David Nathaniel Kerzner (born July 10, 1968) is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and sound designer as well as founder of the sound sampling development company Sonic Reality Inc. Along with Simon Collins, Kerzner is the co-founder of the band

Sound of Contact In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

.Sound of Contact Signs With InsideOut
Prog Rock Magazine. Retrieved April 28, 2013. He is also the co-founder of the band Mantra Vega.Findlay and Kerzner form Mantra Vega – Prog.
Prog Magazine. Retrieved May 16, 2014. His debut solo album, ''

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

'', was released in December 2014.Dave Kerzner Expands His New World.
Prog Magazine. Retrieved March 1, 2015. During his music career, Kerzner has worked with artists and bands such as

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Parsons was the sound engineer on albums including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and '' Let It Be'' (1970), Pink Floyd's ''The ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

Francis Dunnery Francis Dunnery (born 25 December 1962) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and record label owner. Dunnery was the lead singer and guitarist for British prog- pop band It Bites between 1982 and 1990. Since 1990 he has ...

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart ( ; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian and American musician, known as the drummer, percussionist, and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush (band), Rush. He was known to fans by the nickname "the Profe ...

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 194411 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He be ...

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

, and

Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. ...

.Company – Sonic Reality Inc.
Sonic Reality. Retrieved May 26, 2013.

Early years

Dave Kerzner's interest in progressive music was born upon his exposure to early Genesis, as introduced to him by his good friend and band collaborator Jamie Rickel (drums). The early years were spent tirelessly working/developing original recordings, along with Dave Silverman (bass and vocals). In the early 1990s, Kerzner began collecting rare musical instruments.Interview with Dave Kerzner – MacMusic.
MacMusic. Retrieved May 26, 2013. When 16-bit stereo digital sampling technology became available, Kerzner sampled these instruments to license to such major digital musical instrument manufacturers as Alesis,

Roland Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

and Yamaha. Following this endeavor into the

music software This is a list of software for creating, performing, learning, analyzing, researching, broadcasting and editing music. This article only includes software, not services. For streaming services such as iHeartRadio, Pandora, Prime Music, and Spoti ...

industry, Kerzner worked with such recording artists as

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

, and Moog Cookbook as both a musician and as a sound engineer. In 1994, Kerzner contributed to Kevin Gilbert's solo album '' Thud'' and appeared as a band member on Gilbert's live album '' Live at the Troubadour''. Kerzner joined the band Giraffe as keyboardist for a one-off tribute performance of Genesis' ''

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'' is a studio double album and sixth overall by the English progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis. It was released on 22 November 1974 by Charisma Records, and is their last to feature original lead voc ...

'' album at Progfest '94 in Los Angeles.Two Thuds and a Lamb – An Introspective by Dave Kerzner.
KevinGilbert.com. Retrieved May 26, 2013.

Collaborations

In 2005 Kerzner performed with

Jon Anderson Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is a British, and latterly American, singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassis ...

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

along with Nick D'Virgilio, Stan Cotey, and Mark Hornsby under the band name Sonik Elementz for a one-off performance of " Long Distance Runaround" during the Winter

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

. Between 2007 and 2010, Kerzner collaborated musically with Simon Collins.''U-Catastrophe'' album credits.
AllMusic. Retrieved April 28, 2013. In 2010 Kerzner contributed sound design and assistance with music software for

Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...

's album '' Grace For Drowning''.Steven Wilson ''Grace for Drowning'' album credits.
Prog Archives. Retrieved April 28, 2013.

Sonic Reality and Sonic Elements

In 1996 Kerzner founded the sound development company Sonic Reality Inc, which focuses on the sampling of every type of musical instrument from vintage keyboards to drums to orchestral and world instruments.Sonic Reality in the UK.
Audio Pro International. Retrieved April 28, 2013. While developing music technology and creative tools for musicians, Kerzner collaborated with professional artists to sample and digitally reproduce the sounds of many types of musical instruments. The sounds are played from music software such as samplers and other music recording tools. Sonic Reality also produces "play along" DrummerTracks and other backing tracks for guitarists, bass players, keyboardists, and singers to work with via various audio devices, mobile devices, and recording software. Kerzner's sounds have been used by artists worldwide.Genesis "turns it on again" with IK and Sonic Reality.
IK Multimedia. Retrieved May 26, 2013. In 2001 Kerzner teamed up with IK Multimedia to offer the sounds he created for keyboard workstations via computer software. Producing a majority of the sound range for the first comprehensive software

rompler A rompler is an electronic musical instrument that plays pre-fabricated sounds based on audio samples. The term ''rompler'' is a blend of the terms ''ROM'' and ''sampler.'' In contrast to samplers, romplers do not record audio. Both may have a ...

virtual instrument called "SampleTank", Kerzner developed a plug-in for popular recording software that offers every type of sampled music instrument with built-in effects to be played via

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

.IK Multimedia , SampleTron.
IK Multimedia. Retrieved May 26, 2013. While serving as CEO of Sonic Reality Inc, Kerzner has remained active as a musician as well as providing custom sound programming for touring and recording artists such as

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

and

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

.Steven Wilson Uses SampleMoog, SampleTron and iKlip On Tour.
IK Multimedia. Retrieved May 30, 2013. In 2011, Kerzner founded Sonic Elements, a progressive rock project and electronic tribute band. Sonic Elements uses Sonic Reality samples to create unique virtual supergroups by combining different musicians with Sonic Reality-sampled drummers and other instrumentation.Sound of Contact progressive rock Band Interview , Audioholics.
Audioholics. Retrieved July 22, 2013. In November 2014, Sonic Elements announced the development of a

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

remake of Genesis' 1974 record, ''

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'' is a studio double album and sixth overall by the English progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis. It was released on 22 November 1974 by Charisma Records, and is their last to feature original lead voc ...

