Studio Staff

JASON RICHMOND - Chief Recording Engineer

Jason Richmond is an accomplished audio engineer, producer, musician and educator who has worked in San Francisco, Denver, and now Durham. Jason holds a B.A. in Music from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and an M.S. in Recording Arts from the University of Colorado at Denver. He was also a student of north Indian classical music with the late, legendary, Ali Akbar Khan at his college in San Rafael. As a musician, Jason spent many years studying jazz guitar and playing with jazz, rock and folk groups throughout the country.

Jason’s love of diverse musical genres, and his desire to create timeless professional musical recordings led him to the art of recording engineering and music production As an engineer, he has worked and studied with some of the most recognized names in the music industry, including Alan Parsons and Leslie Ann Jones and mastering engineers David Glasser and Jim Wilson.

Before coming to Sound Pure Jason taught engineering and music courses at the college level, and also worked as an engineer at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada during its prestigious International Festival for Jazz and Creative Music. There he engineered studio performances and live concerts with Dave Douglas, Hank Roberts, and many other internationally recognized artists.

Since returning to his native North Carolina, Jason has been excited to partake in the vibrant and eclectic music scene here. He’s had the honor of engineering and producing many superb talents, including jazz artists Scott Sawyer, Kate McGarry, Keith Ganz, and The Bad Plus, classical string quartet The Ciompi Quartet, The Foreign Exchange, and members of Indie Rock band The Old Ceremony. He also has extensive experience working in the gospel community including gospel greats Shirley Caesar and Regina Belle, as well as many contemporary classical composers.

Although Jason’s primary focus remains professional music production, he also is involved in post-production work for film and video, and works closely with Sound Pure’s video department overseeing all audio production for the numerous videos produced at Sound Pure.

Jason always brings great skill, attention to detail, and creativity to the projects he works on. He is available for the full range of engineering, including tracking, mixing or mastering, as well as surround sound mixing, sound design, and audio post-production. As chief engineer at Sound Pure, he manages and upkeeps the studio and would be happy to give you a tour and discuss your next project.

CHRIS BOERNER - Recording Engineer

For the past 15 years, Chris Boerner has been a vibrant member of the Triangle music scene. He studied at Duke University and after a few years playing mostly jazz gigs he turned his focus to original music. He became a founding member of the jazz-hip-hop collective, The Mighty Burners, who released their debut Hot Ones Now in 2004. Working with this band led to a love of recording and producing. Since, he has recorded and produced for nearly every band he’s played with. In 2005 Chris released his debut as a bandleader, the jazz instrument album, Incoming. Since then he has recorded and toured with many Triangle-based bands including The Proclivities, Mosadi Music, Who’s Bad, Jeanne Jolly, The Small Ponds, and more recently, 2010 Grammy nominee, The Foreign Exchange.

As a recording engineer and producer Chris has worked with many notable artists including 11 time Grammy winner Shirley Caesar, The Foreign Exchange, Clay Aiken, YahZarah, The Small Ponds and many more. Currently Chris continues to hone his craft as a player, composer, recording engineer and producer. In 2010, he picked up the 8-string guitar and quickly started a new group, The Hot at Nights, with good friends Nick Baglio and Matt Douglas. He currently tours nationally and internationally with The Foreign Exchange, Jeanne Jolly, Mosadi Music, and The Hot at Nights.

TODD ATLAS - Owner and Engineer

A Grammy nominated engineer, Todd Atlas' work has spanned across countless genres, with major talents in many areas.  For example, Todd has engineered for Grammy winning Classical Producer of the year, Judith Sherman, 11 time Grammy winning Gospel Star, Shirley Caesar, and 6 time Grammy nominated Jazz Vocalist, Nnenna Freelon to name a few.  While he is a Duke educated classical pianist and composer he has always found ways to do inspired work across far reaching genres in his near 20 years of engineering.  He even has a great deal of skill and experience crafting purely vocal, acappella mixes. Sound Pure Studios is Todd's home-base, however, he is also well respected for his work as a location engineer for live classical and jazz ensembles, and remains a foremost expert in acoustic microphones.  This expertise helped Sound Pure Studios build one of the largest, sought-after collections of modern, high-end microphones in the country. Used daily by the engineering staff at Sound Pure Studios this diverse collection makes the finest recordings possible, regardless of genre.

In addition to engineering and production, Todd remains one of the most respected modern studio-equipment experts in the industry and brings this knowledge of studio gear to every session that he engineers, helping with his artists to craft their “perfect” sound.  As a studio and equipment consultant, Todd has worked with numerous multi-platinum artists.  It is this work, that allowed Todd to serve with Sound Pure’s VP of Sales, Doug Wessling, to acquire the most diverse and complimentary collection of analog studio equipment possible for Sound Pure Studios.   The goal of these acquisitions was to ensure that there was no better studio for crafting the perfect combination of mics, preamps, and outboard equipment for the ultimate tracking experience, whether you were tracking a rock, jazz, hip-hop, gospel, classical or any other kind of record.

DOUG WESSLING - Vice President of Sales

Doug Wessling has been a music lover and audiophile most of his life.  Doug’s foray into location-recording began approximately 10 years ago, which made him equally focused on the subtle differences among high-end recording products.  Doug began studying and documenting the differences among the highest-end recording devices and techniques, a pursuit which he has continued on a daily basis, today.  As a result of this work, Doug is one of the premier experts and consultants for professional audio and recording products in the country.  As a leading recording consultant in the industry, Doug has had the pleasure of working with numerous multi-platinum and Grammy-winning artists on their gear acquisitions, microphone/preamp selections, and overall approaches to recording in the studio.    He has a vast array of clients producing music of all kinds, all over the world, that rely on his expertise to make them be the best that they can be.

Doug, along with Todd Atlas, oversaw the design, construction, wiring, and equipment acquisitions of Sound Pure Studios.  The current demands of Doug’s position as Vice President of Sales at Sound Pure (online at www.soundpure.com) now means that due to his limited time he is very selective regarding the recording projects with which he participates.  Nevertheless, he continues to conduct countless gear shootouts, attend special events, assist studio training, and handle video gear demonstrations that take place at Sound Pure Studios.  If you are looking for advice about your home or commercial studio, Doug’s knowledge and enthusiasm are always just a phone call away!

As a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he has been living in the Raleigh-Durham  area, enjoying its ever-improving local music scene for more than 15 years, where he continues to cultivate his engineering skills, and equipment knowledge for the betterment of his vast array of clients that span virtually every genre from folk and bluegrass, to hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music.

MICHAEL STIPE - Video Department Director

Michael Stipe, a graduate from UNC Chapel Hill, has a degree in Media Production as well as Music Performance. He has over four years of experience making short films, music videos, and editing. As the Video Department Director, Michael manages the planning, organization, filming, editing, and publishing of all video productions at SoundPure. Under his management, the SoundPure video department has released over hundreds of videos and gained millions of YouTube views. Michael’s video experience is not limited to SoundPure’s demos, but also includes live musical performances, music videos, interviews, green screen productions, promotional videos, and other creative productions.

On the side, Michael enjoys playing trumpet - recording and playing shows with artists such as members from REM, The Love Language, Lost in the Trees, Big Star, the Dbs, Luego, American Aquarium, Pico Vs. Island Trees and more. Michael’s ability to bridge the gap of technical video expertise with a strong background in music makes him a critical part of SoundPure’s team.