Richard James Burgess Ph.D. has produced, recorded and performed on many gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums. He authored The Art of Record Production in 1997 and the second, third and fourth editions now entitled The Art of Music Production: The Theory and Practice, published by Oxford University Press. In July 2014 Oxford published his latest book The History of Music Production. Burgess has been a major label recording artist and composer with hit records in his own right; was a studio musician of note and has worked internationally for most major labels as a producer, engineer, re-mixer and manager of artists and producers. He is known for his pioneering work with synthesizers, computers and sampling in popular music and as an inventor of the SDSV drum synthesizer. Educated at Berklee College of Music, Boston, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London and The University of Glamorgan, Wales, he played with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (U.K.) and won Music Week, British Arts Council, Park Lane Group, and Greater London Arts Association awards. He currently works for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in Washington DC, where he was co-producer and project director for Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology, a seven year project chronicling more than a century of jazz.