm. :)

my mom dropped me on my head..... so i got into the music business! :shock:

I thought that I had a weird Mom !!

iznogood wrote: my mom dropped me on my head..... so i got into the music business! :shock:

Sorry iznogood, that was my fault. I scared your mom when whe was coming out of the bathroom after changing your diaper.

Michael Fossenkemper wrote: Sorry iznogood, that was my fault. I scared your mom when whe was coming out of the bathroom after changing your diaper.

:shock: This thread is becoming scary. :lol:

no joke, got born into the toilet bowl as well, probably that caused my weird brain ear relationship...... :D bang bang bang

In the beginning...

My father (and his side of the family) were very musical. When I was 3, I was allegedly programming the VCR (and erasing home movies, I was young and stupid). I started piano lessons at the age of 5 and continued until I was 19. I also wanted to learn the violin, but there was no string program in my school district, so I took up the alto saxophone instead (I was 9).

I spent a good deal of time listening to the radio. The first album I remember buying was Genesis' "Invisible Touch" on cassette. I think I still have it somewhere in the coffin, er, I mean tape case. I also got into The Police and Sting. I took a lot of heat for this in high school, but whatever. I realized that Hugh Padgham played a significant role in those records, and he became my idol.

My father's first computer was a Mac SE (it still runs!), and he bought copies of Performer and Finale. I thought it was so cool to notate music and have a computer play it back. He also had a free subscription to EM because he was a teacher, but he never really read it, so I did. I still have the December 1993 issue (Marshall Crenshaw was featured in it).

In 1995-96, I did something with Handel's "Water Music" in Finale. I can't remember if I entered it and transposed it or if there were errors in the score that I corrected. Either way, I found out about a program at Lebanon Valley College in PA for recording that was offered that summer (a one week offering for high school juniors). I applied, and was accepted with 11 other individuals. The gent that ran it was impressed with what I did with Finale, which got me in. We did a recording of a drum circle that was improvised and amazing. I was in the control room for most of it, and at the end of this week I knew I wanted to do this as a profession.

I applied to four schools (auditioning on saxophone) and was accepted at two. I went to the University of Hartford. I maintained their Pro Tools LE and TDM systems my Jr. and Sr. years. I also maintained the student run radio station for three years. I interned with Nevessa Production in Woodstock and Jim Chapdelaine (u can find him on gearslutz). I worked a session with Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, and John Sebastian as an intern. That was a blast.

I found out about the job I have now while I was a Sr. at Hartford. Someone I knew who graduated a year in advance of me was working at that studio and I did not know it. He didn't get me the gig, but it didn't hurt either. I attended NYU part time concurrently and earned a M.M. in technology this past December.

All the while, I had a knack for technical things. I'm working in post as the chief engineer of a studio. Anything beyond this point wouldn't be the beginning.

Jonathan -

Do you remember the person at Lebanon Valley College? I'm teaching the Music Production Seminar MRT 474 course during Fall semesters.

I remember You

Masteringhouse wrote: Jonathan -
Do you remember the person at Lebanon Valley College?

His name is Barry Hill. Someone at NYU who taught me Max/MSP knows him as well.

I came to this preversion...er...passion like most people: I was a photographer...

I had an assignment in college in 1987 where I wanted to photograph a guitar. i went to the local pawn shop and bought one, under the understanding that I would return it and get some of my money back after the photo shoot. For whatever reason I never took it back.

Fast forward to 1989. My buddy Dave comes over, puts in a cassette, and starts playing along with Mother (The Wall) and I was hooked. Got a Yamaha MT44 4 track cassette in 1989 and the $50 PZM from radio shack.

Then I realised I could write songs. I didn't really write them though, good or bad they kinda came bubbling out of me. Weird really.

Then I flipped the burger

Moved to an acreage and took 3 years to design and build a straw bale house, having no experience whatsoever in construction. during that time I never once picked up my guitar. When I finally did it yelled "Stranger Stranger!!!"

Always wanted to record, to hear my work done as best I could. Finally mustered the balls to buy a rig, so now I have a DAW, a few good mics, and I want to record all this material. My goal is to some day turn on a radio and say: "I wrote that"(I'm assuming someone else will have recorded it...)

a few funny stories on the way:

Bought the guitar Dave(my friend Dave, not Gilmore) used to play Mother on. Found out after it's a George Lowden design, built in Japan by K Yari to his specs. Sounds sweet as pie and cost $300. i'd put it beside anybody's guitar. A Lowden today will set you back the price of a compact car.

Bought a used Strat for $625. Had to get a knob fixed as my kid twisted it off. Put it up on the bench and the repair guy's eyes get really big and he says it's a rare version. Says he's seen 10,000 guitars in his 35 years and the number of these he's seen he can count on one hand. Shows me the paragraph in the 'rare and vintage guitar book' on it. Won't even guess as to it's value. i just play it cause it's a guitar and dont' think much about it's worth.

Bought what I thought was an amp at a garage sale for $5. Almost threw it out when it turns out to be just a pre-amp. It kicks around for 10 years and I almost throw it out 3 times.

Then with all the talk about pre amps here I decide to check it out before I toss it.

Turns out to be an Altec Lansing 1567, all tube, all hand wired before PCB's, a 4 into 1 pre/mixer. I spend $600 getting it turned into a 4 into 4. So now I have a 4 channel all tube pre. Sounds gorgeous and $150 a channel.

Today's tip, go gear shopping with me, but it only works if I have no idea what I'm buying. Unfortunately it doesn't work with stocks..:wink:

Cheers
Keith

I know this isn't mastering talk but...

In 1979 I bought a 53' Telecaster in Lubbock Texas for $125 !

It had about ten different colors of spray paint on it, including orange and black... even the neck was painted black !

I spotted the brass bridge pieces and the low serial # and knew it was a find.

I took it home and stripped the bad paint and it played and sounded great for a few years.

I played this Tele' on a session on the 4th of July in an 8 track TEAC studio with black walls and No air conditioning... we nearly passed out from the heat.

The Leader of the session played drums and synth, I played Fender bass and this great Tele'. There were also keys, and a horn section.

This date was really bizzare, because we were cutting a funky jazz Christmas song... one of those about Santa Claus... in this heat, on Independence Day !

Two of the horn players got in a big fight because the sax man was high as a kite and the trumpet player was very religious.

The track was mixed later, by the band leader and the engineer. When we got the records (45 rpm) a few weeks later, the Drums and Synths were twice as loud as the other instruments... because the leader played these and he mixed the record !

Valuable lessons learned... I should've stayed for the mix.

Like a dork, I sold the 53' Tele' a few years later for about 10x what I paid... I should've kept it.

Moral of the story:

If you ever find a great deal on a guitar like this Tele' ...don't EVER sell it...

no matter how bad you need the money... one day you'll regret it ! 8)