John A. Weiss
Arts Promoter, Composer, & Programmer
818-919-0824
Skills
Theater sound engineering, music composition, arts administration, multi-media computer programming, film sound, internet radio production, sound and video editing.
Theater & Film
Theater Sound and Lighting Engineer, 2007
The Court Theater, Los Angeles
Ran lights and sound for two plays, written and produced by Jeffrey Davis, screenwriting professor at the Los Angeles School of Film and Television.
Theater Sound and Lighting Engineer, 2007
The Actors Playhouse, Los Angeles
Ran lights and sound for a production at the Actors’ Playhouse.
Boom & Wireless Microphone Operator, 2006
Director Miv Evans, Los Angeles
Sound Man for independent digital-film production Oedipuss. The film appeared in the LA Shorts film festival.
Sound Design Student, 2006
Filmmakers Alliance, Los Angeles
Attended a film sound-design workshop presented by the Filmmakers Alliance, of which I am a member.
Theater Sound Engineer, 2000
The Odyssey Theater, Los Angeles, CA
Assembled and engineered a multi-track digital soundtrack for a stage production. Utilized a Roland VS-880 and digital effects processing.
Theater Sound Engineer, 1979-1983
The Playhouse, Buffalo
Designed and Engineered Professional Theater Sound for four years. Created original sound effects, utilizing reel-to-reel multitracking and tape-splicing. Mic’d and mixed live musicals. Hung microphones and PA system. Designed, equipped, and managed sound-booth. Designed and built a quadraphonic mixer. Designed and ran lights for some shows.
Video
Public Service Announcement Video Producer, 2008
South Asian Network, Los Angeles
Produced, shot, directed, and edited a series of nine information videos. I edited copy, lit the scene, was Sound Man and Camera Man, and edited the footage in Final Cut Pro. I also used professional audio manipulation tools to remove noise and 60 cycle hum.
Internet Video Scripter, 2008
South Asian Network, Los Angeles
Coded JavaScript and html, to display a customized jeroen-wijering video player on my client’s website.
Video Editing Student, 1985
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Completed digital and analog video editing training.
Radio
Radio Production Teacher, Current
Huckleberry Learning Center, Valencia, CA
I teach radio production and podcasting fundamentals to home-schooled students, ages 10 through 15 years. I teach my students to produce a range of radio programming, including music shows, interview shows, news shows, and more. My curriculum, which I designed, includes microphone technique, public speaking skills, program preparation, mixing and sweetening skills, multitrack recording, editing, podcast preparation, interview techniques, radio theater methods, journalistic research, and radio history.
Internet Radio Producer, 2006
KillRadio.org, Los Angeles
Produced, mixed, and edited a weekly live and prerecorded radio program, consisting of interviews of artists and activists, live music performance, pre-recorded music, commentary, news, and political-event coverage. Interviewees included the activist Reverend Pinkney, Hollywood historian Mark Wannamaker, and numerous other guests.
Radio Production Student, 2005
College of the Canyons, Valencia, CA
Studied fundamentals of radio production, including multi-track recording with a computer-based digital audio workstation, design of radio advertising, and use of professional broadcast-radio mixing and ducking equipment.
Music
Turkish Traditional Drum Student, 1998
Hussein Pulat, Istanbul, Turkey
Studied the traditional Turkish drum called “Davul”, learned Arabic and Greek rhythms. My teacher, Mr. Pulat, a Davul master, was a featured performer in the Istanbul International Music Festival, and later was guest artist at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
Trap Drums Student, 1997
Mike Mazor, Brooklyn
Studied jazz technique. My teacher, Mr. Mazor, was the tour drummer for the rock band Bare Naked Ladies.
Trap Drums Student, 1990
John Nathan, University of Massachusetts
Studied jazz technique.
Multi-Media Scholarship Winner, 1981
New York State Summer School for the Arts
Awarded Scholarship to NYS Summer School for the Arts to study Analog Electronic Music Composition, University of Buffalo. I created and recorded electronic music, using analog modular synthesis, to accompany experimental film and video.
Child Composer, 1979
Multi Art Performers, Buffalo
Created and engineered original music for an experimental video/dance performance for piano, synthesizer, and world percussion at 15 yrs old.
Technology
Visual Basic 6.0 Audio Utility Programmer, 2000
Urban Box Office, New York City
Implemented asynchronous WAV-MP3 conversion process in a system integrating Nirvis Systems CDJ, SQL Server, and Blade audio.
Pitch Perception Researcher, 1987
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Designed, Programmed, Executed, and Documented: Research Study on the Difference Limen of Pitch Perception. This study evaluated my subjects’ pitch sensitivity across octaves.
Waveform Synthesizer Programmer, 1986
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Programmed a Waveform Synthesizer with user-defined Harmonics. User could define the phases and relative amplitudes of 80 harmonics, and my code would generate the resulting waveform. I utilized innovative optimization techniques to accelerate the calculations by 400%.
Audio Circuit Designer, 1980
Canisius High School, Buffalo
Designed numerous analog circuits in an after-school technology program.
Arts Administration
Music Festival Producer, 1983-1988
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Conceived, produced, and MC’d an annual 12-hour outdoor music festival at Hampshire College for 4 years, directing a staff of 30 people and raising thousands of dollars in funding. Presented 80 diverse musical acts over 4 years, including punk, classical, free jazz, heavy metal, and folk.
Arts Festival Production Student, 1987
Arts Extension Service – Festival Training Workshops, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Studied all aspects of producing arts organizations and festivals, including How To Build a Board of Directors, Fundraising, Brandstanding, Artist Management, Scheduling & Logistics, and more.
Administrative Assistant, 1987
Foundation for Arts and Cultural Exchange Services, Northampton, MA
Developed contacts with embassies and consultates from over 30 Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Box Office Manager, 1986
La Jolla Chamber Music Society
Managed the festival box-office.
Administrative Assistant, 1986
La Jolla Orchestra
Coordinated orchestra auditions. Merged mailing lists from disparate operating systems, including Macintosh, Apple, and Vax Unix,. Wrote Unix shell-scripts to scrub the merged data. Coordinated production and printing of the orchestra season brochure.
Administrative Assistant, 1986
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Negotiated the purchase of a large national mailing list.
Education
Bachelor's Degree, 1993
University of Massachusetts At Amherst
Self-Designed Major: Human Development and Interdisciplinary Music. Studied music composition, history, electronic music, ethnomusicology, arts administration. Studied electronic and computer music at Smith College, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Hampshire College, Media Study/Buffalo, and the University of Buffalo. Composed and produced original music for student theatrical production.
Creativity Biography