Welcome to my corner of the web (do webs have corners?). I hope to expand this site in the future, but for the time being, this is it.
In 2006, I married my wife and best friend Ashley. We are the proud parents of two sons.
I became a Christian at a young age, but questioned my faith at times throughout my youth. When I was a student in college, I became involved with a campus ministry and began to grow in my faith. That walk of faith has continued up through this day. I serve in several ministries at the church where I attend, including playing drums in the worship band, serving as a deacon, and helping with the music and technology ministries.
I've been playing the drums for over 30 years now. I enjoy many styles of music, but I've always gravitated toward hard rock, progressive rock, and metal. Some of my favorite bands include: Rush, Dream Theater, Neal Morse, Transatlantic, Iron Maiden, Journey, Kansas, King's X, Mr. Big, Winery Dogs, and Yes.
I've played with my band, Immortal Soul, off-and-on since 1996 with my brother, Jason (guitar/lead vocals), and my good friend Jeff (bass/vocals). We released our first full-length CD, Lines in the Sand, back in 2007. We've written enough material for a follow-up CD, which I hope we will eventually get around to recording and releasing. Until then, you can find live performances of some of the newer songs on YouTube.
In 2008, I built a recording studio at my home which I dubbed Silent Sky Studios. The name "Silent Sky" came from one of the former bands that I played in many years ago, and we got our name from a lyric in a Dream Theater song. I built the studio primarily for my own personal use, but I've also had the opportunity to record and perform on recordings for dozens of other local artists.
I also enjoy writing, and started Late Reflections, a blog on my studio's website, where I've written many articles about recording and live sound, as well as some reviews of recording and drum gear.
Through the process of acquiring gear for my studio, I was introduced to the idea of modifying (upgrading) condenser microphones. After a significant amount of research, I started offering "mod kits" for sale that provide the parts and instruction for modifying many common, budget-priced microphones to try and help other recording and live-sound enthusiasts get the best possible sound out of their mics. That eventually led to the creation of MicModKits.com, where I sell those mod kits and services. I also started building some specialty audio cables that aren't available in a ready-made, off-the-shelf product by any major cable manufacturer.
To keep the bills paid, I work as a developer for a leading provider of software to the Utility-Billing Industry (Water, Sewer, Power, Natural Gas, etc.). In my work there, I have primarily developed applications in Microsoft Visual FoxPro (VFP). I've been using VFP since 1999, and I am a Microsoft Certified Professional in Designing and Implementing Desktop Applications with VFP.
As a software developer, I'm responsible for fixing bugs and making enhancements for new version releases. In the past few years, I've also done a lot of Web Service development in VFP, to allow our data to be interconnected with other third-party applications and websites.
You can reach me through the Contact Page of the Silent Sky Studios website.