Martin Atkins

Martin is a drummer and session musician best known for his work in post- punk and industrial groups including Public Image Ltd., Ministry, Pigface, Nine Inch Nails and Killing Joke. He is CEO of Invisible Records and author of the book Tour: Smart.

Mike Bailey

Mike started his music business career by running his own independent record label. That led him to the major labels where he took a position as Marketing Coordinator for Peter Gabriel’s, Real World Records (Narada/EMI). He spent the next two years gaining experience in a variety of positions (marketing/label manager/A&R Administration) and working with a diverse mix of artists - including Cracker, The Neville Brothers, Frank Black, David Sylvian, Acoustic Alchemy and Afro Celt Sound System. He then settled into his long-term position as A&R Director for Back Porch Records and eventually completed his 11-year tenure at EMI with a turn at the prestigious Blue Note Label Group in New York. At Blue Note he oversaw projects from Rosanne Cash, Van Morrison, Alejandro Escovedo, and Emerson Hart (Tonic) while also working on Grammy nominated projects for Lila Downs, Viktor Krauss and John Hammond. Mike is currently starting to work in artist management and continues to consult on A&R projects for independent artists.

Biff Blumfumgagnge

Biff is an accomplished musician, performer, technician, music theorist, and innovator of sound. His studio and touring credits include: Natty Nation, Hanah Jon Taylor, Robert Fripp Soundscapes, The League of Crafty Guitarists, Ritt Deitz, Charlie Cheney, Cobbz Webb, Lance Ketterer, The Reptile Palace Orchestra, The Gomers, Yammer, Joey Saturn & Bob Uranus, Sin Fronteras (South American Artists), The Singing Irishman, The Stellanovas (Chris Wagoner & Mary Gaines), Gen Gereb, Steve Miller, Les Paul, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Willy Porter, and Clyde Stubblefield.

Rich Denhart

Rich has been a music industry professional for over 30 years. Starting out as a band member and touring the U.S., he moved to front of house and recording engineering in 1980. For the last eleven years, he served as Senior Director of A&R for EMI labels Narada, Back Porch, and Narada Jazz. He has worked for or with such artists as David Bowie, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Chuck Berry, The Subdudes, Ramsey Lewis, Champaign, New Edition, Tony Levin, Lila Downs, Frank Black, The Bodeans, George Massenburg, and many others.

Ron Dettwiler

Ron has played guitar for more than 20 years. Running live sound for bands and performing as a musician led Ron to establish his own recording studio in 1997. He has recorded bands and artists such as The Pipe Circus, Lost Souls, Tani Diakite, Muriel Anderson, Tom Bresh, Monte Montgomery, Willy Porter, McKenzie’s Mill, and Toni McManus. Ron also started the Anvil Audio live sound company. In addition to teaching at MMI for over ten years, Ron has worked with many local and regional artists over the last two decades. He is a proud graduate of MMI.

Dan Harjung

Dan is a graduate of the Institute of Audio/Video Engineering in Hollywood. He has 20-plus years of experience mixing and producing music. He was an A&R representative and mastering engineer with Narada Records, a division of EMI and Virgin Records. Dan built the studios for the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee and taught their lecture and lab classes.

Chris Kasper

Chris has been professionally involved in multiple facets of the music industry for over 10 years. Chris lives and breathes music. While managing a local recording studio, he somehow found time to mix hundreds of live shows and play bass and sing in a very successful corporate show-band. He has produced live and or recorded bands and artists such as The UK Subs, Greg Koch, Roscoe Beck, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Eden Row. Chris is also involved in freelance recording projects at E Labs Multimedia, which was recently nominated for best studio design of 2006 by Mix Magazine. If there’s something major going down in the regional music scene, it’s a pretty safe bet that Chris Kasper is involved in some way.

Sean McMahon

Sean’s diverse credits include producing and engineering Marilyn Manson, Michael Bolton, The Judds, Slipknot, Stone Sour, Wynona Judd, and Bill Gaither. He collaborated on two Grammy-nominated album projects and a platinum album. Sean mixed and/or engineered tracks on three #1 Billboard music videos. Presently he is Chair of the Bachelor of Science Degree in Entertainment and Media Business at Madison Media Institute and a certified Pro Tools instructor. Sean has a Bachelor of Science degree from Middle Tennessee State University.

