Daniel Petersen: From Internationally Touring Guitarist To The creativeLIVE Audio Booth

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Curious who’s hanging out behind the scenes at creativeLIVE? Every week, in addition to profiling our incredible students, we’ll also feature one of our brilliant co-workers in our staff profile series. From producers to editors to product engineers and even our executive staff, we are going to introduce you one-by-one to the hardworking team working that makes creativeLIVE’s clock tick.

What do you do as a musician when your international touring days come to an end? Daniel Petersen, former keyboard and guitarist of the rock group Evaline, turned to the audio booth at creativeLIVE to do his part to help unleash the creative potential of millions around the world. Read on to learn more about Daniel, the “mic guy.”

What do you do at creativeLIVE?

I am an audio engineer for our live broadcasts.

What inspired you to go into audio?

 My father bought a lot of random instruments for us when we were too young to play them. I grew up with three brothers, so naturally we picked up different instruments that were lying around. Mine was the guitar. My father set me up with a crude recording system to track our jam sessions. Naturally, I was quite intrigued by this. Eventually it led to a four track tape recorder, which led to a computer and a digital audio workstation (DAW) software. Soon I was tracking all of the local bands and became quite obsessed with the art of audio engineering. It has lead me to gigs all over the world and now to creativeLIVE.

Why is your job hard/fun/ rewarding? 419722_342408839115400_1430058211_n

I love my job because I love using my ears. I believe it is the one sense that people tend to compromise the most and don’t follow enough. It takes discipline and you have to be a bit more critical than the average person. The reward is finishing a quality product that you know is sonically sound. With broadcast audio, if you have remained transparent, then you have done your job.

What did you study in school?

I knew what I wanted to do. I studied audio engineering.

What was your first job and where else did you work before creativeLIVE?

My first job was ump’ing little league softball games and getting yelled at by overly aggressive parents. Since then, I’ve owned my own private studio, worked as an AV technician, freelanced at various studios, and travelled the world as a musician in a band (Evaline).

Do you have other creative hobbies?

Of course! I am constantly writing songs, recording sounds, taking photographs, and working on projects.

Who or what inspires you in your creative endeavors?

I wouldn’t say any one individual or any one media format inspires me. It can be a great record, a sporting event, the sounds of a city, a photograph, where I am at the current moment, or a fantastic film. I am constantly evolving with my taste and what I find to be enjoyable. But it’s safe to say I find it in what I am immersed in at the moment.

Who is your favorite cL teacher and why?

I can’t pick a favorite. You learn so much from every instructor and pick up so much knowledge in the process. From Bill Hoogterp to Abel James to Ari Meisel, I’ve learned a wealth of practical and creative knowledge.

If you were a creativeLIVE instructor, what would you teach?

I’d probably teach a course on everything in Pro Tools, my favorite DAW. Or a critical listening class to help people hear/discern different types of signal processing in any given musical composition.

What’s the strangest/most awesome thing you’ve ever done in a job? Evaline_KerrangMagazine

Well it’s hard to say playing music was a job, but I did earn a small paycheck doing it. I’d have to say getting to tour Europe/Asia/United States while playing original songs was pretty awesome. Strangest time was definitely in Bangkok. Hearing our band’s song on the radio, having fans waiting in our hotel lobby for autographs and playing a show to a packed house in a country I had never priorly stepped foot in was the epitome of strange.

Where do you see education going in the future?

I hope to see more and more material out there that is credible and unlike the system I grew up with. Education shouldn’t be standard testing and strict curriculum. I would love to see a more creative approach and one that recognizes various talent early on. We all know that work is going to consume our lives more than anything else, so whatever helps us find a career path that makes us happy is the way of the future. Much like what creativeLIVE is doing for people today.

 

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Topher Kelly is a San Francisco-based freelance writer and editor at CreativeLive. Follow Topher on Twitter@Topher_LIVE.