Recording Studio
Engineers
Kevin Houston
Kevin Houston is one of Memphis’ most popular independent recording engineers. His interest in recording began in high school where he made recordings with classmates Cody and Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars).
Kevin earned a BFA degree in Commercial Music Recording and Technology at the University of Memphis in 1995. He soon found work at Powerhouse Recording Studio where he split his time between recording publishing demos and jingles. As his reputation grew, Kevin landed engineering assignments with such artists as Buddy Guy, the Beale Street Caravan international radio program, the North Mississippi Allstars, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and producer Jim Dickinson. Kevin’s relationship with Dickinson blossomed and they worked together on many records recorded at Dickinson’s Zebra Ranch Studio. Kevin worked on his first project with Archer Records in 2003- mixing the Gamble Brothers Band “Back to The Bottom” album.
At Music + Arts studio, Kevin has become a leading film sound engineer with extensive surround sound mixing experience. His surround sound and film credits include “$5 Cover” (MTV),” Black Snake Moan” (Paramount), the “Poor & Hungry Re-Mastered” (Craig Brewer), “N-Secure “(Julius Lewis), “Savage County” (MTV) and the just completed punk rock comedy, “Losers Take All”. Kevin has worked on six Grammy nominated albums, including a 2011 nomination for “Luther Dickinson and the Sons of Mudboy” (Memphis International).
Daniel Lynn
As a recording engineer and mixer, Daniel Lynn is a dichotomy of new and old school engineering.
As a former Apple Computer employee, he is well steeped in what’s going on “inside the box”. But he’s also an analog purist who’s honed his skill at getting the best sound on tape, analog recording tape that is. A disciple of the work of engineers Eliot Scheiner and Dave Whitehead, Daniel recently contracted with Manley Labs to re-create his own pair of the coveted Manley Tannoy ML10 reference monitors—known as Solid Gold Tannoy monitors in the l980s.
In 2007 Daniel graduated from The University of Memphis with a degree in Recording Technology and studied with visiting professor, George Massenburg. While attending college, he began working as a live sound engineer at the 5,000 seat venue at Hope Church in Memphis- where he later worked as an engineer in their recording studio, The Grove.
In 2008 he began working as an assistant engineer at Music + Arts. With a ‘can-do” attitude, he began helping with recording sessions, mixing, maintenance, including assisting API engineers in upgrading the automation system of the API Vision surround sound console.
“I love the creative process and enjoy working with musicians to bring their vision to life. As an engineer, I like to experiment and I’m excited to be working in an environment with a specialty in filmsound and 5.1 mixing.”
In 2010 Daniel worked for 5 weeks with renowned engineer Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Nine Inch Nails) recording and mixing a new studio album for artist Amy LaVere. The album, “Stranger Me” (Archer), is scheduled for release in 2011.
Music Credits:
Amy LaVere, JP & The Jackrollers, Autumn Fox, Bruce Carroll, Dave Nicar, Executive Set, Hal Hawkins, Jonathan “Stump” Sterling, Kathryn Brawley, K’West, Michelle Bush, Phillips Craig and Dean, Roger Mexico, The New Davy Ray Trio, Sid Selvidge, The Tony Thomas Trio, Joyce Cobb, Lily Afshar, Lynn Cardonna and Bobby Blue Bland.
Filmsound:
“Savage County” (MTV) score recording and remix –assistant engineer
“$5 Cover” (MTV) voice over recording
“N-Secure” re-mix—assistant engineer.
“Loser’s Take All” – Foley engineer
Patrick McKinney
Patrick McKinney is the newest addition to the engineering team at Music + Arts. He earned a B.S. degree in Audio Engineering from MTSU in 2010. While still in school, Patrick contacted Ward Archer of Music + Arts about an internship. “The first thing I noticed on his resume was that he studied with Dan Pfeifer at MTSU and learned our API console in class” explained Archer. “Pfeifer literally wrote the manual for the API Vision console, so I knew Patrick would be helpful right away.”
Patrick jumped into the internship and worked on whatever needed to be done. No job was too small, too dirty or too difficult. “That’s when we learned he has a natural ability to figure out how things work….from repairing equipment to routing audio along a complex path. Plus, he’s also a great guy,” says Archer. “The strong, silent type”.
Originally from Batesville, MS, Patrick, Patrick grew up around music with an older brother and father who played multiple instruments as church musicians. At age 16, he became interested in digital music and began experimenting with local artists. Independently he has worked with Josh Paul, Scoe Skillz , Freshie Luv & Halo and Gifted Men.
As he looks to gain knowledge from the likes of Kevin Houston and Daniel Lynn, Patrick expects to make a big contribution at the studio.
“I am learning”, he says. “I’m working with experienced engineers and everyone here likes to share their knowledge so I learn a lot at every session. I’m passionate about what I’m doing.”
At Music + Arts Patrick has assisted on a number of recording sessions with Kevin and Daniel including Black Rock Revival, Amy LaVere, and Jason Freeman to name a few. With a background as an artist himself, he was even lucky enough to land a background part on Amy LaVere’s latest album, Stranger Me due out in 2011.
