Background Noise

      Black Dog Audio is owned and operated by Chris Weal. 

A life long drummer and music lover Chris currently plays drums for the Maryland based hard rock trio Indianhead. 

Chris has been a freelance audio engineer since graduating with honors from The Sheffield Institute of the Recording Arts in 1997. After a few years of learning and practicing the craft, in 2000 he took a job with The ATI Group (API) as the test/repair engineer for API audio. Working at the component level, building, testing, repairing and installing large format API recording consoles and API rack gear, learning from the man, the myth, API's legendary Paul Wolff.

 During this same time he started working as a recording/mixing engineer for Big Mo Recording , a live music remote recording company. This is where he was thrown to the wolves! With audio mentors like Paul Wolff, Greg Hartman, Mark Williams, Bill Plummer, Duke Markos, Bill Mueller and many others, Chris learned from some of the best engineers in the remote recording business.  During his 10 years at Big Mo, Chris was fortunate to work with many high profile clients (see list below), some of these recordings achieved recognitions such as Grammy Awards, Stellar Awards, Handy Awards and Gold records.  

    After Big Mo closed its doors, Chris returned to freelancing but this time on remote TV trucks for live broadcasts, pay per views and pro sports.  He has worked as  A1/A2/RFA2 for all the pro sports teams in the mid Atlantic area and for all the major TV networks. Chris also provides A1 audio services for Ring of Honor Wrestling Entertainment's live events and pay per views as well as the audio post production on the Ring of Honor weekly TV series that airs internationally. 

During the last few years Chris has completed the construction of Black Dog Audio's recording studio. With years of gear collecting, experience and some sweat equity he is now interested in offering regional musicians, artists and clients professional high quality audio recordings and services in a creative studio environment.

Contact Chris today for studio or location bookings!

Some of the clients/artists I have worked with:

• Broadcast •

Ring of Honor Wrestling Entertainment, New Japan Pro Wrestling, MASN, ABC, CBS, NBC Universal, ESPN, TSN, Hockey Night in Canada, SNET, FOX, FOX Regional Sports, Bally Sports, TNT, NBCSN, NBCSW, MLB, NFL, NHL, MLS, NBA, NCAA, Professional Fighters League , Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore Ravens,Washington Nationals, Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, DC United, Tennis Channel, UFC

• Rock • Pop •

Phish, Trey Anastasio Band, Dave Matthews Band, The Cure, The Wailers, The Allman Brothers, Warren Haynes, The Dead, Primus, Ben Harper, Neil Young, Chevelle, O.A.R., Jack Johnson, Government Mule, Good Charlotte, The Roots, Monica, Jay-Z, Kanye West, ABC Studios, Catch 22, Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Jane’s Addiction, Audioslave, moe., The Offspring, Jarflys, Bob Dylan, Wilco, Robert Randolph, North Mississippi Allstars, Pie Tasters, The Oranges, POD, Galactic, SOJA, Tom Petty, Oysterhead, the Bonnaroo Festival, 02’ 03’ 04’ HFStivals, Virginia Arts Festival

• Gospel • R&B • Blues •

Pastor Donnie McClurkin (won Grammy for Best Traditional Gospel Soul Album 2005), Mavis Staples, Ann Peebles, Bettye Lovette, Karen Clark Sheard (Stellar Award), Odetta, Deborah Coleman, Ricki Lee Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pinetop Perkins, James Brown, Mississippi Mass Choir, EWTN

• Jazz •

Allen Harris, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dr. Billy Taylor, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Taylor/Fidyk Big Band, Winard Harper, Rosanna Vitro, Mokoto Ozone, Vijay Iler, Lizz Wright, Hod O'Brien, Ray Drummond, Kenny Washington, Stephon Harris, Bad Plus, John Pattitucci, Women in Jazz Festival, Jason Moran, Clayton Brothers, Karrin Allyson

• Country • Folk • Bluegrass •

Dolly Parton, Clint Black, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, cELLAbration, Nickel Creek, Yonder Mountain String Band, Cowboy Junkies, Terri Allard, Little Big Town, Blackbird Studios