About the Engineer

What does it take to be incredibly talented in your field?

In today's world, thanks to the vast wealth of information on youtube and the internet in general... individuals are no longer held back by a need for education from universities with special titles to have a deep understanding of a field. 

For most of history, your circle of interactions was limited by your physical location and access to information through personal relationships and material resources. To an extent this is still true today, but the internet has made information at almost every level radically more accessible, AI has only served to further accelerate this.

So here I am in the 21st century as an audio engineer with over 20 years of experience. Being in my mid-30s, that means that I started mixing when I was around 8 years old. My Grandfather was a shop teacher but he had a very good understanding of the technical aspects of audio engineering. He taught me how EQ worked, how to place microphones, how to hear and listen despite terrible mixing locations. We would erase tape decks with an electromagnetic to remove the hiss from magnetic buildup in the deck. We spent many hours trying to hunt down the origins of a hum in the system which appeared to be the result of poor signal cables and ground loop. It wasn't till after his death that I finally conquered this problem and installed a new audio system without the hum.

My Grandfather and I went everywhere together and I learned volumes of information from him before he passed away when I was 13. When he passed away, I quickly took over the task of mixing audio at church and was busy mixing services, choir specials, and even helping when a radio host came to complete a recording at our church. I spearheaded installing a new audio system and soundbooth and spent time training others. By the time I was 18 I had a thorough understanding of analog audio and circuits. Due to finishing Calculus 3 by the age of 16, CAD design, electric circuits, and required Physics for engineering, I had a very solid understanding of why audio and electricity acted the way it did as well other engineering principles.

After graduating high school I moved on to digital mixing. I got involved at a mega church and mixed for a while on a Yamaha M7. It was a beautiful board and was challenging enough that I began to really learn how digital mixers worked. Later, when I was 22, I began mixing on Digico/Avid's Venue Profile mixer. You haven't experienced the beauty of digital mixing until you've mixed on a board like this. Everything was right at my finger tips. I could use multiple layers of compression on a single channel, I could setup any combination of effects in any order. The possibilities were endless. I read the over 350 page manual on the board and understood every detail of how it worked. I then got serious about understanding compression and gates. I worked on my approach to taming dynamic vocals and even had applications of surround sound as we would have special events which involved speakers in each corner of the room centered on a central stage. I played with parallel compression and learned how to make the bass and drums sound super full and rich.

Later in my life, I started doing more research into mastering and studio recording. I worked on recordings and and learned how to improve my source tone and improve audio recordings. I studied DAWs and learned about concepts like rear-buss compression and broadcast audio techniques.

Eventually, I launched Sonic Grounding and started serving local churches. As a result, I started doing research into system tuning and was suddenly discovering a new realm of technical, high level math that I had not seen previously in audio. I began researching phase shift and phase graphs and learning how to take system measurements tune systems. I researched subwoofer placement and alignment techniques. I began designing systems and discovered through my connections that I was making the same suggestions to churches that well established installation firms were making. 

Now, over 20 years since I started my audio journey as a small 8 year-old kid, I have nearly a decade of experience in education, I have a BA in mathematics, and I will soon be completing an exam to become a certified audio engineer (CEA). What makes me unique from many audio engineers is that not only do I have a degree in mathematics, but my experiences are incredibly broad. My background in construction, physics, electric circuits, CAD design, illustration and photography, videography, lighting... all these fields, which I actually have a great deal of experience in, allow me to have a very rich and full understanding of the field of audio and how it relates to other fields in various applications. I have more than the technical understanding of audio, I have an artistic approach and a well tuned and creative ear. I have vocal training and many years of experience in music. 

So while I may not have a music or audio degree from a prestigious university, I think I have something much better, experience, detailed theory, and an incredible ear and mix.

At Sonic Grounding, I am here, ready to help you gain new levels of understanding in the various fields of audio engineering and challenge you to expand your thinking and become a seasoned professional. Everyone can mix. Few do what it takes to be the best mixer in the state or nationally recognized. But why not? If you're going to mix, why not do it with increasing levels of detail and richness. Why not grow and develop into an excellent engineer who can stand toe-to-toe with the finest. Stop believing you don't have what it takes and start believing in your potential and determination to learn. Don't be the person everyone turns around and looks at when things sound empty and lacking. Be the person that others turn around to see because it sounds so darn good.