'', to commemorate the 40th anniversary of its release.Dave Kerzner leads studio tribute to Genesis's Lamb.
Prog Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2015. The tribute album has been titled ''IT'', and is scheduled for release in early 2015. The album is slated to feature several of Kerzner's collaborators including Francis Dunnery, Nick D'Virgilio,

Steve Rothery Steven Rothery (born 25 November 1959) is an English musician who is the original guitarist and the longest continuous member of the progressive rock band Marillion. Outside Marillion, Rothery has recorded two albums as part of the duo The Wis ...

and Billy Sherwood. The album also aims to combine vintage classic rock elements with an orchestra to produce a cinematic rock sound.

Sound of Contact

After Kerzner's initial 2006 meeting with Simon Collins in New York City, the two musicians co-produced a remake of the Genesis song "

Keep It Dark "Keep It Dark" is a song by British band Genesis (band), Genesis, released on 23 October 1981 in the UK as the second single from ''Abacab''. It reached number 33 in the UK Singles Chart. Song information "Keep It Dark" describes a man who h ...

".''The Brooks Bulletin.'' Brown, Rob
"Canadian Simon Collins releases first US album"
. n.d. Retrieved July 22, 2013.Simon Collins Tribute to Genesis Using IK Multimedia Software and Sonic Reality Sounds.
Digital Media Network. Retrieved May 26, 2013. Kerzner collaborated with Collins and played keyboards on his album '' U-Catastrophe'', appearing on the song "The Big Bang". In 2010, Kerzner and Collins decided to form a band. In 2012, they announced the band as

, with Collins on lead vocals and drums, Kerzner on keyboard, and colleagues Matt Dorsey and Kelly Nordstrom on bass and guitar. The band's debut album, '' Dimensionaut'', was released worldwide in late May 2013.SOUND OF CONTACT Release Debut Concept Album "Dimensionaut" And Reveal Live Video.
Prog Sphere. Retrieved May 26, 2013. On January 6, 2014, Kerzner left the band. The official press release from Sound of Contact cited the loss of Kerzner as an "amicable split". Kerzner stated he planned to pursue his own solo projects and continue his work with his company, Sonic Reality.Important Sound of Contact News.
Sound of Contact. Retrieved January 6, 2014. In May 2014, Kerzner announced that he and Mostly Autumn's Heather Findlay had co-founded a new band together, Mantra Vega. Kerzner rejoined Sound of Contact in April 2015, and alongside Nordstrom, Collins, and Dorsey, began work in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

on the band's second album.Dave Kerzner and Kelly Nordstrom Back In Sound Of Contact.
Prog Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2015.

Solo career

In December 2014, Kerzner released his first solo album, ''

''. The album features numerous artists such as Fernando Perdomo, Nick D'Virgilio,

, and Durga McBroom. Produced and mixed by Kerzner, ''New World'' was funded in part from a

kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign.Kerzner launches Kickstarter please.
Prog Magazine. Retrieved March 1, 2015. The album's vocals and keyboards were provided by Kerzner. Using technology from Sonic Reality, mock-up tracks were created with Kerzner playing all of the instrumentation. After tracks were re-recorded live by other musicians, Kerzner then mixed the results.Dave Kerzner Breaks All Boundaries With New World.
SmokeWind Music. Retrieved March 1, 2015. Veteran recording engineer

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

mixed the album's first single release, "Stranded".

Discography

Studio albums

* 2014: ''

'' * 2017: ''Static'' * 2022: ''The Traveler'' * 2023: ''Heart Land Mines Vol. 1''

Remix albums

* 2016: ''New World - Instrumental''

Live albums

* 2016: New World Live * 2019 Static Live * 2021 All Worlds Live In Miami * 2023 Heart Land Mines Vol 1

EP albums

* 2016: ''Paranoia'' * 2023: ''Heart Land Mines (The Eye)''

Compilations

* 2019: ''Breakdown: A Compilation 1995-2019'' * 2022 Corners Of The Mind (Highlights and rarities)

With Sonic Elements

* 2012: ''XYZ—A Tribute to Rush'' * 2018: ''Yesterday and Today: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to Yes''

With Sound of Contact

* 2013: '' Dimensionaut''

With In Continuum

* 2019: ''Acceleration Theory Part One: AlienA'' * 2019: ''Crash Landing'' (EP) * 2019: ''Acceleration Theory Part Two: Annihilation''

With Arc of Life

* 2021: ''Arc of Life'' * 2022: ''Don't Look Down''

With other artists

* 1995: Kevin Gilbert, '' Thud'' * 1999: Kevin Gilbert "Live At the Troubadour 1995' * 2008: Simon Collins, '' U-Catastrophe'' * 2011:

, '' Grace For Drowning'' * 2012:

Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...

, '' Genesis Revisited II'' * 2019 Fernando Perdomo - "Zebra Crossing" * 2019 Fernando Perdomo - "Fernando Perdomo Has Lost His Voice" * 2019 The New Empire - "2nd Lifetime" * 2020: The McBroom Sisters, ''Black Floyd''

References

External links

*
Sound of Contact official website

Sonic Reality Corporate website

Sonic Elements on SoundCloud
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerzner, Dave 1968 births Living people American male guitarists American record producers American rock guitarists American rock keyboardists American rock singers American sound artists Progressive rock keyboardists