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John D. Klett
P.O. Box 1290
Carmel, N.Y. 10512
www.technicalaudio.com/techmecca/

EXPERIENCE:

Tech Mecca, Inc., Carmel, NY 1997 to present - President and Owner
Tech Mecca provides Audio Engineering and Technical Consulting and Design Services to Sound and Music Recording Studios, Professional Audio Manufacturers, Recording Artists, Producers, Musicians and Engineers.
www.technicalaudio.com/techmecca/

Singularity Enterprises, Inc., Carmel, NY 1987 to 2002 - President and Owner
Incorporated in 1987 to provide Technical Audio Engineering, Consulting and Design Services. I founded Singularity after leaving Martin Audio, initially to take on the North American Technical Support Manager role for Audio Kinetics, Ltd.. and then it expanded to provide ongoing technical support to other clients - listed below and marked **

AMS Neve, Bethel, CT and NYC (formerly Rupert Neve, Inc. and Siemens Audio) 1988 - 1998 **
UK based manufacturer of analog and digital recording, production and mixing consoles for music, broadcast and film. The head office for North America was located in Bethel, CT and later moved to New York City... my work, which I performed as subcontractor, included console restoration, repair, modification, refurbishing, commissioning, decommissioning, documentation, engineering, troubleshooting and custom projects. The work covered the full Neve analog console range from 80 Series through V/VR Series Music Consoles, and 53/54 Series through V-Film Post production broadcast and film consoles. There was additional involvement with systems specification and integration for Logic Series and Capricorn digital console systems that targeted timing and sync distribution, power and ground issues as well as some specific systems troubleshooting at customer sites.

Clack Recording Studios Inc. , NYC - Technical Director 1991-1995 **
Multi-room digital and analog audio-for-video post-production facility in mid-town Manhattan serving cable, network and agency clientèle. Work done through my company, Singularity Enterprises, encompassed a complete renovation of all technical infrastructures in an operating facility. Designed and implemented a central machine room, analog and digital audio routing, video routing, facility wide synchronization and machine control, Integrated and supported SSL ScreenSound/SoundNet, Digi-Design Pro-Tools, AMS Logic3/AudioFile, various Otari, Sony D-2, ISDN audio patch systems. Designed, specified and provided ongoing consultation during construction of a custom API 2488 style analog audio console that was placed in operation in Clack Studio A. Clack Studios has since closed but the console lives on at Tom Clack's home studio in Upstate NY.

Audio Kinetics, Ltd. UK - Technical Services Manager for USA 1987-1990 **
UK based manufacturer of synchronizers, auto-locators and automation systems. Products included Q-Lock and Eclipse Synchronizers, Mastermix Console Fader Automation Systems, Striper and Gearbox Time Code Peripherals. Provided systems integration, product installation, after sales and warranty support and out of warranty technical support for over 600 Q-Lock and Eclipse synchronizer systems and 120 Mastermix console fader automation systems in North America - primarily in the USA. Other products supported included Melquist automation (the predecessor to Mastermix), Mastermix II and Reflex automation systems, the InteLocator autolocator system and the Pacer low cost synchronization system, This work was done on a subcontracted basis through Singularity Enterprises.

Martin Audio Video Corp., NYC - Technical Services Manager 1985-1987
Large Professional Audio Dealer - Directed and Managed technical services shop with seven technicians and an administrative assistant. Provided technical support to sales, product QA and on-site commissioning, after sales and warranty support for well over 100 product lines. The Martin Audio shop also did custom projects and turnkey installation, support to manufacturers in refinement of existing products and new product development. Martin Audio has since passed into history as one of the largest and most successful "Professional only" dealers in the U.S. with (at the time) 65 employees. As the industry moved "down-market" Martin was purchased by AF Associates in 1988 and eventually ceased to exist in the early 90's.

Trackworks Recording Studios, NY Technical Director / Facility Design 1979-1983
Audio Post Facility for Radio and TV at 2 West 45th Street - MCI, Otari, Trident, Auditronics... I operated a closet sized shop out of the Trackworks facility and acted as chief tech and bottle-washer, more or less full time, as well as carrying some freelance clients, playing in bands and doing music. While at Trackworks I wired and installed the original two room facility in 1979, expanded to three rooms in 1981. In 1982 did planning and design for five room facility with central machine room on another floor of the same building and, in conjunction with the architectural firm and various subcontractors, provided specifications for and coordinated architectural, acoustical, electrical and mechanical elements. Trackworks is gone but the facility existed more or less unchanged with tenants in the individual studio suites until mid-1999.

Empirical Audio, Ossining, NY Technical Support / Installation 1979-1981
North East Sales Office for Trident Audio Developments, Quintek, Audio Kinetics, Melquist, Court Acoustics, Audio and Design, Valley Audio and others... Technical training for Trident TSM, Series80, Fleximix, TriMix and Series 70 consoles, Audio Kinetics InteLocator, Q-Lock 210 and 310 Synchronizers, Melquist and Valley VCA fader automation systems... As an independent contractor I did sales and after-sales technical and warranty support; installed, commissioned and provided technical and operational training for Trident TSM and Series 80 consoles and Valley Audio VCA automation systems; set up and exhibited Trident console products at several AES trade shows in NYC.

