Staff Directory

Tom Hawley

President & Publisher

Tom’s first “multi-track” recording came to fruition in 1972. He used two stereo cassette decks to create a recording with two guitar parts and two vocal parts …. he was thrilled ….and hooked! A few years later he had saved enough to purchased a TASCAM 4440 4-track reel-to-reel and TAPCO 6200 mixer and began recording original material ….with a little help from his friends. In 1984 Tom enrolled in the Audio Recording Engineering program at the Media Technology Institute in Golden, Colorado. After learning his way around a Studer 80-A and Harrison Console he considered leaving his vocation in Environmental Design (BENVD 1976 University of Colorado). Then in 1988, after moving to L.A. for his wife’s career, he saw an ad for an ad salesman for Home & Studio Recording magazine; he landed the gig. That was over 20 years ago. Now he spends most of his time looking for his glasses.

Brent Heintz

VP & Associate Publisher

Brent’s introduction to the music industry was working for Simmons Electronic Drums in the mid-eighties (think hexagonal). Not much going on technology-wise, if you exclude the advent of MIDI, digital synthesis and sampling (!). A couple years later, Brent saw a two-line ad for Music Maker Publications, publishers of a start-up magazine called Music Technology. Got the job selling advertising, and doing some illustration work. Also got bit by the recording bug and bought his first 4-track recorder – a Fostex X-15. In the early nineties, after a brief stint with a LA-based ad agency, Brent returned to M.M.P., joining the staff of Recording magazine. Later on, he became Associate Publisher, and one of the partners here at MMP. Just for sentimental reasons, Brent still has his X-15, and his, sniff, SDS9 brain.

Fernando Curiel

Editor, Músico Pro

Fernando Curiel loves playing guitar (when the guitar is not playing him), as well as recording (when someone else is not recording him), and songwriting... A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Music Production & Engineering and Music Business & Management, where he attended on a merit scholarship for his innate skills on the six-stringed instrument, Mr. Curiel finds a home wherever he may roam as long as he is accompanied by music and anything relevant to it. Which is good, because as a bilingual music journalist, he finds what some call nirvana (smells like teen spirit indeed). And on occasion, jumping from perfectly good airplanes seems to interest him.

Justin Peacock

Web Editor

Justin got his start in this business as a musician, recording in his foam-walled bedroom to VHS tapes. Indirectly, that led to an internship at an established studio where he cut his teeth, staying late to learn the console. Eventually Justin was engineering sessions and finding more opportunities to work around town. Since then, Justin has worked all over the country in studios and radio, with artists big and small. In addition to rock/pop, he has extensive experience in classical, jazz, 5.1 and SACD production, along with hundreds of hours of live mixing for radio. Outside of Recording Magazine, Justin is an independent producer, engineer and mixer under his production company The Hook Factory. In his free time, Justin is an avid climber, backcountry skier and snow nerd.

Visit The Hook Factory!

Lorenz Rychner

Editor

A circuitous route took Lorenz slowly around the world. In his native Switzerland he played gigs and toured while going to school and getting his degree in publishing. After a stint in the UK to learn English, he lived in Australia for many years where he played keyboards, wrote charts and toured far and wide as musical director—and loved being a registered breeder of Dalmatians (“they’ve got it figured—to Dallies, life is fun and fun is life, nothing else matters”). Moved to Los Angeles where he studied conducting and composition and taught MIDI and synth programming between gigs. His teaching handouts became published books, the books became articles, RECORDING printed many of them, and soon Lorenz joined RECORDING. In 1996 he moved with the magazine to Colorado. Funny how one thing can lead to another! --- (Dalmatian image courtesy of www.bybee.com.)

Mike Metlay, Ph.D.

Associate Editor

Mike holds a doctorate in nuclear physics; he left science in 1996 and combined his dual passions—music and writing—by joining Recording’s Editorial staff. He became Associate Editor in 2002. Mike has been recording and producing music since 1979. Nowadays he’s most interested in new avenues for musical collaboration, whether in person (e.g. the Different Skies Music Festival in Arizona and his mindSpiral “pickup band” projects) or over the Internet (Mike has a weekly show on the StillStream net.radio station, and plays live concerts in Second Life as Spiral Sands). He lives near Boulder with his wife and daughters.

Different Skies      mindSpiral

StillStream             Second Life

Stephanie King

Classifieds Manager

Stephanie has many years experience in the administrative field. Along the way she’s had various jobs including those in real estate and banking. She’s happily found a home with Music Maker these past eight years. Stephanie leads a happy life with her husband and 2 children. She enjoys traveling, hiking and gardening as long as music is a part of it. She likes a wide variety of music but one highlight she will always cherish is meeting Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull.

Scott Simmonds

Art Director

Scott has been working at Music Maker since the dawn of time. His favorite font is courier. He still loves it when the Editors stand behind him, arms crossed, and make nonconstructive comments about his design work. Everyone knows he has a mouse, and is not afraid to use it. For fun, Scott collects bud bottles. He also has an extensive collection of exciting bookmarks on his browser.

Colin Courtney

Production Manager

Ah, patient zero. What a curious creature. Colin is a collector as well as a distributor of information. This former drummer turned bassist is consumed with the future. He lives his life as if the present is weeks from now. Between his episodes he turns to the world of design for comfort. — We can only hope the treatment holds.

Tiffany Sepe

Circulation Manager

Tiffany began her career at MMP back in 1988, in the circulation department as a subscription data entry clerk. In 1989 she left MMP for college, and earned her degree in accounting. She returned back to MMP in 1993 as the Accounting Manager. In 1996 she changed positions once again, and moved into the position of Circulation Manager. Her hobbies include cooking, photography, hiking, and running MMP. She shacked up with one of the Publishers and has two beautiful children.