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Speakers



Tom Holkenborg

Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL

Grammy Nominated and Multi-Platinum Producer, Musician, and Composer

Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL, is a Grammy nominated and multi platinum producer, musician, and composer whose versatility puts him on the cutting edge of contemporary music, as well at the vanguard of exciting new film composers. His film scoring credits include the Peter Jackson film Mortal Engines, Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel, George Miller's Mad Max Fury Road, Tim Miller's Deadpool, Black Mass, Divergent, Brimstone, The Dark Tower, and Tomb Raider.

Tom is able to draw on his extensive knowledge of classical forms and structures while keeping one finger planted firmly on the pulse of popular music. When this eclectic background is paired with his skill as a multi-instrumentalist (he plays keyboards, guitar, drums, violin, and bass and describes himself as a ‘full contact composer’) and a mastery of studio technology, a portrait emerges of an artist for whom anything is possible.

The foundation for Tom’s career started in his native Holland where he created multiple film scores, and undertook mentorships with celebrated composers Harry Gregson Williams (on Domino and Kingdom of Heaven) and Klaus Badelt (on Catwoman). But things really started to fall into place when Tom started collaborating with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer. Their partnership lasted several years, culminating in 2016’s blockbuster Batman vs Superman, which marked the seventh scoring collaboration between Holkenborg and Zimmer. Holkenborg worked with Zimmer on The Amazing Spider Man 2 (2014), Man of Steel (2013), Dark Knight Rises (2012), Madagascar 3 (2012), Megamind (2010), and Inception (2010).

Holkenborg’s music career began in 1993 when he started the industrial rock band Nerv and was also producing hardcore and metal bands like Sepultura and Fear Factory. Drawn by electronic breakbeats he started Junkie XL in 1997 debuting with the album Saturday Teenage Kick. Holkenborg went on to produce 5 more albums under the moniker while playing headline shows all over the world. In 2002 the producer remixer scored a number 1 hit in 24 countries with his rework of “A Little Less Conversation”. Following the success Holkenborg collaborated with celebrated artists like Dave Gahan, Robert Smith, Chuck D, and remixed artists such as Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and many more. In addition Holkenborg created the music for video games like FIFA, Need For Speed, The Sims, and SSX and commercials for global campaigns like Nike, Heineken, Adidas, Cadillac and VISA.

Session: Keynote Speaker

The Audience will be able to ask Tom questions about his work and his love of synthesizers. He loves to talk about synthesizers!

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 4:30PM-5:15PM

Room: ABC

Harold Faltermeyer

Harold Faltermeyer

Grammy Award Winning Composer, Musician, Arranger and Producer

Born October 1952 in Munich, Germany, Harold Faltermeyer studied at Munich’s prestigious, Hochschule fuer Musik full time and also worked at the Deutsche Grammophon recording studio as a volunteer technician. This dedication paid off with his first big break – working as right-hand-man to Giorgio Moroder, producer of Donna Summer and Disco Movement pioneer.

Harold co-wrote Hot Stuff for Donna Summer’s Bad Girls in 1979. In Hollywood, Harold met movie producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. In 1983 they offered Harold Thief of Hearts. Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop II soon followed. From 1985-1992 he wrote the music to Fletch, Running Man, Fletch Lives, Fatal Beauty, Tango & Cash and Kuffs. Collectively these movies garnered 5 Grammy nominations, 2 Golden Globe Nominations and one Academy Award nomination.

Harold produced the Pet Shop Boys album Behavior. He scored the chart-topping video game Two Worlds. Then John Stalberg’s debut feature High School. Kevin Smith requested Harold produce the music for Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan in 2010. Faltermeyer is now back in Los Angeles and engaged in composing music for Top Gun Maverick, due to be released in June 2020.

Session: Axel F - History of a Synthesizer SMASH

The "Axel F" theme song which was featured in Beverly Hills Cop, was an iconic and influential synth-pop hit in the 1980s. Harold also composed the Top Gun Anthem for the feature film Top Gun and the music for the Chevy Chase Fletch feature films, Fletch and Fletch Lives. The Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun projects earned him two Grammy Awards: the first in 1986 for Best Album of original score written for a motion picture or television special, as a co-writer of the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack; and the second in 1987 for Best Pop Instrumental performance. Harold will take you through his tracks and speak about what gear was used and how he put together these hot hits.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 2:15PM-3:00PM

Room: ABC

Allee Willis

Allee Willis

Songwriter, Performer & Visual Artist

Grammy, Tony, Emmy, Webby, Song Writer Hall of Fame Award Winning songwriter, performer, visual artist and pioneer of synthesizers in pop music ALLEE WILLIS has a very unusual and vivid approach to visual imagery for audio. She has been inspired by everything from motors to pigeons in the use of sounds on a gaziilion hit projects. From Earth, Wind & Fire's iconic September (records) to The Pointers Sisters Neutron Dance (film) to Color Purple (Broadway) to Friends (TV) - Allee Willis has a treasure trove of knowledge and insight into the creative process, and creative communication. She is the very definition of a traiilblazing female in a male dominated industry. She presents a sonic and visual smorgasbord for all songwriters & composers.

Session: Charting Your Own Path

ALLEE WILLIS presents her unique approach to the visual imagery of synthesis and the use of sound as inspiration for songwriters.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 12:00PM-12:45PM

Room: B

Dave Smith

Sequential President

Legendary instrument designer and Grammy-winner Dave Smith founded Sequential Circuits in 1974. In 1977 Dave designed the Prophet-5, the world’s first fully-programmable polyphonic synth—and the first musical instrument with an embedded microprocessor. Sequential released many innovative instruments and drum machines over the next 10 years. Dave is known as the driving force behind the MIDI specification in 1981. It was Dave, in fact, who coined the acronym. In 1987 he was named a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) for his continuing work in music synthesis. After Sequential, Dave was President of DSD, Inc, an R&D division of Yamaha, where he worked on physical modeling synthesis and software synthesizer concepts. He then started the Korg R&D group in California, producing the Wavestation and other technology.

He took over as President at Seer Systems and developed the first soft synth for Intel in 1994, followed by the first professional soft synth, Reality, which was released in 1997. Realizing the limitations of software, Dave returned to hardware and started Dave Smith Instruments, starting with the Evolver hybrid analog/digital synthesizer in 2002. The product lineup has grown to include the Prophet X, Prophet Rev2, Prophet-6, OB-6 (with Tom Oberheim), Pro 2, and Prophet 12 synthesizers, and the Tempest drum machine (with Roger Linn). In 2018 DSI changed its name to Sequential, bringing Dave’s legacy full-circle.

Session: Digital thru Analog, Then & Now

Over the years, synths have varied from full analog (Minimoog/Prophet 5) to full digital (DX7/M1), with a lot of hybrid combinations along the way (Emulator/Prophet VS). And continuing arguments from purists on all sides! These days we are fortunate to have a wide range of synths and synth technology to choose from, but for me the key is always the analog filters. There's something magic about running digital through analog, especially in poly synths. I'll be discussing different instruments over the years, and demonstrating the Prophet X as a current example of digital through analog.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 3:45PM-4:30PM

Room: ABC

Dave Smith

Roger Linn

Industry Legend, Inventor and Musician

Roger Linn is a creator of electronic music products, starting with the 1979 LM-1 Drum Computer, the first sample-based drum machine. Other notable instruments include the LinnDrum drum machine, the Akai MPC series of drum machines, the AdrenaLinn synchronous filter processor for guitar, the Tempest Analog Drum Machine and now the LinnStrument expressive MIDI controller. He is the recipient of the 2011 Technical Grammy award.

Session: Roger Linn demos LinnStrument

Roger Linn demonstrates “LinnStrument”, an expressive MIDI controller that brings the subtle performance gestures of fine acoustic instruments—vibrato, bends, pitch slides, timbral changes— to electronic sound by capturing three continuous dimensions of each touch. In doing so, it offers an alternate to the MIDI piano keyboard, which is essentially an array of simple on/off switches.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 1:00PM-1:45PM

Room: C

BT

BT

Music Producer, Composer, Synthesizer Freak and Songwriter

With a career spanning nearly 25 years – BT, also known as Brian Transeau, is a Grammy-Nominated music producer, composer, technologist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is credited as a pioneer of the Trance and IDM genres that paved the way for modern-day EDM. BT is also a classically trained composer and songwriter. He is credited as a pioneer of a variety of important plugins that producers around the world have gone on to use as essentials such as Stutter Edit and Izotope and most recently Phobos with Spitfire Audio.He has written, produced, and remixed artists like Peter Gabriel, Depeche Mode, NSYNC, Sting, David Bowie, The Roots, Madonna, Britney Spears, Tiesto and more. BT is also an accomplished film-composer, known for his scores on Monster and The Fast and The Furious. BT’s latest score work can be heard on Amazon’s ‘Electric Dreams’ and new Indian thriller ‘ITTEFAQ.’ Other recent projects include writing the music for Tomorrowland at Disneyland Shanghai.

Session: Master Q & A

The Audience will get to ask BT questions about his career, his inspirations, his studio techniques and his passion for electronic music and synthesizers... or whatever else you can think of to ask this industry giant.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30st 1:30PM-2:15PM

Room: ABC

Robert Stambler

Robert Stambler

Sound Effects Editor & Sound Designer

A second-generation sound designer who began his showbiz career as a film projectionist in high school. After working in post-production in the picture editorial department he moved into the world of sound while working at J.J. Abrams’ company Bad Robot. Stambler’s resume includes Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Cloverfield Paradox, Venom, Overlord and the upcoming Star Wars – Episode 9.

Session: Synthesizers for Feature Film Sound Design

Robert Stambler will take you through his methods for creating innovative sounds for motion pictures. He will talk shop and show the audience examples of using synthesis for film sound design

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 12:15PM-1:00PM

Room: B

Craig Anderton

Craig Anderton

Author, Musician, Producer

Craig Anderton is a well-known authority on electronic music and music making technology and he has written an astonishing 26 books on music and has contributed more than a thousand articles for magazines such as; Electronic Musician, Keyboard, Sound on Sound, Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, and many more publications. In the mid 80’s, Craig co-founded Electronic Musician magazine and he continues to write articles for several industry magazines and contributes often to music related websites. Craig has played on, produced, or mastered over 20 major label recordings, did studio session work in New York City during the 70’s, playing both keys & guitar. Craig has played Carnegie Hall which is every musicians dream, and most recently, he has mastered well over a hundred tracks for a variety of artists.

