DANIEL J. STIMAC
Sound Designer
Mixer
Sound Designer position at Maingrove Captures
I'm passionate about sound, music, audio and game-making, which I believe makes me a perfect fit for Maingrove Captures!
I'm excited that the Sound Designer position could utilize all aspects of my career path and my passion for exploring new concepts and sounds.
Audio Editor
I’ve been editing audio since my first studio job in Amsterdam (2003 - 2006), where I edited drums to fix timing issues and manipulated audio to create new arrangements. This was taken to a new level in my job with film score mixer Al Clay (Westside Pacific Studios, 2010-2012). My work ranged from cleaning up string takes and fixing timing issues from AIR Lyndhurst or Abbey Road recording sessions, conforming cues to latest picture, and making creative edits on the fly to accommodate changes in direction.
Through this work I gained advanced proficiency in Logic and Pro Tools and experience in Live and Reason.
A Logic session where I've edited the drums extensively
A ProTools Session from Underworld 4...beginning to clean up audio
Track from the Logic session above
Example of drum programming / audio manipulation
Example of drum programming / arranging
Audio Engineer
I began engineering audio with my first drum kit recording in 1995 and haven't stopped since, engineering studio projects from indie artists to major films. I gained experience in engineering, micing, designing and building studio acoustics, and signal processing.
Through this work I became proficient with Manley preamps, Focusrite, Apogee, a variety of mics (tube, multi-pattern, dynamic, condenser, etc.), a number of mixing consoles, Logic, Pro Tools and more.
Recording sessions for Tribal Roots "Blue Myth"
Engineering woodwind overdubs in my home studio for my score for "A Date With Miss Fortune"
Self-engineered
Co-engineered with René de Vries
Audio Mixer
I gained 2 years of audio mixing experience under Al Clay at Westside Pacific Studios on projects such as Total Recall (2012), X-Men: First Class, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. I also completely mixed music and audio for the feature film SPIT: The Story of a Caveman and a Chicken.
I've also mixed live sound at a wide variety of locations, from intimate cafes to large music festivals to notable Hollywood clubs.
Through this I gained mixing proficiency with Logic and Protools, including setting up complicated 5.1 sessions and mixing in 5.1 surround, utilizing plugins such as Waves, SSL, and Sony Oxford. I also gained experience with a variety of consoles, including Digidesign, Euphonix, AVID, Yamaha, TASCAM, Midas, Crest Audio and more (for mixing both live sound and studio recording).
Composed, produced and mixed score and soundtrack
Examples of mixing my own compositions
Mixed complete feature film, including dialogue, sfx, foley and score
Mixing live sound at the Roxy, Sunset Strip
Mixing live sound at The Knitting Factory, Hollywood
Field Recordist
My favorite field recording experience was recording chickens for the feature film SPIT: The Story of a Caveman and a Chicken. We needed a wide range of chicken sounds to express the emotions of the titular chicken. I’ve always loved recording sounds that I hear while I’m out and about to turn into instruments or foley.
I've recorded with a range of devices: Zoom, TASCAM, Sony, Roland, Fostex, a laptop and portable interface, etc.
Preset & Kit Designer
I created 2 sampler instruments in EXS24 from drum kits that I recorded (examples below). I also designed a number of sci-fi synth instruments in Kontakt Player for a composer.
Goodbye Elliott drum kit
Paradise Studios, Turkey drum kit
Paradise Studios, Turkey drum kit
Paradise Studios, Turkey drum kit
Sound Designer
A sampling of my sound design experiences include:
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Recording Amsterdam city noise/sound
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Recording tools and items being dropped and hit in a tool shop, as well as a very cool sounding arc welder
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Recording boxes of nails and screws being thrown/dropped on the ground (one of my favorite samples I recorded, which I’ve used to create beats in songs or as sfx in other projects)
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Sound design for SPIT: The Story of a Caveman and a Chicken
Recording city noise in Amsterdam
Some tool room samples used in a song of mine
Recording in various studios and rooms over the years
Producer / Audio Content Creator
I began producing music in the late 90s and I still produce music regularly today. Please take a look at the links below for examples of my production work (as well as engineering and mixing):
Some Last Things...
I was born and raised in Kona, Hawaii and lived there till I moved to Amsterdam at age 23. I've played music all my life, beginning on ukulele at age 4. I began to help set up the sound system at church when I was 12, and by age 15 I was co-head of the sound department.
Amsterdam was where I really began to learn the art of engineering and producing records. I also produced and recorded a few albums in Bodrum, Turkey, where I lived for a year and a half. I came to Los Angeles to further pursue mixing, engineering, and music, particularly for film and games.
I've dabbled in audio equipment repairs, mostly fixing cables or snakes or building new snakes, as well as doing some studio wiring. I've also done some minor Mac repairs and upgrades.
A damaged snake which I rewired/soldiered
A snake I built to run through the wall of Dufry Studios, Amsterdam
Swapping a bad power supply on a Mac at Westside Pacific Studios in Pacific Palisades
The Westside Pacific Studios setup was temporarily moved to Remote Control Productions in Santa Monica while Al Clay mixed and produced the score to X-Men: First Class. Once the project was finished, it was my task to rebuild his studio and get it up and running again at Westside Pacific.