Our Team

Our award-winning team at Soundmirror has many years of extensive experience in recording and mastering classical music.

John Newton

John Newton

A graduate of the Stevens Institute of Technology, John Newton was a staff technician for Dolby Labs and Vanguard Records before founding Soundmirror in 1972. He headed the engineering department of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood for fifteen seasons and was in charge of east coast operations of Soundstream, the pioneering digital recording company. A long professional relationship with Philips led to his serving as head of their recording department and helping develop the SACD format. He has consulted with numerous equipment manufacturers including Bricasti, Lexicon, and Studer. John is a frequent Grammy nominee and has won the Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Classical for 2008, 2011, and 2012.

Mark Donahue

Mark Donahue

Chief Engineer Mark Donahue has been with Soundmirror since 1992. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, with a degree in Performance and Sound Recording Technology, Mark has worked his way through virtually every engineering seat here at Soundmirror, including location engineer, editor, balance engineer, and mastering engineer. Among his better-known mastering projects are the 60 disc reissue on SACD of the famous RCA Living Stereo series. Mark has consulted with many equipment and software manufacturers regarding product development, including Ivory, Lexicon, Kurzweil, Steinberg and Cambridge Signal Technologies. In his copious free time, Mark has designed and manufactured products for Lexicon, custom recording and studio equipment for Soundmirror and rebuilds Studer and Ampex analog tape machines. Mark is a frequent Grammy nominee and has won the 2010, 2012, and 2017 Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Classical.

Blanton Alspaugh

Blanton Alspaugh

A member of the Soundmirror team since 1999, Blanton Alspaugh is our Senior Producer, overseeing recording projects ranging in size from the largest operatic and symphonic productions to solo piano. Each project gets a hand-picked team, and Blanton cultivates an atmosphere of open collaboration with a foundation of thorough preparation. These recordings are typically among the most highly-regarded releases every year—from the acclaim of critics around the world to the peer recognition of the Grammy Awards. Blanton won the Grammy Award for Producer of Year, Classical in February 2013, February 2019, and again in January 2020. Blanton frequently advises artists and ensembles on matters of repertoire and media strategy. He received a B.S. in Music Education from Tennessee Technological University and an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

Dirk Sobotka

Dirk Sobotka

Equally at home in the engineer or producer chair, Dirk Sobotka joined Soundmirror in 2004. After having received his Diplom-Tonmeister degree from the Hochschule für Musik, Detmold in 1996, Dirk was a staff engineer for 8 years at SoundByte Productions in New York City. Dirk has worked as a recording and mixing engineer, editor and producer in a multitude of projects ranging from commercial recording, remastering, broadcast and audio for video. Through contributing his musical and technical expertise Dirk enjoys supporting artists and helping them to achieve their recording goals. Among his most noted projects is the ongoing recording series with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck on the Reference Recordings label. His work has earned numerous honors at the Grammys, including nominations for Producer of the Year, Classical in 2018 and 2019 and an award for Best Engineered Album, Classical in 2010.

Alexis Price

Alexis Price

President and General Manager Alexis Price joined Soundmirror in 2008. Alexis graduated magna cum laude from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Music Business/Management. She studied violin and voice while at Berklee and was the student manager for The Wayfaring Strangers featuring Matt Glaser, Tracy Bonham, and Aoife O’Donovan among others. Following Berklee, Alexis worked in New York City as an artist manager for Medeski Martin & Wood, The Wood Brothers, and Marc Ribot. Working on the road with these fantastic artists helped Alexis transition to the location recording work of Soundmirror. Alexis oversees business operations and works together with the team to ensure all projects are produced to Soundmirror’s high artistic and technical standards.

Jacob Steingart

Jacob Steingart

Engineer Jacob Steingart has been with Soundmirror since January 2023. He holds a degree in Sound Recording Technology with a focus in violin performance from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Since leaving UMass Lowell, Jacob has gone on to engineer for organizations and artists such as the Aspen Music Festival, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory, Yo-Yo Ma, Augustin Hadelich, The Silkroad Ensemble, Cecile McLorin-Salvant, Danilo Perez, and countless local New England-based ensembles.