John Escobar – Program Director

John is a producer/engineer and a multi-instrumentalist with over ten years of experience in the industry. He has toured both nationally and internationally and worked on over 50 releases in a wide variety of genres with such artists as Larry Coryell, Chris Eldridge and Noam Pikelny (Punch Brothers Band), Sarah Jarosz, Barry Eastmond, Hilary McRea, John Colianni, Herb Ellis, and Keisha Jackson. His work has earned him nominations for two Wammie awards, as well as three IBMA awards. John is a graduate of the Omega School of Recording Arts and Sciences, and Berklee College of Music.

Matt Azavedo

Matt is a mastering engineer with over 1,200 album credits spanning an enormous spectrum of genres. In addition to his mastering work, he is also an active mix and tracking engineer, with a special focus on live to stereo recording. Matt has played saxophone, Theremin and guitar in various bands over the years, and is currently performing and composing with modular analog synthesizers.

Frederick Bianchi

Frederick has been involved in a wide variety of music technology applications including composition, audio production, live performance and real time interactivity. His pioneering work with Virtual Orchestra technology has resulted in over 50,000 performances worldwide and includes work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, London’s West End, Cirque du Soleil and theatrical tours in America and Europe. He is a co-founder of Realtime Music Solutions in New York City.

Dan Cardinal

Dan is a freelance recording and live sound engineer in the Boston area. He has done work for Warner Records, Rounder Records, FSN television network and Kufala/Live Archive, and has engineered and produced many independent releases. Dan specializes in front-of-house and live multitrack recording, wiring and acoustic treatment, and guerrilla recording techniques.

Steve Cerilli

Steve is a freelance audio postproduction sound engineer with a focus in sound design. He has been working independently at numerous postproduction houses on national TV and radio commercials, documentaries and 3D bumpers for the video gaming industry. Steve created and contributed as sound designer and independent producer to sound effects collections for Sound- Ideas including Radioactive. He was also a contributing sound designer for The Big Drone and the Sci Fi Series 8000 Warp Three collections. Steve’s sound effects are included in Bias Inc’s Peak audio software (versions 3–5). He also developed preset templates for Waves audio plug-ins.

Scott DeFusco
Scott began his career as a drummer and audio engineer for established metal acts such as December Wolves (Earache Records) and Trap Them (Prosthetic Records).  He pursued a career in post-production after completing the Audio Production program at CDIA, and now works as a voice-over editor for Silverlink Communications.  As a freelance sound designer and re-recording mixer, Scott also works with numerous film and animation studios, collaborating on projects for The U.S. Army, The Jimmy Fund, Reason.tv and many more.

Daniel Goldfine

Daniel has worked in several facets of the music industry including technical support for Cambridge-based music technology company MOTU and Framingham-based BOSE Corporation. Recording projects have included the Boston bands Lifestyle and Freezepop, and projects both here and in the UK with members of internationallyknown bands The Cure, Psychedelic Furs and Morrissey. Daniel has also taught audio recording at institutions of higher learning in the Boston area.

Gary Mott

Gary is a producer for WGBH Radio in Boston. In his 11 years at WGBH, Gary has produced national and regional series and specials for radio, including PRI’s Sound & Spirit with Ellen Kushner, NPR’s Says You, A Christmas Celtic Sojourn with Brian O’Donovan, Live from the Lowell Folk Festival and Live from Tanglewood Jazz. He has also produced classical, Celtic, blues, and folk in-studio performances, and created features and interstitial pieces for local and national broadcast at WGBH’s Culture Desk. Gary also developed the website for NPR’s Says You, curated content for WGBH Morning Stories and A Celtic Sojourn, produced a classical music performance for public broadcasting in the virtual world Second Life and, as assistant editor of WGBH Morning Stories, pioneered the development of podcasting. Gary’s productions have won the Gabriel Award, the Clarion Award, and recognition from New York Festivals. He holds a MA in Mass Communication from Emerson College.

Claes Nystrom
Claes Nystrom has a long tenured background as a supervising sound editor, re-recording mixer and head of a post production sound facility in Los Angeles. In 2001, he received a peer award nomination from Cinema Audio Society for “Outstanding Achievement In Sound Mixing”. During his 15 year residence in Los Angeles, he has also been a film composer for all of the major Hollywood film studios, specializing in creating custom scores for movie trailers. His film composing work also includes long format original scores for clients like Sydney Pollack and Stanton Kaye. With a background both as a film composer and sound supervisor, Claes brings a unique view on the story telling aspects, techniques and methodologies of film sound—specifically as it applies to the desktop filmmaker.

Jason Petrin

Jason is a producer, engineer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2004 with a dual degree in Music Production and Engineering and Music Synthesis. Since graduating, Jason has worked as an engineer on the records of singer/songwriter Lindsay Mac, harpist/ singer Maeve Gilchrist, folk singer Watson Reid, and singer/guitarist Chris McDermott, as well as the PBS Kids show, Postcards from Buster. In addition to his work as an engineer, Jason produced the debut records of artist Charlie Christos and singer/songwriter Liz Stahler. Jason has recently worked with DJ Jefr Tale producing dance mixes for a weekly satellite radio show and partnering to form Talespin Records, a dance music label featuring his original music and remixes.

