The Recording Arts Center TRAC

School for Audio Engineering & Production

Avid Authorized Training Partner

Now Offering an Associate Degree in Recording Arts

858-592-9497

Offering classes in North County San Diego & Downtown San Diego



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Instructors & Staff

 

Mark Kirchner
Co-Owner (Studio West), Post-Production Engineer, Producer, Pro Tools Expert (Post),
Instructor: Pro Tools 101, Pro Tools 110, Pro Tools 201, Pro Tools 210P, Pro Tools 310P, Avid Media Composer 101

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Mark found his interest in music and audio early in high school. Taking percussion lessons and playing drums in band eventually led to an Associate Degree in Recording Arts from Golden West College in Huntington Beach. After finishing school in Southern California, he returned home to work for one of the Bay Area's largest recording studios, The Music Annex. That same month he was offered a job with a little-known newcomer to the audio industry called Digidesign. Before moving to San Diego in 2003, Mark spent 14 years with Digidesign managing groups in Technical Support and Marketing Communications. He was instrumental in developing the service group responsible for supporting the company's products used in the professional audio post production market. Later, in his role as Technical Marketing Manager, Mark's group directed and produced Digidesign’s electronic marketing materials, product information DVDs and web video content. His group also developed the highly successful Dealer Training Program, which in recent years has become the Digidesign Training and Education Program. After leaving Digidesign in 2001, Mark co-founded The Mindlab Learning Center and AudioMe, technical training centers located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since joining forces with Studio West and The Recording Arts Center in 2006, Mark keeps his practical experience up-to-date by engineering and mixing sessions for top film, TV and broadcast clients. Some of these shows include hit television series such as Star Wars; The Clone Wars, Cold Case, Prison Break, Veronica Mars, Kings, Olivia, The Ex-List and Terriers. Other projects include work for PBS, NPR, MTV, Nickelodeon, NBC Sports, ESPN, FX Network, The Science Channel and The Discovery Channel. Mark has contributed to such feature films as Iron Man, Meet Dave, My Life in Ruins, 500 Days of Summer, W, Piranha 3D, and RED, and sound design and mixing for video game companies Volition, Activision, SEGA and Marvel.

Caleb Keiter

Engineer, Pro Tools Expert (Music, ICON)

Instructor: Pro Tools 101, Pro Tools 110, Pro Tools 201, Pro Tools 210M, Pro Tools 310M, Pro Tools 310I, Signal Processing with Waves, Audio Recording Techniques

Caleb is TRAC's East Coast transplant. A drummer, Caleb brings his passion for music and audio engineering as well as his experience as a Certified Pro Tools Expert Instructor to TRAC. He previously taught classes in audio engineering, Pro Tools, and MIDI at Omega Studios School for the Applied Recording Arts and Sciences in the Washington D.C. area and at Future Media Concepts in New York City. For the first 6 years of his career, he owned and operated a mobile Pro Tools recording system and worked regularly at Omega Recording Studios, Sound of Music Studios, and Dragonfly Recording Studios, all on the East Coast. He has lent his expertise to numerous tracking and mixing sessions in genres ranging from pop and rock, to classical, jazz, and even big band and orchestral recordings. Credits include: Yours for Mine, BFD "Percussion Expansion Pack" by FXPansion, a virtual instrument plug-in for which Caleb recorded all of the samples, and recording and broadcasting a live studio performance by Death Cab For Cutie. Caleb has also engineered live recordings for Matt Costa, Queens of the Stone Age, and Eagles of Death Metal. In the local San Diego scene, he has worked with The Jazz Ensemble, The Johnny V Band, and a host of other local bands and artists. Though primarily a music engineer, Caleb has also done audio work for Kashi, Red Bull, and other television commercials. He has an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration and attended Omega Studios School for the Applied Recording Arts and Sciences. Caleb is also one of the founding members of the San Diego Pro Tools User Group, a network of local San Diego Pro Tools users that hold regular meetings with tips, tricks, and demos. His sense of humor and expertise insures a fun and productive environment in the studio. When he is not recording, you can usually find him behind his camera or training for his next triathlon or marathon.

