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Prairie Sun Staff

& Extended Family
Mark

Mark "Mooka" Rennick
​Owner/ Producer/ Prairie Grass Expert

Born in Peoria, Illinois. Avid voracious reader of political science, history. "Mooka" was raised near Galesburg, Illinois, the site of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate.

“I want to be an artist. Period," says Rennick, who in his limited spare time plays in a politically charged spoken-word ensemble, The Abolitionists, and plays bass in various local bands.

"Mooka" has recorded many artists for the Shrapnel Records. Amongst those are Michael Lee Firkins, Ritchie Kotzen, Greg Howe, Eric Gale.

In addition to Shrapnel Record Artists, "Mooka" has worked with Ramblin Jack Elliot, Tom Waits, Chris Duarte, Michael Schenker, Larry Coryell, Commander Cody, and Zero as well as many other industry pros.
Email Mooka
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Elizabeth Silver
​Studio Manager/ Creative Director/ Wrestler 

Liz joined Prairie Sun in August 2019 and she hasn't stopped. A Capricorn at heart there is always a new project at hand. She helped  transition a storage room  into a new lobby (that doubles as an echo chamber),  adopted a studio cat, and kept the studio kicking during a pandemic. 

Born and raised in the bluegrass state, Liz knows her way around a tune.  Her passion for music was found at a very young age when she began singing in church with her mom and aunt. Eventually, she dove deeper and studied music production and theory at Full Sail University,  graduating in May 2019. 

Her dream is to produce lyric filled albums like her influences; Dolly Parton, Tyler Childers, Brandy Clark, Brandi Carlisle, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and way  too many to list. 

If you have any questions or want to inquire about working with Prairie Sun, please feel free to contact Liz directly. She specializes in working with artists to make their dreams and creations come to life. 
Email Liz
Nate Nauseda, Studio Manager

Nate Nauseda
​Chief Engineer/ Producer/ Fainting Goat Whisperer

Nate, our chief engineer,  joined Prairie Sun in 2014. He quickly showed his aptitude both for studio engineering work and the behind-the-scenes work in the studio office. He has helped keep Prairie Sun a frontrunner in the industry without losing it's charm. 

An indie rockstar and troubadour at heart, Nate is a great producer and engineer with skills that keep multiplying. Hailing from the beautiful Santa Clara County, he is very knowledgeable with the Bay Area sound.  Add a little mix of Chicago in there, from his dad's side, and you got one hell of a cat.  

Nate is a great asset to our Prairie Sun family. In the past few years Nate's discography has continued to grow with bands that include: Whitney, The Killers, Radio Keys, and many more. 

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Email Nate
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Joe Jones
​Prairie Sun Live Manager/ Engineer/ Line Dancer

Bio Coming Soon














Email Joe
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Jason Reed
​Staff Engineer/ Producer/ Man Who Gets On Private Planes Sometimes

Bio Coming Soon


















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Email Jason

Oz Fritz,  Producer/Engineer

Oz Fritz
​
Producer/ Engineer/ Master Of All Things Zen

Oz Fritz has been a professional sound engineer for more than 35 years working in both recording studio and live concert environments.

He has collaborated on over 60 projects with producer Bill Laswell, engineered three Tom Waits albums (including the Grammy Winning Mule Variations, here at Prairie Sun), and generally amassed a credit list far too large and impressive to fit in this little paragraph!

​In one way or another, we've all learned a great deal about engineering from Oz, and every client we've referred to Oz shares our respect and admiration for his craft. Oz also writes a fascinating blog called The Oz Mix.
Email Oz
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Nigel Wolovick
​Staff Engineer/ Jewelry Maker & Model

An award-winning musician since High School, Nigel has studied a variety of musical styles. From Jazz Saxophone and Improvisation to Piano and Operatic Vocal technique, his broad range of studies has led to diverse and unique creations and collaborations.

 His engineering experiences include  bands such as Poor Man's Whiskey, the Whiskey Family Band, and many more.  

