Some History (tech & music)

I have spent the better part of 30 years marketing technology products, with most of the last 20 years marketing music software & hardware 

products. I got my start in the fast-paced world of technology marketing back in the mid-80s with the launch of the very successful Leading Edge Model D personal computer.   I got in on “multimedia” from its inception, and marked by the Microsoft launch of the MPC industry standard in 1991, started a successful 8 year run marketing a vast array of consumer edutainment, education, and music software titles. imgres

I closed out the Millennium riding the dot-com bubble providing strategic media & marketing services  instrumental in securing 10s of Millions of  $$,$$$,$$$ capitol  foScreen shot 2016-02-11 at 2.53.35 PMr a .com company before the bubble burst.

At the same time I  headed back into music technology product marketing full on.  I spent a couple years as an outside consultant to Cakewalk Music software before my almost 11 years run as employee.  

There I experienced the arc of a small software company become part of a large multinational: Roland Corporation. During my tenure at Cakewalk/Roland I had a hand at building brand and making history.

Thinking back on the many product launches and innovation campaigns, one hot topic that lasted through half a decade of product release cycles and probably most potent for the company was native 64-bit capability.  Here’s a little story about bringing the first 64-bit DAW to market.  A 64-bit Story

Today I provide a wide range of audio technology, strategic marketing and business development consulting services to companies large & small.  

Whether providing strategic marketing council,  employing tactical support, or an informed ear, the range engagements span from primary instructional/education organizations and life science companies to a cohort of music technology operatives and IOS development ventures;)  

Finally, I am ever intrigued by the psychology of business. Thus, a perpetual student of effective business management practice, fostering entrepreneurial spirit and out-of-the-box-strategy for the GEN FLUX age that is upon us.

 I have always been active musically: composing /producing music and performing live all while maintaining /developing my business acumen.  I also believe my in-depth understanding of professional music production and performance experience has served me well in various roles marketing music technology products.

Over the course of several years I developed the Audnoyz production aesthetic. It’s a distinct approach to creating/arranging music, combining a fusion of instruments (common and exotic), found sounds, synthesizers, processed sounds, and a tasteful dose of noise placed in an audio picture.   Its roots trace back to my 2003  jaz-mobi Project album and a mashup called “Jadermash” in which most all of the source material for the track was sampled from other tracks on the album.
Also contributing were the many sound design elements I created for the permanent space exploration exhibit Windows On Earth that can be found in science museums around the USA, with the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum and St. Louis Science Center topping the list.  And the Earth Orbits soundtrack I composed and produced commissioned by Technical Education Research Center.  Earth Orbit Reflection is an excerpt of the original 56 minute piece.

All this was the genesis for the Audnoyz Aesthetic, which led to the release of Audnoyz Project Vol. 1. (2008) and Audnoyz Project Vol. 2 (2011). It was the UK’s Computer Music to first call it “Genre-Mashing.” Germany’s Sound & Recording Magazine acclaimed Audnoyz Project as “Kopf Kino” meaning ‘Mind Cinema’, an aural journey for the inner eye and what Electronic Musician Magazine calls “a natural work for filmmakers to explore. This genre-breaking collection pleases, startles, and stimulates the mind.”   

Around the time of the second album release, the “Audnoyz” production aesthetic caught the ear of Shawn K. Clement. I had been contributing to the Clemistry production music library since 2008. Clemistry Music, created by award winning film composer Shawn K. Clement, is the venerable Film and TV production outfit that has been composed music for over 200 Films, TV shows, and video games for almost over 20 years.  Mr. Clement commissioned an Audnoyz Remix of The Message, one of the tracks from Clement’s original musical score for the animated feature film Quantum Quest (starring Chris Pines, Samuel L Jackson, Hayden Christiansen, James Earl Jones, William Shatner, and Mark Hamill), performed by the San Francisco Philharmonic and recorded by famed recording engineer Leslie Ann Jones at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch.  The Message Audnoyz Remix was included on the Quantum Quest soundtrack release.

Subsequently, further impressed with how the “The Message” remix appealed to his musical sensibilities and how much positive feedback it garnered from his respected Industry contacts. Shawn approached me with the thought of a more robust collaboration. Then the concept for Audistry was born bringing together Clement’s deep Other-Worldly cinematic orchestral music and signature guitar sound with the Audnoyz genre-mashing aesthetic.
The album went into production taking ten months with final slicing, dicing, mixing and mangling happening the last of December 2012.  Audistry was released at an invitation-only industry event at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, April 2013. 

Guitar Player Magazine (7/13) put it this way: “This mind-boggling mash up of tones and genres is the brainchild of Clemistry aka film composer/guitarist Shawn Clement, and Audnoyz aka producer/guitarist Steve Thomas. It’s a cinematic rollercoaster ride of amazing tones, textures and moods to numerous to list here. Some killer highlights include the gorgeous acoustic guitar harmonics in Audvocalease, the harmonized backwards lines in QMojo and the spy-movie power chords of Audvoidence. The production and orchestration is awesome throughout.”  

AUDNOYZ-VOL.3 (1)The latest work on the Audnoyz creative continuum Audnoyz Project Vol 3 (released 10/2014), envelops you in an aural journey, filled with unexpected genre juxtapositions, cerebral electronica,tormented 16th century Baroque motifs, stirring orchestral elements, pulsating techno / eurodance beats, contemplative piano-jazz and sublime vocals from the heavens. 

Beyond the Audnoyz creative continuum, Audistry collaboration, library work for Clemistry Music, production music for Song Shoppes that include Heavy Hitters, Crucial Music, Calm & Composed and Alleged Screen shot 2012-09-29 at 10.53.55 PMEntertainment, known for TV shows Top Chef, Project Runway, Punk’d, Fashion Show, and Underworld,  my creative work can be heard in all types of  media.  A long way sonically from my Audnoyz works, you can hear my music in reality TV shows as diverse as It Takes a Church, Comedians IN CARS Getting Coffee, and in soundtracks likeMinutes, the SiFi mockumentary found on the the Blue RAY release of In Time starring Justin Timberlake and Live Forever the Ray Bradbury Oyddessy.

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You can also hear my music in Nashville’s Salt Space Studio’ eclecticperformance art under the direction of gifted chScreen shot 2015-04-29 at 1.15.32 PMoreographer Erin Law; Windows On Earth space exploration installations, found in science museums around the USA, with the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum topping the list; Mass Hospital School Foundation’s Poetry In Motion series of compelling video productions under the creaimgrestive direction of life-long friend M’liss Calzaretta.  

This work highlights the unwavering spirit and beautiful art of a fascinating cohort of profoundly physically disabled people. Divinely inspired!

And beyond various remix, artist and institutional mastering and ruthmendelson3 copysoundtrack projects, there is my creative/collaborative work as part of New York Times Film Critic Pick composer Ruth Mendelson’s creative team.

Over the course of several years, I have had the good fortune to have hand at everything from field recording audio clean-up and restoration, to sound design, editing, mixing and mastering of groundbreaking multi-media Museum exhibits, award-winning film scores, international television soundtracks, audio books and the globally acclaimed Well Wishes Project.

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Of course there’s more but I hope this has provided some insight into my doings, biz & creative. 

Thanks for reading if you made it this far… 

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