Meet Co-Founder Dave Hampton

Dave Hampton

Designer

When Dave Hampton attended California State University, Dominguez Hills in the 1980s, the Los Angeles native, who was building missile guidance systems for Hughes Aircraft, was merely exploring his interest in music and recording.

An audio engineer and designer of studios and touring rigs, he has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Prince, Herbie Hancock, Chicago, and Marcus Miller, whose 2001 album, “M2” won Hampton a Grammy Award.

After his early training in electronics at Los Angeles Trade Tech College and CSU Dominguez Hills, Hampton worked at Oberheim Electronics, where he acquired his in-depth knowledge of analog synthesizer technology. During this period he began striking out on his own as an independent engineer, technician, and sound editor, and left the company after five years to start his own business, MATK Corporation.

Besides designing, consulting, writing, and lecturing, Hampton is currently working on producing original audio and visual projects with his company. He also sits on the steering committee of the Producers and Engineers Wing of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which is the organization that bestows the Grammy Awards. The former technical director of high-profile studios including Paisley Park in Minneapolis and Hancock Music in Los Angeles, Hampton has chronicled experiences in his two books, “So, You’re an Audio Engineer” and “The Business of Audio Engineering.”

Studio Designs

Studio Designs, Renovations, Builds