Our team of world-class audio and studio professionals has performed and worked with hundreds of top artists, studios and music industry companies. Their bios speak for themselves.

Richard Fisher 

Founder and CEO

Dustone, LLC was founded in May of 2011, but the inspiration began on an outdoor stage Richard and a few close friends built on the edge of a meadow on the back side of Mt. Saint Helena for a spring equinox gathering in 1993. The stage was powered by a 100 year old Pelton water wheel charging a bank of golf cart batteries. Blending environmental understanding, music and family are a tradition that resonates as deeply as the musical wave we ride. It was on this stage that the idea of stream-of-consciousness improvisations as a song writing vehicle became a reality and Richard’s musical direction was changed forever.

Throughout the 1990’s, Richard honed his skills as a sound engineer both in the studio and concert stages all across the world. The work helped raise his son, Joshua Miles, who was born in 1995. When off the road, the musical improvisations would continue at his home base, Studio E, in Sebastopol, California.

In the summer of 2002, the Dustone collective of musicians and engineers was formed and the core members continued to make music throughout the rest of the decade when time allowed.

"It has been an 18 year journey that has finally found wings with the launch of Dustone, LLC. We now have a home base in the hills overlooking the Sonoma Valley and are continuing to ride the wave of music and celebration."

Richard is an experienced musician/guitarist, audio engineer, and computer audio technologist with a deep background in guitar processing, sound design, and live as well as studio sound engineering.

Richard has toured internationally and nationally as instrument and audio technician, front of house, monitor and recording engineer with Money Mark of the Beastie Boys, Booker T Jones, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman, Vinyl with Bernie Worrell, Nightranger, Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, The String Cheese Incident, Joan Jett, and Sean Lennon.

In 1999 Richard was Executive Director of Audio Visual Production at the Woodshed Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, supervising both live recordings of in-house studio concerts as well as developing television shows such as programs for children as well as live filmed concerts from the Gibson Café and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

From 2001 to 2003, Richard supervised completion of In the Pocket Studios, a multi-million dollar recording studio in Forestville, California, managed the studio, was chief engineer for all in house recording projects, and supervised three Tom Waits recordings at this studio.

Richard was the Chief Audio Engineer and Sound Designer for Mickey Hart’s (Grateful Dead) production company from 2003 to 2006 and engineered the 2009 Grammy Award winning Global Drum Project album featuring Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain. During this time Richard oversaw maintenance and upkeep of Mickey Hart’s studio and performance technology including RAMU (Random Access Musical Universe), Beam, drum kit, percussion, analog and digital console, and signal processing technology. Richard created sound design for The Rhythm Devils segment of the 2004 Dead Tour as well as for Mickey Hart’s Hydra tour and the 2006 Rhythm Devils tour.

 

Arthur Kelm

Art Kelm has been actively involved with every aspect of audio for more than 30 years. Aside of having held such positions as chief engineer at Skywalker Sound and The Record Plant, Art has had an extensive career of studio design, electrical & grounding design, and systems integration through his own company, Ground One.

Among his clients are:

RECORDING STUDIOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARTISTS / COMPOSERS / SONGWRITERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Dieter

Paul Dieter has been there and back. His journey started as he left college as a chemistry major in 1978 and embarked on a remarkable career that spans much of the fledgling NY alternative scene, among many other things engineering Jackson Browne's Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction, and working the boards for 10000 Maniacs. After Grammy nominations and Academy accolades, you'd wonder if a person would get a fat head about it or be ready to quit. Paul, amazingly still humble and in his never stop moving fashion continues to work and develop his skills not only as an engineer but as a Producer as well. These are the hands and ears that once heard "That's the best live mix I've ever heard" from Sting. High praise indeed. In these times of uncertain quality and missed opportunities, Paul is still wandering down the highway dreaming and listening.

In early 1987, after making several laps of the US in a couple of vans, the Maniacs arrived in Los Angeles to begin production on the record "In My Tribe" with producer Peter Asher and engineer George Massenburg. Originally intending to stay only a couple weeks as the sessions began, Paul's plans changed when he was offered a job at The Complex Studios in West L.A. as an assistant engineer to Mr. Massenburg and studio partner Greg Ladanyi.

Paul was at the Complex for two years, assisting on projects with artists like Toto, Linda Ronstadt, The Church, David Lindley, Fleetwood Mac, and many others. The Complex was a fertile environment that gave Paul the opportunity to assist and learn from the best in the business, like producer / engineer Ed Cherney, and scoring mixers Shawn Murphy and Dennis Sands, in addition to Mr. Ladanyi and Mr. Massenburg.

