Our Sound Engineers
Nate Ihara
Studio Manager
Nate Ihara is a multi instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and educator. He began taking piano lessons at a young age, then moved on to saxophone, guitar, bass, and vocals. He studied under Ron Anderson (Chris Cornell, Christina Aguilera, Matt Shadows) while in Los Angeles recording his first album and continued after coming back to the east coast.
He got his start in the local music scene in the early 2000s, quickly gaining recognition and eventually inking a deal with Virgin Records. Since his days of touring, he has produced and written songs for other artists as well as himself, with compositions making their way around the world from Canada to Sweden, and his music being featured in television, commercials, and film.
He began educating young musicians and aspiring songwriters in 2014.
Ben Tufts
Director of Education
Our Director of Education spent 25+ plus years on the "other side of the glass" playing drumset and bass on hundreds of songs for artists in the DMV. He has also dabbled in production for some of the songwriters he performs with. During the pandemic lockdown, he finally took the plunge into sound engineering--at first just so he could make his own drumset recordings for clients. But as his skill set grew, he began working on recordings with friends and students, and he is now one of our staff engineers at Vanguard.
Selected credits:
Production:
"Between the Creek and the Tracks" (2014) - Lauren Calve
"Little Light" (2018) - Jasmine Gillison
Engineering:
*tracked entirely at Vanguard Arts Center
Howard Rabach
Howard Rabach is a highly trained veteran musician and producer, and has played bass all over the DC music scene since relocating from New York in 1993. Currently, he is a member of The Grey A, Ubiquity Machine, and Echoes: A Pink Floyd Tribute. He also produces music for many DMV artists at his Machine Room Studio in Arlington, VA. A veteran middle-school classroom teacher, Howard is a proud father, bourbon connoisseur, vinyl record enthusiast, baseball fan, and a self-described “dork-vivant with moxie.”
A selection of his produced works can be found on Machine Room Studio’s site here.
Inquire about recording
Please fill out the form below and a member of our team will reach out to schedule your first session.
Rates:
$80 / hour
3 hour minimum for recording, no minimum for mixing/mastering
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Monday - Friday (1-6pm)