Neil Kesterson
Drawing on his nearly four-decade career in audio engineering and 20 years of running his Lexington-based, award-winning audio firm, Dynamix Productions, Neil Kesterson has written a definitive book on the current state of the audio business: "Push the Right Buttons; A Practical Guide to Becoming and Succeeding as an Audio Engineer and Producer."
The book is a compendium of facts and strategies to deliver optimal recording quality. It’s also rich in sound business advice for aspiring audio engineers and anyone embarking on small business creation or growth.
Kesterson peppers his writing with anecdotes and advice from personal experience. Having served as the live audio director for University of Kentucky football games for 16 years, he pulls back the curtain on what it takes to run sound for a stadium that seats 70,000, and it’s a lot — a lot of time and a lot of technical expertise, along with the flexibility to navigate the unexpected.
Having worked for films, TV productions, and radio (NPR included), he shares stories and advice for working with voice talent and actors. He recalls his work with William Shatner, the late Sam Shepard, and Steve Zahn. After People magazine mentioned Dynamix in an article about Shatner, Dynamix received heaps of fan mail for Shatner and several surprise visits from fans hoping to meet the star.
Kesterson grew up immersed in music and recording. While he attended the University of Kentucky, Roger Chesser, then director of WUKY-FM, hired him to DJ a regular night shift and gave him a free license to experiment with a trove of recording equipment. He parlayed that experience into a career.
In 1985, he started work in audio engineering at House of Commons Films. In 1989, he began work with Host Communications. As audio director, he oversaw the budget and audio work that would grow from a small in-house recording studio to an expanded studio that produced weekly national network television shows, serviced major agencies and brands, broadcast local, regional, and national radio shows, and operated the NCAA Radio Network, with more than 2,000 affiliates.
In 2003, Kesterson founded Dynamix, which has garnered awards from the International Broadcasting Awards, Telly Awards, Silver Microphone Awards, The American Advertising Federation, and one Emmy nomination. Kesterson spoke with Business Lexington about his new book, his work, and the state of audio technology.
What inspired you to write your book?
I’ve had a lot of students and interns over the years, and I always found it personally rewarding to teach something and see them have the “Aha!” moments. My mother was a teacher, and that influenced me. I saw a need in the audio industry. There were no books that I could find on how to break into the business. There’s no clear path for entry into this field like in some other professions. I wanted to share the zigzags and bumps in the road I navigated to get to where I am.
What is audio engineering, and how does your work fit into that field?
Audio engineering is a general term that covers anything and everything that deals with acoustics and sound. My specialty is recording and producing sound for films, advertising, audiobooks, radio shows, TV shows, etc.
Please talk about the changing technology of audio engineering.
When I started in the mid-’80s, it was the end of the analog era and the beginning of the digital era. It was a revelation to see the audio on a computer screen and be able to drag and drop and move it around at will. You can’t do that with analog tape. I remember one of our first jobs on a digital workstation, usually taking about six hours — we had it done in an hour and a half.
Digital technology is incrementally getting better. The technology is now getting so that the listener is fully immersed, and it’s very close to reality. I’m also using artificial intelligence to some degree. We’re not generating new content with AI but rather using it to spot noise to get rid of in recordings.
I still use some analog technology. There’s a coldness to digital, a starkness, and people have realized that to make an artistic sound, you need to add color. Let’s say that I am recording something where the voice needs a pleasant warmth. I will send it to a vacuum tube compressor that I have that’s maybe 50 years old and adds warmth and a gentle compression, and then I’ll record it back into my system.
Please talk about a memorable and challenging project you worked on.
The most fun and stress I’ve been under at the same time would be working on the Triple Crown broadcasts. That includes the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont, plus there was the Breeders’ Cup — all with the same team. I got to work with professionals who had been in the field for so long, and it just didn’t faze them; the hard work, long hours, and challenge after challenge. In the end it was all for just one hour of broadcast. My job was recording and editing little packages, vignettes, and interviews to play throughout the broadcast before the actual race. I learned so much.
I wouldn’t have been able to do it had I not had good mentors and had not worked side-by-side with great production people before I got on that national stage. Lexington doesn’t realize how good the production companies are here. We have a great pool of talent, and any one of the crews I’ve worked with here would stand up to any worldwide.