Working Class Audio

A jack of all trades and master of some, his areas of expertise run the gamut of daily station operation; from the foundations of real-time networking for  AoIP , to FOH and live sound recording,  IP phones  and  SIP trunking , MPEG audio, and video standards and codecs, radio automation, HD radio transmission, to remote broadcast coordination, even security cameras, and keycar...

Gary Hobish brings over 30 years of experience as a professional recording engineer/producer to A. Hammer Mastering which he runs out of Secret Studios in San Francisco. He started as an assistant engineer at legendary Bell Sound Studios in New York City but found his way to San Francisco in 1976. He has worked in many disciplines in recording and music, most notably as Mastering Engineer/ Ta...

Nashville producer Mitch Dane has managed to cross the lines into almost every genre In his 20+ years of production/engineering experience. Though most of his work can be heard on Rock, Roots/Rock and Singer/Songwriter records, Mitch continues to work fearlessly in other styles like Bluegrass/Americana. In his own words: “I like to collect the best aspects of every genre of mus...

Tremaine Williams (AKA: “Six7”) was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He began his musical journey by taking piano & drum lessons while in elementary school, as well as becoming a classically trained singer in the Raleigh Boychoir. He grew up playing in church but was also heavily influenced by R&B. He began to dabble in music production in high school as a hobby. ...

John Schimpf got his start in the music industry working in clubs and theatres as a production manager and sound engineer, and working as a recording engineer for the University he was attending while pursuing a classical music degree. As a student he built what became the technological backbone for a music industry program developed at that University. In 2001, he went on to become an engineer an...

Mike Kalajian is the son of an audio technician/audiophile who was exposed to music and recording equipment at a very early age through family including his Uncle’s home recording setup  which fascinated Mike and started to draw him in to the audio experience. Mike’s parents say his first word was actually “speaker” and at  9 years old was given hi...

Finding detailed information on Producer/Engineer/Mixer Niko Bolas is a challenge. Niko is not a publicity hound and generally avoids big star-studded events. He’s a man that stays focused on the work in front of him and he puts his all into it. Looking at his discography you’ll notice a couple of things, repeat clients such as Neil Young, Melissa Etheridge, Robert Cray, and the late War...

What can you say about Al Schmitt that has not been said? The man truly is a legend and a complete professional.  He has scored a pile of Grammy wins and nominations over the years, recorded and mixed more than 150 gold and platinum albums plus his credit list includes Henry Mancini, Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis, Jr., Natalie Cole, Thelonious Monk, Elvis Presle...

Magnus Lindberg is a freelance engineer based in Stockholm, Sweden. Despite his young age of 35 he has already been an audio professional for 14 years, working with a wide range of independent bands and artists from all over the world. Starting out at a young age with various intern ships, most noticeable the one at Sound City Studios, LA he then found himself a part of the production team at Tont...

John Paterno is an LA-based audio pro. He has worked with a wide range of artists, including Robbie Williams, Soraya, Badly Drawn Boy, Lustra, The Thrills, Tim McGraw, Robben Ford, Eros Ramazzotti, and The Steve Gadd Band in his 25+ years in the music business. John moved to Los Angeles two weeks after graduating from the University of Miami’s Music Engineering program, and quickly gained foo...

Matt Wright grew up in an extended musical family, of both musicians and aficionados. Every family gets together involved extended periods of both playing music and arguing about pop records, which strongly influenced his relationship with music: a) He’s a lifelong musician because of it, b) He was raised listening to the canon of great pop records, and c) He was surrounded by people who...

Graham Hick has been an audio professional for the past 17 years. He is an amateur musician who holds a BA in music recording from Columbia College. He has written for Tape Op magazine and been a featured speaker and panelist at their professional conferences, taught audio production at Columbia College for five years, worked in jingle studios, voice studios, post-production studios, and public ra...

Brad Brooks is that rare quadruple threat of writer, player, singer, and performer. His songs combine the melodic sensibility of Elvis Costello, the best instincts of Wilco and Brian Wilson, along with the orchestral sophistication of Queen. Brooks is rooted in a kind of Victorian California romanticism; and with the release of his record “Harmony Of Passing Light” Brooks joined his peer...

