MmX VII – Saturday, November 11, 2023
Confirmed Speakers
Steve Albini
Founder/Owner/Engineer
Electrical Audio
Steve Albini is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal engineer of Electrical Audio, a recording studio complex in Chicago.
A.D. Carson
Assistant Professor of Hip Hop and the Global South
University of Virginia Department of Music
A.D. Carson is an award-winning performance artist and educator from Decatur, Illinois. His work focuses on race, literature, history, rhetorics & performance. He received a Ph.D. in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design at Clemson University. His album, “i used to love to dream,” released with University of Michigan Press is the first rap album peer-reviewed for publication with an academic press. This work extends from his doctoral dissertation, “Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions,” which he submitted in rap album form as the primary feature of a digital archive. His doctoral thesis project was recognized by Clemson’s Graduate Student Government as the 2017 Outstanding Dissertation. A 2016 recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Excellence in Service at Clemson, Carson worked with students, staff, faculty, and community members to raise awareness of historic, entrenched racism at the university through his See the Stripes campaign, which takes its name from his 2014 poem.
Rose Marshack
Rose Marshack is Director and Professor of Creative Technologies in the School of Music at Illinois State University. Her band Poster Children has performed over 800 shows in the United States and Europe. She is the author of “Play Like a Man: My Life in Poster Children” – “A joyful take on life as a DIY punk musician during the digital revolution and an inside look at the Midwest punk scene of the 1980s-2000s” – Bass Magazine.
Audrey Martinovitch
Audrey Martinovich is a recording engineer and producer that specializes in acoustic music such as classical, jazz, and folk. She co-owns & engineers at a recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin called Audio for the Arts and produces podcasts. She has been working in audio for eight years and has been a full-time studio owner & recording engineer for three years. She has recently worked with The Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra, and artists Johannes Wallman & Sam Ness. She produces the Big Wild Radio Show every week, which reaches over 100,000 listeners and has engineered remote guests for podcasts such as Alan Alda’s podcast, Pod Save America, NPR’s A1, & Terrible, Thanks for Asking.
Eddie Sanders
Lawyer
Protect & Collect, LLC
Eddie Sanders is the founder and lead attorney at Protect & Collect, LLC. As an experienced intellectual property attorney and artist manager, this combination of practices allows him to provide effective and creative solutions for his entertainment clients. Some of Eddie’s clients include platinum selling artists and music producers as well as creative companies. His main mission as a lawyer is the protection and education of his clients in this ever changing landscape. He works with a passion for creativity and a joy of turning ideas into legitimate businesses. Additionally, Eddie is an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago.
Martin Atkins
Music Industries Coordinator
Millikin University
Martin Atkins is the definition of entrepreneurial activity in cultural arts endeavors, his 35+ years in the music business spans across genres and borders and industries. He was a member of Public Image Ltd and Killing Joke. He founded industrial supergroup Pigface, The Damage Manual, and Murder Inc., and has contributed to Nine Inch Nails (for which he has a Grammy) and Ministry. He is the owner of Invisible Records and Mattress Factory Recording Studios (est. 1988). He is the author of “Tour:Smart, Welcome to the Music Business…You’re F*cked!”, “Band:Smart”, and is the Music Industries Coordinator at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. In 2021, he created and founded the Museum of Post Punk & Industrial Music (PPIM) in Chicago, IL. Martin is a producer, drummer, documentary filmmaker, DJ, and father of four. Whatever the future of entrepreneurial music business education is, you can pretty much bet that he’ll be in the middle of it.
PLUS
Dr. Dave Burdick
Chair, Music Industry Studies MU
Third Stone Productions (Rec. Studio)
After a few years of playing on the road in a band, Dr. Dave attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, receiving his MM and DMA degrees in composition. A member of Millikin University’s faculty for 34 years, he has served as the chair of music industry studies for 20 of those years ushering in a new curriculum that includes many of the creative musicianship courses such as songwriting, studio pressure night, commercial arranging, desktop production, and film scoring. He has also owned and operated his own recording studio – Third Stone Productions – successfully for the last 27 years, recording and producing original bands, singer/songwriters, and composing music for advertising and industrial videos.
Braun Sheets
Musician/Studio Owner/Teacher/Events & Marketing Coordinator for Decatur Area Arts Council/Asst. Director for Millikin Community Arts Academy
Zo Audio | The Loft | Decatur Area Arts Council | MCAA
Braun Sheets has been a gigging musician for over two decades and a guitar instructor for a vast majority of that. He currently runs a recording studio in Downtown Decatur called Zo Audio and right next door is a space that occasionally becomes a pop-up DIY venue called The Loft. Community arts and engagement has become a main focus in recent years while working with the Decatur Area Arts Council and Millikin Community Arts Academy. Braun also writes and performs in local original band Said Echo.
Guido Esteves
Coordinator/Teacher
Danville Area Community College
Guido Esteves has been a working professional musician/producer for over 25 years. Along with producing music in the studio and for live productions, Guido has been involved in teaching both privately and at First Gig Rock Camp where he serves as a Director and co-creator. Recently he has taken a position at Danville Area Community College working in the music, production, recruitment, eSports and marketing departments. Besides performing, Guido has had a very active career on the business side of the music industry booking shows and producing events with Portal Entertainment and Red Hot Productions as well as serving on the board of the Danville Symphony. He can be seen playing bass with several bands including local favorites, 90’s Daughter.
Peter Blackmon
Principal
Portal Entertainment Group
Peter Blackmon has been in the entertainment industry for 30 years; involved in everything from Production and Stage Management to Event and Festival Planning to Talent Management and Buying. For Twenty years, Mr. Blackmon managed the David S. Palmer Arena until 2019 when he left to pursue other endeavors; not the least of which is creating Vermilion River Beer Company, in Danville, IL where he is the managing partner, event coordinator and talent buyer.
In addition, as one of the four Principals at Portal Entertainment Group, Blackmon spearheaded the creating of First Gig Rock N Roll Camp for Kids which celebrates its 12th year, here in Central, IL.
Brian Abbott
Owner
Speakeasy Records & Oddities
Brian Abbott lives in Decatur, Illinois. He graduated from Millikin University in 1993 with a Masters in Pre Law. He is a former legal advisor for the State of Illinois. Now, he is a record store owner and on the Board of the Decatur Area Arts Council. The owner of Speakeasy Records & Oddities in Decatur is a self-proclaimed supporter of young people in music and the arts.