Craig has also been a forerunner in the online community with his "Sound, Studio, and Stage" Forum and that has been going strong with over a million posts since 1995. It is currently hosted on www.harmonycentral.com, where Craig is the Editorial Director. Craig has given speaking engagements on music technology in 38 out of 50 states, in 10 countries, and in three languages. Anderton maintains an active career doing; mastering, writing, video production, mixing, and performing, and he still finds time to be an Executive Vice President for Gibson Brands.

Session A: Breaking the Rules of EDM

Has EDM become formulaic? Craig presents ways to carve out your own sonic niche—using everything from incorporating global dance music ideas, to introducing rock elements, to innovative mixing and editing techniques with new sounds.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 10:45AM-11:30AM

Room: B

Session B: How to Have a Career in Music (Without Being a Rock Star)

As Talking Heads once said, “If your work isn’t what you love, then something isn’t right.” You may not be able to take to the stage every night, or live off royalties—but there are a surprising number of ways you can have a career that involves music.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 1:00PM-1:45PM

Room: A

Session C: Getting Preset Patches to Come Alive

Music is about expressiveness, so find out how to take presets and make them yours—create more animated sounds, add emotion, and use effects effectively. As just one example, can a synthesizer do guitar-type feedback sounds? Yes—and you’ll find out how.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 2:45PM-3:30PM

Room: VINE

Shelly Peiken

Shelly Peiken

Multi-platinum Grammy nominated songwriter

Shelly Peiken (pEYE ken) is a multi-platinum Grammy nominated songwriter who is best known for #1 hits "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby". She earned a GRAMMY nomination for the song "Bitch" recorded by Meredith Brooks and has had hundreds of songs placed on albums, and in TV and film.

Her book Confessions of a Serial Songwriter led to a second GRAMMY nomination for Best Spoken Word Album. She writes about coming of age, the creative process, the highs and the lows, the conflicts that arise between adulthood and career success, the competition and of course, the lovely people she found along the way.

Shelly’s Serial Songwriter Facebook page has become a forum for all things songwriting and ideas about navigating a changing music business as a creative person.

Shelly Peiken is a music industry mentor, panelist, consultant, guest speaker and a fierce advocate of creators' rights as a founding member of SONA (Songwriters Of North America).

Session: Confessions of a Serial Songwriter LIVE!

Shelly Peiken will take you on a journey from young girl, spell bound by magical songs, to (serial) professional songwriter, who wrote a string of her own incredible hits. She will perform some of them and share real wisdom about a changing music business, balancing the conflicts between motherhood and career success and much more. You won’t want to miss the incredible Shelly Peiken!

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 4:15PM-5:00PM

Room: ABC

Russell Brower

Russell Brower

Emmy Winning Sound Designer and Composer

Russell Brower is a three-time Emmy Award winner, Composer, Musical Director and Conductor. For over a decade, Brower was the Senior Director of Audio and Lead Composer at Blizzard Entertainment, developer and publisher of the World of Warcraft, Diablo III, StarCraft II, Overwatch and Hearthstone franchises. Previously, Brower served as a Principal Media Designer and Music Director at Walt Disney Imagineering, creators of Disney's theme parks worldwide. As an independent composer and sound artist, he has worked on such projects as Animaniacs, Batman: The Animated Series and many other series, specials and films. He serves on the Boards of Directors of the Society of Composers & Lyricists and the Game Audio Network Guild and is a member of NATAS and NARAS, and is a Film Scoring instructor for the UCLA Extension Program. "Invincible", from his score for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, made its first appearance in the Classic FM Hall of Fame Top 300 in April 2014 at no 52.

Session: The Art of Orchestration - From Synth to Live and Back Again

The orchestration experiments realized first with a modest, homebuilt synthesizer laid the groundwork for a career with live orchestras and choirs; now the reverse is true and more inspiring than ever.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 12:45PM-1:30PM

Room: B

Jamie Lee Wilson

Jamie Lee Wilson and Craig Hendry

Singer, Songwriter & Producer

JVMIE’s emotive, alt electronic sound is the brainchild of singer/songwriter/producer Jamie Lee Wilson, whose single “Back 2 Love” skyrocketed to #2 on the Billboard Club Charts. Born and raised on Australia’s Gold Coast, Jamie started singing at 7. By the time she graduated highschool she didn't even have time to attend her prom as she had a performance on the same night. She went on to study at the Conservatorium of Music majoring in Jazz voice, all the while honing her song writing craft and performing extensively. Leaving Australia to spread her wings she landed in London where a friend introduced her to the dance scene. On release of her track Fuel to the Fire with Dutch producer Jesse Voorn, the song was featured on Dave Audé’s radio show in the US. A month later Jamie was in the studio with Dave in LA recording what would become their US Billboard Club Chart smash. 2018 saw JVMIE grace the Billboard Charts again with 'Chasing' released on Universal Music Group and recently picked up for a feature film, ‘I’ll Give You the World’ on Dim Mak which was featured as track of the week on both Apple Music and iTunes and her latest release ‘Timeless’ with legendary dance music producer Darude.

Session: Finding Your Sound: Working Both Sides of the Mic

Jamie Lee Wilson and Craig Hendry met while studying at the Conservatorium of Music in Australia. They parted ways to perform across the globe separately and reunited several years later in Los Angeles. From performing in the worlds top venues to writing and recording platinum selling hits and arranging for vocalists, they’ve worked on both sides of the microphone. They’ll elaborate on what it takes to find your sound, how to get the best out of working with a vocalist and how to navigate your way in the new music business.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 1:00PM-1:45PM

Room: C

Dr. Don Greene

Dr. Don Greene

Peak Performance Psychologist

Dr. Don Greene, a peak performance psychologist, has taught his comprehensive approach to peak performance mastery at The Juilliard School, Colburn School, New World Symphony, Los Angeles Opera Young Artists Program, Vail Ski School, Perlman Music Program, and US Olympic Training Center. During his thirty-two year career, he has coached more than 1,000 performers to win professional auditions and has guided countless solo performers to successful careers. Some of the performing artists with whom Dr. Greene has worked have won jobs with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Montreal Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, to name just a few. Of the Olympic track and field athletes he worked with up until and through the 2016 Games in Rio, 14 won medals, including 5 gold. Dr. Greene has authored eight books including Audition Success, Fight Your Fear & Win, and Performance Success. In 2017, Dr. Greene was named a TED Educator and collaborated with musician Dr. Annie Bosler to produce the TED-Ed "How to practice effectively…for just about anything." The video went viral receiving over 25 million views across Facebook and YouTube.

Session: Overcoming Performance Anxiety for Singers/ Songwriters

Dr. Don Greene has coached more than 1,000 performers to win professional auditions. He will talk about performance anxiety for performers and artists - and he will give techniques on how to overcome it.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 12:00PM-12:45PM

Room: C

Modbap Panel

Modbap Panel

An In-Depth Discussion on the Modbap Genre

The ModBap Panel discussion will invite attendees to engage in conversation centered around ModBap music. ModBap is boom-bap and hip-hop production that incorporates the use of modular synthesis. Boom-Bap has a certain undeniable aesthetic that is just as much about the feeling of the groove as it is about the heavy upfront syncopated and sometimes off-kilter drums. ModBap takes boom-bap beyond sample flips into the esoterically musical universe of synthesis allowing for experimentation that still remains rooted in hip-hop production. When done well, ModBap has the power to push the envelope and change everything. The use of Modular Synthesis in itself in hip-hop production is as “hip-hop” as DJing because hip-hop production and DJing was built on the use of devices that were never intended to be used the way the hip-hop cultured ended up using them to make that ole boom-bap music. Josh Story will lead the discussion with questions around hip-hop production techniques and philosophies surrounding incorporating synths and modular synthesis into boombap beatmaking. We will dig into the origin of Modbap and similar fusions that came before us.

Josh Story is a producer, engineer, and all around sound enthusiast living in Los Angeles, CA. He makes music under the name jstory and he holds a dual degree from Berklee College of Music in Electronic Production & Design and Music Production & Engineering. He has worked alongside producer No ID to engineer tracks for Common, Vince Staples, Jhene Aiko and Cocaine 80s. This work led to his contribution as an engineer on Common’s 2014 grammy-nominated album, “Nobody’s Smiling”. Josh now works for the music software company, Output, as the Director of Audio R&D.

Corry Banks aka BBoyTech is a hiphop producer, emcee and founder of both BBoyTechReport.com and Beatppl.com. BBoyTech coined the phrase “ModBap” to denote the fusion of his experiments in modular synthesis combined with boombap music production. He has released several underground hiphop albums as an artist / emcee and several instrumental hiphop albums. An IT Pro and Musical Artist, Corry “BBoyTech” Banks launched bboytechreport as a merging of his passions in music and tech to give a hiphop perspective on music tech, something that there wasn’t a lot of just a few years back. Since then, his pioneering contributions in ModBap have nurtured a movement in experimental modular synth based hiphop production.

Aaron Guice is a Chicago native, who’s experience over the last ten years with cutting-edge directors, highly respected producers, and ground-breaking advertising agencies provides an expansive background that makes him a valuable member of the post sound and modular community. He is equipped with a diverse skill set ranging from branding to expert level post production solutions, Aaron can deliver ideas from concept to completion in just about any form of media. He is also the Founder and Executive Director of, 'Afrorack', a community outreach program that teaches modular synthesis to Chicago's African American youth.

Shiro Fujioka aka Voltage CTRLR is a hip-hop producer and frequency healer based in So-Cal who is credited with the first ModBap release on vinyl and digital before the phrase was coined. His Release “Switched on Beats” was inspired by the Switched On Bach and Switched On Rock albums that were made with a Moog modular synthesizer back in the 60s. Given that Shiro's humble beginnings in making music all started with an Akai MPC 60II sampler that he acquired in the 90's. Eventually, his passions spilled into modular synthesis with the marriage of hip-hop production and synthesis.

