OH Taxonomy
Doug Sax was the pioneering mastering engineer who helped shape the craft beginning in the late 1960s. Doug was part of the original design team for the famed Mastering Lab in Hollywood California that was established in 1967. Over the years he worked on many award-winning projects and worked...
Michael Ciravolo is the president of Schecter Guitar Research and the designer behind the company’s Diamond Series guitars. Schecter was formed in 1976 to provide replacement parts for guitars made by other companies. With the help of engineers and designers the company changed focus and began...
Joe Berger knows sound! Joe has been mixing sound for over 30 years and he stopped counting at 35,000 bands! Also a virtuoso guitar player with his own definitive, unique playing style and “ear”, Joe has jammed with the likes of John Entwistle and Jack Bruce. He has also been a fixture at music...
Gus Acevedo is the owner of the International House of Music in downtown Los Angeles, a store that first opened in 1902. Gus purchased the store from the Schireson Brothers and over the last thirty years he and his business partner, Oscar Naranjo, have focused a great deal of their energy and...
Peter Gotcher played drums in a band with Evan Brooks and they both became interested in creating electronics to change sounds. Together the two school mates created digital audio machines and in 1984 they formed Avid Audio. Later the company became Digidesign and produced a string of innovative...
Scott Houston is known as The Piano Guy thanks to his long running PBS teaching show. During the programs long run Scott has encouraged thousands of people to become music makers, making him the ideal person to speak about the importance of Recreational Music Making (RRM). His passion for teaching...
Don Teach is the owner of Shreveport Music store, which was once run by his father. While his father guided the store it was mainly a Hammond dealer and became one of the first to offer Yamaha instruments. By the mid 1960s, he was asked to carry guitars for players who did not want to travel to ...
Jon Haber is the president of Alto Music in Middletown, New York. Jon grew up in New York and as a kid would go into Alto Music, which he later bought and expanded to include sales in their store as well as on the Internet. In 2006, when Jon was asked by American Express to appear in one of their...
Honoring Keith Mardak for his invaluable service in assisting the NAMM Resource Center in obtaining fantastic interview contributions to the NAMM Oral History Program.
This video contains some of the highlight interviews that Keith helped us gather over the years. Thanks Keith!
Chuck Wackerman always enjoyed making music. As a child he took trumpet lessons and later fell in love with jazz. Chuck joined the United States Air National Guard after high school, and later graduated from USC to become a music teacher and band director. He began teaching in 1957 at McGaugh...