Eligible voting members should receive an email with voting information.
Voting runs through Friday, November 15, 11:59 pm PST.
Candidates:
| Position | Candidate |
|---|---|
| Vice Chair |  BZ Lewis BZ has owned and operated Studio 132 since 1997, and is currently operating from his palatial home in the verdant green hills of Oakland. During that time he has produced/engineered music for hundreds, if not thousands of bands/artists in the Bay Area. He also composes music for fortune 500 companies, various TV shows such as World Poker Tour, People Magazine investigates, CBS news… well… every major network and a few minor ones as well. BZ Lewis is a six time Emmy Award winner, a voting member of the Grammys, a BMI member writer and publisher, and is currently enjoying publishing deals with Media Creature Music, Iron Mike Publishing, and BOK music in L.A. When he’s not in the studio, BZ can be found hanging out with his wife and two kids and riding his Mountain Bike throughout the hills of Oakland, CA. For a more or less complete credit list, visit studio132.com/credits.html, |
| Treasurer |  Brian (Bt) “Gibbs” Brian (Bt) “Gibbs” is co-owner & principal at Skyline Entertainment & Publishing (at Tool Shed Studios) in Silicon Valley. With 30+ record credits in 2021, Gibbs uses his B.M. from Berklee College of Music (Jazz Composition) as a record producer & immersive mixing engineer— with credits on 1M+ streams across Alternative, Country, Jazz and other genres. He has worked on records for Bay Area artists including Los Tigres del Norte’s “Realidades” (2015 GRAMMY® Award for Best Regional Mexican Album, including Tejano). Gibbs is also a 10yr+ Recording Academy voting member, 2020-22 Board of Governors for the San Francisco chapter, serving as the 2021-22 Chair for the SF Chapter Producers & Engineers Wing. Gibbs is also a 5-year District Advocacy Captain (CA-19), regularly serves as a Grammy U mentor, as well as, alumni mentor for his alma mater Berklee College of Music helping to develop the next generation of creators. With the AES, Gibbs served as Co-Chair for the 151st Convention (Fall 2021), 2019-20 San Francisco Section Chair, DE&I committee member and is currently leading a mentorship program rollout. In addition to presenting at AES conferences on immersive mixing techniques, he has presented at Music Expo (SF & Boston) Berklee College of Music, Cal State University campuses, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, USV, Webster University & other audio engineering educational institutions. Gibbs is also a current SMPTE member in the San Francisco section. One of Gibbs’ primary focuses is on diversity, equity & inclusion across all disciplines & genres of music creation, both behind the microphone and behind the record. |
| Member at Large |  David v.R BowlesDavid v.R Bowles formed Swineshead Productions, LLC as a classical recording production company in 1995. His recordings have been GRAMMY- and JUNO-nominated and crucially acclaimed worldwide. All releases are available as high-resolution paid downloads. Those in Dolby Atmos streaming audio format can be found on Avie, Delos and Navona Records.In collaboration with New York University’s Music Technology programme at Steinhardt School of Music, Mr. Bowles researches and teaches 3D audio recording for their Tonmeister Seminar. He has sat on panels at several AES conventions (with colleagues from NYU, Dolby, Huddersfield University and Sennheiser), and presented his papers on 3D height gathering at AES conferences in New York, São Paulo and San Francisco. Mr. Bowles is also a guest lecturer at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and Peabody Recording Arts and Sciences (John Hopkins University). He was Visiting Professor of Recording Arts at Indiana University’s Jacobs School. Mr. Bowles is a member of the AES (Audio Engineering Society): he’s served twice on the Board of Governors, and is Western Regional VP (United States and Canada, 2023-26). He is also a voting member of NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) and active in their Producers & Engineers Wing. |
| Member at Large |  Julius DobosJulius Dobos has been an AES professional member since 2006, has been serving on the San Francisco Section’s committee since 2019, currently as Vice Chair of AES SF, and on the AES Education Committee since 2020. Dobos is an award-winning, platinum-album European-American composer, sound synthesist and mastering engineer, best known for his electronic- and electro-orchestral album releases, film scores, and music produced for motion pictures and television programs. His composition and production credits include Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Zookeeper and television programs such as 127 episodes of the DragonBall Z series on Cartoon Network, NCIS, advertisements for international brands as well as studio production