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Zach Varnell

Zach Varnell has been recording since he was 13 years old, from a 2 track reel to reel in his parents basement in Denver to studios like London Bridge and Bear Creek in Seattle. In 2000, Zach was hired as the chief engineer at Harbor Studios where he worked with a range of visiting producers in contemporary gospel from Nashville’s Brad Duncan to LA’s Andre Crouch. In 2001, Zach was hired as a staff engineer at Tacoma’s Spectre Studios, where he became a partner in 2006, building a new campus in Renton. In the spring of 2012, Zach partnered up with two other engineers to build The Castle, a destination boutique studio in a 19th century English mansion owned by Heart and Bad Company’s guitarist Howard Leese. Along with producing records out of The Castle, Zach is a staff engineer at Tacoma’s Pacific Studios and has recently worked with a number of video production teams, capturing live performances for bands like Pink Martini and Brandi Carlile. In 2011, Zach partnered with videographer/photographers Dylan Priest and Ty Kalberg to create Notes From Home, a web-based intimate house concert experience, producing and recording acoustic concerts for artists like Damien Jurado, Pickwick, Allen Stone, John Vanderslice, The Head and the Heart, and Drew Grow. Zach began teaching Audio Recording at the Tacoma School of the Arts in 2004, and currently serves as the creative media director for Elements of Education, a non-profit funding arts and literacy initiatives in public education. Connect with Zach online: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram