Josh the Sound Engineer

Meet Josh.

I’d like to introduce you to Josh. At first glance he may look like any young, emerging entrepreneur. He and two business partners recently opened a new music recording/mixing/mastering studio. He knows his business and knows where he is going in life. But, Josh is so much more.?

Josh, the sound engineer, is also a childhood cancer survivor who lives with profound hearing loss. Josh has a deep love of music. It has been a constant struggle for most of his life . The side effects of chemotherapy treatment robbed him of quality of life. Then the pandemic hit, and everything came to a stop.?

For many, the shutdowns were agonizing as the world came to a halt. For others, that same period of time provided a chance to breathe. And for Josh, it was a time to heal. A number of his chemotherapy side effects minimized or disappeared, and he was able to manage things in a way he had never before enjoyed. Soon he began to believe he could complete some coursework. He decided to take what he had already learned with sound mixing and mastering (he owns a 32 channel audio desk) and was accepted into a program provided by a Grammy-award winning mastering engineer. ?

For 11 months, this course taught Josh how to train his ears within the sonic spectrum. This level of engineering spotlights lower-mid to upper-mid frequencies.?Through this course, Josh developed the sophistication to work within the frequencies not affected by the chemo-induced hearing loss. Rather than simply enduring the suffering from high frequency hearing loss, Josh learned how to embrace and maximize his remaining hearing. The instructor was impressed with Josh's ability to apply what he learned so quickly, all while not being able to hear the nuances that usually make a good engineer. Josh absolutely loved the program, and it has served him well.?

It's been a year since Josh completed the program.?After recruiting clients and creating finished pieces, he's found two partners.?Together they have created an amazing studio to create music for the world to enjoy. One of the men was moving his already established studio to another location, and Josh and another engineer have joined the business.?Bare walls were turned into an impressive studio space in an unbelievable three months. Josh is living his best life right now. Thanks to the pandemic and what he has been able to learn,?he has found his own way to a life that is rewarding. Only a couple of years ago, Josh was convinced he'd be flipping burgers or delivering pizzas for the rest of his life and felt so much less than he aspired to be. What a transformation!?

Forest Hill Studio: https://www.foresthillstudio.org/