Nigel is a fantastic live sound and studio engineer. With a vast knowledge of theory and musicianship, Nigel adds a fascinating depth to each project he engineers. He also puts his whole  heart and energy in each project that he takes on. 
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Email Nigel

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Brad Dollar
​Producer/ Engineer/ Healer of Grapes

Brad Dollar's career, being and  life has been focused on empowering artists. Whether that is creating transformative productions in the studio or developing new ways to grow an audience, He is committed to results that can be both measured and felt.

Brad directly supported thousands of recordings, coached hundreds of musicians and helped dozens of startups to align their craft and core values. From Grateful Dead to G-Eazy, Amazon to Airbnb and Oakland to Nashville, He energizes people to unlock their power for an elevated approach to everything they do.





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Email Brad
Travis Strain, Staff Engineer Manager, Prairie Sun Live

Travis Strain
​Production Manager/ Staff Engineer/ Caregiver of Plants

 Travis first came to Prairie Sun to apprentice as a studio engineer, and while he excelled in that position, he soon moved back to his native Texas to resume work in the live sound business there.

It was not long, though, before Mooka tapped Travis to manage his newly-expanded Prairie Sun Live.  For the past 8 years Travis has helped cultivate and build Prairie Sun Live.  In December 2019, Travis began touring. He has transitioned into being a consultant, production manager for PSL and training management,  staff and interns. 

​Despite a busy schedule managing Da Baby's Tour, Travis still finds time to engineer sessions in our studios and coordinate our studio maintenance.
Email TRAVIS
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Cody Fuentes
​Producer/ Engineer/ Dog Whisperer

Cody Fuentes is a recording, mixing and mastering engineer from the Bay Area, California. 
“I’ve been a musician for 20 years now, and the journey into production started with my own desire to achieve particular sounds with my own metal band, SPITE. 

Since starting as an engineer in 2014, Cody has landed multiple artists such as Wolf King, Lionheart, Spite and more on Billboards Top 200 charts, with high rankings for metal and hard rock productions. 

These gates are not only being opened for Rock and Extreme Metal, but the various other styles he enjoys to produce as well (reggae, funk, country, hip-hop, you name it). 

Email Cody
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Jake Bragonier
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Assistant Staff Engineer/ Connoisseur Of Fine Spectacles/ Likes to Take Square Photos

Jake Bragonier joined Prairie Sun in August  2019 and has been making waves ever since. He is a detailed oriented, talented engineer with a passion for everything he does. 

Jake, is a specialist in hip hop, EDM, and the Bass scene. He is an up and coming producer/ engineer that you don't want to miss. 

He is one of the founders of the band, Xotix, check them out. 


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Email Jake
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Brett Brazil
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Assistant Staff Engineer/ Maker of Rock Candy

Sonoma County native, Brett Brazil, is our newest addition to the Prairie Sun Family. Spending 6 months as an intern, he has learned his way around the studio. Brett is a marketing whiz, battling Facebook's giants to bring the world the best in social media. 

Brett is currently training as an apprentice engineer and is an incredible assistant engineer. Brett's most recent project was assisting on our NBC Production with The Killers.  

Brett is an insane bassist for his band, "The Happy's and he has a pretty cool sidekick named Mud. 
Email Brett
Travis Strain, Staff Engineer Manager, Prairie Sun Live

Dave Rollans
​Videographer/ Photographer/ Tony Hawk 

​Dave first started working at Prairie Sun as a session musician, drumming on a host of projects including Lauren O'Connell's Quitters.

​Dave's passion for documenting the sessions he played on soon developed into a thriving business producing "behind-the-scenes" and "live-in-the-studio" videos for many of our recent clients, helping them satisfy their fans' growing demand for multimedia content.





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Email Dave
Prairie Sun Recording Studio
(707) 795-7011
​info@prairiesun.com
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analog recording studio, rural recording studio, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, Bay Area, California
  • Home
  • About
    • Clients
    • History
    • Why Prairie Sun
    • Get the Band Back Together
    • Staff
  • Studios
    • Overview
    • StudioA
    • StudioB
    • StudioC
    • Residential Recording Studio
  • Equipment
    • Neve Console
  • Services
  • Contact
  • Blog