Instructors | San Francisco██Instructors | San Francisco

Alex Scammon is the co-founder of Soul Graffiti Productions. Alex focuses on the technology and infrastructure that makes the studio tick. The business and management experience Alex brings from the world of corporate technology has catapulted Soul Graffiti Studios into the next realm of music creation. Alex’s goal is for Soul Graffiti Studios to become an essential part of the music community and give voice to all the amazing musicians and artists around us.

Ben Wiley is a music producer, DJ, engineer and instrumentalist born in Bloomington, IN and based out of Oakland, CA. He is currently an instructor for Ableton Live, DJ and Sound Design courses.  

Joey Chang aka CelloJoe is an anomaly in the world of cellists. By combining cello with beatboxing, he has created a unique genre: Classical Hip Hop. CelloJoe records live on stage with a loop pedal and produces intricate tapestries of harmony, melody, and rhythm. His beatboxing (vocal percussion) and funky cello grooves form a rich soundscape for intelligent lyrics and his music spreads love, joy, laughter and conscious vibrations.

Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Danny X was introduced to the guitar at a young age and hasn't stopped singing and playing since. After years of experience touring and forming many bands and styles of music, He decided to focus on music production. Danny X worked in a recording studio in Kansas City for 3 years as a lead engineer and producer before he relocated to San Francisco in 2019. He now teaches Logic Pro, Mixing and Mastering, and Sound Design at SF Garnish Music Production.

Dave Garnish was DJing on Don FM at age sixteen while studying music at the BRIT School in London, with the guitar being his first instrument. In 1995, he set up Blah Parties in a joiner's factory on Pitfield Street performing as Alf Garnish, spawning what happened after in Shoreditch, London. His engineering career began when Sir George Martin hired him to work at Air Lyndhurst Hall. As he moved up the ranks, he moved across to the EMI Studios Group, which consisted of The Townhouse, Abbey Road, The Manor and Olympic Studios. Artists include Janet Jackson, Madonna, Bjork, All Saints and Massive Attack. Producers ranged from Andrew Lloyd Webber to Nellee Hooper. Until 2001 Dave beta-tested for Emagic Logic Audio before they sold to Apple, in the same year he signed a publishing deal with Universal Music UK.

Isaac Cotec is an Ableton Certified trainer based on the west coast. He goes by Sabaqueous and creates electronic music using his vast skills on Ableton Live. Cotec has been teaching up and down the west coast for some years now since beeing an Ableton Certified Trainer and has created his own instruments, plug-ins, and a name for himself in the electronic and live music scenes both regionally and internationally.

Justin Ancheta is the Founder and Executive Director of Soul Graffiti Productions, a company created to inspire people through performance, education, and community. As part of his work at Soul Graffiti, Justin has filled key leadership roles in high-profile local and international events. He is versed in Ableton Live, Pro Tools, and Logic, with 20 years of production experience in studios and at live events. After serving as Director for Love Our Neighborhood Day in Oakland, Director of the Bicycle Music Festivals in San Francisco, CA and Barcelona, Spain, and as Event Director for many of Rock The Bike’s remote pedal-powered events, he brings this wealth of experience to the ongoing work at Soul Graffiti. Justin’s vision for Soul Graffiti is to create a strong, vibrant, and viable artist collective that supports sustainability, success and community.

Kevin Njikam is a Multi-Instrumentalist/ Composer/ Producer/ Educator/ SoundHealer. He has performed with musicians ranging from hip hop artist Killah Priest (of Wu-Tang Clan), Swiss Chris (of John Legend, Snoop Dog, etc.) to World Music artists like Ozomatli, to musical/activists like Climbing Poetree, Singing Bear, Human, and Mama Crow. He has studied and with greats from the jazz and sound-healing world like Jackie McLean and Grammy winner Steve Davis.

Meet Kristian Sharpe, teacher at SF Garnish & who has been teaching at dBs Music Bristol's FE centre since 2015, delivering lessons across live sound engineering, music production, MIDI and audio sequencing, music industry and acoustics.

Kyle Boydstun is a master Logic Pro user who has been producing music for years in various genres. He has experience drumming for the San Francisco 49ers, playing trumpet and snare drum for the Concord Blue Devils, and producing, composing, and mixing in a variety of styles. He has been performing and recording almost his entire life, delving deeply into melody instruments like the trumpet and percussion for large marching bands. This has made him well-rounded as both a musician and a producer.

Mike Cochran, also known as Maitre D, is a Bay Area-based DJ/Producer. Performing original beat sets & DJ sets around the Bay Area and along the western US, and producing a variety of Hip Hop and R&B tracks for artists such as New York veteran rappers Sadat X & Wordsworth, Bay Area legends Mike Marshall & Equipto, and Top 40 R&B sensation Jidenna. Since 2012, he has been teaching music production and DJ courses for youth with a number of organizations such as SF Garnish Music Production, Oakland nonprofit Today’s Future Sound, and prestigious East Coast summer program Explo at Yale. 

Moldover has a degree in Synthesis from Berklee School of Music and is one of our top facilitators, focusing on synthesis and sound design.

Oakland California based producer and engineer, Nathan Bauld is known for his skills inside the studio and with live sound engineering. He is a master engineer on ProTools and works from multiple studios around the Bay Area, including Soul Graffiti Studios, Hyde Street (SF), Tiny Telephone, 25th Street, and many more. His attention to frequency puts his abilities into the higher category of sound producers. He is currently doing live sound for Conbrio, and has experience with bike touring sound with Bicicletas Por La Paz and the Biketopia Collective.

Oz Fritz has been a professional sound engineer for more than 30 years working in both recording studio and live concert environments. He has collaborated on over 60 projects with producer Bill Laswell that include L. Shankar, Material, Ginger Baker, Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Herbie Hancock, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Sonny Sharrock, William S. Burroughs , Bob Marley, Icehouse and Yothu Yindi. Other studio credits include John Cale, Ornette Coleman, D.J. Disk, Digital Underground, Jungle Brothers, Golden Palominos, Information Society, Meat Loaf, and Rick Derringer.

San Francisco-based producer, engineer, and musician, RoAn Gibson describes himself as an experienced “vibe technician.” His passion for the process of recording and making music is at the heart of his recording philosophy, which is to create comfortable and creatively free spaces in which artists can thrive. Expert in both Pro Tools and Logic Pro, he works out of multiple Bay Area studios, including Wally's Hydeout Studio and Soul Graffiti Studios, and is fluent in digital and analog recording. As a musician, he is currently focused on playing and writing with his band, Saintish.

Sam has been a professional recording engineer since 2011 working in the greater NYC area in classical music production until relocating to the bay area in 2019.

Oakland California based Trumpet Player / Producer / Ethnomusicologist / DJ Will Magid's music is always a joyous affair. His unique style of live performance and electronic sampling seamlessly blends original music with sounds from across the globe.