Audio Production

Music Production & Recording

From a classic european tube condenser microphone to a telephone through a guitar amp — and everything in between — we can choose the right paintbrush to help bring your unique sonic vision to life. That means avoiding formulas and predictability, and focusing instead on what makes each individual artist special. And with Dan’s background as a musical director, performer, and composer, as well as his strong interpersonal skills, projects go smoothly from start to finish.

Mixing (music, film/tv/web)

Let us find the unique and compelling character in your track and highlight it. Using industry-leading monitoring (Quested, Sonarworks, custom acoustic treatment) and mixing tools (iZotope, Waves, Soundtoys, Apogee, Sonarworks, Focusrite, JST, Massey, Metric Halo, Overloud, Softube, Wavesfactory) gives us the ability to deftly balance precision and cleanness with saturation, processing and manipulation. We also handle all restoration/correction needs, including: removing guitar amp hum, resolving harsh vocals with frequency dependent compression and enhancing audience applause with mid-side processing.

Voiceover + audiobooks

Don’t let anyone tell you that voiceovers and audiobooks are the same as music production and recording. They’re not! Capturing the subtlety and meaning that only the spoken word can convey requires a wholly different treatment and approach than singing. With a deep knowledge of this process and immense attention to detail, we prioritize intelligibility, listenability and clear but understated meaning.

Live Sound Production

Dan’s decades of experience as both a performer and live sound engineer give him a top-to-bottom understanding of how to construct a monitor mix for any group or occassion. This includes attention not only to sound, but also the ergonomics and visual appeal of the setup. Great communication with bookers and musicians is often as important as the technical details, and we take great pride in our ability to listen, respond and execute under pressure. This includes an ability to correct for challenging rooms and systems, allowing the music to speak clearly and elevate your event.


Education

Dan is able to analyze the needs of an audience or organization in order to design, develop and deliver tailored, engaging learning opportunities for a wide variety of students, including:

  • teen (clients include ZUMIX, Boys & Girls Club)

  • higher ed (clients include Umass Lowell, Tufts University, Worcester State University)

  • adult ed (clients includeAudio Engineering Society, WUMB Blues Camps)

  • train the trainer (clients include Teen Empowerment)

  • private Instruction (clients includemany composers, songwriters, music educators)

His broad understanding of music, audio engineering and sound more generally —  including physics, biology/perception, technology and practical applications — gives him the ability to take otherwise abstract technical concepts and make them visceral and intuitive for his students. He imparts a contagious sense fun to all his presentations and classes via engaging, hands-on demonstrations, interactive activities, and real-world analogies.


Consulting

No matter what stage you’re at with your project, we can come up with tailored, on-scale solutions to help you take it to the next level. Services include:

  • Facilities design

    • defining the goals and needs of the organization

    • working within budget

    • audio/music spaces that excite students and provide opportunities not available elsewhere

    • guide the process of assembling a team (architect, opm, acoustic consultant, IT, A/V infrastructure, lighting, interior design, HVAC, electrical, green, mechanical engineer, etc)

    • coordination and project management of design and construction teams

  • Audio IT

    • Increasingly, audio and music technology is software

    • IT personnel are often inexperienced and lack training in Audio software installation and configuration

  • Curriculum Design

    • See “Education: above

    • Equipment selection and training

  • software, hardware, infrastructure, accessories, teaching aids, furniture

  • Edu needs are different from consumer and professional needs

    • Advising hiring processes

  • Able to help find/identify the right staff to carry out the educational vision and utilize facility and technology as intended

    • Creation of ongoing maintenance plan (keeps the facility and equipment providing edu outcomes for the long term)