The Team

 

Justin Kreutzmann - Video Director

 Justin Kreutzmann, son of the Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, was born to the world of art, music, and the highly creative if unconventional world of the Grateful Dead. In 1978, when Justin was eight, his dad gave him a Super-8 film camera, and his path was set for life. Backstage at Dead concerts became Justin's sets, and the people, band, crew, family, hangers-on, became his actors. Justin has worked on a number of high profile projects including: “The Making of the Touch of Grey,” "Backstage Pass”, projects for VH-1; "Legends," about The Who, and "Behind the Music" about The Black Crowes. Justin has worked with music legends such as U2, Motley Crue, Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, Grateful Dead, Pete Townshend, The Who and most recently finished a web documentary series with Mike Campbell from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

John Harkin - Chief Technical Officer

Drawn to stage craft and technology since grade school, John crewed rock festivals while he got a degree in Electrical Engineering.  His experiences in designing and operating entertainment oriented systems encompass live touring sound, recording studios, laser shows, video, film sound studios and Internet service providers.  He worked with many people and organizations including Leon Russell, Capitol Records, Lucasfilm.  He started the first ISP based in Marin county, North Bay Network. John's unique skill set makes him fit right in helping TRI steer itself into the future. Can't live without: family, music, barbeque. 

Dennis Leonard - Audio Engineer

Wiz first met the Grateful Dead at Woodstock, by 1971 with an invitation from Ram Rod, Wiz was working for the Grateful Dead in California.  At 25 years old Wiz was in the recording truck during the entire Europe ‘72 tour and was also heavily involved in many other aspects of Grateful audio.  In 1987 he joined LucasFilm with the Sound team and has worked on many high profile feature films including an Academy Award nomination for the 2004 film “The Polar Express.”  Wiz has served as supervising sound editor for: Madagascar 3, The Lorax, Mars Needs Moms, Despicable Me, Madagascar 2, Enchanted, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Shrek 2 and many other high profile films.

Michael McGinn - Audio Engineer

A sound engineer who started building custom audio equipment and wiring recording studios with Tom Paddock at his Sound Research and Associates in 1987 after studying Fine Art at San Jose State. One of SRA’s many clients was Grateful Dead. There, he built many experimental sound systems and devices for the group and its various members.

Being a musician first, Mike has played in groups as a guitarist and singer since 1977 - Most notably Bridget, a noise pop group who toured and made records in the 1990's. In 1998 he went on the road with Bob Weir and his band Ratdog as FOH sound mixer. He was also Bob's studio engineer at his TRI/Cuckoo's Nest studio. McGinn co-wrote and produced the 2000 Ratdog album "Evening Moods".

He has recorded and mixed music for artists such as: The Warlocks, DJ Logic, Los Olvidados, Taj Mahal, Tea Leaf Green, Les Claypool's Flying Frog Brigade, The Other Ones, Alphabet Soup, Rob Wasserman, Band of Brotherz, PHILM, Banyan and many more. Mike continues to tour with Bob Weir mixing and recording his live solo shows.

Loves: Cheap Trick, API Consoles, Mosrite Guitars, RCA Ribbon mics, and cardigan sweaters.

Rick Vargas - Audio Engineer

Website

“At TRI I get to explore techniques from the past and bridge them to the future”

Raised in a family of technicians and musicians, Rick’s fascination for music production and recording had always been a passion. This passion led him to Ex’pression College in Emeryville, CA. Half way through school he landed an internship at Laughing Tiger Studios under the mentorship of Ari Rios and Dave Simon Baker. Only a few months into the internship Rick was engineering his own sessions and soon after became first engineer. In the five years as first engineer, Rick had the privilege of working with artists like Carlos Santana, Stanley Jordan, Jackie Greene, Huey Lewis, K'naan, E-40, and DJ Shadow. Rick has also produced a range of artists from local to the likes of Lauryn Hill and Canibus.

This great experience at Laughing Tiger led Rick to meet John Cutler, the engineer and producer of the Grateful Dead. At the time, Cutler was overseeing the construction of TRI Studios and was helping Bob Weir hire a staff for both TRI and Weir’s home studio, "The Cuckoo's Nest". Cutler proposed opportunity to work at both studios and before he knew it, Rick was engineering for Bob Weir. Rick has since been one of the lead engineers at TRI, working with outstanding musicians and constantly building knowledge of mixing to film.

 

Kim Elwell - Digital & Social Media

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Determined to succeed in the music industry from a young age, Kim parlayed her love of music into a college major by creating her own Music Business Enterprise degree at SFSU. The Bay Area native quickly saw the innovative role that the internet was playing in the industry and honed in on becoming an expert on all things social, digital media and marketing. From gigs at Universal Music and INgrooves to consulting on social media projects for celebrity/hospitality clientele, Kim loves working with people and helping brands connect with their audience.  With a deep understanding of the online landscape, expertise in social media and the music industry – Kim gives TRI a voice in the digital world. Can’t live with out: Passport, Pinot Noir, Hip-hop & RocknRoll