User:Ckomendera

Joe Thomas
Director/Producer

With 25 years of experience in the entertainment field, Joe Thomas’ career spans a wide angle within the music and television industries. From his beginnings serving as a writer, engineer and producer in the audio realm; becoming studio owner and then a label president; and expanding into the visual realm as a producer and director – Thomas has always been a step ahead of the curve.

In the ‘80s, Thomas established River North Recorders, which at the time was the largest full service audio recording facility in Chicago. It was there that songs such as Billy Idol’s “Mony Mony” and the commercial “Be Like Mike,” which Thomas co-produced, were born. By 1991 Thomas was running River North Recorders as well as Platinum Entertainment, a subsidiary of PolyGram. As president of Platinum, Thomas recorded and/or produced the Beach Boys, Peter Cetera, Willie Nelson, and Alan Parsons, among others. The company went public in 1997 and was one of the fastest growing companies in 1996, according to Inc. Magazine. He spent 1998 through ’99 producing and co-writing Brian Wilson’s Imagination as well as served as musical director, co-producer and promoter of Wilson’s ’98 world tour.

Thomas parlayed his knowledge and talent into the visual format in 2000. It was a natural progression for Thomas. “I think it was more of a metamorphosis,” contends Thomas. “I think the record industry has been looking for new ways to exploit their artists, and I think that visual – through MTV and now through other music networks – visual imagery is the way to go. . . More and more people are looking to their TV, cable or satellite provider to provide them with artist imagery and music.”

Forming Kurtis HD Partners in 2000 with veteran TV journalist Bill Kurtis, they produced high definition hard news documentaries for several networks, including A&E, PBS and NBC. Realizing that high definition was the wave of the future and with his solid roots still in the music industry, Thomas combined his two passions when he co-founded HD Ready, LLC.

Thomas launched HD Ready, LLC in 2001. Since its inception, the company – which is managed by Thomas – has produced six seasons of the acclaimed nationally broadcast PBS show, Soundstage. Each episode has been produced and directed by Thomas. The program features legendary as well as burgeoning artists and is one of the first of its kind – broadcasting live-recorded music concerts directly in high definition.

“I believe we have the world’s largest catalog of high definition concert footage. We have over 120 hours worth of content,” says Thomas. “We shoot pristine high definition 1080i or 30P and it’s always mastered in high-def, none of it has been up-converted.”

HD Ready’s 48 ft mobile facility is capable of a 15-camera high-definition shoot, and is fully equipped for shows on the road as well as in studio. Forgoing analog, HD Ready is entirely digital and fiber optic. With a full 96-input digital mixing facility and two complete Avid HD DS suites as well as a 96-input ProTools HD system, HD Ready can mix in 5.1 and take any HD video project from concept to completion.

Having directed and produced numerous artists’ shows including Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Wilco, Tom Petty and John Mayer, Thomas has also directed several Platinum DVDs such as Fleetwood Mac Live in Boston DVD which premiered at Number Two on Billboard, while Tom Petty’s DVD shipped gold. Most recently, Thomas and HD Ready filmed Dave Matthews Band’s four-night stint at the renowned Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. Thomas also directed Bon Jovi’s A&E Rocks: which features songs from their most recent album Lost Highway.

As he has done since the earliest stages of his career, Thomas continues to keep a visionary outlook for his current projects as well as the future. “The way we’re capturing this footage is in the highest quality available,” explains Thomas. “It far exceeds broadcast – it will be 15 years before they can even broadcast the beauty of this footage.”