Joe Macre, Instructor, AUD301, BCM / Career Services Representative - jmacre@mediatech.edu
Joe Macre is the founder of Cuppajoemusic which Produces Artists and composes custom scores
and sound design for Film and TV. Joe's music career started in high school and proved to be the
start of a phenomenal road to success. Joe worked with major recording artists Crack the Sky,
The B. E. Taylor Group and Wild Cherry. After relocating to New York, Joe became an engineer and
studio musician and performed with artists such as Jim Croce, David Sanborn, The Brecker Brothers,
Marie Osmond, Kieth Green. Clint Brown and many others. As Joe's career expanded into television,
he began scoring and engineering for national clients such as Pepsi, Burger King, McDonald's, Ford, Nickelodeon, Showtime, Bud Light, Corona Extra, and Walker Texas Ranger. As Sr. Engineer/Sound Designer at Post Op Editorial in Dallas Texas, Joe is one of the country's most sought-after mixing engineers. Award winning credits in films such as Monster in Law, House of D and Fire Down Below.
His “Cuppajoemusic" Library and Sound Design is chosen for many national spots such as the award winning Super Bowl Tabasco "Mosquito", Corona "Ship in a Bottle", Nickelodeon, Showtime, Ford, McDonalds, Corona, Hyundai, Oprah Winfrey and more. This past year Joe and CTS bandmate Rick Witkowski's song “Safety in Numbers” was rewritten with British Atlantic Records artist Ellie Lawson
and D.J. Lethal for the film “Monster in Law” with Jane Fonda. He also worked with Erykah Badu on
the film “House of D“ and produced tracks for Erikah for an upcoming project. In addition, Joe recently worked with Quest recording artist Sy Smith and Erykah Badu producer Madukwu Chinwah. Joe Produced/Engineered and performed on the latest Crack The Sky project entitled "The Sale".
He and the original Crack drummer Joey D'Amico recently reunited with the band and are currently
touring the northeast. In addition, Joe is an Instructor of composing/Producing at Mediatech Institute
(Dallas campus) and is an active member of ASCAP, AES and the American Federation
of Musicians.





Perry Schrag, Instructor, AUD401 - p.schrag@mediatech.edu

In 1986, I moved to Dallas to start a sound and lighting company with a partner from Louisiana.
I stayed with this adventure doing everything from 5th grade plays to concerts for 10,000 people
until 1991.

1989 was my first shot at working with Showco, Inc. which was one of the largest touring sound
companies in the world at the time. I ended up working for over 10 years with them traveling all over
the world multiple times. During this time I worked as a sound engineer with such bands as:
Alice Cooper, Clint Black (3 tours), Megadeth (2 tours), Stone Temple Pilots, Phil Collins, Bob Seger,
Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Alanis Morrisette and John Fogerty.

I started work with AVW in the summer of 1996 which is one of the largest AV companies in the
country after deciding to get off of the road and enjoy the family life. While working here I’ve been
exposed to Digital consoles, line array speaker systems, dealing with CAD drawings and a multitude
of other new cutting edge technologies. I’m still working here today even though the name has
changed a few times, the latest is Freeman AV.

Started teaching at Mediatech Institute April 06 after receiving a call from a friend that was working
here then named Belinda Swafford. What started out to be one semester filling in has turned out to
be now getting ready for the 10 semester over 2 years later.

, Instructor, AUD401 - tim@mediatech.edu
One year after graduating high school, and having no idea of how to get into the “music business”
Tim found a studio in Ft. Worth, Texas that was willing to give him an opportunity to learn music
production, and recording. While working in Ft. Worth at Buffalo Sound Studios, Tim went from an
assistant, to second engineer, to chief engineer in approximately 2 years. Not only was Tim learning
how to record & mix in the studio, but was also learning the PA business through a Dallas based
company called Dallas Backup.

