Faculty and Staff
MARTIN ATKINS - Founder
Martin Atkins is the definition of entrepreneurial activity in cultural arts endeavors, his 40+ years in the music business spans across genres and borders and industries.
He was a member of Public Image Ltd and Killing Joke. He founded industrial supergroup Pigface, The Damage Manual, and Murder Inc., and has contributed to Nine Inch Nails and Ministry. He is the owner of Invisible Records and Mattress Factory Recording Studios (est. 1988). He is the author of three books including Tour:Smart, a syndicated blogger, and is the Coordinator of the Music Business Program at Millikin University.
Martin is a producer, drummer, documentary film maker, DJ, and father of four. Whatever the future of music is, you can pretty much bet that he’ll be in the middle of it.
KATIE CRAIN - DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS
As Director of Programs, Katie Crain designs and facilitates participants’ experience on Tour:Smart Bus Edition. She also manages industry and academic partnerships. She has spent over 18 years in the music industry with experience in live entertainment, record labels, music publishing, music retail, corporate social media, non-profit sectors, tour planning, event production, and book publication and well as 10+ years teaching in higher ed.
She holds a Masters of Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Illinois State University.
TRISTAN BEACHE - lead Instructor / tour manager
Entrepreneur, Audio Engineer, Educator, American Soldier, Fitness Enthusiast, Online Sales and Marketing. Tristan’s career in audio spans 20+ years and all parts of the world. He holds a Doctorate of Business Administration and Global Business Sustainabilty, a Masters of Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago and a BA in Audio Arts and Acoustics.
Joe Darnaby is an audio engineer, educator, and guitarist. Joe serves as Director of Audio for the International Beethoven Project as well as sound engineer and consultant for Second City. Joe also spent 10 years as a production manager at Chicago’s iconic Cubby Bear. He spent 5+ years teaching audio engineering at SAE Chicago.
He has a Bachelor of Music Degree in Sound Recording Technology from DePaul University.
joe darnaby - Instructor (live sound)
Joe Darnaby is an audio engineer, educator, and guitarist. Joe serves as Director of Audio for the International Beethoven Project as well as sound engineer and consultant for Second City. Joe also spent 10 years as a production manager at Chicago’s iconic Cubby Bear. He spent 5+ years teaching audio engineering at SAE Chicago. He has a Bachelor of Music Degree in Sound Recording Technology from DePaul University.
MENTORS
WENDY DAY
Wendy Day started Rap Coalition in 1992 to advocate for artists who have little to no leverage in the urban music business. After shopping and negotiating many favorable deals for artists and creating many millionaires in the music industry, Wendy has gone on to consult and help build independent record labels, while writing a series of how-to books and music resources to help artists excel. Wendy Day has worked with many artists including Eminem, Tupac, Twista, Do Or Die, David Banner, Slick Rick, Boosie, Webbie, Fiend, C-Murder, Trouble, Lil Donald,Foolio, and many more.
She played a crucial role in shopping and negotiating the deals of Master P's No Limit, Cash Money, Eminem, Twista, David Banner, and many others. Wendy's clients have sold over a billion records during her illustrious 27 year career. Wendy is currently building an educational website to teach artists about how to make money with their music (SlavesNoMore.com) and just received the funding to start an incubator for independent Rappers to help them start their own record labels.
Wendy Day is based in Atlanta and can be found via Instagram @RapCoalition. Be sure to follow her free educational videos on YouTube at YouTube.com/ThisIsWendyDay.