My Journey So Far
2000-2008
THE BIRTH OF AN ARDOR
I started off as a young fellow growing up in the SF Bay Area, as a young skateboarder, I always felt that skate videos and music tracks that went along with certain skater's parts synced so well. I fell in love with local the local underground Bay Area Hip-Hop scene. Skating and music became my life. I had dreamed of being a professional skateboarder. Quickly learned I was not physically adept enough, so I decided to attend film school to pursue this endeavor to stay involved with my passion.
In the first class, our professor said "oh by the way, if you plan on entering this field for skateboarding videos, GOOD LUCK".
​
I share this because it was my first experience of giving up a passion. An experience that I carried with me that gave me courage to identify my purpose.
2008-2013
EVOLUTION OF "THE BUCKNESS"
A birth of a new era, a new discovery, the future of my forever passion.
​
In Honolulu, HI, I ended up falling in love with the Electronic music scene, I found myself with the right crowd in the ever so right place. DJ'ing became a heavy hand for a better part of my life during these years, and very quickly did I become engulfed in the fire of dedication to create the music that brought me an everlasting feeling of bliss. Hardstyle. I self taught electronic music production, in 2009 as during this time, the information available on YouTube vs today was very limited, and I did what I could with the information available.
​
In 2010 I found a music school locally which taught Audio Engineering in a world class studio on a Neve 5088 32-channel console with a 24 channel monitor path, with a plethora of outboard gear from Universal Audio, Manley, Teletronix, GML, Eventide, Vintech, large drum/piano room & double iso booths. I think I had no idea on how special the space was that I was in at the time, but looking back now, I got to have my hands on some of the finest gear a 20 year old could get their hands on!
​
At the same time I continued to harness my skillset in my own productions, but right at the end of school, I had to make a very quick decision to move from Honolulu back to San Jose, CA. So bye bye to the active DJ life and onto an opportunity that actually made some dough.
​
​
2020-2022
COVID... MIGHT HAVE INVIGORATED
Well, needless to say, COVID was an interesting time, but it was also a time I took deeper dives into understand the science behind acoustics, and room building, and for a few years, I have gone through probably the most transformational studio builds, as it helped me understand at least a little more adept skillset to build a sound room.
​
Over these couple of years, I really started to dive deeper into room building, and did a lot of reading, building testing, more building, more experimenting and experiencing.
​
After my 7th room in 2022, I started to really hone in on getting a room dialed in and also experimented with many loudspeaker systems to where the journey taught me it really does come down to the room, and user preference.
​
These experiments led me to understand more that I am in a space where most people can't hear details that I can based on the environment I am in, and not to be boastful, but to be objective, I really did set up some very awesome spaces.
I however further wanted to harvest the skillset of mastering, specializing in the Electronic Dance Music world.
2022-PRESENT
"It's not the tools it's the technician"​
Alright, so it's not like I ONLY have been practicing my mastering skills for a few years, but I really have started to dial in something I became really good at really quickly based on traditional practice, understanding, fundamentals, yet creative, forward thinking, contemporary steps to what mastering Electronic Dance Music in the modern era requires and how to go above and beyond.
​
I started to practice on TONS of genres' both produced by my friends and other professionals in the industry I love. I nonstop asked people to start letting me master their tracks for free, spanning across TONS of styles in Dance Music. Which I am very proud to be able to have an expanded portfolio of some of the best work I've done, and it all felt so very natural, and certainly has met expectations of commercial grade work.
I really do owe it all to the relentless effort into trying to make my hundreds of tracks, and multiple albums "work" sonically. The countless hours of reading, researching, and more importantly, experimenting and learning, both from my successes and my mistakes have continually taught me to stand confident in my work. I can comfortably say I am in one of the best sounding rooms I have heard to date.
​
I am grateful for the very stepping stones that have been far from paved on this journey, some jagged, some sideways, some very directional linear movements, have given me the pride to stand before you all to say, wow. I can't believe I've made it this far.
​
More to come,
-J