Gary Creller Backgrounder

e-mail: gary@tagrp.net

Gary Creller is a craftsman. He has been musician, producer, arranger, woodworker, metal fabricator, systems integrator & installer of audio, video, data & control systems. His experience spans three decades.

Starting with the saxophone and moving to the bass guitar Gary started playing in bands in junior high and continued performing live shows through high school. After attending Cabrillo College in Aptos, CA as a music major, Gary ran the Capritaurus Music Store in the Santa Cruz Mountains while playing in bands in and around the Santa Cruz area.

In the mid seventies Gary was invited to join the Norton Buffalo Stampede based in Sonoma County. The Stampede recorded two albums for Capitol Records and toured as the opening act for the Steve Miller Band during “Fly Like An Eagle” and “Book of Dreams” on five national tours. In the early eighties Gary started working at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, where he coincidentally recorded the Norton Buffalo albums when it was Wally Heider’s Recording. Repairing cables and headphones in trade for studio time he soon moved on to wiring projects in the studios.

While working at Hyde Street Studios Gary installed, and modified several types of audio mixing consoles including Trident, API, Helios and Neve. One of the most involved projects was the total rebuild of a vintage 48 input Neve 8048 mixing desk and became highly regarded for his wiring of patchbays.

At Hyde Street Studios, Gary met Dan Alexander and worked for him repairing the cables and rebuilding the power supplies for vintage tube microphones and came to appreciate their wonderful sound qualities for recording.

As an independent contractor Gary went on to projects expanding out from audio to include video, control data and automation. Some of the highlights of his experience include:

1. Gary with Greg Rehberg designed, built and installed the audio systems for the four theaters in the Raven Film Center in Healdsberg, CA. They also upgraded the audio system in the original Raven Theater to digital audio for film presentations.

2. While working for David Carroll Electronics Gary was responsible for installing over 200 miles of cable in the Tech Building at Skywalker Ranch. He worked on the installation of custom SSL audio mixing consoles in the Foley Room, the two main Mixing Stages and the two Premix Rooms, which were all fed from the Central Machine Room. This included laying trays full of multi pair audio cables from the Central Machine Room to all rooms in the three stories of the Tech Building and the termination of audio, video and automation.

3. For Sony Corp. Systems Integration Division in Sunnyvale, CA, Gary built, staged and installed a video production and mixing suite on The ORBIS DC-10 Flying Eye Hospital.

The DC-10 “flying eye hospital” travels to developing countries with a team of ORBIS professionals and volunteer ophthalmic specialists representing some of the world’s leading eye care institutions. Together, they conduct surgical, nursing and biomedical engineering training on board the plane and at nearby hospitals and medical schools.

Gary also worked for Sony Corp. SID on the EMI Vision, Channel 13 project in Mexico City, several Jumbo Tron projects and went to New York City to help complete the refurbish of the Ed Sullivan Theater for the David Letterman Show.

4. Pro Media El Sobrante, CA employed Gary to help finish the audio, video and control installation at the Sacramento Convention Center.

5. Working for EISI in Mountain View, CA Gary pre wired systems for the Auditorium, Executive Teleconferencing Suites, Board Room and the president & CEO’s Private Teleconferencing Suites for the rebuild of the Chevron World Headquarters Building in San Francisco, CA. Also working for EISI, Gary built and installed the audio, video, data communications and automation systems for the Visual Simulation Room at Silicon Graphics Inc. in Mountain View, CA. The Visual Simulation Room is an oval shaped room with a 180 degree 12 ft high concave video screen and surround audio designed to demonstrate flight simulation, amusement park rides & virtual reality environments.

6. Wytec Inc., Santa Clara, CA searched and found Gary, after seeing his work at SGI, to build video head end system for microwave distribution in Bangkok, Thailand. He also built and installed base stations for broadband wireless transceivers for the Wytec Inc. “Home Run” Transceiver Systems.

7. While working for PCD in Santa Rosa, CA Gary built and installed several presentation systems at locations in Sonoma County including Agilent, Vineyard Creek Convention Center and in the new Sonoma County Sherrif’s building.

In the new millennium Gary has designed, built and installed interconnect in several recording studios including Prairie Sun Recording, Cotati, CA, a private studio in the Berkeley hills and J Street Recorders in Sacramento, CA.

Gary continues to play music whenever possible.

His attention to detail and pride in doing the best job possible make him a rare treasure to those who choose to work with him.