Kellogg Boynton

Engineer, Producer, Pro Tools Expert (Music)

Instructor: Pro Tools 101, Pro Tools 110, Pro Tools 201, Pro Tools 210M, Pro Tools 310M, Audio Recording Techniques, Signal Processing with Waves, The Art of Mixing

A versatile and talented engineer, Kellogg attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and received a BAS in Sound Engineering from Ex’pression College for Digital Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. With extensive knowledge about Solid State Logic consoles and an Avid Certified Pro Tools Expert, he brings a wide variety of technical and musical knowledge to both tracking and mixing sessions at Studio West. Specializing in rock genres from alternative to the heaviest rock, along with other musical styles such as folk, jazz and classical, he particularly enjoys tracking live drums and mixing. Kellogg has also started his own mixing service, The Mix Factory Online. Recent music credits include sessions with internationally acclaimed artists Taylor Swift, Plain White T's, Anoushka Shankar, Wolfmother, Simple Plan and Elan. Local San Diego projects Kellogg has worked on include recording and mixing music for Endoxi, Erick Macek and Astra Kelly. Kellogg’s knowledge of ISDN and ADR technology also make him a valuable asset to Studio West’s post-production and broadcast clients. His ADR and voiceover recording credits include Richard Dreyfuss, EA Games (with Colts’ running-back Marshall Faulk), Southwest Airlines, Kashi Company and the hit TV series Veronica Mars. A native San Diegan, Kellogg grew up in the North County coastal town of Encinitas.

Gary Miranda
Engineer, Sound Designer, Musician, Pro Tools Expert (Post, ICON, Music)
Instructor: Pro Tools 101, Pro Tools 110, Pro Tools 201, Pro Tools 210P, Pro Tools 310P, Pro Tools 310I
A recent addition to the TRAC team, Gary earned his first of several Pro Tools certifications in 2005. Gary's passion lies in post-production projects and video game audio. His recent projects include trailers for the video games Thor and Captain America developed by SEGA. He also contributed music, and finalized the mix, for the video game trailer for Iron Man 2. In between teaching Pro Tools classes, Gary has worked on several voiceover and dialog sessions for clients such as Lucas Arts, FX Network, Richard Dreyfuss, and Nickelodeon. He also completed the locally produced short film Well Done in which his credits included ADR recording, foley, sound design and sound mixing.  His music projects lie in the metal genre and have included work with Draconis, Scrap Metal, Defeated Sanity, Deprecated, and Derek Boyer of Suffocation.

Jesse Maxson

Studio Manager (Studio West), Admissions Director (The Recording Arts Center), Pro Tools Expert (Music, Post)

Instructor: Avid Media Composer 101

Jesse studied Audio Engineering and Audio for T.V. and Film at Mediatech Institute in Dallas. Originally working as an Engineer for the Dallas Sound Lab he became very involved with the Austin City Limits and SXSW music festivals. He has worked on various live and studio projects including REM, Steve Winwood, Cake, The Reverend Horton Heat and Franz Ferdinand. In 2005 Jesse moved to southern California to further pursue his love of music and surfing. Once again he found himself immersed in the music industry working as a live sound engineer and a Pro Tools instructor at the LA Recording School.  Jesse's hobbies include surfing, music and sports.

Peter Dyson
Studio Owner (Studio West), School Director (The Recording Arts Center)
A native of England, Peter came to San Diego from the musical town of Austin, Texas in October of 2004. The third owner in Studio West's thirty-five year history, Peter spearheaded a studio expansion and remodeling project in 2005, determined to bring to fruition his vision of a world-class, fully integrated San Diego-based recording studio, comparable to the top facilities in Los Angeles. His thirteen years of professional expertise in strategic business planning, leadership training and human resources for Motorola's Semiconductor Group in Austin and his passion for music have uniquely equipped Peter to assemble a top notch team of engineers and producers at Studio West, and to identify and develop services to better meet the needs of clients. As a drummer, Peter has played and recorded with bands in both England and Austin, and has a musical taste that is as diverse as the artists who have recorded at Studio West over the years.

Amy Ziegelman

Director of Training, Marketing and Operations

Amy brings a wealth of instructional design, organizational expertise and management experience to The Recording Arts Center. Working together with Studio West owner, Peter Dyson, Amy has helped to design course content, implement and market the training courses, and is responsible for scheduling and student registration. She also manages the TRAC team of instructors. Amy has created and delivered technical training courses in a wide variety of corporate settings, with clients such as General Motors, Toshiba and Disney. A lifetime student of music with an ongoing passion for the industry, Amy has lent her voice for background vocals on several musical projects and corporate voiceovers. Amy holds a BA in German and Philosophy from The University of Michigan.