In early 1989, Paul quit his job at The Complex and became independent. For the next couple of years Paul mixed studio work with occasional forays back into live mixing, a skill that he continues to cultivate. Singer Jennifer Warnes was an early supporter and avid cheerleader.

In 1990, Paul and Ms. Warnes were working on some tracks at Groovemasters, a Santa Monica, CA studio owned by singer / songwriter Jackson Browne. Groovemasters needed a staff engineer to meet Jackson's needs and assist the occasional outside project that came through the doors of the semi-private facility. Paul got the job.

Through the early 1990s, Paul gained more experience and received various engineering credits on projects by Tanita Tikaram, Jennifer Warnes, Jann Arden, Animal Logic, and 4 Non-Blondes among others.

In 1992, rock legend David Crosby selected Paul to record and mix three tracks for his 1993 release "1000 Roads" including one track produced by the legendary Phil Ramone.

Around the same time, Jackson Browne asked Paul to record some tracks for his 1993 Elektra Records release "I'm Alive". Ed Cherney mixed the record, and Ed, Paul, and Rick Pekkonnen were nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Engineered Record (non Classical)" in 1994.

While working with David Crosby, Paul met legendary British producer / engineer Glyn Johns, who hired Paul to assume the engineering tasks on records by Crosby, Stills, and Nash ("After the Storm" 1994) and Stevie Nicks ("Street Angel" 1994).

Through the mid 1990s Paul honed his studio chops, contributing his growing talent to projects with Tanita Tikaram ("Lovers in the City" 1995), Shawn Colvin ("A Few Small Repairs" 1996), Jackson Browne ("Looking East" 1996), and Venice ("Born and Raised" 1997).

In spring of 1997 singer Vonda Shepard asked Paul to record and mix the theme song for the Fox Television / David E. Kelley show Ally McBeal, which featured Vonda performing in each episode. The show had a successful 5 season run with Paul recording and mixing most of Vonda's musical contributions from the pilot episode onward. Paul was a scoring mixer on the episode "Car Wash" recognized by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with a 1999 - 2000 Prime time Emmy Award for "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or Special".

Paul continued to work with David Crosby and his collaboration with son James Raymond and guitarist Jeff Pevar, known as CPR. Paul worked with CPR both live and in the studio, engineering and co-producing with the band on three separate releases ("Live at Cuesta College" 1998; "Live at The Wiltern" 1999; "Just Like Gravity" 2001). Paul also recorded some tracks for the 1999 Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young release "Looking Forward."

In the new millennium, Paul has been working with rising Americana act The Joel Rafael Band, engineering or co-producing on two releases.

In 2002, Paul wrapped up another Jackson Browne record. Recorded and edited by Paul and mixed by Bob Clearmountain, "Naked Ride Home" was released in September 2002 to rave reviews.

Paul has also been handling the touring sound duties for Jackson Browne since early 2003. The "Naked Ride Home" tour took Paul around the world with dates in Japan, Australia, Europe, and the US.

During 2004, Jackson has been touring as a solo acoustic act with dates scheduled for March in the US, Australia and Japan in April, and Europe in the fall. On March 15th, 2004 Jackson Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a performance in New York. Paul was thrilled to mix this show for Jackson on the occasion of this great honor. 

In 2005, Paul co-produced with Jackson Browne a compilation of the best solo acoustic live performances from the last year of touring. Paul also coordinated the production of a live multi-camera video shoot of a Jackson Browne live performance in Barcelona, Spain.

 

Oz Fritz 

Oz Fritz has been a professional sound engineer for more than 25 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.

In the last few years Oz has engineered releases by Paris Combo (went to #1 on the Billboard World Music charts), Wanda Jackson (featuring The Cramps, Elvis Costello and Dave Alvin), Tabla Beat Science featuring (Bill Laswell and Zakir Hussein), Oysterhead (Les Claypool, Stewart Copeland and Trey Anastasio from Phish), legendary Cuban pianist Pepecito Reyes, the Grammy award winning Mule Variations by Tom Waits, as well as Alice and Blood Money by Waits, Anti-Pop by Primus, and Wicked Grin by John Hammond (produced by Tom Waits). He also mixed songs for a VH1 Storyteller’s show by Waits, and recorded and mixed half of Monsters and Robots by Buckethead. He recorded Havana Mood and Imaginary Cuba in Havana and engineered a couple of tracks on the gold record Lado B Lado A by the Brazillian pop group O Rappa all with producer Bill Laswell.

