OUR TEAM
For nearly twenty years, our close-knit team of music professionals have created award winning albums and acclaimed projects at Echo Mountain.
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Steve Wilmans
Owner
When Steve sold Stepping Stone, his Seattle based recording studio, he moved back to Southern California to escape the dreary weather of the Pacific Northwest, soak up some sun and spend time surfing. When LA became a bit overbearing, Steve decided to help a friend move out of town, not knowing at the time that it would result in his relocation to Asheville. Steve fell in love with the mountain town and decided to start his first East Coast studio, Echo Mountain Recording. He has 30 years of experience as a recording engineer, mixing engineer and studio owner.
Jessica Tomasin
Studio Manager
When Jessica had her first studio experience at the age of 16, singing backup vocals on a hip-hop track in Detroit, she never thought it would be the start of her career in music. In 2006 she become the studio manager at Echo Mountain. Since then, her career has included artist and label management, booking and event production. In 2014 she started her own company, Jet Up Productions and co-founded Asheville Music Professionals, a non-profit organization providing education, advocacy, connection and collaboration in the music community.
ENGINEERING TEAM
Julian Dreyer
Chief Engineer & Producer
Julian grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina in the small artist community of Celo. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Science in Music Technology at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
After 4 Years as a sound engineer at the Orange Peel Julian became the first staff assistant engineer at Echo Mountain Recording. He rose to a staff lead engineer for a few years and then took over the role as chief engineer. He has engineered 2 Grammy nominated albums one of which was a Grammy winner.
He produces, engineers, and mixes in all styles of music and has recorded many audiobooks for major publishing companies.
“I enjoy working in all styles and it is inspiring to find the common ground between them and the wider perspective that is informed by the variety.”
Kenny Harrington
Engineer & Producer
Kenny earned his BA in Audio Production from the Art Institute of Washington. He began his internship at Echo Mountain in 2013, shortly after relocating to Asheville from the DC area, and has since moved to the position of Staff Engineer. He has engineered numerous sessions and continues to grow his career at Echo Mountain. In addition to engineering, Kenny also manages the internship program at the studio.
Dowell Gandy
Engineer & Producer
Dowell graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Audio Arts and Acoustics. After working in the film industry as a location sound engineer in Chicago he moved to Asheville to pursue a career in music production and engineering which started with an internship at Echo Mountain in 2015. He has since progressed into the role of producer and engineer.
Josh Blake
Engineer & Producer
Josh is a Grammy nominated musician, producer, and engineer who’s shaped his talents in the studio with over 30 years of experience. Spending over a decade as a nationally touring musician, and still gigging several times a week, Josh brings an approach to the recording process from a perspective rooted within a performing artists mind set. Founder and CEO of the music web channel iamavl.com, Josh produces and engineers their flagship program Echo Sessions, a live in studio concert experience that takes place at the Echo Mountain. This series is live broadcast on iamavl.com, as well as rebroadcast on PBS.
Having a relationship with the studio since it first opened in 2006, Josh is a freelance producer and engineer, who both sublets Studio L and maintains an office for IamAVL at Echo Mountain.
Talia Service
Assistant Engineer
Talia graduated Magna Cum Laude from The University of North Carolina at Asheville with a B.S. in Music Technology in 2018. Talia is an experienced live sound engineer in the Western North Carolina region. She regularly mixes FOH and monitors at venues and events such as Salvage Station, Rabbit Rabbit, Sierra Nevada, LEAF, and AVLFest. She was an intern at Echo Mountain before moving up to an assistant engineer position. She has been an assistant engineer at Echo Mountain for 3 years, and also handles bookkeeping for the studio.
Graham Sachse
Assistant Engineer
Graham attended college at GTCC in Greensboro, NC for Entertainment Technologies. He moved to Asheville in 2019 to start his internship at Echo Mountain and progressed to Assistant Engineer in 2022. Graham is also active as a musician in the local music scene.