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More About Glenn Workman & Freq Sound Than You Probably Want To Know |
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As a musician in the Baltimore/DC area since 1975, I played piano and B3 organ and avoided the synthesizer technology of the day.
I bought a Kurzweil K250 and a Macintosh in 1985 and that was the beginning of my continuing spiral into electronic music. I rented the keyboard and computer
setup out for $250 a day (it happened to come with me attached and you had to buy me lunch) and as the technology advanced and improved (and became much more affordable)
I was in the proverbial right place at the right time. I worked in a small music store that sold mostly used gear at first, but quickly became a dealer for most
of the keyboard and software companies that were booming during the early age of MIDI, including MOTU, DigiDesign, Opcode, Emu Systems, Akai, Dr. T, & Southworth.
I started testing software for Southworth by accident, and at the time "beta tester" wasn't really a job description. I was good at finding problems in software and
was able to articulate repeatable causes and their result, which helped the programmer fix software that I wanted to use. Very self-serving at first.
What started out as me calling tech support frequently to understand problems I was having with my own keyboard (I could picture them on the other end of the line going "Its that jerk from Maryland calling again") I ended up talking to an engineer at Kurzweil pointing out problems that I was either not understanding or able to work around. After about 20 minutes on the phone he was apparently stunned at my ability to find so many bugs (I thought most were user error on my part, stupid me) and asked me if I'd like to work for them. I started testing software and hardware improvements to their keyboards, and started being asked by other companies to do the same. This continues to this day and so far I have tested and consulted on software and hardware product design features with Oberheim, Kurzweil, MOTU, DigiDesign, Opcode, Ensoniq, Kawai, Lexicon, and Yamaha. I learned programming in Basic, Assembly, HyperMIDI, C, and C++ and became an Apple Developer for Mac software. I was doing private instruction and holding large seminars for customers on MIDI, sequencing, sampling, synthesis, and computers on a regular basis. I then struck out on my own, retaining my dealerships with the software and keyboard companies I liked to work with. This allowed me more time to help the many home studio owners that were popping up. I was doing phone support for software and music companies from my house, and was recommended to touring groups to do onsite trouble shooting and system design and setup. This led to some dream gigs for me, including working for the Rolling Stones as a keyboard tech for their 1994 Voodoo Lounge tour, and for Stevie Wonder in 2000, as well as many others. All through this I've maintained a live performance schedule with some of the finest musicians and greatest people you could ever hope to know. Its has taken me from E. Jay Bugs in Fells Point and the Marble Bar in Baltimore, to the Bitter End in NYC, The Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Balimore, The Kennedy Center in DC, Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, The Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, and pretty much everywhere in between.
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