Tim spent almost 6 years in Ft. Worth as chief engineer at Buffalo Sound, and was approached by
THE largest audio production facility in the southwest known as Dallas Sound Lab where he was
one of 5 engineers working on everything from demo recordings to mixing to picture. Within 1 year of working at DSL he became the chief engineer and remained there for the next 3 years before making
the decision to become an independent engineer and traveling to various cities in the US & Mexico.

Tim got most of his experience in Orchestral recording in the late eighties, and most of his rock,
heavy metal, pop, R&B, jazz, blues and rap recording experience in the early nineties, working
with such people as Grover Washington Jr., B.B. King, Steve Perry, Lars Ulrich (Metalica),
King Diamond, Pantera, UGK (Under Ground Kingz), & Paula Abdul.

Currently Tim is freelancing as an independent engineer for various producers in various styles
of music, traveling from coast to coast, and from Canada to El Salvador, with the desire to build a
remote truck for capturing live performances, and concerts.

, Instructor, BOM101 - patrick@mediatech.edu
Patrick Keel is a record producer and co-owner of Dragon Street Records in Dallas, Texas.
He teaches the Business of Music course at Dallas Sound Lab as well as Collin County Community College, sharing his inside knowledge of all things related to the music business with his students.





Eric Jewell, Instructor, DFP101 / DFP201 / DFP401 - eric@mediatech.edu
Eric began his film career at the early age of 13 when he decided to make a his stop-motion and live
action epic trilogy "Killer Jell-o", about a rampaging blob of evil Jell-o. He won various awards over
the years for his short films, culminating in a Video release of his early works called "Explosive Shorts!". While attending the University of North Texas, Jewell also started a video production company,
specializing in commercials and corporate videography. AMS production Group hired Jewell as a
Director of Photography, Director, Producer and occasional Editor. Over the years he produced
videos for many fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Texas Instruments, EDS, Pizza Hut, Levi's,
and many, many more. He has won more than twenty industry awards such as the Communicator,
Telly, Radio Award of Excellence, Katy, DV Award, Vision Fest Screenwriting Award and more.
Eric also co-directed the feature film "Shtickmen", a multi-award winning movie available through
Netflix and Blockbuster. Eric is the Department Chair and Head Instructor at Mediatech Institute.

Keith has founded industry efforts such as the non-profit Texas Company, The MOVIE INSTITUTE,
teaching youth how to create movies and commercials of their own, and also a production company, ThinkTank Entertainment, a creator of independent motion pictures and other entertainment.

Keith has worked in the film and video industry as a producer, director, writer, videographer, assistant cameraman (Film), special effects make up artist, effects coordinator and grip for companies such as
Aries Productions, Storer Cable, “Hot On!” Episodic TV Show, Studios at Las Colinas, Santa Fe
Railroad, Minyard Foods, S & A Corporation, Southwestern Christian College, Fox, The Bass Family, Special Olympics International and Tracy Locke. Keith has also worked on several independent
feature films that include “The Dark Dealer”, “Repligator” and “Ramming Speed” (1997's USA Film
Festival “must see” from The Met Newspaper). He was Executive Producer and Producer on the independent feature, “After Sundown” released to domestic home video in 2006 through Barnholtz Entertainment/ Lions Gate. “After Sundown” was also the winner of the 2005 Deep Ellum Film
Festival Audience Award for favorite festival feature.

Currently he is in development on a low-budget western, a comedy feature and some TV programming.






Abe Kotara, Admissions Representative - abe@mediatech.edu
Abe is a recent graduate of MediaTech Institute, receiving a diploma in the Recording Arts Program.
Music has been a passion of Abe's since he began playing drums about a decade ago. He has
engineered and produced a number of albums through the course of his education, and continues
to work on his own music projects. While he still remains an avid drummer, Abe has found a calling
in sound for motion picture. Most recently, Abe became involved in the development of a local
production company specializing in all aspects of film and television production, where he
functions in the role of Sound Supervisor and Chief Engineer.

