Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Newkirk.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, my love for music started when I was 14 years old and I first heard a Rush album, Moving Pictures. I was a nascent drummer at the time and I could not wrap my head around Neil Peart’s drumming technique and style. I played in bands in my youth and started getting into home recording when digital technology first surfaced in the 90’s. For a few years, I owned a little home studio and in ’94, I discovered a recording studio in Hollywood that was looking for runners. When I first saw the studio, with its large format console, 2″ tape machine, outboard gear, 800 s.f. tracking space, I was sold. I quit my current job and the owner, Mike Wolf, mentored me and showed me his techniques for recording, editing and mixing for the next few years.
Over time, I engineered for such clients as Dishwalla, Carmine Appice, Epitaph Records, Slash and Roger Daltry. In 1999, I purchased, built out, and renamed the studio to Studio Atlantis and ran it as it’s studio manager and president. For ten years, the studio’s client base included countless engineers, producers, songwriters, multi-platinum selling labels and artists, including Janet Jackson, Motorhead, Snoop Dogg, Usher, American Idol contestants Season 4 and 7, Interscope Records, Bad Boy Entertainment, Sony Records, Capitol Records, and Universal Records. Atlantis was also credited with the Sex and the City, About a Boy, and Rush Hour II soundtracks. After selling Studio Atlantis to Michael Jackson’s former producer, Rodney Jerkins, for two years I became Executive Director of the Power Chord Academy, a nationwide summer rock-n-roll institute for aspiring teenage musicians. After PowerChord, I earned an Executive MBA from the University of Southern California, before becoming the Chair of the Audio Engineering Department at Musicians Institute. Now at M.I., I currently serve as both Audio Engineering Chair and the Dean of Entertainment Industry Studies, where I oversee the Chairs of such departments as Guitar Craft, Independent Artist, DJ, and Music Business.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest challenge was selling my studio in 2009 and realizing I had developed a very specific skill-set of running and managing a recording studio. This was a skill-set that was not easily translatable to the real world. Over time, I decided to make myself more marketable by earning an Executive MBA from a top tier school and to apply areas of owning a small business, such as management, marketing, and operations, to my next position.
Musicians Institute – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from others?
Musicians Institute is a 40 years old, contemporary music college located in the heart of Hollywood. The school specializes in developing contemporary musical performers, as well as audio engineers, music business professionals, DJ’s, independent artists, and guitar craft luthiers. Being the Dean of Entertainment Industry Studies, I oversee all industry departments and strive to develop programs that best prepare students for these industry through certificate and associate programs.
I’m most proud of the synergy between the performance and industry programs. MI is unlike other colleges in that we are a performance school and an industry school. This means we frequently have performance students playing on our live stages, and being recorded by our audio engineering students. This community of musicians and musical artists makes for a very exciting work environment.
What I bring to the table is the ability to relate to an artist while understanding the mechanics of a business. I can flip flop between curricular development and assessment while balancing a budget and ratifying a departmental P&L.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Developing and launching two Associate of Science programs in the AE department. With incredible help from a few AE curricular developers, we launched an Associate of Science in Studio Recording and an Associate of Science in Live Music Event Production this year. Both programs have been received positively and fill a much needed gap in the school and industry.
Pricing:
- Courses are $545 per unit for certificate and associate programs
- Courses are $612 per unit for baccalaureate and masters programs
Contact Info:
- Address: 6752 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028
- Website: MI.EDU
- Phone: (323) 462-1384
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mihollywood/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MIHollywood
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/musiciansinstitute
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