“Quality gear, quality spaces - and quality people.”
Benjie Hughes
Studio Owner
In 2003, Benjie quit his job as a newspaper writer to start a music company. Out of one dying industry and into another! It was April Fool's Day.
What felt like a colossal mess for the next few years eventually arranged itself into Backthird Audio. Along the way Benjie discovered that he loves to teach, that marketing can be fun - and that creating a business is as rewarding and exhausting as creating a song is. He and his wife, Amy, live in Aurora, although it feels like he's hardly ever home.
Contact Benjie.
Kyle Schmidt
Lead Engineer
Kyle is the one with the pedigree. He studied at Columbia College in Chicago and at Belmont University in Nashville, interned at the House of Blues recording studio, then spent several years freelancing at places like the Sound Kitchen, Dark Horse and Quad Studios before he and his wife, Stacy, decided to transition back to Chicago to be closer to extended family.
Like all great engineers, Kyle loves cool microphones and very long recording sessions. If he's not in the control room, he's probably on his mountain bike.
Contact Kyle.
Studio Manager
Backthird Audio is run by and for musicians - but somehow, Anna keeps us from collapsing into chaos. She thinks concrete is beautiful, she's learning Thai with her husband, Ben, and she doesn't play a single instrument - but she studied and taught dance for more than a decade.
One of Anna's earliest memories is of being a flower girl in a wedding, where she got to dance to really loud music until way past her bedtime. She still loves really loud music &mdash and still stays up way too late.
Contact Anna.