About Me
Jay Phipps
Originally from Northwest Arkansas, I grew up a musician, playing the violin in the school orchestra beginning at the age of 11. A bit of an outcast in most places, I became highly involved in my church's youth program as a teenager trying to find my place, and after a few years, the current praise and worship band decided to move on, and the program scrambled to find a replacement. I had just recently received a guitar as a gift for my 15th birthday, and since I was already an experienced musician, I was recruited to play lead guitar for the new band. I seemed to be a natural at the guitar because of my experience with the violin.
Not long after, I began to develop an interest for live sound reinforcement and recording, and began working with a friend of mine running his PA for local venues and rock shows in the area, as well as playing in several bands around town as well. I was encouraged to pursue this as only a hobby, as there was "no money in it," and so after graduating high school, I enrolled at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, majoring in Computer Science and Engineering. I also enjoyed writing programming code, but was put off by the industry due to the poor practices in efficiency and functionality. So I decided after my sophomore year, with some coaxing from my now wife, to transfer to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where she was attending school.
Shortly after moving, a friend of hers introduced me to the drummer of a local Christian band, Pulling Thorns, who was looking for a full-time guitar player, and about a month later I joined. However, after just a few short tours around Arkansas and Oklahoma, the band decided to break up. About 6 months later, while working at Target and going back to classes, I met another guitarist and songwriter who was interested in collaborating on a few songs. After a only a couple of sessions, we decided what we had was pretty good, and connected with a few of the old members of Pulling Thorns to start the band, Dreaming of Anna. We recorded a 10 song demo and began playing shows extensively around Arkansas. After nearly a year of local shows every weekend, and a pretty good following, almost 8000 fans on MySpace, we decided to put together a full southeast independent tour. The tour went well and we were talking to a manager and booking agents, as well as a few independent labels, and on the last day of the tour, on our way back home, we rolled our van, all of us but one barely escaping severe injury. Shortly after returning home, we decided to take a break, which eventually led to dissolving the band.
After several other failed projects, I bought Pro Tools to get into the recording and production side of the industry. Shortly thereafter, the other guitar player/songwriter from Dreaming of Anna and I decided to try once more, starting a project with some members of a worship band in which we were playing in Russellville, AR. We Sing Like Lions was born, and became my first real recording and production project. We produced a 7 song EP, which I recorded and mixed, and once again began to play extensively in the local venues. Our fan base was just starting to get to a level to consider touring on a larger scale, when our lead vocalist decided to move away and the band was ended.
My wife and I decided to move to Dallas, TX so that I could enroll in the Recording Arts program at MediaTech Institute and get some foundational knowledge to supplement what I had already taught myself. Since graduating from there at the top of my class, I have had the privilege to record and mix projects for many local Dallas songwriters, as well as help with Live Sound Reinforcement for such local acts as Metal Shop, Le Freak, and Good Question Band. I have also received additional on the job training from many great engineers and producers, both live and studio, including Tim Kimsey, James Dumaine, Mark Wade, and Gregg Pearlman.
I then I became an engineer at Nomad Recording Studios in Carrollton, a fill-in engineer for the local wedding/event band, The Roof Raisers, as well as volunteering on Wednesday nights at Gateway Church Frisco running monitors for the youth services. Currently I freelance with producing, recording, and mixing for local Dallas artists and churches.
Feel free to look over the Services that I offer in more detail, take a look some Examples of my work, or Contact Me to do your next project today. Click Resume to see more qualification details.
I look forward to working with you!!
Originally from Northwest Arkansas, I grew up a musician, playing the violin in the school orchestra beginning at the age of 11. A bit of an outcast in most places, I became highly involved in my church's youth program as a teenager trying to find my place, and after a few years, the current praise and worship band decided to move on, and the program scrambled to find a replacement. I had just recently received a guitar as a gift for my 15th birthday, and since I was already an experienced musician, I was recruited to play lead guitar for the new band. I seemed to be a natural at the guitar because of my experience with the violin.
Not long after, I began to develop an interest for live sound reinforcement and recording, and began working with a friend of mine running his PA for local venues and rock shows in the area, as well as playing in several bands around town as well. I was encouraged to pursue this as only a hobby, as there was "no money in it," and so after graduating high school, I enrolled at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, majoring in Computer Science and Engineering. I also enjoyed writing programming code, but was put off by the industry due to the poor practices in efficiency and functionality. So I decided after my sophomore year, with some coaxing from my now wife, to transfer to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where she was attending school.
Shortly after moving, a friend of hers introduced me to the drummer of a local Christian band, Pulling Thorns, who was looking for a full-time guitar player, and about a month later I joined. However, after just a few short tours around Arkansas and Oklahoma, the band decided to break up. About 6 months later, while working at Target and going back to classes, I met another guitarist and songwriter who was interested in collaborating on a few songs. After a only a couple of sessions, we decided what we had was pretty good, and connected with a few of the old members of Pulling Thorns to start the band, Dreaming of Anna. We recorded a 10 song demo and began playing shows extensively around Arkansas. After nearly a year of local shows every weekend, and a pretty good following, almost 8000 fans on MySpace, we decided to put together a full southeast independent tour. The tour went well and we were talking to a manager and booking agents, as well as a few independent labels, and on the last day of the tour, on our way back home, we rolled our van, all of us but one barely escaping severe injury. Shortly after returning home, we decided to take a break, which eventually led to dissolving the band.
After several other failed projects, I bought Pro Tools to get into the recording and production side of the industry. Shortly thereafter, the other guitar player/songwriter from Dreaming of Anna and I decided to try once more, starting a project with some members of a worship band in which we were playing in Russellville, AR. We Sing Like Lions was born, and became my first real recording and production project. We produced a 7 song EP, which I recorded and mixed, and once again began to play extensively in the local venues. Our fan base was just starting to get to a level to consider touring on a larger scale, when our lead vocalist decided to move away and the band was ended.
My wife and I decided to move to Dallas, TX so that I could enroll in the Recording Arts program at MediaTech Institute and get some foundational knowledge to supplement what I had already taught myself. Since graduating from there at the top of my class, I have had the privilege to record and mix projects for many local Dallas songwriters, as well as help with Live Sound Reinforcement for such local acts as Metal Shop, Le Freak, and Good Question Band. I have also received additional on the job training from many great engineers and producers, both live and studio, including Tim Kimsey, James Dumaine, Mark Wade, and Gregg Pearlman.
I then I became an engineer at Nomad Recording Studios in Carrollton, a fill-in engineer for the local wedding/event band, The Roof Raisers, as well as volunteering on Wednesday nights at Gateway Church Frisco running monitors for the youth services. Currently I freelance with producing, recording, and mixing for local Dallas artists and churches.
Feel free to look over the Services that I offer in more detail, take a look some Examples of my work, or Contact Me to do your next project today. Click Resume to see more qualification details.
I look forward to working with you!!