Audio Portfolio

Engineering Engineer & Producer

Performance Musician & Drummer

Instruction Music Technology Education

Professional Engineering Work

Audio Engineer and Producer

The following audio clips are just a sampling of the artists I have been lucky enough to work with over the last seventeen years. Partial discography is available here.

Production Reel Intro

Musician

Pretty Mighty Mighty
Drummer, Manager & Booking Agent

Three CD releases with national distribution and exposure
Additional releases include: 7 inch records, major label CD compilations and digital distribution.
Best Songwriting Award - Columbus Local Music Awards
Singles from two different records were in regular rotation on commercial radio.
Burned up one Ford Econoline van.

Project Highlight

Music Technology Instructor

Using Music to Teach: Research, Writing, Creativity, Production, Entrepreneurship, Troubleshooting, and Copyright

Using a combination of trusted and innovative methods, I teach students the skill most sought after by employers: to communicate. With an emphasis on real world situations, promoting collaboration and engagement, and exposing students to all facets of the audio field, I ensure my students can make an immediate impact and set themselves up for a long career

The following projects are crafted to allow the student's own preferences to shape their research, enabling a higher level of engagement with the process.

Studio Performance

Music Multitracking

Concept: Through a steady stream of increasingly complex assignments, students eventually recruit an artist and produce six songs using the digital multitrack recording studio.

Objective: Pre-production, tracking, overdubbing and mixing are all handled by an individual student. However, throughout the process, students must continually communicate and collaborate with the artist to eventually achieve the desired outcome. In class, students further learn to communicate effectively by offering constructive criticism on other students’ projects.

Multitrack Recording

Production Portfolio

Neal Schmitt Audio Portfolio — Demonstrating multitrack tracking and mix balance.

Producer Podcast

Concept: New media offers a variety of ways to communicate content. Students will mirror the creative process of a music producer by planning, researching, recording, editing and mixing a cohesive story.

Objective: Using The Music Producer Paper as the foundation for the script, students will create a 4-5 minute audio story spotlighting an important music producer.

Producer Podcast

Instructional Content

"Teo Macero" by Ross Hockman — An analytical look at one of music's most influential producers.

Overcoming Adversity Audio Story

Adversity introduces a man to himself. ~Author Unknown

Concept: Challenges and obstacles are a natural part of life. By sharing these experiences and stories, we can learn valuable insight in the human spirit. Critical thinking is an integral part of this assignment as very personal subject matters are delicately crafted into a compelling audio story.

Objective: Think about someone rising up to a challenge, surpassing expectations or surviving a harrowing situation. Create a researched and compelling audio story of at least 4 and no longer than 6 minutes long about someone who has overcome adversity.

Narrative Production

Audio Storytelling

"Mike Rippeth" by Dustin Nicholson — A production highlight in narrative audio.

Entrepreneurship Audio Story

Concept: Discovering the origins of popular companies allows us insight in to the growth process, entrepreneurship and if we are lucky, keys to success.

Objective: Student’s research and evaluate a well-known publicly traded company and deliver a short audio commentary. Later in the entrepreneurship course, students interview someone they know who has owned their own business. We then discuss the difference between a public and private company, the types of ownership and the protection each form gives, the importance of goal setting, and of course, salaries.

Entrepreneurship Stories

Audio Production Portfolio

A showcase of narrative editing and clean dialogue production.

Music is Emotion

Concept: One of the more powerful aspects of audio is that people often create a visual mental picture from the sounds they hear. Movies use music and sound effects to give clues about emotional content, alter a listener's perspective or to enhance the visual impact.

Objective: Create a 1-minute original music piece that evokes an emotional response. For instance, think of these pieces as introductions or credit songs in a movie, or as a theme to a TV show.

Storytelling Without Words

Creative Production

An exploration of narrative through sound design and musical arrangement.