MEET MI’S ACADEMIC TEAM

BACKGROUND & EDUCATION
Rachel started playing the piano at the age of 2, taught by her mother, a concert pianist and professor. Rachel began composing at the age of 7 under the tutelage of her father, a classical composer and professor. She entered Seoul National University as the top-ranked student and earned a BA and MA in Composition. Rachel then received a Ph.D. in Composition from UCLA.

CREDITS
She regularly consults for jazz ensembles, as well as film composers. As an arranger and keyboardist, Rachel has performed at some of the premier venues in Los Angeles, such as Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In 2014, she was commissioned by the city of Seoul to compose and direct an hour-long show for a traditional Korean performance group, which ran for 250 days.

SPECIALTIES
Rachel is an administrator, educator, developer, composer, arranger and performer. Rachel’s compositional and arranging style is based on a diverse range of contemporary genres, influenced by minimalism, impressionistic harmonies, ethnomusicology and commercial music.

As an administrator and educator, Rachel created, designed and developed brand new curricula for MI’s Bachelor of Music in Composition (Scoring for Visual Media) degree program. Currently, she is developing an innovative Multiple Perspective Contemporary Music Learning System (MPCMLS).

Rachel is dedicated to helping students gain extraordinary experiences, pursue their passion for music and achieve their dreams.

BACKGROUND & EDUCATION
As a 20-year veteran of the music industry, Jonathan started audio engineering for such clients as Dishwalla, Carmine Appice, Epitaph Records, Slash and Roger Daltrey. Leveraging his studio experience, Jonathan purchased and built out a major two-room commercial facility, Studio Atlantis, in the heart of Hollywood, and for ten years presided as the President and Owner.

After selling Atlantis to Michael Jackson’s producer, Rodney Jerkins, Jonathan became Executive Director of the Power Chord Academy, a nationwide summer rock-n-roll institute for aspiring teenage musicians. Afterwards, he acquired his Executive MBA, with distinction, from the University of Southern California. He then joined Musicians Institute in 2014 as the Audio Engineering Chair.

CREDITS
Studio Atlantis was credited with the soundtracks for Sex and the City, About a Boy and Rush Hour II movies. The studio’s client base included countless engineers, producers and songwriters; artists included Janet Jackson, Motorhead, Snoop Dogg, Buckcherry, Ken Andrews, Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige and several American Idol seasons; as well as record labels Bad Boy Entertainment, Interscope Records, Hollywood Records, Sony Records, Capitol Records and Universal Records.

SPECIALTIES
Jonathan currently serves as both the AE Director and Senior Director to the entire school. He manages the day-to-day operations of the Office of Academic Affairs while also serving as a principle aide to the President of MI.

With awards from Down Beat magazine, the Turner Classic Movies Young Film Composers Competition, and the San Francisco Song Festival, Daniel Levin has composed, arranged, and orchestrated music for film, stage, orchestra, jazz band, chorus, and many other media and ensembles. His film credits include independent feature films in a wide variety of genres. Recently, he orchestrated music for a concert at Carnegie Hall that featured Sarah McLachlan, Loreena McKennitt, Andrea Corr, and Hayley Westenra. His orchestrations have also been performed by the Winnipeg Symphony and the Santa Fe Symphony.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Daniel began studying piano, clarinet, saxophone, and composition at an early age. He received both his Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied clarinet with James Campbell and composition with Claude Baker, David Dzubay, Don Freund, Sven-David Sandström, and Richard Wernick.

Daniel currently resides in the Los Angeles area, where he works as a composer and orchestrator and teaches music theory, film scoring, arranging, and composition at Musicians Institute.

BACKGROUND & EDUCATION
Aside from her 20+ year career as a DJ and 15 years as a producer of electronic music, Lacey graduated from University of Southern California in Los Angeles, some years after receiving pro-audio certifications in Audio Engineering, Music Business, Sound Design for TV & Film, and Songwriting & Production at Dallas, Texas’ famous recording studio and school formerly known as Dallas Sound Lab (currently known as Media Tech Institute).

Lacey is also an alumni of MI’s Music Business Program, from which her professional career in audio technology and education began with a single internship at monster software instrument and hardware company, Native Instruments. Here, she spent many years working in various roles, most notably as a technical specialist and beta tester for NI’s flagship DJ product line, Traktor. When joining the ranks at MI, Lacey used this knowledge and experience to create several courses in the DJ Performance & Production program and for MI Online. Lacey has also filled the role of Program Director for electronic music production and performance-oriented non-profit organizations Open Tone Project and Give A Beat, which cater to at-risk youth in underserved communities around Los Angeles County.

CREDITS
During the last two decades (and counting) of fierce dedication to electronic dance culture, Lacey has shared the stage with countless legends of house music, such as Roger Sanchez, Jesse “The Originator” Saunders, Diz, DJ Heather, DJ Colette, Stacy Kidd, Mark Grant, DJ Dan, and more. She has played in dozens of legendary spaces around the country, notably Hollywood’s beloved staples King King and Avalon, Dallas’ legendary Club One, and countless warehouses, outdoor festivals, and secret spaces accessible only through word-of-mouth and special invite. She has also been spotted dancing in music videos for DJ Colette and beloved LA-local live house music band Zona.

SPECIALTIES
Lacey has a number of releases under her DJ alias Lacey IQ, most recently on labels such as the highly prolific Good For You Records imprint and well-respected techno and tech house label Krafted Underground. When not releasing dance tracks, Lacey spends her time creating ambient soundscapes and melodic, multi-layered downtempo and chillout music under her alias Inquiri, which has two full-length independent album releases to date under her recently-hatched personal label Concurrent Recordings. Her specialization in Native Instruments products such as Traktor, Komplete, and Maschine, have added a tremendous versatility to her style of producing, designing sounds, and teaching.