work with Grammy-winning artists Martha Sebestyen, Erykah Badu and more. His music produced for installations and events, such as the 2019 Human Intelligence Control show at SIGGRAPH, have featured interactive audio experiences with the aim to promote active listening and the importance of performance expression in audiovisual media. Dobos is the founder of The Creative Shop, an audio production company and musical sound design studio, produced music and sounds for 30 years, working in culturally diverse environments from Central Europe to Southeast Asia and primarily in US (San Francisco Bay Area). In 2009, he launched then operated music-mastering.com, one of the very first non-automated online music mastering services. Dobos beta-tests and creates factory presets for sound synthesis and audio processing tools and gives talks in music technology and production culture topics. As a Distinguished Professor at University of Silicon Valley since 2012, he teaches a range of audio and music technology courses, directs audiovisual media production projects and builds pioneering, project-based collaborative learning concepts for a future-proof media education. |
| Member at Large |  Ken FeltonKen Felton is an Audio Director and Sound Designer with decades of experience in many different professional audio industries. Ken’s current passion is story telling by creating immersive sonic soundscapes using the Spatial Inc. audio pipeline. Ken started in pro-audio by touring N. America and running sound reinforcement systems. Ken then learned from talented engineers, producers, and artists during his time in the L.A. music business and Film/TV post-production world. In 1994 he moved to Northern California and started working with interactive audio at Electronic Arts. Ken moved to Sony PlayStation in 2006. He continued sound designing and directing while managing the sound design and dialog team in NorCal. Ken joined Spatial Inc. in 2021 and is currently applying all the experience and knowledge collected in his prior pro-audio lives to creating immersive and compelling sound scenes in real world environments. Ken lives in the S.F. Bay Area with his wife- Lynn, and their two sons- Casey and Quinn. Ken enjoys mountain and road biking, good wine, and playing ice hockey. |
| Member at Large |  Erik ForemanErik Foreman is an award-winning sound designer and re-recording mixer working in the industry since 1994. He grew up as an audiophile; passionate about the sound, the gear and the people that made great recordings. In college he studied film and worked in radio as well as at the American Folk Life Center at the library of Congress. He moved to San Francisco in 1995, where he spent a few years in the SF ad world, 17 years at Skywalker Sound and 8 years at Dolby. Today he is running his own audio- post business with an emphasis on immersive technologies like Dolby Atmos. He is a long-time active AES member and running for a 2nd term to be on the board of the SF Chapter. |
| Member at Large |  Gary GottliebLong-time engineer, producer, writer, photographer, and music business professional Gary Gottlieb refers to himself as a music generalist. A professional musician since age 13, he worked in radio on and off for 25 years, and was a music critic, journalist, and photojournalist for a decade. As a recording engineer and music producer in New York, Gottlieb’s long and distinguished career includes numerous Grammy Award winners and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. During this time, he was associated with some of the top studios in the city, including Sigma Sound, Right Track Recording, Counterpoint, and National Edison. Along with his history as a music critic and entertainment writer for the Deerfield Valley News in West Dover, Vermont, and disc jockey for WEQX, a major modern rock station in Manchester, Vermont, Gottlieb owned and operated a mobile DJ service. He earned his Masters of Audio Aesthetics & Technology from Marlboro College. Following a few years as adjunct faculty at UMass Lowell, Castleton State College, Marlboro College, and Plymouth State College, Gottlieb accepted a full time faculty position at Webster University, where he created and Chaired their Department of Audio Aesthetics and Technology. During his fifteen years at Webster he published three books. Gottlieb has remained active in the AES Education and Historical Committees for over 20 years. He has consistently worked towards enlarging the scope of our audio community. To ensure that all are welcome, Gottlieb has served as the Chair of the Conference Policy and Events Coordination Committees, Regional Vice President, on the BOG, and on the section level as a Chair, Secretary, Faculty Advisor, and Liaison. He is currently the President-Elect and resides in Ukiah, California with his daughter, their dog Bean, and their cat Silver, who makes frequent appearances during zoom calls. |
