Background

Soft sell, hard sell. He’s the guy next door – only more versatile.

Dennis Gould – Upright Bass, Electric Bass & Guitar Having spent the later part of the 60’s through the 80’s as a full-time bassist / singer in Baltimore, MD, Dennis changed careers in 1984 and entered the world of Radio. He worked at WIZD, Wizard-104 in Mobile from 1986 through the middle of 1988 when he began working as a producer & voice-over at Soundworks recording studio. His voice has been heard on thousands of Radio & TV commercials and jingles. Still at Soundworks, Dennis occasionally performs a solo show accompanying himself on guitar and featuring tunes from the 30’s, 40’s & 50’s.

Background

Sound of Birmingham was originally owned by Neil Hemphill and was located in Midfield, just south of Birmingham. In 1973 the studio was purchased by radio personality Don Mosley, who was using the studio to produce jingles, and in 1976 Don relocated the studio to it’s current location on Fifth Avenue South.

Over the years Don has engineered or produced records that were released on Atlantic Records, Arista, MGM, Stax Records, Rounder Records, Shelby Singleton labels (Nashville), as well as his own label. Fredrick Knight’s gold record “I’ve Been Lonely For So Long” was recorded at Sound of Birmingham Studios.

Background

Axenzo had recently graduated San Diego State University with a degree in mechanical engineering when he found that having achieved a major life goal, namely getting a degree to make his parents happy, had quite an interesting effect on him. Now that he’d achieved that, what else was possible? What could he achieve if he pursued something he was downright passionate about—music.

While an engineering student, Axenzo had tried to double in music but the classes weren’t stimulating and were “very theoretical” with nothing practical or new to offer. Brewing at the back of his mind for years been the idea of learning how to produce EDM. While it wasn’t a choice his mother would consider practical, to him it was the natural conclusion. Axenzo was an active EDM explorer who attended shows regularly, a lifelong musician who played guitar and piano, and even wrote melodies on a whim. Music was just the thing going on in his mind.

After completing his college degree with high marks, Axenzo spent a number of months training with a professional EDM music mentor who taught him Pro Tools and Logic with direct, one-on-one lessons. Although he already knew how to play a couple instruments he’d never set his hands on a DAW. Nevertheless he excelled fast, and consistently challenged himself while getting hands-on training and tips from his music mentor, a longtime engineer and EDM producer himself. During his time in the program Axenzo was able to create his own EDM songs, first starting on MIDI, then composing from within a digital environment. Crossing the bridge from having to play and record, to creating digitally “opened a door” for the EDM creator and DJ.

In the two years since graduating the program, Axenzo has built a promising career in EDM as a DJ who has opened for Bob Sinclar, Robin Schulz, Steve Aoki, Marshmello, Borgeous, Nicky Romero, among others. Nevertheless, for him DJing and especially composing new material as a producer is a never ending journey. The great unifier isn’t by genre or culture for the rising talent. Regularly dipping into multiple genres and researching far and wide, Axenzo is in quest of something singularly specific: “I’m trying to create something that every time people listen to my tracks they’ll know it’s me. That’s my focus right now. I’m working on it every day.”

Now, the melodies and musical ideas Axenzo used to write on a whim are being put to use professionally as he divides his workdays between producing new material and performing at venues. He says, he’s even got a surefire way of capturing the music when it hits: “I open the recorder on my phone and just sing the melody to myself. Even if I’m in the shower, I’ll get out and record it.”

Now versed in Ableton as well as Logic and Pro Tools, Axenzo is fluent in the various DAWS and he’s confident in his capacity to continually explore and grow as an artist. And as for future goals, he’s got a few: “I definitely would like to play in big festivals. Hopefully at Ultra Miami, EDC Las Vegas, and I would like to go worldwide. I’m working on it. I know there’s lots of competition, but I think nothing is impossible.”

As for the time he spent as an apprentice in the program, Axenzo says, “It was an amazing journey. I am extremely thankful.”

Axenzo currently performs weeklies at The Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas, Nevada, and The Pool House and Sunset Vibes in San Diego, California.

Background

Kevin Sharpe is an Emmy Award winning producer, engineer, and keyboardist. He has produced, recorded or mixed many fine artists. Click here to see a list of credits.

Kevin began recording at the age of 15 years old with a 4 track Teac reel to real, a Yamaha mixer, Moog synth and a broken drum machine. Soon he was recording local bands and the neighbors dog. After years of making noise and honing his recording skills he opened a small studio in Troy, Michigan. twenty five years and a couple of thousand bands later, he still gets chills while mixing a great song.

As a producer, Kevin is 100 percent committed to doing whats best for the song, while preserving the unique chemistry of the preforming artist or band. By making the recording process work for the music, the artists vision shines through to the finished product. After all it is always about the music!

