Early Years

I was in high school in Spokane, WA in the 1990’s when I became passionate about music. Grunge rock was popular and as an aspiring guitarist I fell in love with Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Nirvana. I also loved the band programs at school, where I played mellophone in the CVHS marching band, French horn in symphonic band, bass guitar in pep band, and guitar in jazz band.

After high school I moved to Pullman for college at WSU, where I majored in English and education with the goal of becoming a high school English teacher. I quit playing horns but continued to be serious about guitar while pursuing a minor in jazz. In my sophomore year I formed a rock band with some friends and that became my primary focus. After my junior year I was convinced our band had potential, and we all moved to Portland to see if we could do something in the real world (we didn’t last long in the city).

I didn’t want to abandon my college education, so I enrolled in classes at WSU Vancouver and lived in a tent near campus for a few weeks while looking for work and waiting for the rest of the band to move to town. Eventually we rented a house in NE Portland and I bounced around from job to job doing temp work. One of temp jobs was at URS Electronics, which laid the foundation for my future work in electronics.

After taking inventory of every component in the building at URS over several months I was hired full-time to work the front counter as a salesman. My co-workers taught me a little bit about circuits and soldering, and soon I was fixing guitar pedals and reading technical electronics books in my spare time.

Pirate Radio

While I was working at URS my college friends Kevin O’Connor and Sam Schauer moved to Portland, and they had acquired some radio broadcasting equipment with the intent to start a pirate radio station. There was a nice customer at URS that was a legit FM broadcast engineer and I asked him for help to re-tune the radio transmitter to an open frequency. He obliged, and with a working transmitter the Portland Radio Authority was founded.

The PRA originally operated out of Sam’s house in NE Portland, but the station soon outgrew the residential setting. We found a pirate-friendly landlord and moved into an office space downtown. After some fundraising and with some more technical assistance I put together a new 100 watt stereo transmitter. Our signal at 96.7 FM could be heard clearly throughout downtown and the eastside. With over 50 volunteer DJs there was live programming every afternoon and night until we were eventually shut down by the FCC after a few amazing years.

I did eventually graduate from the Honors College at WSU, and my thesis project was about starting an art collective and recording studio with a focus on environmental and political activism. The PRA felt like a tangible expression of a similar concept, amplifying the voices of a young creative community while the mainstream media was hyping up Saddam Hussein’s fictional WMDs and yellowcake uranium. Plus, radio was fun!

Electronics Work and Technical Background

While working the counter at URS I was excited to meet Larry Crane, who was buying cable and connectors for his Jackpot! recording studio. He introduced me to Scott Hampton, who hired me to assemble circuit boards at Hamptone. I assisted Scott at Tape Op conferences in Tucson and New Orleans for his DIY compressor and equalizer workshops, and I’m grateful for the knowledge he generously shared with me.

I left URS in 2004 to work at Platinum Records Lights & Sound, where I repaired turntables, DJ and pro audio equipment, as well as disco lights and fog machines. I also helped to install and calibrate large sound and lighting systems at several nightclubs. I gained practical electronics experience at Platinum that boosted my confidence to eventually build the custom lacquer cutting lathe and mastering speakers that I use today.

My Music, Becoming a Mastering Engineer, Family Life

During these years several personal music projects came and went, from rock bands Gravity, Aporia and Laserhawk to my electronic & hip-hop focused solo project Wilding. My most recent band was with Alan Singley - we put out a few albums and toured the western US, but eventually we fizzled out as well. I recorded and mixed records for all of these groups and several others, gaining experience as an audio engineer.

When I first tried mastering around 2005 after some encouragement from my friend Jon Cohrs, I never would have guessed I could make it a career. It was a humble beginning, with cracked software and cheap bookshelf speakers. I loved it, kept at it, honed my skills and upgraded my equipment over time. In 2009 I gave up recording and mixing, dedicating my studio exclusively to mastering. In 2012 I bought my first lathe for cutting vinyl masters, quit my job at Platinum, and became a full-time mastering engineer.

After my ‘20s was filled with bands, radio and adventures, I married my lovely wife Dana in 2010 and we focused on building our new family together. Our son Leon was born in 2013, and our daughter Simone was born in 2015. I’m thankful that through these years I’ve been able to enjoy success as a mastering engineer, and that music continues to be a core part of my everyday life. I couldn’t do it without my wonderful clients, I appreciate you all!