Links for Corry

Links for Shiro

Links for Aaron

Session: ModBap, an in-depth conversation.

ModBap panel will take you through the full spectrum of the growing ModBap scene, and they will show you production techniques and discuss the usage of modular synthesizers in this hiphop genre.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 11:15AM-12:00PM

Room: C

Marc Doty

Buchla Historian and Product Specialist, Synthesizer Aficionado.

Marc Doty is an electronic musical instrument historian, music educator, & composer who has spent the last 33 years teaching about the history & functionality of synthesizers. Marc is degreed in both music education & composition and after graduating, Marc worked as a composer for theater, sketch comedy, and commercial music.

Marc started his vintage synthesizer & music education channel in 2006, called Automatic Gainsay on YouTube. Automatic Gainsay was one of the first synthesizer demo channels, and today viewership exceeds 10 million.

In 2011, Marc was hired as Archive & Education Specialist for the Bob Moog Foundation where he put his extensive knowledge of synthesis and synthesizer history to use and he played a role in preserving and promoting Bob Moog’s incredible legacy. At the BMF Marc was able to study documents directly from Bob Moog’s personal archive. With this experience, Marc became an true expert in the history of Bob Moog and the Moog synthesizers.

Marc has lectured, sat on panels, and moderated panels at; NAMM, Moogfest, Knobcon, SOS Magazine’s SynthFest, Asheville Electro-Music Festival, as well as on the Internet at macProVideo.com.. Marc has also written articles for Keyboard & Performer Magazines.

Session: Electronic Music as Performance Art: The Fascinating History of Buchla

An exploration of the fascinating history of Don Buchla, and how he worked to create musical instruments for the expressive performance of Electronic Music.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 1:30PM-2:15PM

Room: C

Guy Moon

Guy Moon

LA Based Composer

Guy Moon is a Los Angeles based composer. His Film Scores include John Grisham’s Mickey, The Crash (2017), The Way She Moves, The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel. Additional score credits: Mystic Pizza, Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, Fight Club, & Black Knight. Song arrangements can be found in Films such as An American Tale, Pagemaster, and Doctor Doolittle II.

Scoring Credits for Television Series include Dreamworks' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Nickelodeon’s Fairly Odd Parents, Back at the Barnyard, Big Time Rush, 100 Things To Do Before High School, Danny Phantom, Tak and the Power of JuJu, Chalk Zone, Cartoon Network's The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Hanna-Barbera’s Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and The Addams Family.

Moon has garnered 4 Prime Time Emmy® Nominations, 3 Daytime Emmy® Nominations, 7 BMI TV Music Awards, 1 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, an ACE Award Best Song nomination for Glory, Glory, 7 Annie nominations and a win for Outstanding Music in a Television Production for The Fairly Odd Parents, and won Best Score Award in the 168 Film Festival 2017.

Session: Scoring For Animation In & 'Out Of The Box'

Discussing the process, challenges and benefits of scoring for Animation with only a computer

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 11:15AM-12:00PM

Room: A

Kim Bjorn

Kim Bjørn

Author, speaker, musician & designer

KIM BJØRN is an author, speaker, electronic musician, and designer, with a profound interest in the interactions between people, and between people and machines. PATCH & TWEAK is his eighth book following the now industry-standard PUSH TURN MOVE. Kim lectures, write and give regular talks and workshops on the topics of musical interface design and electronic music instruments. Based in Copenhagen, he runs his boutique publishing company Bjooks while traveling all over the world, as he loves to meet artists, makers, and readers and experience diverse musical creative cultures.

Session: Connect everything with anything/ modular synths to pedals & more

Exploring modular synthesis and effects pedals with Kim Bjørn. Get to hear about the inspirations, history, and use of the new symbol language and patching system first presented in PATCH & TWEAK - the new book exploring modular synthesis, which Kim co-authored with Chris Meyer.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 1:45PM-2:30PM

Room: VINE

Dr. Annie Bosler

Dr. Annie Bosler

Music Professor and Author

Dr. Annie Bosler currently teaches horn at Cal State University Northridge, Pepperdine University, University of California, Irvine, Pasadena City College, and El Camino College. For nearly ten years, she taught at the Colburn School for Performing Arts, and also recruited the largest studio within the Winds, Brass, and Percussion Department. She has former horn students in almost every major conservatory across the country. In addition, Annie acted as the horn consultant to actress Shailene Woodley on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Previously holding the title of Colburn School Director of Wellness, Annie travels around the world lecturing about wellness for musicians. Named a TED Educator in 2017, Dr. Bosler co-wrote "How to practice effectively…for just about anything." As a freelance horn player, Annie has toured with John Williams’ Star Wars in Concert and with Josh Groban, and performed on Dancing with the Stars, The Ellen Show, and PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center, and shared the stage with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney on CBS’s The Beatles: The Night That Changed America. She performed with Chance the Rapper at The Grammy’s, Sean Combs (P-Diddy) at The American Music Awards, and Wu-Tang Clan at Coachella. Annie holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University where she played varsity tennis, and a MM and DMA from the University of Southern California.

Session: College Prep For Musicians

Dr. Bosler recently co-wrote the book "College Prep for Musicians.” In this lecture she will decode the complex process of applying to music colleges and conservancies.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 11:15AM-12:00PM

Room: B

Henry Diltz

Henry Diltz

Legendary Rock Photographer & Folk Musician

Henry Diltz is a true rock and roll legend who has taken some of the most iconic photos of our times. Henry was the official photographer at the Woodstock and Monterey festivals, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The LA Times, Life, People, Rolling Stone, High Times and Billboard.

Henry Diltz is the official show photographer for Synthplex 2019, and he will be presenting a slideshow presentation of some of his most iconic photos on Saturday afternoon. He will also be on the scene on Saturday afternoon and all evening and he will be shooting photos all over the expo floor and he will be photographing our artists as well. He will also be the official photographer for the Thomas Dolby Gala Dinner Banquet performance. Be sure to say hello and get your picture taken with Henry!

Session: Henry Diltz Iconic Photo Slide Show

Henry will give a slideshow presentation and talk about the many incredible stories he has lived in the rock & roll world. Henry has shot photos of legendary synth and keyboard artists, including: The Doors, Stevie Wonder, Micky Dolenz, The Cars, Howard Jones, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, George Duke, Peter Gabriel and many more.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 2:15PM-2:45PM

Room: VINE

Magnus Berger & Timothy Self

Magnus Berger & Timothy Self

CTO and SVP of Products at Propellerhead Software

Contrary to what this photo may suggest, Tim Self was never a member of a 80’s synth pop duo. He has been deeply involved in creating software tools for music makers and creatives for some time though. Tim recently rejoined Propellerhead Software (makers of Reason) as SVP of Products after serving as CEO for Allihoopa, a community for people to share in music making. Prior posts include Head of Product Marketing and Opcode Systems, VP of Developer Relations at Be Inc, and providing product strategy for many other digital companies in consulting roles.

Magnus Berger is the CTO of Propellerhead Software. Having spent his entire conscious life in front of computers there is pretty much no technology he is not interested in. He got a hardcore physics degree but recognizes that Synthplex is not about quantum mechanics nor anything nuclear and will therefore abstain from talking about these topics. Do ask him about any tech related to Reason and audio though and he will probably tell you more than you asked for.

Session: Converging technologies - Plugins on unexpected platforms

Building synthesizers and effects for hardware, phones and tablets, computers and web has in the past required vastly different skillsets and talents. We now see these technologies converging and are actively seeking new ways to improve both user and developer experiences. By exploring platform differences and similarities, we try to predict what the future could look like.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 12:00PM-12P:45PM

Room: VINE

Abe Duque and Marco Di Prima

Abe Duque & Marco Di Prima

Techno music composer and remix legend

Abe Duque's career started in the early days of house at the notorious Limelight in New York, he has been at the head of the acid house and underground techno table since his earliest releases way back in 1993. Having been dragged out of the underground, Duque found himself feted by the mainstream, delivering hugely successful remixes for the Chemical Brothers and Pet Shop Boys while continuing to work right across the techno world with acts such as Miss Kittin, Remute, Chloe, Savas Pascalidis, Knart IV and Daniel Meteo – as well as DJ Hell, with Duque becoming a regular on Hell's International DJ Gigolos label. Fast forward and 8 years of instructing music production at the NY based electronic music and DJ school Dubspot, Abe meets Marco Di Prima and they immediately realize their shared energy and obsession with modular synth and live techno. Two accelerated particles meet in the large hadron collider - the collaboration ‘Duque Di Prima’ has been unleashed.

Session: Techno - From Production to Performance

Abe and Marco will take you through their methods of producing techno tracks in Ableton Live and show you how to create a hybrid setup with modular synthesizers for performing live.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 12:45PM-1:30PM

Room: A

Chris-Meyer

Chris Meyer

Author, synthesis teacher & synth guru

As a teenager in the 1970s, Chris Meyer took lessons on piano, bass...and modular synthesizer. He went on to work for Sequential Circuits, Digidesign, Marion Systems (Tom Oberheim), and eventually to be chief engineer at Roland R&D US. Projects he was involved in include the Sequential Prophet 2000, Prophet VS, and Studio 440, Digidesign Q-Sheet, and Roland DM-80, although he is perhaps best known for developing Vector Synthesis.

He wrote numerous articles for Music Technology Magazine plus a column for Keyboard, and was technical chairman of the MIDI Manufacturers Association, where he created MIDI Timecode, the Sample Dump Standard, and other extensions to the MIDI specification. After a few-decade detour in the video and film industry, he has returned to modular synthesis, creating videos, courses, and articles under the name Learning Modular. In addition to his own LearningModular.com web site, he has channels on YouTube, Patreon, and Facebook. Most recently he co-wrote the new book on modular synthesis, Patch & Tweak.

Session A: The Secret History of Modular Synthesis

Take a humorous, insightful, and occasionally controversial trip through time, learning what early developments shaped the instruments we play today – and which good ideas we seem to have forgotten.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 1:00PM-1:45PM

Room: A

Session B: Vector Synthesis and the Prophet VS

Hear how Vector Synthesis came to be, including the inside story of how the Prophet VS was developed – the good, the bad, and the regrets.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 9:45AM-10:30AM

Room: C

Raffi Tachdjian

Dr. Raffi Tachdjian

Founder and President of Children's Music Fund

Raffi Tachdjian, MD, MPH, is Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He also serves as faculty for the University of California MERCI (Music Experience Research Community Initiative).