Given his fervor for the program and knowledge of the curriculum & studio facilities, Abe is a great fit
as our Admissions Representative for Dallas. Abe will most likely be your first point of contact at the
school and will act as your personal tour guide through the campus. You will find Abe eager to
answer your questions and help you through every step of the enrollment process.




Jennifer Osbourn, Financial Aid Director - jennifer@mediatech.edu
Jennifer completed the Business Administration at ATI in 2003 where she began working there as a financial aid advisor. For five years she has continued within the financial aid industry at local colleges expanding her knowledge of finance. She is a member of TASFAA and has received certification/
training from the Department of Veterans Affairs, third party servicing agencies, as well as the
Department of Education to name a few. Jennifer has a special place in her heart for music and its
power, which stemmed from the DFW music scene freelance writing reviews for the Harder Beat
and DTS Underground. She continues to be involved with music being a devoted concertgoer
and music appreciator!




Caroline Stephens, Student Services- caroline@mediatech.edu 
Caroline Stephens is the administrative assistant at MediaTech Institute in Dallas, TX. She aspires
to become a Director of music videos and independent films. Caroline started off as a theatre actress
and then moved to acting in films. During filming she decided she no longer wanted to be in front of
the camera, she wanted to work on the production side of the industry.

Caroline attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA for Theatre and Film Analysis.
She also attended Richmond, The American International University in London where she studied
Film Production. When she returned to the states she finished her bachelors degree in Radio/TV/Film
at Texas Christian University. Through out her college career she was an Office Production Assistant
for MTV & MTV2 in Los Angeles, CA and a Production Assistant for Lux Entertainment and Symbolic Entertainment in Los Angeles, CA.

Now that Caroline is back in Dallas, she volunteers with the local AFI Chapter and continues
to work on many different independent projects such as her mockumentaries “Lucy Goes to
Smart Camp”& “Brace”.






Ryan Prewitt, Studio Manager - r.prewitt@mediatech.edu
Ryan’s life has centered on music for a long time.  His professional audio career began at the age
of 14, helping to run live sound in his church in Claremore, Oklahoma. While in High School he got
the opportunity to become a morning show host on the local college radio station and also began to
do some production work with the college’s television station. Once in college he became the radio
station’s student production director and also worked in the television station’s master control center.
In 2004 Ryan felt that a change in direction was needed in his career, and left Oklahoma for the
Dallas Campus of Mediatech.  After completing the Audio Engineering and Studio Techniques,
Mixing, Mastering, and Post Production, and Live Sound Reinforcement workshops (at the time),
Ryan was hired to assist the Chief Engineer in daily activities and studio operations.  Today, as the
Studio Operations Technician, Ryan is responsible for the equipment and facilities of the Dallas
Campus and the entire school’s computer network.  Some of his past clients have included Texas Instruments – DLP Cinema Technology Division and the Cartoon Network.  In spare time Ryan
loves mixing in surround sound, and building vintage audio gear. 




Kirk Gilfillen - kirk@mediatech.edu
Kirk brings an exciting dynamic to Mediatech where he works as a lab instructor for the 201 course.  Originally from the Bronx, N.Y.C., Kirk served in the Gulf War in 1991 and graduated from the Art
Institute of Dallas in 1994 after completing the Music and Video Business Course. While keeping
active in the audio industry Kirk works closely with the students to transform themselves into audio professionals. He does not own a cell phone or have a myspace page and shakes hands the
old-fashioned way.




Robbie Alvis - robbie.alvis@mediatech.edu
Robert Alvis, a graduate of Mediatech Institute, has been employed as a lab supervisor for the past
four years. He is a proficient recording, mixing, and mastering engineer and has worked with many
local acts including Epitas, Ahummin Acoustic Acupuncture, and Redefine. Robert is also an
accomplished musician as well as being well versed in MIDI production and has been playing
and writing music for over fourteen years.

Zach Sloan - zach@mediatech.edu