Niko Bolas is an American music producer, sound engineer, and consultant and business developer in the fields of virtual reality and Internet radio. In 1989, Bolas founded Fakespace Music with
Mark Bolas
Mark Bolas is a researcher exploring perception, agency, and intelligence. He is a Professor of Interactive Media in the USC Interactive Media Division, USC School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, Director of their In ...
, Ian McDowall and Christian Greuel, which, in 1995, developed the Soundsculpt Toolkit, a software interface that allowed music to communicate with the graphical elements of virtual reality.
In 1999, Bolas became the CEO of Sonicbox, Inc.,
an Internet radio company he founded with Mark Bolas and Ian McDowall. Sonicbox changed its name to iM Networks Inc.,
and developed and marketed the first internet radio device, which became available in consumer stores through a licensing agreement with Philips Consumer Electronics. iM Networks Inc. received three patents for streaming technologies and placed the "iM Band(TM)" alongside AM and FM on the radio dial, allowing consumers to access Internet radio content from around the world.
His current music enterprise is DayDream VR and The Surf Shack Studio in Ventura California.
Among his most notable production works are
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
's ''
This Note's for You
''This Note's for You'' is the 16th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released April 11, 1988 on Reprise. It was originally credited to "Young and the Bluenotes." Part of the album's concept centered on the commercialism of ...
'', ''
Freedom
Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
,'' ''
Living with War
''Living With War'' is the 27th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on May 2, 2006. The album's lyrics, titles, and conceptual style are highly critical of the policies of the George W. Bush administration; the CTV w ...
'' and
''Barn'',
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician.
Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Tho ...
's ''
Sentimental Hygiene'',
Steve Perry's first solo album ''
Street Talk'', and
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and its lead ...
's debut
self-titled album.
Bolas' trademark technique is clear and loud recording of vocals.
In the early 1980s, Bolas collaborated with legendary American hard rock band
KISS
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
, on their album ''
Creatures of the Night
''Creatures of the Night'' is the tenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released in 1982. It was the band's last for Casablanca Records, the only label for which Kiss had recorded up to that point. The album was dedicated to the memor ...
'', recording
Eric Carr
Paul Charles Caravello (July 12, 1950 – November 24, 1991), better known professionally as Eric Carr, was an American musician who was the drummer for the rock band Kiss from 1980 to 1991. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after ...
's drums. Niko is also the guy who appear walking watching the lady in the front cover of the
Toto album, ''
Fahrenheit
The Fahrenheit scale () is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accounts of how he originally defined his ...
'' (1986), this because he was personal friend of
Jeff Porcaro
Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on ...
and wanted Bolas in.
References
External links
*
neeks.com - Niko Bolas' personal site* http://www.blackbirdstudio.com/
* http://web.me.com/essphillips/BlackbirdPro/Home.html
Niko Bolas InterviewNAMM Oral History Library (2015)
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American record producers
American audio engineers
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