Dr. Tachdjian received his medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by an internship and residency in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, ending with a fellowship in adult and pediatric Allergy & Immunology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Lastly, he is the founder and president of the Children’s Music Fund (www.TheCMF.org), a 501c3 non-profit providing musical instruments and Music Therapy to children with chronic and life-altering illness.

Music Therapy for Children

Dr. Raffi will give an overview of the incredible work they do using music therapy in medicine and he will share the increduble mission of Children's Music Fund, which is our Synthplex charity organization for this year.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 9:00AM-9:45AM

Room: A

Sebastian Arocha Morton

Sebastian Arocha Morton

Grammy Nominated composer, producer and remixer

Grammy Nominated composer, producer and remixer Sebastian Arocha Morton is one of today’s most eclectic and innovative musicians on the LA scene. Raised between his native Mexico City and Europe, he has developed a unique sound by fusing latin, electronic and cinematic music in very effective ways. His signature touch has led to collaborations with Sting, on the Billboard #1 track “Never Coming Home”, Mary J.Blige’s Grammy nominated single “Whenever I Say Your Name ”, Enrique Iglesias Billboard #1 single “Not in Love (feat. Floetry)", Santana’s “One of These Days (feat Ozomatli)", and eclectic drum programming and production sessions with the London Symphony for David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s iconic “Scent of Magnolia”.

A graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music with a degree in Film Scoring and Composition, Sebastian is also engaged in composing and producing for award winning Films, TV, and Video Games. Some of his recent work includes: FOX’s “The Orville”, EA's "Madden 2019” and "Minions", Disney's "Iron Man Experience" and "World of Color", NBC’s "Game of Silence” and “American Odyssey"; as well as films like "Robocop”, "Draft Day", “Houdini”, and Tyler Perry's “Alex Cross” among many others. His Electronic Production, Soundesign and Programming skills can also be heard in many #1 Box Office hits including: “Iron Man 2” and “The Sponge Bob Movie: Sponge out of Water” and Jet Li’s “League of Gods". Among his past work is the grand finale featuring Rick James for the Oscar nominated film “Little Miss Sunshine”, which also received a 2007 Grammy nomination. His original songs can also be heard in dozens of hit shows including: CSI: Las Vegas, CSI: Miami, Boomtown, Windfall, Shark, Fringe, and the Emmy winning Brothers and Sisters. Sebastian's Electronic and Dance work under the moniker ROCAsound can be heard on albums and remixes for: Duran Duran, Fat Joe, Ricky Martin, Amerie, Kumbia Kings, Fischerspooner, Rick James, Jody Watley, Cafe Tacuba, Molotov, Donna Summer, Counting Crows and Kaskade among many others.

Session: Cinematic FX and Sound Design using Ableton Live

An in depth look at the power of Ableton Live for creating sound effects, synth soundesign, and soundscapes for visual media.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 12:15PM-1:00PM

Room: B

Fletcher Beasley

Fletcher Beasley

LA Based Composer & Multi-Instrumentalist

Fletcher Beasley is a composer who writes music for film, television, commercials, video games, and interactive exhibits. His credits include Amazon’s The Last Tycoon, Cartoon Networks’ Scooby Doo: Mystery, Inc., Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, and the Emmy award winning mini-series World Without End. A pioneering video game composer, Fletcher started his career writing music for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. He has released two albums of cinematic electronic music which are available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, Amazon and other music streaming services.

Fletcher has played in ensembles varying from jazz to classical, rock, R&B, and the avante garde and worked as a composer, producer, player, synthesizer programmer, orchestrator, arranger and mixer. He teaches courses on film composition for UCLA Extension’s Film Scoring Program where he was named 2015 Outstanding Instructor. He also teaches courses in sound for film and music production at Santa Monica College and Cal State Long Beach. He is a board member of the Society of Composers & Lyricists, the oldest organization for media composers in the United States, where he serves as chair of the seminar committee.

Session: Ten Tips to Make You Faster and More Efficient on Your DAW

Modern DAWs are powerful instruments for making music. But their complexities can derail the creative process and impede artistic flow. This talk provides specific techniques for keeping you productive.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 11:30AM-12:15PM

Room: A

Lawrence Grey

Lawrence Grey

Producer, Educator & Ableton Certified Trainer

Producer and educator Lawrence Grey founded Young Producers Group in 2013 to bring music technology into K-12 schools and bring disparate communities together in the process. After working at an alternatives to incarceration center in Brooklyn called the Center for Community Alternatives, Lawrence saw how different socioeconomic backgrounds and life experiences can bring people together when they're working on a piece of music. With electronic music already serving as connective tissue between the youth in all corners of the world, Lawrence saw an opportunity to make this connection tangible and productive with YPG. After receiving a Bachelor's degree in music from NYU with a focus on electronic music composition, he went to UCLA and got a masters degree in education. Today, Lawrence works with his team to bring music tech programs to 11 schools and 5 nonprofits across Los Angeles with several new programs in the works.

Lawrence also puts out records and regularly DJs around Los Angeles. Whether it's through techno or setting up programs in schools, Lawrence's focus is always around using music to fight ignorance, bring people together, and revel in the infinite beauty of music production.

Session: Ableton Live 101

Learn how to use Ableton Live music production software to make original music.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 9:00AM-9:45PM

Room: B

Sophia and Ronit

Drum & Lace and Ronit Kirchman

Composers & visionary performers

DRUM & LACE is an Italian composer, sound artist & performer. She received her Undergraduate Degree from Berklee College of Music (Film Scoring & Composition) and Masters Degree (Music Technology) from NYU. Inspired by interesting sounds and cinematic elements, Drum & Lace melds together sampled field recordings and lush layers of synths to create densely textural and beat-heavy music, greatly drawing from film music, music concrete and modern electronica. Her ambient and chamber work also gathers inspiration from nature & natural sounds, as well as the juxtaposition of unlikely sounds with one another.

RONIT KIRCHMAN is a composer, music producer, songwriter, singer, electronic artist, and multi-instrumentalist. She creates music for film and television, theater and dance, multimedia installations, and the concert stage. She performs internationally and is also an accomplished visual artist and author. Recognized in the press as “an extremely original voice” with “a virtuoso touch”, and “a truly unique force in the entertainment industry”, Ronit is the composer for the riveting Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated television series The Sinner. Kirchman graduated magna cum laude from Yale and holds an MFA in Composition/New Media from CalArts.

Links for Drum & Lace

Links for Ronit

Session: Scoring for Film and Media

Drum & Lace and Ronit will take you through the art of using musical compositions to drive a listener’s experience.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 9:45AM-10:30PM

Room: A

Javad Butah

Javad Butah

Ableton Brand Manager & Push Expert

Javad Butah is a Los Angeles-based musician, composer, producer, and educator. Javad holds a Masters Degree in Music from the California Institute of the Arts.

Javad has toured for over 20 years, performing as a solo artist as well as accompanying world-renowned musicians in distinguished venues domestically as well as abroad. The Los Angeles Times has called Javad "…a young, flashy, spectacular tabla player..." and the New York Times described Javad as being "...in virtuosic form…"

As an educator, Javad has built successful music programs based on not only teaching the practical applications of music production using the latest technology, but also integrating music theory, which he believes broadens their knowledge of the creative process.

Javad uses Ableton Live to create a blend of music that borrows from his love of both classical world music as well as contemporary sounds and techniques. As a brand manager for Ableton, Javad tours the United States giving lectures and demonstrations.

Session: Diving Deep into Ableton Push

Javad will take you deep into the capabilities of Ableton Push 2 and wavetable synthsis.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 1:30PM-2:15PM

Room: A

Chuck Jonkey

Chuck Jonkey

Adventurer, Composer, Musician, Filmmaker

Chuck Jonkey is an adventurer/ composer/ musician/ filmmaker who transforms his wild experiences into sound, music and film. Chuck's exotic adventures have taken him to the furthest reaches of primitive worlds, he is referred to as an "ethnomusicianthropologist". Chuck travels around the world in search of adventures among the world's most isolated tribal groups. His expeditions have taken him to the deep Amazon and rainforest of Thailand, Costa Rica, Borneo, Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Peru, Papua New Guinea and Mexico. Chuck's travels have also taken him to West Africa, French Polynesia, Russia, China, India, and many other countries.

Chuck is the owner of the independent record Label Sonic Safari Music. He has produced and published over 110 CD's of exotic music as well as producing several TV shows and documentaries and he is an active member of the Los Angeles "Adventurer's Club." Chuck has invented many exotic musical instruments.

Chuck recently composed 5 hours of original music for Disneyland, Shanghai's "Adventure Island". He also worked on "Pandora", The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Chuck performed with the Manhattan Transfer on their CD "The offbeat of Avenues" (they recorded one of his songs - "The Quietude"). The same song was re-recorded with a full orchestra on the Manhattan Transferer's CD "The Symphony Sessions". Chuck was invited by Ravi Shankar to play with him at the National Cathedral in Washington DC.

Session: Tribal Percussion - The Original Organic Synthesis

Explore new concepts of rhythmic composition by examining tribal traditions. Create your own organic instruments from wood, glass, stone, bamboo & even balloons.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 2:30PM-3:15PM

Room: A

Alan Howarth

Alan Howarth

Composer, Sound Designer & Sound FX Artist

Composer and Sound Designer Alan Howarth began his sonic journey in Cleveland, Ohio, playing music in local rock bands: Tree Stumps, Renaissance Faire, and The Silk on ABC records. These bands opened opened for national touring acts such as:The Who, and Cream. Howarth's original bands in Cleveland were Braino and Pi Corp. He was a founding partner in Pi Keyboards and Audio, a pioneering synthesizer and pro audio shop.