Kevin attended Oakland University before studying music at Rochester College. After completing his education, he has taken several courses at The Berklee College of Music.

Articles

Graylyn “Gino” Claiborne gets hired by his mentor’s studio after graduating!Aver

Background

Recording Connection mentor Gregory Hainer is an interesting case. Usually our Recording mentors work primarily in the music industry but Gregory has made a successful career for himself in music as well as film, television, and video game entertainment as a music composer, voice over specialist, Sound FX designer and mixer on numerous projects including: Plants vs. Zombies 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Guild Wars 2, Prince of Egypt, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, We Were Soldiers, Dishonored, Black Hawk Down, and many more.

Gregory does most of his work from Scorpio Sound, his boutique studio located in the Hollywood Hills. His unique skills-set, talent, and setup enables him to do work larger audio studios can’t. “From a client’s perspective, I own the studio, so there is no middle management overhead to worry about because the owner/operator is also the creative head. This means I have the freedom to choose to spend a little more time with my clients in order to get things perfect versus having to be out of a studio by a specific time.” Specialty might as well be Gregory’s middle name. “I get quite a few calls for the most unusual or difficult to design stuff that many in-house teams can’t quite seem to pull off convincingly, such as creating sounds for creatures, magic spells, sci-fi effects, light sabers and the like. But I will also get the occasional call to do the less-fun direct stuff like cleaning up poorly recorded production audio from a film, or digging out inaudible archival dialogue from excessive background noise.”

On top of working in the film, TV, and video game industries Gregory also takes on Recording Connection apprentices and teaches them about both the industry and the craft of audio engineering.

Articles

RC grad Andrew Holscher reports back on his Eddie Kramer Experience
Recording Connection mentor Gregory Hainer on Vibe and Flow

Background

Recording Connection mentor Josh Monroy is proof-positive that getting in and showing your commitment to the craft, day-in and day-out, can launch your career to unprecedented heights. With more than a decade in the music industry, Josh “Igloo” Monroy has worked with everyone from Justin Bieber to Quincy Jones, to The Notorious B.I.G. The seasoned engineer/composer/producer is also known for his longtime work with iconic artist Ludacris. An Atlanta native, Josh recently answered the call to come out to Los Angeles and is now co-owner of Studio 1 Zero. His most recent success includes the work he’s done on JoJo’s critically-acclaimed album Mad Love, which includes three tracks recorded, produced, and co-written by the multifaceted music professional.

Articles

RC mentor Josh Monroy Talks How He Got Hired by Ludacris and Doing JoJo’s “Mad Love”

Background

A true music industry veteran, Recording Connection mentor Ira Parker is the owner and chief producer/engineer for Maximus Music Records, one of the top recording studios in Charlotte, NC, serving clients like Jadakiss, DMX and many others. As a Recording Connection mentor, Ira is passionate about training up new talent and always looks for opportunities to push his students to expand their skills.

Articles

NUGGETS OF TRUTH: Recording Connection mentor Ira Parker on pushing the limits
Wes Hagy: From Mechanical Engineering to Audio Engineering

Background

Jeramy Roberts is an EDM producer, composer, DJ and Ableton educator located in Austin, Texas. As founder of the Electronic Musician’s Guild, his approach combines the creative and the pragmatic—an ethos that’s dedicated to helping his students get their music out into the digital marketplace and distributed on major platforms.

Jeramy has sold his songs and records in dozens of countries around the world. He has broken the Top 100 spot in numerous international sales charts and even his former students have hit #2 in Amazon’s House Top 100 while training under his direction. A loyal lover of EDM and the great local EDM scene in Austin, Jeramy Roberts is serious about helping today’s most driven and committed newcomers create productive, rewarding careers in music.

Articles

#IZCONNECTED 62 | Jeramy Roberts - How To Monetize Your EDM
Recording Connection mentor Jeramy Roberts talks about the new music industry and creating your own job within it

Background

An established audio engineer/producer based in New Orleans, Recording Connection mentor Misha Kachkachishvili is an industry veteran whose client list includes names like Solange Knowles, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Janelle Monae, Taj Mahal, T-Bone Burnett and many others. A few years ago, he purchased a historic church left decimated by Hurricane Katrina, chose to keep the church’s historic pipe organ donated by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, and converted the space into what is now Esplanade Studios, the largest recording studio in Louisiana (and one of the most prestigious).

Articles

A Day in the Life of Our Student
Recording Connection mentor Misha Kachkachishvili on working with artists and finding opportunity

Background

In 1996, Scotty became Production Manager for the powerhouse production team, The Characters. It was during this time that Scott worked on numerous Platinum and Gold albums, including releases by SWV, Johnny Gill, Tyrese, B2K, Brian McKnight, Petey Pablo, and Faith Evans. Scotty has been lending his expertise in Studio and Production Management at Engine Room Audio since 2006.