Growing up in Detroit in the 60's when the streets sang and flourished with the sound of Motown and all of its artists, the Soul of Aretha Franklin, Jackie Wilson, and many Gospel artists, proved to be the training camp of life for Dave Isaac. As a boy, he watched fellow Detroiters every night in front of the living room television, musically taking over the world. Dave became involved in the music industry as a young musician at the age of 12, as Detroit evolved into the place for Funk bands in the 70’s from the likes of Funkadelic (which he briefly worked with), or Rock from Bob Segar. He became an Engineer and Programmer as Detroit became the home of R&B, Techno, and Gospel from artists like Anita Baker, DeBarge, The Winans, or Juan Atkins in the 80’s (all whom he worked with), then he became a Producer in the 90’s as Hip-Hop and Rap made its mark in Detroit from artists such as Eminem, and J. Dilla, all being examples of the energy in the environment of Detroit.
After working with artists like R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder, El Debarge, Aaliyah, KEM, Aretha Franklin, Barry White, The Clark Sisters, Thomas Whitfield, Fred Hammond, Anita Baker, and more, Dave decided to make the move to Los Angeles, California. Upon arrival, he worked with such artists as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Puff Daddy, Babyface, Billy Idol, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Kenny Rogers, and more within his first eight months in L.A.! Dave soon met and began to work with Bass Legend and Producer, Marcus Miller, and from there he used all of his talents with such artists as Luther Vandross, Eric Clapton, Wayne Shorter, David Sanborn, and Roberta Flack, to films such as “I Think I Love My Wife”, “Head Of State”, “Love Jones”, “The 6th Man”, “Serving Sara” and more, to television’s “Everybody Hates Chris” series, and producing the Funk ride at the opening of Seattle’s “Experience Music Project”. So far, Dave has earned 3 Grammy Awards and many nominations. You can hear some of his work on Chris Rock’s latest movie “Good Hair”. He is also wrapping up his own forthcoming R&B/Funk CD with the help of a many R&B legends, like Morris Hayes, Patrice Rushen, Marcus Miller, and James “D-Train” Williams.
Thirty-two years after his start in the industry, Dave is still going strong. He’s found time to mix for Prince, Keyshia Cole, S.M.V, Vigilant, Jon Reshard, and has joined Prince’s music director Morris Hayes as the production team called, “The Kommittee”. Periodically, he can be found collaborating on mixes with legendary Mix Engineer Tony Maserati, mixing such artist as Robin Thicke, Leah Labelle, and Printz Board.
As a developer, Dave works with such companies as Universal Audio, Manley, and Tascam/Teac in every way that he can to help them create top-notch software and hardware.
As an educator, he currently gives back by teaching at The Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles, UCLA and various schools, universities, across the country and around the world. Dave is currently nominated to receive an Honorary Degree from Wayne State University for his achievements in the music industry. He is developing educational tutorials, and a website that will empower anyone to be a professional producer or mix engineer online, as he continues to make his mark in the music world.
