I LISTEN

I  LISTEN

There’s a part of my brain that never stops listening and imagining how I would recreate what I hear.  When I move past a sound source and the sound changes… the voices and noises that come from behind or above… the way different sounds are masked all day long in the real world… the way sound reflects off various surfaces… how the world is “mixed”.  These are the things that make me tick.

BACKGROUND

Growing up, my all-time favorite gifts were:  a cassette tape recorder, my first guitar, and my first electric guitar.  Each one changed my life!  When I got my first electric guitar, I literally played with the knobs and switches for hours, listening to how they affected the sound.  My path to audio engineering was becoming clear, but I wanted to be a rock star!

Then came my first computer.  I learned to program in BASIC and created my own version of Tron’s Light Cycles, complete with what I may have called “artificial intelligence”.  It didn’t learn, but I programmed in some nice decision-making for the enemies.  I saved my work to that cassette recorder from years back!  By high school, I wanted to be a video game designer.

A couple computers and a Korg O1W/proX later, I learned about MIDI.  I started sequencing jazz chords so I could improvise guitar leads over them.  I was hooked, and began writing music.  Before leaving high school, I wanted to be a film composer.

After a few careers and a recording industry degree from MTSU, I discovered audio post production.  While refining my sound design skills over the years, I found myself mixing nearly everything I touched – and loving it!

Though I never really became a rock star, game designer or film composer, I found my place in the creative world as a sound designer / mixer.