Audio engineering studio takes shape
Tucked away at 1236 Los Osos Valley Road is a state-of-the-art audio engineering studio. In 2003, Luke Thoene developed The 1 Audio, where he producers and engineers award-winning audio books. Recently, Thoene added a musical director, Scott Estes, to partner in career training courses in audio engineering, musical performance and recording classes.
As a youth in Bakersfield, Thoene dabbled in music, but was hooked when he discovered acoustic synthetics at the American University of London.
After graduating, he returned to Bakersfield. He tried teaching and broadcast journalism, but audio engineering became his career passion.
Bodie and Brock Thoene, his parents and authors of the best selling “Zion Covenant” and “Zion Chronicles” series, recognized his talent and contracted with him to produce audio books. When Luke Thoene wanted to build a studio, they suggested he do it where he wanted to live. He chose Los Osos and selected Chris Pelonis, the designer of Disney Burbank and Skywalker Sounds, as his acoustic architect.
Studio work has been constant since 2003. Thoene produces 65 audio-books and has an extensive contract with Reasons to Believe, a Christian ministry. Thoene explained, “Every word of every page must be edited to give the perfect sound to an audio book.”
His talent and interest in new technologies continues to grow. He selected “Pro Tools,” digital audio workstation program for Windows and Mac OS X, as his operating systems. He intends to mentor new talent by collaborating with Estes.
Also from Bakersfield, Estes started playing guitar at 10, had a band by 13, a professional recording by 16 and toured California after high school, but it wasn’t the life he wanted. He moved here to attend Cuesta College. He met Thoene playing his guitar while on a break at Starbucks Coffee in Los Osos.
Thoene said, “Scott has a rare talent for adaptability. He can play without rehearsal, understands the mood, concept and style needed in an audio book production. He plays the same way, I think.”
Classes are available this summer. Details are at www.sloprotools.com.
“In eight weeks, students earn a “Pro Tools” certificate and complete a specific audio engineering production project. It could be an audio book, band recording or film score. Students receive credit so they can list the project on their resumes,” Thoene said.
Estes said, “The performance instruction is one-on-one instruction and adapted to what students want to learn. Most want to learn their instruments, but there is so much more.”
This story was originally published June 17, 2012 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Audio engineering studio takes shape."