Doug Olson

Doug has worked fifteen years as a professional engineer, producer, and mixer. His credits include engineering, producing, or mixing for artists such as Killdozer, EMF, Skunk Anansie, Overwhelming Colorfast, Urge Overkill, The Young Fresh Fellows, L7, Smashing Pumpkins, and HBO Reverb. Doug is Chair of the Recording and Music Technology Department at Madison Media Institute and holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jack Sayre

Jack has created original music and sound design for over 25 theatrical and musical productions. With 10 years of experience in sound design and audio production, Jack has extensive “know-how” as a clinician for various audio/MIDI software and hardware companies, including Sonic Foundry and Sonorus. He has a bachelor of fine arts degree in piano performance from the University of Illinois, with an emphasis in music composition and electro-acoustic music.

Chris Taylor

Chris has been in and around recording studios for the past 22 years cutting his first recordings on 2” reels at the age of 14. Musically he plays trumpet, baritone, sousaphone, piano, drums/percussion, harmonica, bass and on occasion will attempt the lead guitar. He owns Alcatraz recording studio in Milwaukee. Chris has recorded, worked with, toured with or opened for top artists such as Coo Coo Cal, Max Julian (Goldy in the Mack), Chopper Young City (Making The Band), Bushwick Bill (The Geto Boys) Lil Boosie, Kanye West, Twista, Musiq Soulchile, Smokey Robinson, Anthony Hamilton, Lil Jon, Keith Clizark (Snoop Dogg) Joseph Warlick (Dr. Dre) Shorty B. (Too Short), Organized Noize (Outkast), Michael Clip Payne (Parliament Funkadelic), Danny Leake (Stevie Wonder), Devin Harris (New Jersey Nets) Mystical, Pimpin’ Ken, Pimp Snooky, Ice Mone, The Ying Yang Twins, Nas and more then he can remember at the time of this publishing.

Hanah Jon Taylor

Hanah Jon Taylor joins the Recording department after receiving the critical acclaim of audiences throughout Europe, Scandinavia and the Americas. His lyrical persona on flute, saxophone and wind synthesizer has warranted him a master of improvisation. He has appeared with Richie Havens, drummer Steve McCall, pianist Antonello Salis, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble with Kalil El Zabar, the Colson Unity Troupe, bassists Rafael Garrett and Malachi Favors, and the Great Black Music Ensemble of Chicago.  Hanah’ led the first avant-garde ensemble to perform in Cuba.  He was commissioned by the University of Chicago to organize and direct its first improvisational orchestra. Hanah’ established the Musonics Foundation, a cadre of musicians, dancers, and actors, organized to provide artistic activities designed to encourage self-expression in young people. He holds a masters degree in Music Therapy from Southern Illinois University.  His awards include Best Jazz Artist for 2005 and 2006; Best Instrumentalist for 2005; Best Jazz Composition for 2006 at the Madison Area Music Awards; and Jazz Personality of the Year at the 2006 Isthmus Jazz Festival. He presently records under the Rogue Art Records label in Paris and is co-founder and director of the Madison Center for Creative and Cultural Arts.

Scott Wilson

Scott is a longtime musician and songwriter turned recording engineer. His experience includes 7 years as Product Specialist with audio manufacturer Digidesign (makers of the recording industry’s most popular editing software, Pro Tools), work in commercial recording facilities, as well as freelance work. Credits include commercials for First Alert, Optema Batteries, Johnson Controls and the Green Bay Packers DVD “Legends of Lambeau Field”. He owns Sound Techniques- Milwaukee where he focuses on mixing and commercial music production.

Heather Yonker

Heather is an accomplished musician and multi-media artist. She has been teaching and directing in the arts for more than 20 years. Her eclectic background spans scoring for original musicals, industrial videos, computer animations and independent shorts. Heather has worked extensively as a musical director and choral director and has also produced her own award-winning experimental films. In addition to her teaching she enjoys doing side-work on independent features as second camera operator, sound tech and boom operator. She belongs to community organizations Rhizome.org, Madison Music Collective, Madison Area Piano Teachers Association, Film Music Network and The Madison Tango Society.