Bill Niemi, musician, teacher, and engineer

Here's a brief discription of my experience as a music teacher,  professional musician, and recording engineer.

I've been actively involved in music as a student, music teacher, professional performer, and composer/arranger since 1955 when I began studying piano.  I played full time as a professional musician in a major market (Twin Cities)  for 12 years,  chalking up about 15,000 hours on stage.  My resume could be rather long.  I've played all styles of pop music from the 1930s through the 60s and 80s.  As an entertainer, I have played for tables and chairs in an empty night club and also have brought a crowd of 18,000 people to their feet with my version of "Orange Blossom Special".  And everywhere in between.

I founded Euphonic Studio in 1979 in Minneapolis and recorded and mastered the first full length album there in 1983.  The goal of the recording studio part of my business has always been to make multitrack recording accessible, low pressure, and easy for young musicians and others who are not acquainted with the high pressure atmosphere of corporation studios.  When people finish here, they leave with a professional product and a wish to return to our welcoming atmosphere. 

After the live performance part of the music business subsided in the late 80s, I decided to take a side trip into a a related field (electrical engineering) and retrained myself,

When I moved to this part of the world it was work-related.  I came up from Dallas to work for a systems integrator, and have done electrical engineering work in a number of local manufacturing facilities including Oral-B, PMX, Cedar River Paper, Amana, General Mills, and others.  Primarily I was working on machine control programs and data acquisition and operator interface software.  During my engineering career I always found some time for practice and composing, as well as plenty of critical listening.  

Living in a small town is realization of my "American Dream".  I grew up in a small town, and although I enjoyed my years in Minneapolis and the musical opportunites in the Twin Cities, I love the atmosphere and people of this area.  I have the recording and video studio I always dreamed of having, and am now able to find time for the music activities I truly enjoy... teaching and recording.  Lori and I also enjoy our neighbors and friends and hosting visits from our 3 grandkids whenever possible.  We look forward to sweet corn season and hope the winters aren't too bad.  I guess that's what most other folks around here do, too.    

Quick musical resume

•  Both my parents were musicians and music teachers.  My dad taught strings at the local public school system in my little home town and my mom taught private piano lessons... lots and lots of them.  We had 4 pianos in our house and they got plenty of use.  My dad also tuned pianos.  All the kids in our family played at least one musical instrument.
•  I started study of piano at age 5 and violin at 9.  In 8th grade I started french horn in band and in 9th grade I began playing guitar and bass guitar. While in high school, I was active in numerous instrumental and vocal ensembles and taught piano and violin.  I was concertmaster of my high school and college orchestras.  I played other brass, mallet, and fretted instruments.  The first time at college I was a double major on piano and violin.  I left college after 2 years to play music professionally. 
•  I enjoyed a nice 12 year career in Minneapolis playing, founding and operating Euphonic Studio, teaching, studying, and doing studio session work before deciding to to leave music performance and get a "real" job.  At the peak, my teaching studio had 28 students.  My bands played 4, 5, 6, and even 7 nights a week for 12 years. (That's a LOT of gigs.)  We were so busy it was hard to schedule a vacation. 
•  Euphonic Studio started in 1979 as a personal studio with a Tascam 234 4-track and is now equipped with state-of-the-art digital recording equipment featuring Sonar 5, Sonar 8.5 Producer, and X1. I still maintain a DAW with DirectPro 24/96 AD/DA for backward compatibility and also have a top-line Intel multicore system with 2 M-Audio Delta 1010 AD/DA giving me the ability to record 16 audio tracks simultaneously.  My new DAW is capable of handling over 100 audio tracks.  The studio is rounded out with world-class keyboard instruments, the Mason and Hamlin A conventional grand and Hammond A-100 organ.  To my knowledge I have the best piano and organ studio in the area.  There are also numerous analog and digital synthesizers and modules from Alesis, Roland, Ensoniq, and Yamaha to supplement the other instruments. 
•  Career change.... I have always been interested in science and electronics and I tapped into this interest in 1986 by changing careers to engineering.  I graduated in 1988 from Texas State Technical College with a degree in Automation and Robotics and began working in industry that year.  After a few years, I went back to school and I graduated summa cum laude in 1995 from Texas A&M with a degree in the engineering areas of industrial controls and software.  I was employed in this field from 1988 through 2007.  I've never forgotten about music, though, as I remained active in performance, composition, and recording through those years.  Some of Euphonic Studio's most productive time happened between 1988 and 1992, when I partnered with a singer/songwriter named Robert Dickens to record hundreds of songs, released an album, and made an all-out effort to take Euphonic Studio's work to Nashville. I retired from engineering in 2007 and worked part time as the Technical Director for the Music Department at Coe College until 2009. 

High points of my performance and music career:

•  My band Pony Express played in Europe for 3 months in 1981, playing gigs at American and Canadian airbases, the US Embassy in Bonn, and hotels and clubs in Oslo, Norway.
•  Euphonic Studio in cooporation with The Firehouse Band arranged a charity music festival for African drought relief that included 16 bands and acts from the Minneapolis area.  I got everyone to donate their time.
•  My bands did warmup spots for numerous touring national act concerts that came through the Twin Cities.
•  I had plenty of work as a session player at corporate studios in Minneapolis including Creation Audio and Sound 80.
•  I had years of productive songwriting and recording with two partners at Euphonic Studio when I lived in south Texas

These days, I am dividing my musical energies into  3 general areas.  First, I continue personal development on my primary instruments (piano, violin, and guitar).  Second, I am busy with composition and recording.  I have just finished mastering a CD for Sara Kay Brandsmeir tentatively named "Sara Kay - On the Way!"  It is a lovely collection of 15 pieces of spritual music which I will have up on a page here shortly.  I also just finished a consulting/teaching/arranging job for a Miss Iowa contestant, Emily Thompson.  Her final competition is Saturday, June 11 and if she wins, Euphonic Studio will be doing music for a Miss America contestant. Other recent projects included 2 audition CDs, both of who won the contest based on their Euphonic Studio recording.  Mitch McAndrew of Lisbon became the first freshman ever to play guitar in the Iowa All-State Jazz Band.  A video shot here at Euphonic landed Mount Vernon sophomore Seamus Taylor a seat at an Italian music camp for 2 weeks.  I never made it to Italy, but I met some Italian musicians in Norway and they were great people as well as great players.  Seamus takes violin lessons at Pruecil School of Music.  Mitch has been a guitar student of mine for about 2 1/2 years and is currently on break from piano lessons.

Last and not least, I am enjoying working with my students.  I enjoy teaching immensely and you will find that I am truly dedicated to helping you learn to play and get the best value for your money that I can deliver.  I think about each of my students daily as I practice and strive to create lessons that are useful, enjoyable, and hopefully inspirational. 

Although health reasons have forced me to limit my studio size to 18 students, Lori and I regard all of our students as part of our family.  We are a kid-friendly place and we love all of our students, from age 6 to 60.  Or beyond. :-)  You are never too old to stop learning and if you keep learning you will stay younger longer.

Euphonic Studio ™ music lessons and  digital recording services

I will always find time for your recording session or music lesson!