Paca Thomas teaches sound design in North Hollywood, CA and online. His private lessons include all genres, including electronic, ambient and cinematic. His expertise is using and teaching ANALOG synths. He studied synth patching and sound design at at Webster College Conservatory for the Performing arts. By the late 70’s, Paca was studying electronics, designing and building his own analog synth circuits to develop a deeper understanding of the technology. Soon after, the digital age came to pass and swept Paca into the world of digital synthesis and sampling. It was at this time that he was in demand for studio work where he programmed artist’s gear and created sounds for such artists as Rick Springfield, George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelics, Hank Ballard, Aeone and a score of others. In his time as a music sound designer, Paca learned the skills needed to become a respected audio engineer. His reputation as a Sound Designer led him to another world entirely; Sound Effects Design and Editing for Television and Film where Animation Sound became his forte. Paca’s post-production career – mostly associated with Advantage Audio in Burbank, CA – lasted nearly twenty years and garnered him 5 Emmy wins, 8 Emmy nominations, and over a dozen nods for the Motion Picture Sound Editors award. Racking up work on more than 100 projects, Paca’s clients regularly included Disney, Universal, Sony, Dreamworks, MGM and other notable production companies. His work could be heard on such classic TV and Film features as Disney’s Gargoyles, Kim Possible, Universal’s Land Before Time films, and Sony’s Men in Black TV Series. But as rewarding as Digital Sound Effects design was to him, Paca’s music was suffering from Digital Option Paralysis; too many soft-synths, too many presets, too many choices. He found himself lost in other people’s loops and samples and gradually losing inspiration in a world he’s lived in all his life. So, Paca went back to his roots, creating Rebekah, an epic Moog-style Analog Modular Synthesizer that made available all the aspects of Analog Synthesis. Now retired from “active duty” as a Sound Designer, Paca has turned his interests to bringing the remarkable and evergreen analog sound to anyone who wishes to utilize it or learn all about it.