He also provided keyboard synthesizer tour support for Joseph Zawinul of the fusion jazz band, Weather Report, beginning in 1976, which relocated him to LA. The major breakthrough for Alan was in 1979, when he met the sound effects team for Star Trek-The Motion Picture, launching him as a sound designer for the following 6 Star Trek feature films. Alan's next milestone was the film Escape From New York where he collaborated on music scoring with the director, John Carpenter, then continuing to work on scores for: Halloween 2-6, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness and They Live. His award-winning Sound Design work placed him on the Oscar-winning sound effects teams for The Hunt for Red October and Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He was the sound designer for an innovative 48.6 multi-channel sound system that evolved into today's immersive multi-channel theatrical speaker array systems like Dolby Atmos.

Firmly established as a producer, film composer, and sound designer, he continues to be a sonic visionary today researching and creating patents for Natural Frequency Resonance Music wellness sound applications and cutting-edge immersive spatial audio designs for Virtual and Mixed Reality content.

Session: Natural Frequency Music and Sound Design

Alan Howarth shares his 25 year research into the Natural Frequencies of Nature and Ancient Architecture as it relates to music and sound designs that resonate to the mind, body and spirit.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 10:30AM-11:15AM

Room: B

Cindy and Tom

Cindy Reichel & Tom Butcher

Partners of Patchwerks in Seattle

Cindy Reichel and Tom Butcher are co-founders of the Seattle-based synthesizer boutique PATCHWERKS, which specializes in community-building, education, and retail for electronic music instruments. Both founders are technology and innovations leaders in the Pacific Northwest, and both also have a deep love for music and audio expression using electronics.

Cindy Reichel, a musician and a biotechnologist, is a frequent live performer throughout the Northwest, utilizing an improvisational approach to composition with both modular and traditional hardware synthesizers. She enjoys teaching and conducting workshops for a variety of audiences of all skill levels.

Patchwerks’s other co-founder Tom Butcher is an award-winning technology leader in music, audio, media, AI, and large-scale distributed systems. Tom prides himself in sharing his skills and knowledge with others, inspiring everyone to express themselves however they see fit. Tom performs and releases music regularly with his projects CODEBASE, ORQID, and SIGNAL CORPS.

Most recently, Cindy and Tom fused their expression together in the new act DAHLIIA, harnessing electronics including modular synthesizers and sampling of the avant-garde classical heroes to paint a picture of today’s future.

Session: Patchwerks KidsPlex (for children only)

Patchwerks KidsPlex is an opportunity for hands-on learning and play for young synthesizer enthusiasts, presented by Patchwerks. Multiple stations will be available featuring kid-friendly keyboards, electronic percussion and modular gear catering specifically to youth.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 9:00AM-11:00AM

Room: VINE

Brian Kehew

Brian Kehew

Musician, Producer, Engineer & Author

Brian Kehew is a musician, producer/engineer, and author. Most of his work time is spent mixing classic catalog items for Warner Bros Records, He is best-known for his book "Recording the Beatles" but has become noted for his work in synthesizer history. For the last 18 years, he works as a technician for The Who when they tour.

Session: From LAB to LIVE - the paper trail of synthesis

Explore the best of Brian's archive of thousands of Electronic Music papers; the good, the bad, the funny. Come learn, laugh, and explore the hidden corners of our history.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 1:45PM-2:30PM

Room: B

Michael Abels

Michael Abels

Award-winning Composer and Executive Director of the Composers Diversity Collective

Michael Abels is the award-winning composer of the score to Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning film GET OUT, as well as Peele’s latest film US, now in theaters. The score for GET OUT, which was Abels’ debut work for film, was nominated for a World Soundtrack Award, and made numerous film music critics’ 10-Best Lists for 2017. Abels’ concert symphonic works have been performed by most of the major orchestras in the USA including Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Baltimore. He has arranged or written music for artists as diverse as Doc Severinsen and James Earl Jones. In 2018, Abels conducted GET OUT IN CONCERT for the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in DC, with dates in Chicago and San Francisco scheduled in the coming year. He has composed a children’s opera for LA Opera, and arranged a gospel album for the Rev. James Cleveland. Abels’ concert music is published by Subito Music and recorded by the Chicago Sinfonietta on the Cedille label. His film scores are released on Back Lot Records. Abels is co-founder and current Executive Director of the Composers Diversity Collective, an organization promoting diversity and inclusion in music for media. Current projects include a ballet and the score for the Netflix film SEE YOU YESTERDAY.

Session: Scoring for Get Out & Us for Jordan Peele

Michael Abels will take you through his tried and true methods for scoring iconic films such as ‘Get Out’ and ‘Us’ from Jordan Peele. He will share ideas and give you insight on how the whole process works from beginning to end.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31th 1:45PM-2:30PM

Room: B

Rob Papen

Rob Papen

Owner of Rob Papen software and Sound Designer

Rob Papen was born on Ocotober 8th, 1964. At the age of 15 he started with the Korg MS-20 synthesizer and a SQ-10 sequencer. On these machines, he learned how to program synthesizers and they inspired him to compose music. Through groups like Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and artist like J.M. Jarre, Georgio Morroder, Vangelis and Klaus Schulze he started making electronic music, also at the age of 15.

With the band Nova and PERU, Rob Papen had two number one hits in European countries and created several CD's. He became a well-known sound designer because of his work for Waldorf Microwave-1, Access Virus, Emu and Ensoniq brands

In recent decades Rob started developing together with top-notch programmers an own line of virtual synthesizers and effects for PC and Mac. These products are loved by many musician and producers and do appear on countless music tracks worldwide.

Session: Rob Papen Session

Rob will talk about his latest products and Rob will share his vision on synthesizers, sound creation and discuss in depth todays computer based music technology.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 12:45PM-1:30PM

Room: C

Gerd Peun

Gerd Peun aka Kazike

Analog Synth builder, designer & performer

Since the 70’s Gerd Peun has built-up analogue 5U modular synthesizers and after a break for a couple of decades, at which time Gerd was involved in video production and technology, such as creating a video synthesizer, and in 2003 Gerd began again to develop modular synthesizers under the brand name CLUB OF THE KNOBS. Since then, Gerd has further developed his COTK synthesizer systems which now include nearly 100 different modules and Gerd is a pioneer and a bit of a legend in the 5U world and he embodies the true spirit of being an analogue sound creator.

Session Title: Kazike presents Analog Voice Coding and a chance to experience the Vocoder.

Kazike with take the audience through their new and improved Wavefront Audio 16+ Channel Fully Analog Vocoder and their Spectral Channel Manager. Their vocoder design is the same as the legendary Bode Vocoder, except with some additional controls on the front panel that make this vocoder even more useful and functional. Kazike will share his vast knowledge on the full use of an analog vocoder and he will explain all that went into the development of this new vocoder. Kazike will also explain the historical significance and famous uses of these type of Analog Vocoders. With vocoding you can have “violins that speak, winds that talk, drums that sing and encrypted communications” that sound other-worldly. In the Studio for Electronic Music, vocoders were used by Phil Collins (In The Air Tonight), Mike Oldfield (Five Miles Out), Wendy Carlos (Clockwork Orange), Stevie Wonder (Sesame Street Theme), Michael Jackson (PYT), Isao Tomita (Arabesque No. 1), Styx (Mr. Roboto), Earth, Wind & Fire (Let’s Groove), Kraftwerk (Computer World), New Order (Ecstasy) and many others.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 10:45AM-11:30AM

Room: VINE

Daniel Fisher

Daniel Fisher

Director of Product Optimization @ Sweetwater

Daniel Fisher has been programming synths since 1976. He studied Analog synthesis on a Moog System 55 and a Putney VCS3 in 1980, at Northern Illinois University. In 1981 Daniel signed up for the US Army and was trained in Digital Multi-Channel Communication, but was soon discovered and sent to the US Army School of Music. Fisher then traveled across Europe with the 84th Army Band, and later became the keyboardist for The United States Army Rock Band.

After the Army, Daniel received two degrees from Berklee College of Music (Music Production & Engineering, and Music Synthesis) graduating Cum Laud. Fisher was a Soundware Engineer for Kurzweil (Young Chang) during the early ‘90s, and was then hired by Chuck Surack (president of Sweetwater Sound) to be their Director Of Soundware Engineering, where he made 31 CD-ROMs for Kurzweil, E-Mu, Korg, Roland, Yamaha, and Alesis.

Fisher then was an Associate Professor of Music Synthesis at Berklee for five years before, once again, being recruited by Chuck at Sweetwater to create synthesizer soundware and videos. Daniel also teaches Music Synthesis at Purdue University in Fort Wayne. Fisher’s latest project was the Owners Manual for the Moog One Polyphonic Synthesizer.

Session: Sure Fire Synthesizer Programming Strategies

Daniel will be demonstrating on the new Moog One Polyphonic Analog Synthesizer. Daniel reveals his never-fail synth programming tricks for quickly building the presets of your dreams by starting from an initialized preset. Tricks include the best ways to set your modulation parameters, some preset name and file name tricks to make everything findable, and effects tricks to create huge stereo ambiances.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 4:45PM-5:30PM

Room: ABC

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 10:00AM-10:45AM

Room: A

Electronium Panel

Stan Warnow, Darren Davison, Jack Hertz & Brian Kehew

Raymond Scott Electronium Panel

Stan Warnow is Raymond Scott’s only son and a career film professional, mainly working as an editor, including many music-centric films such as; Woodstock (Academy Award-winning), Hair, No Nukes and Music From the Inside Out. As a filmmaker he directed and produced Deconstructing Dad, his 2010 award-winning documentary about his father. More recently he co-produced Scottworks - The Raymond Scott Festival which showcased his father's life and works.

Darren Davison is an engineer with extensive technical knowledge of the Electronium from his multi-year restoration effort. Darren has unique knowledge of the Electronium technical components.

Jack Hertz is an artist/programmer/synthesist; producer of the Aural Films' digital album Biography: Raymond Scott compilation; curator of the Encyclotronic electronic music archive, creator of his own software Electronium model.

Brian Kehew is an author and engineer/producer who specializes in the history of Electronic Music. Brian lives and works in Los Angeles and is best known as co-author of the Recording the Beatles book. Brian is co-owner of CurveBender Publishing and Round and Wound, a vintage-tape transfer service. He is currently in the planning stages of a new Electronium restoration effort.

