Rax Trax Staff
The Rax Trax staff are technically experienced audio engineers / producers and well versed in music production. Whether you have a major label album or a local demo, our goal is to make your project satisfying and successful.Jump to an engineer:
Rick Barnes, Mike J, Jake Vogel, Jay Zdyrski, Turan Yon, Dave Rieley, Jay O'Rourke, Bransin Anderson, Mo Joe, Neil Kernon, Coleton Paskert, Mike Namoff, Kendall Stephens
Rick Barnes - Producer/Engineer, Studio Owner
From the humble beginnings of a downtown 8-track loft studio to a really big rockin studio in Lakeview, Rick Barnes has seen a lot of talent in Chicago. From producing house music for nefarious labels on the south side to engineering and co-producing the Grammy nominated album "Here's the Deal" with Chicago band Liquid Soul, Rick has been in the musical trenches for years, creating two things- Great Music and Happy Clients. Rick is currently playing guitar in the acclaimed Chicago band, "The Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra" and can occasionally be seen on TV.
Some of Rick´s clients include:
- Lucky Boys Confusion
- Cameron McGill
- The Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra
- Verbow/Rockets Over Sweden
- Alice Peacock
- 15 Minutes Late
- Starch Martins
- Plura
- Koko Taylor
- Lonny Brooks
- Little Ed and the Blues Imperials
- Frank Bang
- The Assassins
Mike J - Producer/Engineer, Studio Manager
Mike J. has been the studio manager at Rax Trax since April 2003. Mike´s experience in the music industry covers many areas. Mike has Bachelors degrees in music performance (percussion) and audio engineering. Mike hasan extensive performance background in all styles of music, has taught and arranged for many high school bands and drum and bugle corps, and has produced and engineered recordings for local acts. He can do a lot of cool things, but what can he do for you?
Your time at Rax Trax begins and ends with Mike. He is most likely the one who will schedule your project, as well as collect on the bill. Make friends with him, put down a nice deposit to make sure everything goes smooth as silk. Hey, want your drums to really sing? Get Mike to prep and tune your drummer´s kit for the session. I bet you thought those screws were just there to keep the drums from exploding! What´s that? You just fired your drummer? Hire MJ to rock crisp beatz on your session. You won´t be sorry.
Just remember, Mike J is there for you, on your side, ready to throw down for you. He will rock you like a muthafuckin hurricane, all you have to do is ask. Otherwise, he will hunt you down and possibly kill you.
Some of Mike J's clients include:
- Premium
- Scenic Route
- the New Royal Travellers
- Piel Plastica
- Roman Numerals
- Death by Design
Jake Vogel - Producer/Engineer, Studio Manager
Thought provoking; dynamic; and the ability to make your record sound clean as a whistle, Jake began his career here at Rax Trax. Schooled at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, Jake has been writing and recording music since the tender age of fifteen. He'll make you sound so good you'll want to slap your mother...or at least let her listen to it.
He is currently enrolled at DeVry University for Electronics Engineering and calls Rax Trax Recording his home.
Some of Jake's clients include:
- Spork 'n Foon
- Loose Lips Sink Ships
- Gabe Leibowitz
- Threshold Mother's Project
Jay Zdyrski - Producer/Engineer
Jay Z got his start in recording by playing in bands and always being "the guy who happened to have a microphone". Forced to turn knobs and set levels, he figured he might as well figure out what he was really doing.
Jay Z holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan. During college, he worked as live sound engineer in the Detroit area. Post college, Jay worked on robotics for General Motors Truck until he realized there was no rock n roll involved. Jay then pursued Formal education in the recording arts and landed a sweet gig at Rax Trax.
The moral of this Cinderella story is Jay Z loves music, and would love to record your band. In addition, he may enlighten you with his amazing coffee drinking skills. Come down to Rax and pick Zdyrski to do your record before he goes broke.
Some of Jay Z´s clients include:
- Jim Green (The Wandering Endorphin)
- 15 Minutes Late
- One Life
- Chali 2na (of Jurassic 5)
- Cameron McGill
- Drive
- Ice Cube & WestSide Connection
- Jay Z also slept on the couch waiting for the Neptunes to arrive
Turan Yon is of exotic European descent. He has a multi-colored spirally lid. He has not submitted a bio for the website, so this is what he gets. Check out Yon- He can do it! Yon has done some really nice work here at Rax Trax including the following:
- Mer
- Pauline York
- The Read Letter
- Swidden
- Premium
- Penny and the Loafers
- Babaganoo
- The Bomb
Dave Rieley - Producer/Engineer
Dave is a talented producer/ engineer, as well as a recovering musician. He started playing in punk bands in Milwaukee about...oh, lets just say a while ago. After years of playing, and some touring, he decided "screw this crap, I'm moving to Chicago to be an engineer"?, and move he did.
After spending years of working, learning and recording in major studios with world class artists, he is producing more and is really making a mark on the world of music.
He wants to help you make the record you always wanted to.
