I built my first mixing board for my band when I was 15 years old with parts from Radio Shack & a local electronics store called "You do it" Electronics. In high school we got to tour a recording studio. I later searched for a recording course at a local studio when I was 16. The first one wouldn't take me because I was too young, but the second one (Baker Street Studios in Watertown) did & I was hooked.

My first year of college was at Middle Tennessee State University, which with 16 tracks had one of the largest recording programs in the country. Hard to believe by today's standards. While I was there Berklee College in Boston built 6 studios, so I transferred back to Berklee in my neck of the woods.

While attending Berklee College of Music I started Goin' Mobile, doing live recordings for other Berklee Student Projects. You try fitting a full rhythm section w/ 4 horns onto 4 tracks! Starting at the bottom really teaches you how to get the most from what you've got. (something that's probably gotten lost in a world with infinite tracks on a computer)

When I graduated I started doing projects all over. First a Fostex 1/4" 8 track, then Tascam MS16 1" 16 track, then 24 of adat, then 32 & finally 40 tracks. Here's a photo of the 1st mobile truck, the mighty brown van.

Eventually I wandered into the Gospel market. Mostly NYC, but I went all over the Eastern Seaboard, NH down to GA. This necessitated a switchover to Tascam DA88/DA38 as well a 14 foot box truck.

Gospel is an excellent training ground for problem solving ability, with lots of last minute "oh by the way" changes, and venues with poor equipment/power.