Johnny Sangster is known for his production and engineering work with Mudhoney, Posies, The Supersuckers, Smoosh, and The Makers, and also as guitarist for the Tripwires, Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands, The Dear John Letters, and Steve Turner’s Bad Ideas. Johnny has also served as bassist for the legendary Roy Loney in the Longshots. Originally from Seattle, Johnny Sangster relocated to Europ...

Joey Sturgis is an educator, speaker, and fixture in the emergent modern rock music pantheon producing, engineering and mixing bands such as  Asking Alexandria ,  Of Mice & Men ,  We Came As Romans ,  Blessthefall , and  The Devil Wears Prada . He took his passion for drums and guitars and combined it with his love for understanding how things work and h...

Maor Appelbaum is a mastering engineer and musician. After working as staff engineer (mixing, recording and mastering) for famed record producer  Sylvia Massy Shivy  at  Radiostar Studios  in Weed, California, Maor moved to Los Angeles where he opened his private mastering suite. Maor has had the pleasure of mastering recordings for major international acts such as: Faith...

TW Walsh is a solo artist, musician, songwriter, and mastering engineer. As a mastering engineer, TW Walsh has over 700 projects under his belt, including work for Sufjan Stevens, Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie), The Shins, Cold War Kids, Pedro the Lion, David Bazan, Starflyer 59, Kristin Hersh, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Damien Jurado. As a so...

Brian McTear is a nationally respected record producer, musician, and the owner of one of Philadelphia’s most revered independent recording studios,  Miner Street Recordings  in  Fishtown . In the 18 years since he moved to the Philadelphia music community, Brian has worked with countless local artists like  Dr. Dog ,  Kurt Vile , and  The War on Drugs , as well as na...

Tardon Feathered runs an audio operation that keeps recordings alive. His  Mr. Toads  transfer business specializes in bringing back audio off of media made on machines that are no longer made or very few people have. Whether it’s a priceless family 3″ tape recording, that lost bandmaster on the 8 track, a live recording on a videocassette that doesn’t look anything like VHS, or even 78...

This interview with Jim Scott was recorded live at the Focal booth at NAMM 2016 was fantastic. Jim is best known for his large body of work as an engineer and his work as a producer with the American rock band  Wilco . Jim has worked as an engineer with a range of other rock music artists, including Dixie Chicks, Tom Petty, Sting, the Rolling Stones, Roger Daltrey, Crowded Hous...

The Pellicci brothers Jay and Ian, spent 13 years as staff engineers at  Tiny Telephone   working with bands like  Sleater-Kinney, Deerhoof, Birds and Batteries and Rogue Wave . Since then they have expanded their recording universe and have joined  Eli Crews  and  John Finkbeiner   in a partnership at  New Improved Recording . While...

I’ve known Josh Roberts for over 20 years now. He’s humble, fun, and one of the best human beings I know. He doesn’t waste time trying to impress people. To highlight that he doesn’t even have a web page, bio, Facebook page etc… He’s passionate about making records and is really good at letting people be themselves. I’ve been in a couple studio situations with him, I’ve toured with him and he was...

Producer/Engineer Ben Bernstein has worked extensively as a music producer and recording engineer. In recent years Ben has been working in game audio as a sound designer & project manager. He has also mixed several documentary films, online ads, and interactive in-app ads. Working with  Disney Mobile ,  Pyramind Sound ,  KFOG  , Microsoft as well as numerous Bay Area bands,...

After getting his audio education Sebastien Richard took a position as the head audio engineer at Coast Recorders in San Francisco and quickly became a mainstay in the crowded San Francisco audio world. Sebastien went on to spend a few years in NYC and Prague where he toured and helped produce some of the biggest pop acts in the world. He then returned to San Francisco to becom...

Darrell Thorp is a seven time Grammy Award winning ( OutKast ,  Radiohead ,  Switchfoot ,  Molotov ,  Beck ) producer, mixer, engineer with over 18 years experience under his belt and many multi platinum records to his discography. Darrell moved to Los Angles in 1997 after a 4 year service in the U.S. Navy and started interning at smaller studios and eventually worked his...