Dev K Ray

Dev has worked both on and off the road – from being a producer and engineer in the recording studio, to being a live sound engineer, tour manager, publicist, booking agent, guitarist and bassist. A graduate of the University of Rochester, he spent a large amount of time at the Eastman School of Music studying composition and theory. Following this he graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2004, where he studied Music Production and Engineering. While at Berklee he began his working relationship with singer/songwriter Lindsay Mac. Together they have touring nationally and internationally, working in over 400 different venues. In addition to Lindsay Mac, Dev has also worked with Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists, The Chess Collective and The Shadowboxer Gentlemen.

Robert A. Rosati

Robert is a studio designer, acoustician and systems engineer. As the founder and principal of Rosati Acoustics + Multimedia, Inc., he provides design and engineering expertise, integrating architectural acoustics, sound reproduction, audiovisual systems, electro-acoustics and cutting-edge technology. He has designed professional recording studios, high-tech theaters, auditoriums, museums, conference facilities and houses of worship. Rob has engineered numerous albums and toured as a chief sound engineer for a famed rock group, engineering a Platinum album with over eight million copies sold.

Corey Schreppel

A Berklee Music Production and Engineering alum, Corey is currently a staff engineer at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, specializing in jazz and classical recordings. His credits include Dave Holland, Steve Reich, the Borromeo String Quartet and many renowned resident and NEC-sponsored ensembles. Corey also works around Boston as a freelance engineer/ producer, mixing and mastering projects by pop and rock artists.

Sean Slade

Sean Slade graduated from Yale University in 1978; he moved to Boston, played guitar and saxophone in various beat combos, and cofounded Fort Apache Studios in 1985. He has produced and engineered records for Radiohead, Hole, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Warren Zevon, the Dresden Dolls, any many more artists. When not teaching at CDIA, he can be found recording music at Quarry Recorders, his studio in rural Maine.

Abe Stein

Abe is lead sound designer, recordist and mix engineer at Clambake Animation in Watertown, MA. His sound design work can be heard on the Cartoon Network series Assy McGee and in various national television and web-based ads. Prior to working in animation, Abe was a sound designer and mix engineer on The Habitable Planet, a series of educational documentaries focused on current issues in environmental sciences. Some of his other credits include Aqua Teen Hunger Force (dialog recordist), Hit or Miss (sound designer, mix engineer), This is Nollywood (mix engineer), and FSN’s International Fight League Broadcasts (dialog editor). Abe cut his teeth as an audio engineer in Philadelphia, working with engineer Scott Herzog at Third Story Recording Studios.

Hendrik David Gideonse

Hendrik splits his time between teaching audio production, running Indecent Music (http://www.indecentmusic.com), working on small room acoustics (http://www.xix-acoustics.com), and prototyping inventions. Hendrik has a BA and an MA from Tufts in Music Composition and is finishing up another master’s in Sound Recording Technology at U. Mass Lowell. He firmly believes in the DIY approach to studio construction, acoustic treatment and audio technology.

Zach Winterfeld

Originally from Idaho Zach Winterfeld moved to Los Angeles after graduating from the College of Idaho and Conservatory of Recording Arts and Science. Once in Los Angeles Zach accepted a job at the famous Cello Studios, formerly United Western Recorders, recording studio to such artists as Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Elton John, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, and Frank Sinatra. After its unfortunate closing in the winter of 2005 Zach accepted a job under producer/engineer Ben Grosse; Fuel, Ben Folds, Marilyn Manson, and Disturbed; at The Mix Room in Burbank, CA. Here he was given the chance to work with artists like Vertical Horizon, Depesche Mode, Motely Crue, and Audioslave. He was also able to work with world renowned engineers Joe Chiccarelli and Kevin Shirley.

While working for Ben Grosse Zach was offered and accepted a job as the ‘head of all things digital’ at Mercenary Audio. Zach had a variety of clients all over the world, including in Panama, Italy, and Malaysia. More famous clients include Vertical Horizon’s Matt Scannell and Death Cab for Cutie.

Following Mercenary Audio Zach accepted a job at Berklee College of Music. During his employment Zach has recorded artists such as John Mayer and Jon Butcher, and worked with Grammy Award Winning engineer Tom Carr. Also during this time Zach mixed concerts for Kevin Griffin of Better than Ezra, Danny Klein of the J Geils Band, Gavin DeGraw, Donna DeLory, and Danny Wood of New Kids on the Block. As well as produced events for organizations like like The American Liver Foundation, The American Heart Foundation, and The Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Ben Houge

Ben Houge has been developing audio for the video game industry since 1996, contributing to a range of titles including Tom Clancy’s EndWar, Arcanum, Half-Life: Opposing Force, King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity, and Leisure Suit Larry 7.

He spent seven years on staff at Sierra Entertainment (Seattle) and four years at Ubisoft (Shanghai), in addition to collaborating with Gearbox, Microsoft, ArenaNet, Troika, and Hidden Path, among others. Ben is also active as a new media artist, exploring real-time, non-linear systems in sound installation and video at venues including the Boston Cyberarts Festival, the San Diego Museum of Art, e4c gallery (Seattle), the Today Art Museum (Beijing), the True Color Museum (Suzhou), and Salon des Amateurs (Düsseldorf).

In addition to teaching game audio at Boston University CDIA, Ben teaches video game music at Berklee College of Music, and he maintains an active lecture schedule. For more information, visit http://www.benhouge.com.