justin3am

I <3 music. I make noises. I turn knobs. I press buttons. To do otherwise would be an effort in futility.

I was born and raised in Long Beach, California. I was brought up in a household which heavily emphasized financial independence, and discouraged creative endeavors.

I graduated from high school in 2001. A poor (as in shitty) student, I was barely accepted into a computer science program at Cal State University Long Beach. Along the way I dropped the computer science in favor of getting credentials as a recording engineer and Pro Tools operator.

Straight out of the recording program I got an internship at a local studio (Gopher Broke) and eventually became one of two lead engineers. In 2005 (I think) the studio went under and I was forced to seek employment on the open market. In 2006 I found a job at a tech support call-in center for a well known music industry company. From there I quickly moved into the quality assurance position where I work currently.

I have only come out of my shell as a musician in the last 3 or 4 years. I wasn't able to nurture my love for music as a child so, it all came flooding in at once when I moved out on my own. As I had a seemingly natural ability for the technical side of music production, all of my experience comes from that perspective. I had to learn how to express my creativity using my musical voice with very limited training. I don't feel at this point any worse for the wear but I do have the drive to someday learn to properly play an instrument or two...

I am happily married to my best friend and soul mate. We met in high school and have been madly in love for the past 7 years (she was actually my Prom date). We married in April '07 and hope to live this way for the rest of our lives.

All in all, I'd say that I'm the luckiest dude I know.