John D.S. Adams is an award winning producer, recording/mix engineer,
sound designer and experimental sound artist having worked on a wide variety of
projects in film, television, music and dance. John’s incredible range and
experience make him a highly sought after producer/engineer. John’s client list is
broad and impressive including music recording/mixing for the Merce Cunningham Dance
Company’s award winning ‘Beach Birds: For Camera’, twelve CDs and 2 DVDs for
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Sony BMG artists Yo Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax, PSI Factor
(Alliance-Atlantis TV series), Anton Kuerti’s final Beethoven Piano Sonatas as well
as composition/sound design for Barishnykov’s White Oak Dance Project. John’s work
has been honoured with multiple Juno Award for his collaborations with James Ehnes,
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Jane Bunnett. In addition to the many independent
recordings, Adams has worked with artists Suzie LeBlanc, Paul Halley, St. Lawrence
String Quartet, Old Man Luedecke, Andy Stochansky, Eve Egoyan, Emilie-Claire Barlow,
Kevin Fox and Neil Young. In 2000 the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles sought
the skills of John when embarking on a massive music archival project. Between 2007
and 2009, John was Senior Recording Engineer at The Banff Centre. Following the
completion of his Masters of Music in Sound Recording (McGill University class of
‘91), John spent an inspirational five years in New York City. While in New York he
worked intensively as a musician and multi-channel sound designer for the cutting
edge Merce Cunningham Dance Company and acted as a hands-on assistant to electronic
music pioneer David Tudor. Adams was requested by Tudor to realize and perform his
music in the US, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Taiwan. In 1998 Adams joined
ranks with New York based Composers Inside Electronics to perform Tudor’s Rainforest
IV at the Lincoln Center Festival 98, and for the 2001 realization of Rainforest IV
at the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles) Symposium on David Tudor. Adams
continues to perform the works of David Tudor and creates music using his modular
analogue electronics. Adams has had the privilege of collaborating with some of the
great musical pioneers of our time, including John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Walter
Zimmerman, Takehisa Kosugi, Steve Lacy and Stuart Dempster and Christos Hatzis. He
is currently affiliated with suddenlyLISTEN (Halifax based improv collective),
F.F.O.B. (Toronto based multimedia/electronic ensemble), JERK (Atlantic Canadian
experimental improv quintet) and EHRES with Pauline Oliveros.
