Touch a Knob Make a Sound Academy was born from something rare.

Robert “Bobby” Brooks did not come into this industry through algorithms, viral clips, or shortcuts. He was shaped inside sacred rooms — rooms where excellence was expected, where standards were enforced, and where mentorship was not a program but a way of life.

As a former staff engineer at Motown’s Hitsville Studios and The Legendary Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago, Bobby learned early that sound is not accidental. It is shaped with intention.

Bruce Swedien shaped his ear.

Bruce did not teach plugins.
He taught listening.
He taught space.
He taught restraint.
He taught that what you remove matters as much as what you add.

Quincy Jones shaped his standards

Quincy did not tolerate mediocrity.
He demonstrated leadership through discipline.
He showed that vision without execution is nothing.
He modeled what it means to raise the bar even when no one is asking you to.

Stevie Wonder shaped his integrity.

Working as Stevie’s longtime personal recording engineer and synthesizer programmer was not about celebrity. It was about protecting the music. Protecting the process. Protecting the space.

There were no cameras in those rooms.
No casual documentation.
No social media.

The studio was a sanctuary.

Privacy was not secrecy — it was respect.
Respect for the artist.
Respect for the vulnerability required to create.
Respect for the work itself.

Michael Jackson shaped excellence.

Excellence was not a mood.
It was a requirement.
Details mattered.
Energy mattered.
Preparation mattered.

When you operate at that level, you do not guess. You prepare. You refine. You repeat until it is right.

That is the environment that shaped Bobby Brooks.

And that is the environment that shaped this Academy.

Touch a Knob Make a Sound Academy exists because mentorship like that is almost extinct.

Today, students can access endless tutorials — but very few experience correction. Very few experience someone listening carefully enough to challenge them. Very few are taught how to carry themselves in a room where standards are high.

This Academy restores that.

We are not anti-institution.
We are not anti-school.

But many educational environments are limited by funding structures, standardized curriculum models, and regulatory constraints. The Academy exists to supplement — not replace — those systems with lived industry experience.

We are especially committed to expanding access to students at HBCUs and underserved institutions — students with immense talent who deserve the same proximity to excellence that once shaped Bobby’s life.

When Bobby was 17, he had no industry connections.
No roadmap.
No family history in music.

Someone saw something in him before he saw it in himself.

That spark changed everything.

Touch a Knob Make a Sound Academy exists to find that spark in others.

Not to create followers.
Not to create hobbyists.

But to create disciplined, imaginative, technically capable creators who walk into a room prepared — and who understand that creativity is both freedom and responsibility.

Mentorship never ends.

Bruce is still present in every decision about tone.
Quincy is still present in every standard chosen.
Stevie is still present in every moment integrity matters.
Michael is still present whenever excellence is required.

This Academy is continuity.

Someone once opened a door.

Now we open it wider.