Oleg Galanin
Senior Producer, primary contact, with doctoral degree in Music Composition at Michigan State, Arranging and Guitar; Master's in guitar performance, composition and electronic music; studio instruments include guitar, MIDI.
Dr. Oleg Galanin has an extensive expertise in composition, musical styles and performance. Within last thirteen years he has been engaged in academic programs in several music institutions. While at Michigan State, working on his doctoral degree, he has been concentrating on composing jazz, orchestral and electronic music. His teachers include distinguished professors as Charles Ruggiero, Mark Sullivan and Jere Hutcheson. Prior to coming to Michigan, Oleg had accomplished graduate work at Cleveland State University, where his focus was on contemporary composition and electronic music. Among his mentors were Greg D'Alessio, Andrew Rindfleisch and jazz virtuoso Howie Smith. While in Cleveland, Dr. Galanin had developed an interest in music production which led him to an one year internship at legendary Buchanan Recording Complex, where he worked shoulder to shoulder with talented producers and engineers as Jon Denney, Joe Walsh and Mike Brown.
Oleg's interest in electro-acoustic composition is reflected in his experimental works performed throughout US, Australia and Eastern Europe. The Polystylistic nature of his compositions takes roots in early experiences when as a guitarist and writer he worked with late Leonid Heismans' Quintet in Ukraine and a stream of student jazz groups and projects in the US. His undergraduate studies were in classical guitar, conducting and folk orchestra. After coming to US in 1994, Oleg continued work at the University of Maine with guitarist Keith Crook and jazz faculty Dr. Karel Lidral. He received Master's degree in Guitar Performance in 1997. His credits also include writing and performing with his American rock group "Alien Fame."
Nowdays, Oleg resides in Michigan with his wife Yoo-Jung and he is co-founder and producer at JFMARS in Haslett and he is a guitar faculty at Michigan State Community Music School. His students entered music programs at Michigan State University, Western Michigan University and Indiana University.
Joseph McSweeney
Executive Manager, senior studio engineer, instruments: guitar, and vocal. Mentoring / Consulting / Production.
Born in 1953 and educated in Detroit proper in a most parochial way. Attended OCC as a Humanities major in 1971, then transferring to Wayne State University in pursuit of a fine arts education which was disturbed by the harsh realities of the times and I would note that I began selling my services as a recording professional at the age of eleven in which I have confidently continued to date.
Joseph respects music and has a great deal of interest and respect for those who are artists. He plays and teaches the Classical Guitar, and teaches lessons for those who are interested. He also teaches lessons on various other stringed instruments, including: banjo, electric guitar, bass guitar and some vocal accompaniment to these instruments.
Philip Trosko
BS/MS In computer science (Wisconsin-Madison; Michigan State), software development and support, assistant production and office management, poet and lyricist. Instruments: guitar and vocal.
Born in 1966 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and raised for this world wonderfully by two great parents Jim and Kay in Okemos, Michigan. Philip left Okemos in 1984 and made for Madison, Wisconsin. He spent four and one half very productive and informative years in Madison. During his junior year he received a presidential science scholarship, he interned as a young student research assistant at Argonne National Laboratory, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science. Later he attended Michigan State University in East Lansing and achieved a Master’s of Science in Engineering and Software from the Computer Sciences Department. Finishing out his informative years, Philip attended as a graduate student and young faculty member the Los Alamos National Laboratory (in group T-10) and the MSU National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory.
Philip has been doing software preparation and completion for over 20 years now, however admits this: "Music programming has been around the entire time I've been a programmer, just now seems like I have some time to devote to my musical passion."
Philip respects music and has a great deal of interest and respect for those who are artists. He feels he will be best suited to help behind the scenes with your recording experience. He is quite interested in YouTube and video with music and musical experience enhancement. He spearheads the Sony studio video project of JFMARS and he plays Classical, Blues, Pop, Jazz and Rock Guitar. He has a large vocal range. Philip enjoys writing verse in English. He is interested in various operating systems, including vista and Leopard, and the software Sequoia, Garage Band, and Cacophony.
Rob Blankenhorn
When "Rhythm" Rob Blankenhorn quit the theatre department at Michigan State University, he swore he would never act again. After performing in over fifty productions by the age of 22, he had his heart set on a different career; music. Mark Wescott, the radio DJ that had helped launch Aerosmith's climb to the top, had been hired to spot talent by Columbia Records. He was pushing one of Rob's songs to the top A&R people at Columbia and Rob needed to concentrate on his songwriting. Things looked very promising, but fate was to prove otherwise.
Rob never signed with Columbia Records or anyone else. Then, his band broke up and the twists and turns of life made Rob put his dreams of being a rock star in the past. But another dream soon took its place. After receiving encouragement from Richard Walter (the co-writer of American Graffiti and head of UCLA's Film and TV Department) Rob's first screenplay, From the Southwest was read by Michael J. Fox. Although the actor passed on the script, Blankenhorn's next screenplay, Freedom's Bride, was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting - where he placed among the top 100 from among over 6000 entrants worldwide. His success in that contest, sponsored by the Academy Awards Foundation, soon brought him more promise as the script was read by Gena Davis and Jodie Foster. Sadly, Ms. Foster and Ms. Davis passed on Freedom's Bride, and, ironically Davis used the other pirate script she was considering, Cut Throat Island to make the infamous bomb of the same name.
Over the next few years, Rob would continue to accumulate a number of accomplishments and highly-touted awards. He won the Hollywood Discovery Award, followed shortly by a second semi-finalist placing in the Nicholl Fellowship. He then went on to earn a number of other screenwriting competition awards before placing among the top twenty finalists for the coveted Walt Disney Fellowship in 1998 (of which 15 were hired at full salary at Disney).
Still, Rob remained unemployed as a screenwriter and his scripts had not yet been sold. Then, in 2000, Rob was an award-winner in the Hollywood Film Festival Screenwriting competition. With his prize money, he flew to Hollywood and, during the festival, happened to see "The Poor and the Hungry," the low-budget category award-winner for the festival. After the film, Rob was impressed and, being an award winner himself, was given the opportunity to meet with the director, Craig Brewer. Brewer, who later directed the 2005 hit, Hustle and Flow, told Rob that he shot his film for $18,000.
Rob has been writing film reviews for the last seven years which appear in several papers of the LCN (Gannett) chain. He still loves music and performs regularly at Mark's Watershed in Haslett. Rob's role at JFMARS is film producer.
Simón Perazza
Simón Perazza has an extensive background in strategic marketing, digital media, and arts education, having won numerous statewide and national awards for his videos and original scripts. As part of TeachARTS, a federally-funded Title IIA Teacher Quality Grant program, Simón led 152 teaching-artist workshops and 55 student-produced videos. He managed personnel, equipment, production, digital archival and web distribution for MATRIX, the Online Center for the Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences at Michigan State University. He recently graduated from the Eli Broad School of Management with his MBA in Marketing, Strategy, and Leadership & Change Management and is the Director of Constituent Relations for ArtServe Michigan, an independent nonprofit organization.