I’ve been an audio engineer since I was 12. That’s when I started running the sound at my mom’s church. From there I ran the system for a local theatre for four seasons. Then I went to the Recording Workshop, after which I helped build and move a studio in Akron which I eventually became head engineer and partner of. My partner went to prison (for personal reasons unrelated to the studio, he later died) and I was left to clean up the mess. After rehab at age 20 I worked at Lava Room studio in Cleveland then did freelance live sound in tiny clubs all the way up to festivals and pro touring systems. Recently I’ve been completely turned off by all of it because of being burnt out and a few terrible experiences. I had to force the idea that I would ever be anything other than an engineer/musician to save my sanity. I tried to find something else to do with my life. Things were working themselves out again until I got injured/sick last month. I’ve completely lost hearing in my left ear and there’s only a chance I’ll get it back. It’s terrifying thinking that even though I gave up on that part of my life I may never get to mix again. I may never hear things the way I used to. Even these few weeks of partial deafness have been depressing. If I find out it’s lost forever I’ll breakdown. But, this has forced me to re-evaluate my old goals. When I get my hearing back I’ll start all over again if I have to. I was good at what I did and I let the pressure kill me. I let a few people and situations make me question my abilities and forget what I loved. I was given too much too young and that’s the entire story of my life, but it doesn’t have to end there.

Terrible photos of a recording session I threw together in a friend’s apartment a couple years ago. We had ten people or so playing at once, ended up being a jam session about 40 minutes long.

I used to do stuff like this all the time and I miss it.

Here’s part three… It seems this is the beginning of the segment, idk it’s been years since I watched this. When I was in school for audio engineering I watched this (and the Cave In Antenna dvd…and Emperor’s New Groove) daily.

Brian May goes through the multitrack of Bohemian Rhapsody track by track and discusses the time and the methods, and I think a bit about Freddie phasing out his own voice is in there, etc. It’s all fascinating.

You can look up the rest because it’s 4am and I’m on my phone =p