- Producer/Engineer/Musician
Experience:
In summer of 2010, Benyo worked as an assistant engineer at two state-of-the-art recording facilities: one commercial studio, Bias Studios in Springfield, Virginia and one private studio in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Benyo has worked on projects with artists including Parachute, Alberta Cross, Vusi Mahlasela, Owen Danoff, Courtney Paulson, and Kid Pan Alley. He has also worked on various projects in association with record labels such as ATO Records, Sony Africa and Mercury Records/The Island Def Jam Music Group.
In summer 2011, Benyo left the twin cities for Los Angeles, CA to pursue audio post-production at Media City Sound. While in LA, he got the opportunity to assist with and work on sound FX, Foley, laybacks and editing for TV shows such as MSNBC’s Minute to Win It, Spike TV’s Deadliest Warriors, and Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Benyo has also done Foley and FX spotting/editing for films like Serial Buddies and The Lake Effect.
Why Benyo?
Benyo brings a unique musical approach to production and engineering. In his eyes, it is all about the music and the artists’ vision. When a producer takes time to know and understand the artist and their goals, while helping them develop a solid path for successfully completing their project, it goes much further than simply twisting knobs and playing fast notes. Benyo works hard to transform the passion of the artist into a profitable, but also rewarding niche in the industry. In addition, Benyo is not a “Genre Specific” producer, however, he commonly gets called for Contemporary Pop, Rock/Alternative, R&B/Soul, and Jazz projects. Benyo feels that his job is not about making “X” dollars an hour--it is about making a life in music. Benyo brings an honest, real-world approach to accomplishing all of this.
Early Life:
Benyo’s ambitious nature can be traced back to his early childhood years writing songs, playing piano and creating and selling recordings. From then on, Benyo focused on his dream of writing, recording and performing songs. Five solo albums later, such aspirations led to owning a modest recording set up and sharing it with local musicians in his hometown, Rappahannock, Virginia. Since then, what started out as a necessity in order to share his compositions with the community evolved into a full-fledged career and lifestyle of music production and audio engineering.
Education:
Benyo feels that the best music producers are ones who are also great musicians in several genres. When Benyo was in high school, he began heavily studying Jazz piano and composition with instructor Mark Brandt. This training led him to study Jazz Piano at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in Summer, 2008.
After high school, Benyo studied at the Recording Workshop in Ohio where he earned certificates in Audio Engineering and Music Production, as well as Maintenance and Trouble Shooting.
For college, Benyo left Virignia (and Ohio) for Saint Paul, Minnesota to study at one of the countries leading music production programs at McNally Smith College of Music. At McNally, he is currently earning his Bachelors of Science in Music.
Is Benyo Normal?
When Benyo is not in the studio, he can be found playing jazz piano, funking out with the Twin Cities finest cover bands, writing/arranging tunes, hanging with friends and taking walks around downtown.
So no. He is not very normal at all.