Jeff Winner is a music, film, and concert producer who has been a curator of The Raymond Scott Archives since 1996, and co-produced (with Gert-Jan Blom) the Manhattan Research Inc. compilation, as well as being the Associate Producer on 2017's Three Willow Park collection and both albums feature many Electronium tracks.

Session: Raymond Scott's Electronium: Evolution, Restoration, Reincarnation

A comprehensive overview of Scott's Electronium and the concepts and precursor inventions that resulted in this ground breaking generative instrument which, in Scott's words, "composes and performs music at the same time."

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 2:30PM-3:15PM

Room: C

Bruce Black

Bruce Black

Acoustical Designer

Acoustical Designer Bruce Black has worked in live and theatrical sound, broadcast sound, live recording, and hardware sales. He has also spent 25 years in motion picture and television post production sound engineering, working for Skywalker Sound, Dreamworks, Warner Brothers, Sony Picture Entertainment, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among others.

Mr. Black strives to dispel myths and misunderstandings regarding acoustics by creating high performance acoustical spaces, publishing articles and presenting papers.

Mr. Black has been published in Mix Magazine, Recording Magazine, The Editors Guild Magazine, and the Cinema Audio Society Quarterly, and has presented to the Audio Engineering Society Los Angeles Section, and the Hollywood Sapphire Group. He is a member of AES, SMPTE, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where he serves on the Theater Standards Committee. Mr. Black is also an associate member of the American Institute of Architects.

Session: Essential Elements for Music Studios

Mr. Black presents the nine components for creating truly high performance music recording and mixing spaces consistently and reliably.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 3:00PM-3:45PM

Room: VINE

TEG

TEG

Transparence Entertainment Group

On this powerhouse panel we have the executive team from TEG; Dennis Dreith, Chairman & Co-Founder, Shari Hoffman Co-founder & CEO and Bruce Waynne, Vice President. Despite all the available information provided by organizations involved with the collection and distribution of intellectual property rights, there is more confusion, doubt and neglect of royalties than ever before. When music is streamed, downloaded, broadcast on radio, or played live, there are royalties to be collected. Those include royalties for songwriters and publishers as well as royalties due for the actual performance in a sound recording (payable to copyright owners and performers). There are also billions in unclaimed worldwide royalties from all these sources. A substantial number of music creators have little to no information about royalties that may be due to them, and they lack access to valuable comprehensive data about how and where people are listening to their music, and they are not familiar with how royalty payments are calculated. TEG effectively tracks, collects, consolidates, and administers worldwide digital performance, audio-visual, private copy, and exclusive license royalties on behalf of recording artists, master rights owners, songwriters, publishers, independent artists, and artists who own their own master recordings. ensures the highest level of service & transparency to our clients.

Dennis Dreith is a noted film & television composer, record producer, orchestrator & conductor. Dreith served as International President of the Recording Musicians Association for 15+ years, served as a consultant and member of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Negotiating Committee, addressed the U.S. Congress House Sub-committee on Intellectual Properties and worked with Congress in support of numerous intellectual property issues. For 17 years, Dreith was the Independent Administrator of the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund and simultaneously the Executive Director of the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund. He oversaw unparalleled growth of the Fund beginning in 1999 when he assumed its leadership with only $200,000 in revenue and no staff, to an organization with over $100M in assets. A recognized expert in entertainment and intellectual property rights matters, Dreith is a frequent university lecturer and panelist at entertainment industry events.

Shari Hoffman areas of expertise include; Neighboring Rights, Collective Management, Royalties, Intellectual Property Rights, Copyright Law, Labor Law, Contract Drafting and Administration, Union Negotiation, Research, Business Consultation, Post Supervision, Fundraising, Vocal Performance, Public Speaking, Event Planning, Marketing and Promotion, and Budgeting and Analysis. Hoffman has participated as an educator, moderator & lecturer on numerous worldwide panels & workshops for the entertainment community. Hoffman is a prolific advisor and artist advocate who strives to ensure that performers have the proper education and tools to flourish. Since 2016 Hoffman has been actively involved with the Recording Academy in their legislative initiatives to enact the Music Modernization Act.

Bruce Waynne oversees client relationships and manages the creative process. Waynne is also half of the Grammy Award Winning Production Duo MIDI Mafia, most notable for producing 50 Cent’s number-one single 21 Questions, as well as producing for artists; Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, John Legend and Fantasia, to name a few. Bruce also worked with Brandy and James Fauntleroy II, the MIDI Mafia met and began to collaborate with Frank Ocean. During this time, Frank Ocean wrote the songs, Quickly for John Legend, and Bigger & Mamma’s Boy for Justin Bieber. MIDI Mafia spearheaded the creation process for Frank Ocean’s mix tape Nostalgia Ultra, producing the song, Swim Good and collaborated extensively on Ocean’s debut album Channel Orange, producing the lead song, Bad Religion that garnered their Grammy Award. Other notable accomplishments are MIDI Mafia’s - The MADE Series. MADE is their Premiere Urban Music Library for Television & Film via MIDI Mafia’s partnership with Extreme Music and Sony ATV. It is currently the number one urban music library in the industry, providing opportunities for rising stars.

Session: Global/Neighboring Rights: Monetizing Electronic Music

This interactive & question-driven workshop will demystify the matrix of diverse royalties to help protect and monetize your performances, ensure you get your fair share, and cover need-to-know info on copyright, licensing, metadata, legislation and claiming the millions in royalties that haven't yet been claimed.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 4:00PM-4:45PM

Room: ABC

Alternate Controller Panel

Alternate Controller Panel

Review of MIDI controllers beyond the keyboard

Roger Linn is an industry legend and the creator of electronic music products, starting with the 1979 LM-1 Drum Computer, the first sample-based drum machine. Other notable instruments include the LinnDrum drum machine, the Akai MPC series of drum machines, the AdrenaLinn synchronous filter processor for guitar, the Tempest Analog Drum Machine and now the LinnStrument expressive MIDI controller. He is the recipient of the 2011 Technical Grammy award.

Judd Miller is arguably the top EVI player in the world. Judd Miller is a renowned, leading exponent of the EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument). His expertise on the EVI and his superlative sound design from his enormous self-created sound design library has him as a first call studio musician and one of the most popular musicians for top run movie scores. Miller has worked with composers Maurice Jarre, Stewart Copeland, Joel McNeely, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, John Williams, James Horner, and his work can be heard on countless, well-known movie soundtracks.

Cory “C Pez” Pesaturo, is on the absolute forefront of the accordion world and he pushes the boundaries on what is even possible with an accordion. Cory has won the trio of World Championships on Acoustic, Digital & Jazz Accordion and he is the only accordion graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 2017, Cory became the Guinness World Record Holder for a Marathon Accordion session, where he played for over 32 hours straight.

Links for Roger

Links for Judd

Links for Cory

Session: Discussion on unique and innovative controllers

On this panel various controllers will be reviewed. There are many choices when it comes to alternatives for MIDI controllers and this panel of experts will educate you on the options.

Date/Time: Friday, 28th 12:45PM-1:30PM

Room: VINE

David Knauer and Alex Otto

David Knauer & Alex Otto

Audio Perception Inc. & OSW Architect

David Knauer President at Audio Perception Inc. Audio Perception is an audio technology, consulting, design, support and sales company based in Los Angeles, California. They service a wide range of clients including TV and film composers, musicians, songwriters, producers, studio owners, and the audio post industry. The founders of AP each have over 35 years of experience that has accumulated in a broad knowledge of all things audio including a deep understanding of computers, music, electronics, audio engineering, software, and audio post. They specialize in studio design, construction, acoustics and consultation services, to all types of tech support including, wiring, patch bays, computers, software and instruction. Lastly, they carry a full line of audio equipment and more. This complete support model ensures clients receive thorough and reliable technical service.

Alex Otto Principal Designer, System Architect at OSW OSW's Alex Otto is a studio designer, builder and audio consultant based in Tempe Arizona. His audio experience includes front of house duties, as well as freelance studio engineering. Alex spent 10 years teaching at The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences training students on audio fundamentals as well as Pro Tools workstations. Also a musician and electrician, his broad skill set allows him to approach every project with a thorough understanding of the technical as well as creative requirements. He has presented at various industry events including AES and Pot Luck. Alex is also the developer of the SRMS multi subwoofer tuning protocol and head of North American install and studio services for Sound Techniques USA.

Session: Practical methods for improving the acoustics of your workspace

We will discuss the common acoustic issues found in workspaces and give you real ways of fixing issues using site selection, speaker placement, and the proper use of items you can make or purchase and even install yourself.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 9:00AM-9:45AM

Room: C

Kevin Maloney

Kevin Maloney

The First Synclavier Product Specialist

In Los Angeles, Kevin E. Maloney was the first Synclavier product specialist for New England Digital’s Los Angeles office in 1984-87, and Synclavier specialist for Lion Share Recording Studio in 1987-89. His most notable Synclavier experiences were demonstrating the Synclavier on TV for the Merv Griffin Show, and giving Synclavier lessons to jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and Sting. He recently wrote the documentation for Arturia’s Synclavier V software instrument. And…he actually played his Synclavier at his own wedding reception in 1987.

Since beginning piano lessons at age 8, Kevin has composed, performed, and synthesized a broad range of music, including orchestral, jazz, avant-garde, pop, and international. Kevin has scored films and children’s books-on-tape, designed sound effects, edited dialog, recorded 3-D audio and location sound, performed on record albums, composed and produced music for CD–ROM and music libraries, and taught seminars and private piano. His live performances include musical theater, choral accompanying, jazz trios, fusion jazz ensembles, rock bands, and solo piano. His credits include working with Michael Jackson, Kenny Loggins, Randy Newman, Neil Diamond, Sting, Jean Luc Ponty, Mark Snow, Julio Iglesias, Mark Knopfler, and Howard Jones.

Kevin records and produces music for his company Escape Artist Productions at his El Segundo studio, and gives private piano instruction. His keyboard collection includes a 1920 Steinway M grand piano, 1974 Wurlitzer 206a, 1974 Hohner Melodica, 1979 Fender Rhodes Suitcase 73, 1975 ARP Odyssey, 1975 ARP Axxe, 1987 Synclavier, 1988 Jaymar Toy Piano, 2000 Nord Lead 2, and a 2013 Nord Electro 4HP.

