I've been recording other artists and bands professionally for over fourteen years now; prior to that I was recording my own bands on 4-track cassette decks. My interest and desire to pursue engineering as a career grew out of being disappointed with the sounds my bands were getting in studios helmed by "pro" engineers. I expected much more for the prices we were paying, so I decided that if our recordings were going to sound bad, it would be my fault and I would take the responsibility. I began devouring every book and magazine I could find about recording, and as luck would have it, one of the studios I recorded in was losing an engineer. I brazenly voluteered to fill the position, and was given the opportunity to prove my worth by the owner. I must not have let him down, because I was hired and went on to work there for the better part of the 90's.
In 1997, I was becoming burned out on the exceptionally long hours and tedium of year-long album projects, so I founded Gropius Mastering, and embarked on a new audio path. Mastering helped me fine-tune my ears and become even more particular about sound and the effects various pieces of equipment have over the final musical product. Mastering also helped me to realize that I truly enjoy the more creative side of producing, recording and mixing. So, I decided to stop mastering as I had become much busier with recording and mixing again (and enjoying it - even the long hours!). I didn't feel it was possible to be a "part-time" mastering engineer, so I thought it would be better left to those who devote their careers to it.
Since my humble beginnings with a 4-track, I've worked with 8, 16, & 24-track analog recorders, ADAT & DTRS format digital tape decks, on up to today's computer-based hard disk systems. These days, I'm fully content being a "digital boy" and don't miss the sometimes frustrating hassles of working with tape (don't even get me started about ADAT's...And yes, I'm fully cognizant of the potential pitfalls of hard drive failures, computer malfunctions, and the like. As the saying goes, back up early and often). I am well versed in Apple Logic Pro 9 and Avid Pro Tools, with my preference being Logic (so much so that I wrote a book about it!).
My current studio is a moving target! New and vintage gear comes in and out with alarming regularity as I find what I'm most comfortable working with. Pro Tools 9 and Logic Pro 9 are the mainstays with a compliment of outboard including a pair of Daking FET II, Overstayer, and multiple FMR PBC-6A compressors, and preamps from Shiny Box, Chameleon Labs, and 8 channels of Classic Audio Products of Illinois that I built. Everything gets in and out of the computer via a Solid State Logic Alphalink SX MADI system and an RME MADI card. Monitoring is via K+H/Neumann o300 monitors. I have a large compliment of more than twenty-five mics from Bock Audio, Microtech Gefell, Shiny Box, Lauten Audio, Shure, Avenson, Audio-Technica, CAD and others that travel with me to studios and also allow me to track a full band at my own studio.
On the instrumental tip, I have a huge compliment of soft-synth and samplers. I also have an arsenal of snare drums, both vintage and modern Ludwig drumkits, a bevy of cymbals and miscellaneous percussion. I'm also available to play drums on projects.
