Michael John - Founder/Owner

What I do - Compose/Produce/Engineer/Mix/Edit

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'Always leave something better than when you found it’.  My parents instilled this in me a long time ago, and I try to apply this mantra to every project or task I come upon.

I’ve always been into music since I was a child.  As an 80’s baby, I was listening to the different radio stations for the hottest tracks coming out of the speakers.  It could be Europop, hip-hop, rhythm and blues, new jack swing, butt-kicking American rock and roll or funky new wave; if it came on the radio, I listened to it and absorbed it.  

Whether it was taking piano lessons as a child, playing saxophone in high school, DJ’ing or making mix tapes in college, music was always a presence in my life.  I guess it as inevitable that I would be involved in the creation or production of music at some point.  I just didn’t know how…until I went to audio engineering school.

Technology and music are my two passions. They always seem separate and never destined to meet, but audio engineering brought them together.  In 2005, my acceptance into the School of Audio Engineering of New York was the catalyst to learning, absorbing and understanding the process of making good music and sound.  I took to the training like a fish to water: how to record, what to record, what microphone to use and when to use it; how to mix, what effects to use, how to edit.

After graduating, I worked in various sections of the audio industry, including corporate audio-visual, post-production and studio recording.  In 2007, I worked as a assistant engineer to Brian Thorn on the Grammy Award-winning album 'Jah Is Real' by reggae artist Burning Spear at the now-defunct Magic Shop Recording Studio in NYC. 

Music is like cooking: learn the basics, practice over and over again until you build confidence in your abilities. You makes mistakes, of course, but you discover over time what works and what doesn’t. Eventually, you learn to cook your own way and leave your signature mark on it.  It’s a process but, if you love what you’re doing, it shouldn’t feel like work.  Learning and understanding the process of audio engineering over 10 years has propelled me to pursue my passion.

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MOVE Entertainment is the culmination of this.  It has a two-part mission. On the music and creative side, it gives me the opportunity to create audio tracks for a client’s multimedia project.  The project could be a film, television, cable, animation, subscription-based (i.e. Netflix) or web-based media (i.e. Youtube) project.  It allows me to make their projects better by attaching a specific, discrete emotional response or reference to that project.  

On the technology/scientific side, it gives me the opportunity to consult with clients on audio projects and events using sound. It allows me to make their projects better by providing them with the best options based on my experience and expertise.  I can guide my clients on getting the right equipment and technologies so they can produce the optimum sound without wasting time and money.  I enjoy watching my clients’ reaction to a piece of music I’ve created, or having them decide which track sounds better. That’s why I do this.