Laura Escudé is an in-demand music producer, DJ, violinist, Ableton Certified Trainer and music technology specialist. Laura is a leading figure in the contemporary electronic music and technology realms, a visionary for the future of music. Ms. Escudé is a versatile musician who composes and programs music, performing tracks using innovative MIDI controllers—which is complimented by her extensive acoustic and electric violin background.
Her 2011 and 2012 highlights include playing violin on Kanye and Jay-Z’s “Watch The Throne” album, as well as touring doing vocal effects and music programming for the U.S. and European tours. She recorded and composed violin for the intro of Kanye West’s “Dark Fantasy” tour and traveled all over the world as his vocal effects engineer. She played violin on Hit-Boy’s (Watch the Throne producer) mixtape “HitStory.” She designed the music technology and programmed shows for Cirque du Soleil, Drake, Bon Iver, Silversun Pickups, Garbage, Childish Gambino, M83, Herbie Hancock, Niyaz and many more. She has composed music for several Visa commercials, performed violin on Dancing With the Stars, at The Do Lab’s LA music showcase, and won Runner Up prize for best DJ mix for the Lightning in a Bottle Festival.
Henry Strange is a multifaceted creator of music and technology. He has invented several groundbreaking devices. It started with the the vocal effects processor controlled via Theremin, which allowed you to wave your hands in performance to change fx applied to your voice or instrument. This lead to the Wii controlled vocal effects processor for which is being used by Kanye on tour for years now. The next evolution of that is the ‘Strange Mic’ for which all of the vocal effects are accessible buttons on the mic itself. Beyond vocal processing systems, Henry created the very first midi sequenced LED lit Midi Controller. This device gave the audience a light show to watch right at the Dj’s control surface. This then lead to the Midi sequenced lap top lid, which gave the audience a light show to watch right on the back of the Dj’s laptop. In addition to these specialized performance devices, Henry refined and then defined the current standards and systems in large production music playback and show control. These systems are now being used by artists and bands all over and is likely used in the last concert you’ve seen.
Henry is himself a performing artist and music producer. He has performed his original music as himself at major festivals such as Coachella, Lightning in a Bottle, Electric Daisy Carnival, Nocturnal Wonderland. He has an album and any records release. He also has writing credit on records by artists such as Kid Cudi, Adam Lambert, and Ida Maria.
LA-based Steve Nalepa is an esteemed music technologist and audiovisual producer, known for his vast and eclectic array of artistic collaborators. He is a key node in the electronic music scene, cultivated through years of producing music, hosting events and mentoring many of today’s top artists in Ableton Live.
Nalepa designed the Ableton Live curriculum for Dubspot, the premier, cutting-edge Music Production and DJ School for experienced and aspiring artists in New York and Online. Adept in ProTools, Logic and Reason as well, he’s been teaching Ableton Live for over eight years, to newcomers and experts alike. He has consulted and set up tour performance documents for a plethora of established artists including Photek, Flying Lotus, The Liars, Adam Freeland, N.A.S.A., Ozomatli, David Kahne, Michael Brook, Carmen Rizzo, Lili Haydn and the LA Philharmonic.
Mike Parvizi is an LA based composer, bass player, and music producer. He is a graduate of the electronic music and sound design program at Chapman University, taught by LA mainstay Steve Nalepa. Mike has toured extensively as live bassist for the Los Angeles duo Virtual Boy. He has played bass on releases from Alpha Pup Records, Rabbit Records, and 1320 Records, and has also produced commercial work for clients such as Michael Kors and Pfizer through his composer collective Polygon Audio. Mike has contributed to every volume of the TeamSupreme mix tape series under his alias Papi.
David Streit aka FuzZ is a Los Angeles based Producer/DJ/Engineer hailing from Los Angeles, California. In the studio, David began producing with Sam Speigel (N.A.S.A., Squeak E Clean Productions) in Jan 2010. Through Sam, David was given the opportunity to collaborate on music with Cee Lo Green, Harold Faltermeyer, Derek Green (Sepultura), and George Clinton (Parliament Funkadelic). These collaborations, and other original music from David has been licensed for television adverts and corporate promos for companies such as Blackberry, Volvo, Phizer, Take Part, and Caribe. On the side, David also works as a freelance engineer, ghost producer, and all around Ableton Live consultant for various DJ groups around Los Angeles.
Preston James Walker is a trained keyboardist / vocalist and playback engineer. In 2011 he graduated from Chapman University’s Conservatory of Music based in California’s famed Orange County. Preston, a Southern California native, became part of the Chapman University Choir, with which he toured Italy and sang for Pope Benedict XVI in the Sistine Chapel. While at school, Preston studied music technology under the direction of professor Steve Nalepa. Through his studies he became fluid at using Ableton, Logic, Pro Tools, Garage Band and Reason. Post grad, Preston spends his time writing and performing live electronic music with his band Virtual Boy as well as running his weekly beat-cipher series, TeamSupreme. Currently he has been on tour programming and operating playback equipment for the artist Childish Gambino. He also has shared the stage with artists such as MGMT, Devo, Skrillex, Bassnectar, The Weeknd and Lupe Fiasco and he has performed at famed festivals, ACL, SXSW, Moogfest, Electric Forest, Camp Bisco and Lightning in a Bottle.