Fritz has done many on-site field recordings around the world including the acclaimed Apocalypse Across The Sky by the Master Musicians of Jajouka. Recently he’s recorded and mixed several of the top musicians in Bamako, Mali for the maverick Kanaga System Krush label. Artists such as djembe master Abdoul Doumbia, The Bari Ensemble, Mady Keita and Lobi Traore. Oz also engineered Jali Kunda, a history of Griot music, spearheaded by Bill Laswell and Foday Musa Suso. Additional field recording locations include India and the Australian Outback. Oz has engineered in state-of-the-art recording studios in Tokyo, London, Paris, Madras, Sydney, Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles. and New York.

His live mixing credits (all front-of-house) include Tom Waits’ Mule Variations tour, Painkiller with Bill Laswell and John Zorn, Jack de Johnette, Material (Laswell, Foday Musa Suso and Ginger Baker), Third Rail (James Blood Ulmer, Bernie Worrell, Laswell and others), Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra and, most recently, Tabla Beat Science featuring Laswell, Zakir Hussein, Sultan Khan and Gigi.

Oz was also the chief engineer on the Flying Mijinko tour, a cultural exchange series of concerts sponsored by the Japanese government. This tour, put together by Akira Sakata and featuring Bill Laswell, Foday Suso, Anton Fier and many others, played throughout Central Asia, China, Mongolia and Japan. A double live cd documenting the trip was recorded and mixed by Fritz.

Discography

1990 Word Jonas Hellborg
1992 Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) Praxis
1994 Ambient Dub., Vol 2: Dead Slow Bill Laswell/ Jah Wobble/Divination
1994 Giant Robot Buckethead
1996 Day of the Robot Buckethead
1997 Transmutation Live Praxis
1999 Antipop Primus
1999 Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: The Anthology The Ramones
1999 Imaginary Cuba Bill Laswell
1999 Monsters and Robots (Bonus Track) Buckethead
2001 Grand Pecking Order Oysterhead
2001 Wicked Grin John Hammond Jr.
2002 Alice Tom Waits
2002 Alta Nova Elena Powell
2002 Blood Money Tom Waits
2002 Charged Life Bill Laswell
2002 Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove Tabla Beat Science
2003 Mule Variations Tom Waits
2003 Ready for Love John Hammond Jr.

 

Bob Bralove 

Bob Bralove, a pianist and keyboardist, was the Grateful Dead’s MIDI wizard, producer (“Infrared Roses,” “Built to Last”) and co-writer of Gold and Platinum selling songs, including “Picasso Moon,” "Way to Go Home" and “Easy Answers,” the rare tunes "Parallelogram," "Little Nemo in Nightland," and other works on the Grateful Dead  albums Infrared Roses and Built To Last.

In addition to his songwriting, producing, and MIDI programming activities for the Grateful Dead, Bralove is known for his performing and designing with the Grateful Dead and the avant-garde "Drums and Space" segments of their live shows with the Rhythm Devils. Through digital technology Bralove was able to make a guitar sound like a wind instrument. “If Jerry was playing the trumpet, that happened through my hands,” Bralove said.

Bralove was also a member and producer of the Psychedelic Keyboard Trio, along with former Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten and the late Vince Welnick, former keyboardist for the Grateful Dead and The Tubes.

Bob helped score the CBS remake of the television series “The Twilight Zone” and worked with Stevie Wonder for 8 years. Bralove was recruited by Stevie Wonder’s chief engineer to write software programs. “I started writing software to make his machine speak to him,” Bralove said. He evolved his skills in digital manipulation as Wonder’s sound designer and computer music director (“Woman in Red,” “In Square Circle”).

Bralove still performs music live in the U.S. and Japan in solo concerts and with Dose Hermanos and The Psychedelic Keyboard Trio and has an upcoming CD release with Henry Kaiser titled “Ultraviolet Licorice”.

Bob Bralove has a master’s degree in composition and studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Wayne Peterson focusing on composing orchestral and chamber works.

 

Paul Bareilles 

Vice President and Managing Partner

 

"A concept like Dustone is something I have been looking for my whole life. It involves and encapsulates a vision far larger than just making beautiful music. It speaks to spirit, creativity, beauty and a connection to the greater picture of the cosmos."