Joe Roda: The Ear of Experience

by Anita Sandler

Special to Arts Weekend

Joseph J. Roda wears his miles, his life’s experiences well...a tightly coiled package of energy and ideas, with a smile and a warmth that grows as you get to know him. Sitting in the control booth of his private recording studio in Manchester Village while producing my new CD, I see a man totally absorbed by his love affair with sound, not only with music itself but with the creative process...the innovations of sound and technology.

Joe’s involvement in the business of music and video and sound....in the business of composing and arranging ( he studied privately with Bill Finnagan, the arranger for the Glen Miller Orchestra )...sound and video production...booking and entertainment consulting ....publishing...editing and writing...seems to be limitless. As a composer, he has arranged music for both the ‘Tonight Show’ and The Merv Griffin Show”, as well as ABC’s Wide World of Sports. As an author he edited and co-wrote several Mel Bay Music Instruction Books with jazz guitar legend Sal Salvador who he studied with for over ten years. He is President, arranger and part-owner of Palm Beach Orchestras, Inc, which manages ‘The Palm Beach Orchestra’, a high energy contemporary dance band performing everything from Big Band to Motown to Classic Rock. He also directs the band and plays lead guitar, performing at such venues as The Plaza, Ritz Carlton, Fountainbleau, Boca Raton Resort & Club, Tavern in the Green, The Waldorf Astoria... to name a few. He’s recorded 3 CD’s for Chaser Media, Ltd., children’s books with CD’s that combine world music with original lullabies. He also owns Global Entertainment Group, Inc., specializing in audio and video production services, video systems designs, entertainment consulting and booking. His company recently designed the control room at the local Comcast TV Station, in partnership with Vermont Audio Labs’ Richard Salz who he occasionally teems up with to produce on site concert videos and recordings.

Joe moved into the realm of audio-visual production as the demands in the music business defined a new criteria. With the changes in the business and the desire for a slower pace and a safe and healthy environment for his family, Joe and his wife Lynn, an accomplished artist and decorator, chose the Manchester area to move their family ten years ago. They bought a beautiful old Victorian with a carriage house in the back to house Joe’s recording and production studio. What enables him to live and work in Vermont is the digital accessibility of the world at his fingertips. It enables him to do audio and video post-production, and to compose and arrange music for a diverse clientele...as well as record, mix and master CD’s for individual artists like myself. One of his favorite projects is creating pieces for various music libraries. He has been accepted in the Warner Brothers Music Catalog, a source library for all genres of music and sound with certain musical and artistic criteria for whoever needs ‘soundtrack’ material for commercials or film. His latest contributions to the library combine sci-fi unearthly techno music with an ‘orchestra’ of electronic sound. Using his synthesizer, he can digitally duplicate any instrument as well as create ‘unreal’ sounds...and with a degree in Music Education, Joe can also call on his experience as a jazz musician to add guitar, bass, piano and percussion when needed.

With all that he has done, Joe seems most proud of his children. His son, Weston, a Burr and Burton graduate, now studies Math and Physics at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Although only 19 years old, Weston, likes to take over the synthesizer and the recording controls when he’s home and create unbelievably sophisticated ‘symphonies’ of electronic sound...just for fun and relaxation. Joe seems to be amazed at his son’s abilities, but I can see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. His daughter, Hayley, studying at the University of Ottawa with a double major in Communications and Drama, has just been accepted to the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

After my last recording session, even after a long day, Joe is generous with his time... sharing his expertise, his vast knowledge of music and the music business...even sharing ‘road’ stories. He talks about his ‘ear’ (which he says is ‘freshest in the morning’)...which can hear the relationship of sounds to each other...which can hear the mix of vocals and instruments and blend them into a cohesiveness that unifies into a work of art in sound...capturing dynamics and subtleties. There’s a special energy around Joe when he sits ‘at the controls’ in his studio... his digital world at his fingertips... a perfect meeting of music and technology... the creative soul of an artist with sound, mastered by the ear of experience.