National Recording, NYC Staff 1977-1978
After getting back from a tour doing P.A. for Brother to Brother and finding myself with no income, sleeping on the keyboard player's couch in Patterson, NJ, I decided to get back into studios. I moved to the Times Square Motor Hotel (at $76/week), got an Archie haircut (as in the comic-book Archie) and took a minimum wage job at $2.30 where I vacuumed and cleaned, emptied garbage cans and made coffee (still the basic skill set for anyone serious about starting in recording studios IMHO) and worked my way up through shipping, tape duplication, making opticals, assisting a few music sessions, doing a few voice overs, spending more time than I would have ever wanted making 1" 8 track masters for eight track cartridges (ever wonder how they figured out how to make all four stereo tracks end right at the splice? that was me...) and then I got moved to sprockets and operating a dubber chain at National Film Center. By then I was making $3.25 and everyone called me Archie. I had to get out of there.

1977 -1985 Freelance Engineering and Tech, in and around NYC, in addition to finishing up classes at IAR and working a couple assistant jobs, I started freelance engineering for studio and live sound... and started playing in a number of bands based in NYC and Hoboken... and started doing freelance technical work, often in partial trade for studio time. I hated touring and not really great at mixing live sound so the focus was in all things recording studio. Other than doing a short stint and National Recording I was not on anyone's payroll again until 1985 when I took a position at Martin Audio Video Corp.. Work at Empirical and Trackworks was done as an "independent contractor".

All Platinum Studios, Englewood, NJ 1977 Assistant Recording Engineer and Assistant Maintenance Technician
Quad Eight (QE MM310 discrete transistor modules) console, MCI JH-16-114-24, Scully 280, Ampex 440, Scully disc mastering lathe etc.. Typical day started with cleaning and aligning tape machines, trouble shooting and repair of equipment faults, set up sessions, mic placements, track and take sheets, engineering overdubs, tape op during mix, and at the end of the day cutting multiple test lacquers and tape dubs. During my short run at All Platinum I worked with various combinations of talent and musicians from The Moments, Brother to Brother, Ray Goodman and Brown, The Rimshots, ... Bernadette Randle, Clarence Oliver, Curtis McTeer, Yogi Horton, Jonathan Williams, Tommy Keith, Billy Jones and, of course, Sylvia Robinson - it was a great place to be - All Platinum later became Sugar Hill Records.

Secret Sound Studios, NYC 1976-1977 Assistant Recording Engineer and Assistant Maintenance Technician
MCI JH-428 (later JH-632) MCI JH-16-114-24 (later Studer A-80), ATR-102 etc.... typical day included vacuuming and cleaning the entire studio, taking out the trash, cleaning and aligning tape machines, trouble shooting and repair of equipment faults, wiring, set up sessions, mic placements, running errands and getting food for the sessions, keeping track and take sheets, engineering overdubs, tape op during record and mix and anything else they could think of - all for less than $50 per week, lots of burgers and fries, and a few hours of odd recording time. Secret Sound was a great intro to independent recording studios in NYC - I was on sessions for Harry Chapin (Dance Band on the Titanic), sessions with Alex Chilton, the Brecker Brothers, Mike Mainieri, Will Lee, Steve Gadd, John Tropea, Leon Pandarvis, Tony Levin, David Spinozza, and many more of the studio musicians of the day that I can't recall because I was continually sleep deprived.

1976 June - moved to Iroquois Hotel on West 44th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues in mid-town Manhattan. A room at the time cost $76/week... the plan was to do the full program at IAR (the Institute of Audio Research) and then work creatively in studios and doing music either playing or producing. NYC 1976 was a weird and hot summer.

Home Studio, Bel Air, MD ... Musician Engineer ... whatever ... early days 1970-ish to 1976
The first time I was paid to record and produce music was in 1975 - I think I made $10 for six songs... equipment used... Teac 3340 1/4" four track, Shure SM-57 microphones, a Marantz flat topped cassette deck with a four into two mixer, a passive 4 into 2 mixer, and a variety of odd recorders and consumer audio gear collected from the early to mid-60's. The Teac/Tascam Model 5 console was a lust object at the time.

TECHNICAL TRAINING

Audio Kinetics (auto-locators, synchronizers, machine control, console automation)

API Consoles - full range of products up to and including api Legacy

Bruel & Kjaer (Building Acoustics and Measurement)

MCI (JH-400, 500, 600 consoles & JH-10,110,16,114,24 tape machines)

Neve and AMS-Neve Neve consoles 51,53,54 series 80,81,82 series and V/VR series

Otari trained - analog tape machines to MTR-100 - MTR-90 specialist

Telex duplication equipment cassette and open reel (factory trained - 1985)

Trident Consoles and Tape Machine (TSM to Vector also A and B Range)

EDUCATION

Institute of Audio Research, NYC (1976)

Point Park College, Pittsburgh, PA - Broadcast Journalism and Communications

Hartford Community College, Churchville, MD

Catholic University of America, Washington, DC - Physics and Mathematics

John Carroll High School, Bel Air, MD

ASSOCIATIONS

Acoustical Society of America (ASA) 1979 to 1986

Audio Engineering Society (AES) 1977 to 2020

for further information contact

John D. Klett
P.O. Box 1290
Carmel, N.Y. 10512
www.technicalaudio.com/techmecca/