Andy started his professional career in Dundee, Illinois at the ripe young age of 14. He was playing professional gigs long before he even had a driver’s license. (Thanks to Mom and Dad for providing transportation, cartage and tuxedo laundering services.) The gigs soon led to session work and that, as they say, was that. Andy was immediately and absolutely drawn to all aspects of the production process.

Multitalented Andy was hired by a jingle house as a writer, arranger, master of multiple instruments and singer. He learned mixing and engineering from being around some of the most talented Chicago studio pros … that and “pestering” them for their trade secrets. Soon he was mixing and engineering on his own for thousands of local, regional and national commercials. (More about that later.) Studio musicians playing on those commercials recognized Andy’s talent and began asking him to work on their personal projects.

And now as promised … Andy relocated to Los Angeles in 1983 courtesy of Chicken McNuggets. Funds from that national ad campaign and an offer to work on Wall of Voodoo were opportunity knocking loud and clear. And that, as they say again, was that. That initial project was the first of more record projects, hundreds of national commercials and work on TV series and feature films as a scoring mixer.

In 1989 Andy partnered with Jon Baker to open the Bakery Studio which soon became a favorite production center for Disney, Mattel, Universal Studios as well as attracting clients from all over the world. In 2003, Andy closed the Bakery after losing the lease and he formed an alliance with Entourage Studios in North Hollywood to continue his production company from that facility. In 2005, Andy forged another even more strategic alliance. He married Lauren Price and “promoted” her to Business Manager of Andy Waterman Productions.

If you’ve gotten this far into the web site, you know that Andy’s new company is Umbrella Media and one of the most important spokes, Umbrella Studio, was officially launched on August 30, 2006.

Before assuming her “executive” position with Andy Waterman Productions, Lauren worked in sales and marketing for a multi-national, Fortune 500 Company. Okay, it was a major pharmaceutical company and she spent all her time with doctors and other scientific sorts.
So making the transition to hanging out with creative people - musicians, singers and actors – was a wonderful and welcome change. Prior to pill peddling, Lauren worked as an event planner where she honed her project management and people skills, marketing and public relations chops.

Lauren has been a life long lover of music and the arts. That combined with her business experience allows her to balance the artistic intensity of Umbrella Media studio projects with real world concerns like staying on budget and meeting project deadlines. And since every project and every client is an “event” at Umbrella Studio, Lauren’s background is integral to providing outstanding experiences for clients and talent.

Ethan packed his bags and left Seattle for Los Angeles to pursue his dream of audio engineering. He landed right in the heart of that community, studying at the LA Recording School in Hollywood. During his pre-Umbrella years, Ethan worked for the nationally recognized music house, AdMusic, as wells as freelancing as an independent engineer at several top LA studios. All this while nurturing his musical talent writing music and playing with various local bands.

Ethan began working with Umbrella Media as the” guy you call to work when the regular assistant engineer is unavailable.” But he so impressed Andy and Lauren, that they soon forgot that other guy’s name.

All of this happened right about the time that construction of Umbrella Studio began. In fact, multi-faceted Ethan was part of the crew that did all the wiring. So it’s no exaggeration to say that he knows this studio inside and out.

Ethan’s musicality, technical virtuosity and proficiency with new production technologies add considerable depth and artistry to the Umbrella Team.