Session: Synclavier® Digital Presents: Designing Sounds & Using Multi-Timbre Features of the Synclavier Go! iPad App

Creativity is no longer confined to the studio. Kevin Maloney shows us step-by-step how to configure, explore, and design Timbres using an iPad and the Synclavier Go! FM and additive synthesizer app.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 12:15PM-1:00PM

Room: VINE

Roy Elkins

Roy Elkins

Broadjam Founder

Roy Elkins is a visionary entrepreneur and a technology geek. In 1999, he founded Broadjam.com, which is one of the longest running websites serving musicians; The company currently hosts over 190,000 members, and provides free profiles, web hosting, song contests, licensing and an active social network where musicians get connected. Prior to Broadjam, Elkins was the VP of Sales and Marketing at Sonic Foundry and responsible for the launch of several products, including the groundbreaking Acid product line. He began his career at Ensoniq Corporation where he was the Director of Training and Artist Relations. The Ensoniq School, which he founded, is still regarded as one of the best training programs in the instrument business. Elkins is passionate about keyboard and software technology and has a thorough understanding of its foundations. He has a vast experience in the music business and his past/present client list includes some of the biggest names in the industry. Recently he launched the Between the Waves Conference and Festival in Madison, WI which provides musicians the knowledge to make a living making music. Elkins’ career has been dedicated to empowering artists and his presentations are insightful, engaging and very popular with his fellow musicians.

Session A: The 50 Songs You Should Write

Successfully create marketable music by examining data and placement characteristics. Topics include writing methods, genre exploration, overcoming blocks and how to increase your odds. It’s a fact-based enlightening session!

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 10:30AM-11:15AM

Room: C

Session B: Making A Living, Making Music

This session discusses your development, marketing, sales and financial focus and specifically how to make money in your local market. Many strategies are discussed in this eye-opening review.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 3:00PM-3:45PM

Room: VINE

Session C: Making Yourself A More Commercially Viable Musician

Make yourself valuable in today’s competitive session and live performance markets. Practical advice that you can put to work immediately after the presentation.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 11:30PM-12:15PM

Room: C

Germaine Franco

Germaine Franco

Orchestral musician, electronic music programmer, and multi-instrumentalist

The first Latina composer to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, music branch. She creates music and songs that reflect her extensive training as an orchestral musician, an electronic music programmer, and a multi-instrumentalist. Her work includes award winning scores and songs for film, TV, Immersive Reality, and VR.

Her latest score for Little, a comedy for Universal Pictures, will arrive in theaters April 12, 2019. Little is directed by Tina Gordon and produced by Kenya Barris, Will Packer, and James Lopez, executive produced by Marsai Martin. The score features an all star rhythm section, live orchestra, electronica, and choir (conducted and contracted by Edie Lehmann Boddicker).

Tag, her highest profile studio feature, directed by Jeff Tomsic for New Line Cinema and Warner Bros., was released last summer. Franco was one of three female composers to score a major studio project last year.

Germaine collaborated with filmmakers Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina, and Darla K. Anderson for four years on Coco, the Oscar® winning Animated Feature. Franco produced, orchestrated and arranged the 2018 Oscar®-winning song. She co-wrote and produced five original songs with Molina, including “Un Poco Loco” and “Proud Corazón”. She contributed additional music and orchestration for Michael Giacchino. Additional scores include Dope, directed by Rick Famuyiwa (Open Road Films), Vida (Starz), Motiongate (DreamWorks Animation), and Kung Fu Panda – The Emperor’s Quest Immersive Attraction currently showing at Universal Studios Hollywood. Honors include the ASCAP Shirley Walker Award, the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music (Coco), Sundance Music and Sound Design Fellow, and Women In Film Music Fellow.

Session: Hybrid Scoring: How to incoporate synths with live musicians and other organic instruments and elements

Franco will discuss the key to finding the true tone for a score, and how to balance electronica and live elements in a score mix, how to create a writing template.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 2:15PM-3:00PM

Room: B

Hannah Parrott

Hannah Parrott

American Composer, Arranger, and Vocalist

Hannah Parrott is an American composer, arranger, and vocalist. Born in Los Angeles, Parrott earned her B.M. in classical composition from Biola University’s Conservatory of Music. She went on to study under and work with notable composers James Horner, Thomas Newman, John Debney, Michael Boddicker, and Jacob Shea, as well as Grammy-nominated recording engineers Simon Rhodes and Chris James. A rising force in the industry, Hannah most recently worked at Hans Zimmer’s esteemed Bleeding Fingers Music, partnering with TV networks such as Netflix, National Geographic, History Channel, the BBC, and Discovery Channel. Some of Hannah’s most notable work and involvement include such projects as Netflix’s ReMastered, National Geographic’s The Flood, Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People, History Channel’s Frontiersmen and Mountain Men, BBC’s Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II, Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory, Sony’s The Magnificent Seven (2016), DreamWorks’ Bridge of Spies, and Warner Bros.’ The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug. Hannah also works extensively with independent filmmakers debuting work at prominent film festivals such as the Los Angeles Film Festival and the San Diego Comic-Con Independent International Film Festival.

Session: Women In Music: I Have A Degree, Now What?

Hannah will discuss key things she has learned about working with a team, discerning patterns, determining boundaries, seeking balance, and finding one's voice (both personally and musically) in a male dominated industry. Though this talk is from a woman's perspective, everyone is invited to join this discussion!

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 11:30PM-12:15PM

Room: A

Joshua Farr

Joshua Farr

Strategic Consultant and Life Coach

Joshua Farr is a Strategic Consultant and Life Coach from the San Francisco Bay Area. His passion for creating communities and music has intertwined in multiple projects, most notably OP-1&Chill, an online community geared towards creating a space for education and promoting music, as well as Left Coast Lights, a member based community in Northern California designed to help musicians get feedback on projects, as well as advice ranging from business to marketing to self promotion. When he is not building communities, he can be found making music under the name Yate.

Session: Become an Instagram Powerhouse – Taking Digital Communities into the Analog Realm

Learn how to take your Instagram followers and create life long, show attending fans. From the best way to engage on IG story's to why it matters when you post that jam!

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 10:00AM-10:45AM

Room: VINE

Julian Colbeck

Julian Colbeck

Keyboard player, Author, and CEO of Keyfax NewMedia and Alan Parsons’ ASSR

Julian Colbeck started as a keyboard player with the band Charlie with whom he had several US Top 40 releases including No Second Chance, Lines and Fight Dirty. Julian also played with John Miles, Vitamin Z, Yes supergroup ABWH, and Steve Hackett on more than a dozen albums and tours including Genesis Revisited.

Julian also reviewed and commented on keyboards. Virgin Books published Julian's first book 'Keyfax' ('Facts' about keyboards) in 1985. Richard Branson said, "I've absolutely no idea what you're talking about but you obviously do so let's do it." Julian has written a further twelve books including a biography of Frank Zappa.

Julian wrote and produced the documentary Analogue Heaven about the opening of the Museum of Synthesizer Technology: a bunker located in a garden in North London. Bob Moog opened it and Julian conducted one of the last interviews with Bob himself at the controls of a 3C.

With his long-time friend and collaborator Alan Parsons, Julian created The Art & Science Of Sound Recording video series, book, and educational license. 'ASSR' has now become a leading supplier of educational materials for music production. Julian plays, writes about, and lectures on music and technology from his base on the California Central Coast.

Session: Making A Career Out Of Being A Synth Freak

There are tons of ways to monetize one's addition to synthesizers. Julian Colbeck has done a lot of them himself and here he'll be exploring the cream of the crop of current opportunities.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 11:00AM-11:45AM

Room: VINE

Rachel Stilwell

Rachel Stilwell

Entertainment Attorney

Rachel's law practice focuses on entertainment, intellectual property, licensing, and commercial transactions. Rachel represents artists, creators and producers of music, film and television in transactions with content providers and distributors. She advises and negotiates on behalf of businesses and artists on complex intellectual property matters and business transactions.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Rachel held executive positions with several top record labels, including Verve Music Group, where she ran Verve's multi-format radio promotional department, supervising all radio activities and promotional tours.

Rachel is active on the Recording Academy's Los Angeles Chapter Advocacy Committee; She has served multiple terms as a Governor on the L.A. Chapter Board, where she most recently serves as Chapter Secretary.

Session: I’m Rachel Stilwell, Entertainment Attorney. Ask Me Anything.

How often do you get to ask an entertainment attorney questions without the meter running? Rachel Stilwell will answer any of your questions and Synthplex will broadcast this session live and field questions from the audience and from Facebook Live. This Q&A session will be moderated by Edie Lehmann Boddicker.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 12:00PM-12:45PM

Room: A

Jeri Palumbo

Jeri Palumbo

Broadcast Sports & Entertainment Mixer, Audio & RF Tech

Jeri has been a broadcast audio mixer and specialist for the past 27 years in Sports and Entertainment. Prior to her work in broadcast, she spent years as a trained musician and arranger on the music side of the business before going into post production and eventually live broadcast. With a current focus on live remote broadcast events, Jeri's work has included the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cups, the Oscars and more. Entertainment shows have included The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and American Idol to name a few. She also won a Telly Award for mixing the live bluegrass show “Songs of the Mountains”. Jeri has worn the hats of broadcast engineer/mixer, field audio, RF tech and communications and most recently broadcast A1 mixer for gaming eSports in immersive surround 5.1. Jeri served on the RF Coordination committee for the NFL, NBA All-Stars and serves in the same capacity for the Rose Bowl every year. Jeri also worked on the NFL's Enhanced Audio team (sounds from the field) on it's debut roll-out.

Session: Capturing sound in professional sports.