Some of Dave´s clients include:
- Skillet
- Cute Is What We Aim For
- The Hives
- The Box Social
- Billy Corgan
- Centerpointe
- Tonight The Prom
- Thirty Seconds to Mars
- Glynis
- The Smashing Pumpkins
- The Employees
- Saboteur
- Red Animal War
- Sonnes De Mexico
- Crowded House
- Liftpoint
Jay O'Rourke - Producer/Engineer
Jay has recently come out of his self-imposed exile to once again kick some musical ass in the new millennium. Jay has teamed up with Rax Trax to produce and record his brand of cool Chicago music. Jay´s experience is far-reaching. He started off doing live sound with major label artists at the Vic Theater and the prestigious Park West nightclub. Jay was also the founder of MonsterDisc, Chicago´s first full-service mastering facility. His recording experience is quite comprehensive, featuring such notables as Jim Ellison and Material Issue, Nash Kato, Liz Phair, the Insiders, and the Juleps. Jay´s massive experience in live sound, studio recording, and mastering gives him knowledge not many have attained. He is also one kick-ass guitarist.
Bransin Anderson - Producer/Engineer
Born and raised in Mormon territory, Bransin left his humble hometown of Salt Lake City Utah to learn how to make a pot of coffee. Since then he's been involved with promotions and sound for Chicago's music giant "mPShows", audio visuals for corporate CEO's, live sound for touring "indie" acts at venues such as Ronny's, Reggie's, and South Union Arts, web-design for various musicians, and plays drums when time is alloted for the instrumental duo band Mantravel Well. Bransin received his technical training at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Science.
Engineer has not written a bio.
Neil Kernon - Producer/Engineer
Neil was born in London, England into a musical family. He started playing piano from the age of four, and guitar from the age of seven. After junior high school he had a private school education (in the English public school system) at Kestrels, N. Devon and King's College Taunton, Somerset.
Three weeks after leaving high school, he started working for Essex Music Publishing in London as the assistant to the Professional Dept. where he was in charge of sheet music and songbook production. He stayed there for approximately 9 months, during which time he realized that he was simply not getting the exposure to music that he had hoped for. He had a fortuitous meeting with two independent record producers (Gus Dudgeon and Rodger Bain) who happened to share offices at Essex Music and they both immediately suggested he apply for a job in a recording studio based on his musical interests and background. Coincidentally, they both recommended Trident Studios, also in London. After a number of interviews spanning several months he got a job at Trident as a teaboy.
Over the next four years he progressed from teaboy to recording engineer, working on innumerable albums with artists such as Quen, David Bowie, Elton John and the Mahavishnu Orchestra along the way, to name but a few.
While trident was a fantastic place to start a career, and there were so many great musical memories during that period, after some time the internal studio policies became too restrictive for Neil who was keen to branch out and work wherever opportunities arose. He decided to go freelance and then moved to Paris to work at the Chateau D'Herouville Studios. He worked there for about 9 months after which he was offered a job with the band "Yes". He worked with them for about eighteen months during which time he worked with them both in the studio and on the road, mixing the house sound for U.S. tour (72 shows) and also working on their respective solo albums.
After he left the "Yes" organization he decided to switch his musical focus and concentrate once again on playing and songwriting. He also worked at a variety of studios in England with various Punk and New Wave artists including the Sex Pistols, The Stukas, Masochest, Billy Hamon and Random Hold in either a production or engineering capacity.
He then started working at Startling Studios in Ascot (Ringo Starr's studio) as a chief producer/engineer. during his tenure there he was fortunate enough to work with such artists as Brand X ("Product" and "Do They Hurt") Peter Hammill, Judas Priest ("Unleashed In The East"), Junior Campbell and many more.
He went on to sign with Hit and Run music as a producer and after a while decided to relocate from London to New York, where his first projects included Orleans and Daryl Hall and John Oates.
The relationship with Hall and Oates proved to be very succesful, with 5 singles and 4 albums that reached #1 on the Billboard charts, along with 20 Gold and Platinum awards and 3 Grammy nominations.
After a while, feeling somewhat starved of heavier music, he decided to move back into music that more guitar-driven and since has worked with an ever increasing variety of artists, including Dokken ("Under Lock And Key" and "Back For The Attack"), Queensryche ("Rage For Order"), Autograph ("Sign In Please"), Flotsam and Jetsam ("Cuatroo" and "Drift") and Skrew, for whom he produced "Shadow Of Doubt" whcih was also nominated for a Grammy award.
At the same time as working in the studio with signed acts, Neil constantly works with new talents for his artists development company, Auslander. Over the last few years he has discovered many new artists, worked with them in song arrangement, production and A&R capacities, and has been able to help many of them get record contracts. Recent signings have included Rorschach Test, Spiral Architect, N17, Nihil, Sacrifice Issac and Nevermore.
Coleton Paskert - Producer/Engineer
Engineer has not written a bio.
Mike Namoff - Producer/Engineer
Coming from Chicago's Columbia College, Mike landed at Rax Trax and found a home. With a ranging background including Computer Science and Guitar Performance, he decided he just wanted to make records with cool people, so he dove right in. After climbing out, he had worked under some of Chicago's most talented people and was ready to start his own career. To date, he has worked with local independent artists of all genres, and spent some time in Los Angeles writing and recording music for films. Whether it's producing, engineering, or something more creative, Mike will make your session sexy and productive.
Kendall Stephens - Producer/Engineer
Engineer has not written a bio.