Rob James, Consultant

Rob picked up a guitar and joined a band in high school – the band broke up, but his romance with sound lives on. Over the years, he has directed his focus to a remarkably broad range of roles, disciplines, and locations. After high school, he worked for an installation and rental house in Utah that got him into repairs, show setups, and mixing for rock concerts, the Sundance Film Festival, and the running of the Olympic Torch in Salt Lake City. Still in Utah, he moved on to design and engineering for musical productions, including South Pacific, Grease, and Les Miserables, at the outdoor Tuacahn Center for the Arts.

With the real world conquered, Rob headed to Purdue, where he earned first a BA and then an MFA in Sound Design and Technology. The University Theatre and Hall of Music were playgrounds for someone with his background, and he wasted no time, designing sound and operating boards for plays and musicals, serving as house technician for touring shows in the Hall of Music, and even monitor mixing for B.B. King. His academic career culminated in programming (in Max) and operating two interactive dance/video productions, The Life of Umbrellas and Labcoats on Clouds, the latter performed at the Prague Quadrennial in 2007. He found time to get his pilot’s license somewhere along the line, so we at last have someone on hand to fly the corporate plane, if we ever get one.

Rob now applies himself to all of our consulting disciplines, with audio and video systems his core interests.

• George Washington Carver Center for Arts & Technology, Towson, Maryland
• Ridgewood High School, Band Room, Norridge, Illinois
• Columbia College Chicago Media Production Center, Chicago, Illinois
• Lone Tree Cultural Arts Center, Lone Tree, Colorado
• Immanuel Baptist Church, Paducah, Kentucky
• Hughes Hall, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
• The University of Chicago Lab School, Chicago, Illinois