Overview and comparison of how sounds in professional sports are captured, created and delivered in a live broadcast medium. Jeri will also discuss how she has become successful as a woman in a male dominated business.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 11:30AM-12:15PM

Room: C

Imre Czomba & Miklos Malek

Imre Czomba & Miklos Malek

Music Producers

Hungarian born, Imre Czomba is a highly respected La based composer, orchestrator, arranger, music producer and musician. A prominent figure in the International Music scene since 1993, he is most recognized for his numerous theatrical compositions and productions, including musicals, international events, and dance theatre shows. Imre earned international acclaim for his 18-year collaboration with ExperiDance, a famous dance troupe whose shows premiered in top theaters across Europe and Asia. His international repertoire includes compositions for the 2008 Summer and 2014 Winter Olympic Games, and the 2013 European Judo Championship and the 2006 European Aquatic Championship Official Song. In 2008 and 2009 Imre was selected to compose music for the prestigious Hungarian National Day firework shows, each with a viewership of over 3 million people. As a composer, arranger, orchestrator, music producer, and musician, Imre has appeared on over 110 albums. He has been the recipient of 18 Gold, 14 Platinum and 4 Double Platinum albums. He has also scored, orchestrated and produced music for over 60 films, television movies and television series. He has worked with top local stars as a session musician and has had the opportunity to appear and perform on the same stage with such notable music legends as B. B. King, Sting and Pink. As a highly respected and versatile music composer and producer, Imre is a member of the Hungarian Film and the American Television Academy.

Miklos Malek is a Hungarian-born music producer, mixing and mastering engineer based in Los Angeles. He is known for his deep musical knowledge, dedication to quality, and attention to detail. Miklos’ work has led to worldwide sales that exceed 15 million units by artists including Jennifer Lopez, Armin Van Buuren, Anastacia, Faith Evans, Pixie Lott and Yanni. Miklos studied classical piano and composition and received his master’s degree from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. After a string of Hungarian hits, he decided to continue his career in the USA. Miklos attended Berklee College of Music in Boston but after only two semesters, he accepted a publishing deal at hitmaker Ric Wake’s publishing company in NYC. This amazing introduction to the New York musical landscape led to his breakthrough in the USA first as a songwriter (Anastacia) and then as an arranger / programmer (Jennifer Lopez). After 6 years in NY, he relocated to LA and began focusing on mixing records and film scores; mastering and stem mastering (Armin Van Buuren). In 2010, he was invited to be a judge on X-Faktor, the Hungarian version of the UK TV show. Miklos stayed in the limelight for 3 wildly successful seasons then returned to the studio where he feels at home the most, aside from the volleyball courts on the beach.

Links for Imre

Links for Miklos

Session: Secrets of a Hollywood-type Film Score (from Mock-up to Final Mix)

Interested in creating a film score like Hans Zimmer? Imre Czomba (composer) and Miklos. Malek (score mixer) will give you a step-by-step breakdown of the process.

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 2:30PM-3:15PM

Room: C

Abby North

Abby North

Principal of North Music Group LLC and a founder of Unchained Melody Publishing LLC

Abby North is principal of North Music Group LLC and a founder of Unchained Melody Publishing LLC. Abby began her music career as a songwriter and composer, and launched her first production music library almost 15 years ago.

In 2005, Abby began working with her father-in-law Alex North’s songs (“Unchained Melody”) and film scores, including “Spartacus,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Viva Zapata” and many others.

Through various industry groups and word of mouth, Abby met other families that control legacy copyrights, and many of these families engaged Abby’s rights management entity, North Music Group LLC to administer their works. North Music Group LLC currently administers approximately 80,000 commercial and film/tv works.

Abby has experience in all areas of music publishing, from creative to administrative. She has vast experience in works registration, a strong knowledge of music publishing data and databases, and a background developing royalty processing and CWR works registration software tools.

Abby is involved in several tech-forward, cutting-edge working groups and initiatives in the music licensing and metadata areas. She consults and advises companies in the financial sector and music industries regarding these issues. Abby is a member of the Television Academy and the Guild of Music Supervisors.

Session: Publishing For The Modern Electronic Musician

Finding the money: maximized royalty collections for self-published electronic musicians.

Date/Time: Sunday, 31st 10:00AM-10:45PM

Room: C

Max Wild

Max Wild

New York-based producer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator from Berlin

Max Wild is a New York-based producer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator from Berlin, by way of Zimbabwe and London. He has been teaching music for over 15 years, and his YouTube tutorials have been featured by Ableton and Dubspot, with over 300k views. He was a senior instructor at Dubspot and went on to founding 343 Labs, a new electronic music school and accelerator program in New York and Online. He currently also leads the NYC Ableton User Group and teaches music theory and ear training at Manhattan School of Music. Max holds a masters degree from Manhattan School of Music and a bachelors degree from Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. He has performed around the world, with musicians as diverse the late Afro-pop icons Oliver Mtududzi and Chiwoniso to Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist Mark Turner and Brazilian vocalist/producer Cândida Borges. He has released numerous records under his name, as well as under his electronic music moniker “MOA”.

Session: Songwriting Techniques for Electronic Musicians

Max Wild will break down the elements of songwriting and show how a basic understanding of music theory, song structure, and instrumentation can dramatically speed up the process of capturing our ideas in music. of music theory, song structure, and instrumentation can dramatically speed up the process of capturing our ideas in music.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 3:00PM-3:45PM

Room: C

Thomas Connors

Thomas Connors

Composer, Audio engineer, and Sound Designer

Thomas grew up in Los Angeles, studied music at El Camino College, and received his bachelor’s degree in music from UCLA. Afterwards, Thomas worked in the music industry as a composer, audio engineer, and sound designer. Practicing intellectual property law since 2010, Thomas began his legal apprenticeship in 2005 with his father, patent attorney John J. Connors. Coming from a musical background Thomas understands the challenges artists face in protecting their intangible property.

Intellectual Property Law Syntheses for Electronic Musicians

An overview of how trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secret law can enhance an electronic musician's value in the market place.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 9:00AM-9:45PM

Room: VINE

Steve Fortner

Steve Fortner

Music Industry Marketing Consultant & Content Developer

Stephen Fortner is the former editor in chief of Keyboard magazine, the world’s longest-running and most trusted source of information for keyboard players. He now works as a marketing consultant and content developer in the musical instrument and professional audio industries, via his firm Fortner Media. Stephen is also a lifelong keyboardist himself, having played piano since age four and played professionally in bands since age 14.

Music Journalism Panel

TBA

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 4:00PM-4:45PM

Room: VINE

Claire London and Holly Vernon

Holly Vernon & Claire London

Holly is the founder of ExSoSo & Claire is a Singer/Songwriter and Co-founder of Female Frequency

After a over two decades of working alongside independent artists and sharing grassroots marketing hacks, Holly Vernon founded the Experimental Sound Society (ExSoSo), a non-profit organization that works to support sonic arts and create opportunities for furthering the efforts of artists and musicians that dare to push beyond existing genre definitions. Launched in the summer of 2018, ExSoSo is already spanning the globe with a network of artists and supporters in over 30 countries. Watch for the upcoming launch of the ExSoSo podcast coming in June of 2019.

Garnering high praise for her soulful sound, Claire London is a dynamic singer, songwriter, recording artist, and vocal producer based in Los Angeles. She is also the co founder of Female Frequency, a community dedicated to empowering, supporting, and connecting women in the music industry. In 2017, they released a collaborative album in which every component of the music making process, from writing and instrumentation to production and mastering, was done by women, and they regularly host events and workshops for female music makers. Claire also continues to peform, write, and mentor in LA, and is currently working with some of the music industries most exciting new producers, songwriters, and artists.

Links for Holly

Links for Claire

Growth of a Modern Sound Movement

Holly Vernon and Claire London will discuss how artists can further their efforts by finding support from organizations utilizing the power of an online network.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 9:45AM-10:30AM

Room: B

John Acosta

John Acosta

President of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47

John Acosta currently serves as President of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 representing over 7,000 professional musicians in the southern California area. John also serves as an International Executive Board member of the AFM, Vice President on the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Board, President on the Music Fund of Los Angeles Board of Directors, Director on the Actors Fund Western Council and Director on the Verdugo-Workforce Investment Board. John hails from the Bronx, New York. His father Juan Acosta was a percussionist from Cuba who worked as a touring musician with Latin jazz greats such as Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. In California, John began his recording career working as a composer, guitarist, producer and engineer for artists on Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, Geffen, BMG, Elektra and Capitol Records. John's work as a musician lead to his work with Local 47, advocating for musicians rights.

The Benefits of Union Membership and Monetizing your Music.

John Acosta President-American Federation of Musicians-Local 47, speaks on Local 47's new vision #newUnion and how musicians need to organize more than ever before in a new and expanding digital universe

Date/Time: Thursday, 28th 3:15PM-4:00PM

Room: ABC

Aspen Pittman

Aspen Pittman

Founder of Aspen and Associates

Back in 1978, Aspen Pittman founded a consulting company focused on music and audio products and called it Aspen and Associates. Early Aspen and Associates research discovered ways to improve vacuum tubes for guitar amplifiers and led to one of the music industry’s most successful products: Groove Tubes. Over the following 30 years Groove tubes went on to design and manufacture 13 original vacuum tube designs for Musical Instrument and High Fidelity amplifiers, supplying both his Groove Tubes catalog and major audio companies companies from Fender to the original McIntosh tube amplifier companies.

Groove Tubes became the centerpiece of our business, so we later renamed the company to reflect that centerpiece. Other Groove Tubes highlights are Aspen’s best-selling book, The Tube Amp Book, with over 140,000 copies sold, a long line of custom built boutique “Soul-o” guitar amps and Groove Tubes’ award-winning studio microphones and tube-based signal processors such as The ViPRE, The SuPRE, The Glory Comp and The Brick.

Today Aspen And Associates thrives as the “Mothership” umbrella company for his large format live vintage style recording studios, Aspen’s Place Recording, and his newest line of innovative audio products that are simply branded “APD”, for Aspen Pittman Designs, including Aspen’s patented Center Point Stereo’s Spacestation v.3, a stereo powered monitor that creates a 3D stereo sound field everywhere in the room… and beyond!

Session A: 3D Audio Center Point Stereo

Aspen Pittman will demonstrate the 3D Audio Center Point Stereo system.

Date/Time: Friday, 29th 3:00PM-3:45PM

Room: A

Session B: 3D Audio Center Point Stereo

Aspen Pittman will demonstrate the 3D Audio Center Point Stereo system.

Date/Time: Saturday, 30th 1:15PM-1:45PM

Room: VINE