Hiro Iida

Head Programmer and Studio Manager

Iida was born in Tokyo, Japan, and has been a part of the team at STRANGE CRANIUM since 2008.

He studied Music Synthesis at Berklee College of Music from 1985 to 1989, and was an instructor at the Berklee Music Synthesis Department from 1990 to 1997.

His credits include synthesist/composer for the following: Akiko Yano, Brecker Brothers, Richard Bona, Ithamara Koorax, Arto Lindsey, Red+Hot benefit, DreamWorks (soundtrack: WitchBlade), Slide Hampton, Lyle Mays, Ron Carter, Jan Hammer, Tom Coster, New York Voices, Mino Cinelu, SEGA, SONY PlayStation, Panasonic (DVD-Audio, Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank, SHISEIDO, FedEx, JVC Victor, Uniqlo, Apple Music.

He was also the director/composer: New York Fashion Week / Chado: Ralph Rucci, Fall/Winter 1999-Fall/Winter 2012, and the 2nd Studio music director at WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) from 2005 to 2008.

Jason Howland

Business and Music Coordinator

Jason Howland − an honors graduate of Williams College (1993) − is a Grammy Award winning producer, Emmy Award winning arranger, and Tony nominated producer. He is the composer of Broadway’s 2005 Tony Award nominated Little Women – The Musical; Ikiru - The Musical, premiering in Tokyo October 2018; and Last Days of Summer, world premiere September 2018 at the Kansas City Repertory Theater.

Howland has been a musical director, arranger and conductor on Broadway for twenty years. He is the arranger and music supervisor for the smash hit Beautiful - The Carole King Musical (Broadway, West End, US National Tour, Tokyo, Australian National Tour, UK National Tour) for which he won a Grammy Award. He has served as musical supervisor/ director/conductor and arranger for Broadway’s Bonnie and Clyde, Wonderland, Jekyll & Hyde, Les Miserables, The Civil War, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Boy George’s Taboo, in addition to guest-conducting the Broadway musical sensation Spider-Man.

Howland arranged and supervised the touring production of the hit film Flashdance, and supervised the US National Tour of the mega-band Queen’s hit musical We Will Rock You. Most recently Howland orchestrated and arranged the stage adaptation of the Japanese Anime sensation Death Note which had its world premiere in Tokyo in April of 2015, and orchestrated and supervised the world premiere of Mata Hari for Seoul-based EMK.

He has worked extensively world-wide as an arranger, orchestrator, programmer and music producer for touring productions and has worked as a composer, arranger, conductor, and producer on a number of recording projects. He is the proud father of Nina and Noah.

Dave Linnenbank

MainBrain Developer and Head Coder

Dave Linnenbank started piano lessons at the age of six. When he wanted to quit one day, his Dad bribed him with ice cream and got him to keep playing. And so it began.

After forays with trumpet, guitar, and singing, Dave landed at Berklee College of Music to study film scoring, but quickly found his footing with music technology and sound synthesis. Making tools for other artists became a particular joy, connecting a knowledge of modern technology with lessons of musicianship and tasteful performance. The results have been used by Gotye, James Taylor, and regular music producers and students of all stripes. Through his association with Billy and Hiro, Dave has built software to run the nightly performances of both touring and on-Broadway musicals.

When not at home with his family or playing in the church band, Dave works on other media system projects, writes user manuals, and sometimes teaches. He even released an album once. It was pretty good.

Chris Petti

Head MainBrain, Ableton Live and Max Programmer

Berklee College Music Synthesis graduate, Chris has worn a variety of hats in his professional career, ranging from sales, marketing, and product development over a 10 year run with hardware and software giants Korg, Line 6, and Propellerhead. He then moved into music education and into building one of the world’s most successful physical and online courses in music production and performance with Ableton Live.

Working with some of the top Techno DJs, Chris has also produced tracks danced to by tens of thousands of party-goers across the globe. As one of the world’s top experts in Ableton Live, and being a member of the elite Ableton Certified Trainers team, Chris now focuses on building and programming custom MainBrain systems for shows of all sizes.

Myles Turney

Head Recording Engineer

James Olmstead

Associate Programmer and Head Copyist

Olmstead's recent music supervising credits include the 2017 National Tour of Fame and the East Coast Regional Premiere of Mamma Mia. Music directing credits include Thoroughly Modern Millie, White Christmas and Memphis at the John W. Engeman Theatre, Guys and Dolls and West Side Story at The Wick Theatre. On Broadway, he was conductor for On Your Feet and keyboardist on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Beautiful: The Carole King Story, as well as both the Spring and Summer versions of Radio City’s New York Spectacular.

He conducted the Cirque Holiday Spectacular 2016 and 2017 tours and was the copyist for The Public Theater’s Southern Comfort and On Your Feet First National Tour. Additionally, he was the keyboard programmer for the original Off-Broadway version of Fun Home, 2016 tour of Carefree: Dancin’ with Fred and Ginger and A Chorus Line at the Hollywood Bowl.

Most recently, James was assistant music director on the Off-Broadway production of A Letter to Harvey Milk and music director for the John W. Engeman Theatre’s production of Once. His personal projects include composing musicals, including Mambo Italiano and the award-winning NYMF 2013 production of Gary Goldfarb: Master Escapist with lyricist, Omri Schein.

Fuso Morase

Associate Programmer

Morase was born in Japan, and has been part of the team at STRANGE CRANIUM since 2014. He studied Music Synthesis at Berklee College of Music from 1996 to 2000.

He has worked as a Live Sound engineer for over 15 years in New York City.

Takeshi Kawana

Master Technician

Isato Shima

Production Assistant

Max Gordon

Associate Programmer

Max Gordon is a composer and musician based in New York City. He has worked on the music teams of The Band's Visit, The Cher Show, and Tootsie, and done keyboard programming for Wicked and the Shed Theater at Hudson Yards. Recent composition credits: The Winter's Tale (TFANA, NY Times Critic Pick), Charles Perry (Verve Records), and collaborations with hip hop choreographer Jennifer Jancuska. B.A. from Yale University.

Alexander Greenberg

Associate Programmer

Alex is a versatile musician working in New York City and at regional theaters across the country. Originally from Maryland, he studied Piano in Combination with Theater at Ithaca College, graduating magna cum laude. He served as assistant music director for the 2017 national tour of Pippin, where he also was a keyboardist and associate conductor. He has done keyboard programming for several shows at the Tony-award winning Signature Theater in Virginia, most recently for acclaimed productions of Grand Hotel and The Scottsboro Boys, as well as playing keyboard for Crazy for You and Billy Elliot.

In New York, he is a staff pianist for New York University’s Vocal Performance area and is active as a coach, audition pianist, and accompanist across all age levels. He served as music assistant and synth programming associate on Gettin’ the Band Back Together on Broadway, and was the keyboard programmer for BC/EFA’s Broadway Backwards 2019, which raised over $700k for BC/EFA and the LGBT Center.