David Steele - Creative Director/ Composer

David has been a mainstay of the Chicago music session scene for 35 years. He was born into this business. His father, Ron Steele, and grandfather were first-call studio players. He attended and observed literally hundreds of commercial music sessions growing up in the 70's and 80's. He watched the best composers and session cats implement the art of commercial music production on a weekly basis, and that has given him invaluable insight into what works and how to achieve it. David has been composing for spots since 1996. Some of his recent national and international credits include many major brands: Nintendo, Disney, Verizon, Busch Gardens, Budweiser, Sears, General Mills, Hyundai, Red Lobster, and KFC.

David also has an amazing sense for sound design. Examples can be heard on projects for Nintendo, Verizon, and Budweiser. “It's important to take a musical approach to sound design. For me, it's about how you marry rhythm, melody, and textures of sounds to make all three work together to create a dramatic audio soundscape that effects the listener on an emotional level.” Besides music and sound design for national TV and radio spots, David has also composed for short films and video games, and he has produced and performed on dozens of album projects with Chicago artists over the past 20 years.
 
email: david@pendulumarts.com
 

Mordion Gall - Sound Designer/ Audio Engineer

Mordion plays a pivotal role at Pendulum as Sound Designer, Music Recording Engineer, and Production Engineer for voice over sessions. She has designed sound for radio spots and corporate videos such as Family Dollar, McDonalds, Red Lobster, Proctor and Gamble, Comed, Baxter, US Food Service, ALLSTATE, and Verizon. Mordion understands the importance of meeting deadlines while delivering superb quality for complex audio projects. She has engineered and edited thousands of voice over sessions for advertising agencies, books on CD, podcasts, educational publishers, games, and foreign language projects. Over the years she has recorded music projects for Chicago based underground artists like La Armada and Al-Thawra. Her calm and relaxed demeanor during sessions makes recording easy and non-stressful. She has recorded live performances by bands like The Siderunners and Scarborough Faith, as well as classical music recitals. She has extensive experience mixing live sound for music and theater. Mordion earned her Bachelor of Science in Sound Recording Technology from S.U.N.Y. Fredonia. She has been an assistant engineer at Chicago Trax and ARS Studios. When not in the studio you can find Mordion flamenco dancing, renovating her 1908 house with her husband, and volunteering as a dog handler for ARFhouse Chicago.
 
email: mordion@pendulumarts.com
 

Sean Johnson - Sound Designer/ Music Supervisor

Having turned his back on the gigantic SC Johnson fortune, Sean set out to make his own way in the world separate from the realm of mega-brand management and useful household products. Following graduation from Columbia College Chicago, Sean was brought on to instruct students on sound design for film, and manage the film sound studio. While there He was afforded open access to the state of the art facility to collaborate on many student productions as well as independent projects from the likes of such notable directors as Gary Sherman (Deathline, Poltergeist 3) and Terry Kinney (Oz). Following a migrating co-worker, Sean found himself working with Static Studios inc. on several TV spots for such brands as Kellogs, Nintendo, Disney, and Brita, as well as the Bader bros. Tribeca F.F. success “Street Thief”. When not making the world a better sounding place Sean can be found skating at Wilson, riding his bike, or teaching his dogs and plants to communicate better, and yes his initials are SC Johnson, and no he has no cleaning tips or coupons or you.
 
email: sean@pendulumarts.com
 

Phil Maniaci - Composer

Phil is an endless source of musical ideas. He writes and records music daily, exploring multifaceted musical and production styles. In the past 5 years he’s played on and written commercials for Marlboro, McDonalds, Kellogg’s and Pam. At 7 years old, Phil liked to sit at the piano and figure out (by ear) the music he heard his mother and uncles play. He began music lessons a year later, eventually moving from piano into electric and string bass, from classical to jazz and rock music. Phil gained his first recording chops at age 12 from his stepfather, a one-time DJ and voice-over pro. With an old four-track reel-to-reel, mixer, cassette deck, and reverb unit, he started making recordings of his own compositions. He studied music performance and composition at Columbia College and has played in original and cover bands for over 20 years, including Godspeaks, Teen Alien, Moxy Blue, and Ness. From 2007 to 2009 he toured internationally with the Blue Man Group’s “How to be a Megastar 2.0” show as male lead vocalist and keyboardist, and he currently performs in Chicago’s Blue Man Group production playing the zither, a unique, proprietary instrument. Phil draws from his far-reaching musical background and approaches music production with creative perfectionism.
 
email: phil@pendulumarts.com
 

Eric Maltz - Composer

Eric began playing piano at the age of 6. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather were accomplished musicians, and hearing them play inspired Eric to follow in their footsteps. He began writing music at 15, and by 17 had purchased a 4track, drum machine, sampler, and keyboard. He then enrolled into the Conservatory of Music at S.U.N.Y Purchase, where he majored in Studio Composition. It was during this time he met fellow classmate Steve Williams, and Peculiar Gentlemen was born. After spending his 4 years taking classes and working with the likes of Regina Spektor, Dan Deacon, and Langhorne Slim, Eric moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In the past few years Eric has been regularly called on to score music for blue chip clients like KLM, GMC, Crocs, Land Rover and the Las Vegas Tourism Bureau. In addition to his commercial work, he’s also been collaborating with well known artists Pamelia Kirsten, Levon Vincent, and She Keeps Bees. His own band, Peculiar Gentlemen, is releasing their second album this summer on Doin Fine Records, and Eric has several singles scheduled for release this year on the Complex Collective and Novel Sound labels.
 
email: eric@pendulumarts.com
 

Mark Henderson - Composer

Mark Henderson is an innovative composer and an accomplished keyboard artist who has created music for such diverse worlds as film, television, animation, musical theatre, video, CD-ROMs and international trade conventions. He has composed for a comprehensive clientele, running the gamut from Steven Spielberg, Kenny Loggins and NBC News, to Reebok, Honda, Coca Cola and the Smithsonian to name a few. Mark’s song “When You Smile At Me” was featured on the television series Santa Barbara, and several other compositions have been included on The Sentinel series. For over a decade, Mark has been resident composer for the nationally acclaimed, award-winning Santa Barbara Access Theatre. He has composed eleven musical productions, which have been staged at such prestigious venues as Los Angeles' James A. Doolittle Theatre and The Kennedy Center. He has composed the music for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival from 2003 to 2007. He is currently working on a new kids show called “That’s Funny” and a new DVD from The Idea Bank called False Alarms.
 
email: mark@pendulumarts.com
 

James Felz - Composer

James began immersing himself in music at a very young age. His journey as a musician began at the age of six when he began playing the violin. The classical training he received greatly influenced his technique and discipline as a musician, while exposing him to the joy of creating music. It wasn’t until several years later, at the age of 13, that he traded in the violin for the electric bass and the Suzuki Method books for a collection of rock n’ roll records. Since then he has enrolled at Berklee College of Music where he is set to graduate in 2010 with a degree in Contemporary Writing and Production. Through the years, James has earned experience in the writing and performance of a vast range of musical styles including jazz, funk, pop, latin, rock, electronic, and classical. His broad range of experience was especially helpful when he first teamed with Pendulum in the summer of 2009 as an intern. Currently, he is working on music for his Boston-based hard rock group Friday Crimes, while welcoming any other musical opportunities that come his way.
 
email: james@pendulumarts.com