Biography

I'm a Music Producer and Recording Engineer, who has worked professionally in the industry for the past 25 years. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, in 1988, with a Music Production & Engineering Degree, I took an Engineering position at the world famous Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. While at Sigma, I had the opportunity to work with, and learn from, some of the top Producers, Engineers, and Artists in the music industry. Sigma was also the place where my true education came from, thanks to Michael Tarsia, who taught me things not found in books, and gave me opportunities not afforded to many who were in my position.

I left Sigma in 1991 to take a position at Disc Makers, the country's largest Independent Audio Manufacturer. While there I served as a Senior Account Manager on more than 5000 CD, Cassette, and LP releases, for artists such as the Insane Clown Posse, Jars of Clay, and Cash Money Records; re-located for one year to set up the Music Annex Company (a competitor that Disc Makers had purchased in Fremont, CA); and was the creator of the well known Disc Makers Studio Partner Program.

In 2006, I took the plunge and finally built my own Recording Studio, as technology dropped to a price point where competing with the multi-million dollar studios had finally become a reality. I had also had a small studio while I was at Disc Makers. But that was the time, 1991-1998, when it truly wasn't practical to compete with the big, multi-million dollar, studios. Don't get me wrong, you were able to get some very nice results, with the basic equipment available to the home recordist; but you were in no way going to match the quality of a major label studio. In fact, my little, basement, home studio, cut the demos for the Bel Biv DeVoe songs, “Please Come Back” and “Lost In The Moment”, that appear on their Gold album, Hootie Mack. Thankfully, with the rapid advancement of technology, those days have passed! Today it's a matter of your talent as an Engineer, not just how much money you've invested in your equipment or how big your studio is; a day many of us had been waiting on for a very long time!

Once the studio was in place I launched Alfadog Music, a combination Production Company and Studio. The studio is a professionally soundproofed 22' x 10' recording space, with an attached 24' x 14' control room with many amenities. The studio is a commercial studio that is rented to bands, musicians, and recording labels of all size. The heart of the studio is a custom built quad core PC with 4GB of memory, running the latest Pro Tools update, with 4 Universal Audio UAD-1 cards containing some of the sweetest EFX plug-ins you'll ever hear (vintage processors such as the Neve 88RS channel strip, Fairchild 670 compressor, and the Pultec Pro equalizer. All 32 mic inputs are fed to the Ramsa DA-7 digital mixing console with 32 individual channel inputs and 32 channels of ADAT Lightpipe output, interfaced to the M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge. There is a full range of microphones from Audix, Shure, Audio Technica, and Studio Projects.

The music you hear on my profile, is all music that was done at Alfadog Music Studio. Much of the songs were projects where I wore all hats, that of Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, and Mastering Engineer. It's work that I'm very proud of and will match up against anyone out there. I'm not shy about saying that, I'm good at what I do. It's not because I was uniquely blessed in some way, and it's not a skill set that came overnight, it was a process that I worked at for a very, very, long time! Luckily I had really good people around me to learn from, and for that I am greatly thankful!

Aside from the studio work that I do, I've developed a new project called MusicScroll.com. Music Scroll is the world's largest, FREE, music contacts and music resources directory. It was developed to fill a void of information that was out there. So many times I've seen bands spend upwards of 1 to 2 years recording an album, finishing up, and then saying, “okay, now what”?! Hopefully, MusicScroll.com will open some doors for many and give them the tools to succeed in this vast, mysterious, universe, that we call the Music Business. For more information visit http://www.musicscroll.com/directory or email me at admin@musicscroll.com. I can also be reached via phone, at 1-877-8-SOUND9, or locally at 610-717-2091 (cell).

One word of warning when you are shopping for a studio. In the past, I've been witness to some incredible changes and advancements, but nothing like what has taken place these past few years. Spectacular advances in computer technology have made equipment and resources, once only afforded by the million dollar studios, now available to the masses. For the musician, it is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, in that recording has become much more affordable, as small project studios have sprung up like wild flowers as anyone with a minimal investment can hang up a shingle and call themselves a studio. A curse in that most of the people calling themselves studios have no understanding of what they are doing. Capturing sound to a hard drive is no great feat, anyone can learn the basics of using a program like Pro Tools. But operating software and knowing the art of recording, audio editing, mixing, and mastering, are worlds apart! Yes, we all can afford the "Formula 500 Race Car" now; but put a professional driver in the same car as an amateur, and the amateur is going to get their doors blown off!

Who I'd like to meet:
I'd like to meet you! I'm available to Produce, Record, Mix, and Master, you current or future project. I DO NOT do work on SPEC; but my rates are very reasonable. I've got a great little studio here, that pumps out, Major Label, quality work, and I welcome the opportunity to bring your music to life, so you can showcase it in the best possible light.