| Member at Large |  Casey HudsonCasey Hudson’s interest in audio began with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, OR, where they first attended as an adult camper in 2009. After several sessions of camp, guitar and drum lessons, and false starts, they began drumming with Bay Area queer punk band Scorpio Moon in 2017. While recording an album with the band, Casey became interested in the role of the recording engineer. In the beginning of 2022, they quit their corporate job to return to school studying audio engineering. Casey previously specialized in facilitating communication between nationwide staff and executives at an insurance company, reaching the title of Assistant Vice President in Quality Assurance before their departure. As of 2024, Casey has completed Certificates in Sound Recording Arts and Live Sound Reinforcement from the City College of San Francisco Broadcast and Electronic Media Arts department, and has interned and assisted recording engineers at Women’s Audio Mission. They are a Critical Listener at Dolby Laboratories and have also provided A2 services for East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, CA and for the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s summer 2024 production, “American Dreams.” Casey is currently interning at both Hyde Street Studios and 2200 Studios (formerly the Record Plant Sausalito). |
| Member at Large |  Evgenia LeshchinskaiaEvgenia Leshchinskaia, born in 1988 in Irkutsk, Russia, is a dedicated musician, composer, and sound artist with a diverse background in sound design, film scoring, and sound engineering. She has performed on multiple instruments, composed for various bands, played in orchestras, and contributed to numerous local film and music projects. In 2021, destiny brought Evgenia to the West Coast and the beautiful city of San Francisco, where she still resides today. Over the past three years, she has moved closer to her dream of becoming a film composer by earning certifications in Sound Design, Sound Production, and Sound Engineering from City College of San Francisco. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Music Composition at San Francisco State University, while also working on various music projects with local musicians and continuing to teach private piano lessons at the Village Music Studio. |
| Member at Large |  Mokanna “Mauxe” MaddenMokanna “Mauxe” Madden is nearing graduation from City College of San Francisco with a degree in Broadcasting, Television, and Electronic Media, along with five certificates, four of which emphasize audio. Currently, she’s helping Dana Jae Labrecque establish a live sound company, drawing from her extensive experience in the Bay Area’s live sound scene since the 90s. She’s also worked as a live sound engineer and technician at The Stud in San Francisco. Prior to her audio career, she spent over 20 years as a body piercer, during which she honed her event planning skills organizing events for numerous Bay Area tattoo shops. She also planned live remote events, coordinated prizes, and ran contests for 90.5 The Edge (KVHS) in the East Bay for several years. Additionally, she contributed to event planning for The Arts and Cultural Foundation of Antioch, managing a range of events from small community gatherings to larger productions. She’s passionate about bringing this wealth of experience to the AES SF’s events. Her enthusiasm for creating memorable, engaging experiences and her love for celebrating what we do in the world of sound are what drive her. She’s committed to contributing to the section by helping plan and execute events that are dynamic, inclusive, and fun, reflecting the excitement of our industry. |
| Member at Large | Neshele Reneé Neshele Reneé is a mixing and mastering engineer from the Bay Area, California.Neshele looks to make a difference in the audio field by representing minorities in both gender and culture. She is associated with the Recording Academy, WAM, and the We Make Noise organization. Being a part of the AES SF Committee would not only guide her to have further expertise, but it would also allow her to help others in her communities. |
| Member at Large |  Jonathan RuestJonathan Ruest is the Head of Sales and Business Development at Neumann.Berlin, part of the Sennheiser Group, where he has spent 9.5 years in various roles, including Key Account Manager. With 15 years of industry experience, including work at Guitar Center and other manufacturers, he holds an audio degree from Emerson College and an MBA from Boston University. An AES member since his time as the student chair at Emerson and a Professional Member of the Recording Academy, Jonathan is passionate about training the next generation of audio professionals and promoting diverse career paths in the industry beyond traditional engineering roles. |