River City Studios

Sandra Bovee-Bernard

Sandra Bovee-Bernard is our Studio Operations Manager and Client Sales Coordinator, as well as voice actor. If you have a question or vision for a recording project, she is the "go-to" person. Sandra has 30 years of sales experience, ten years in management, and 30 years as professional voice talent.

Sandra has developed a strong client base over the past 30 years at River City. She also produced and directed over 50 children's books-on-tape for Houghton Mifflin Publishing (Brilliance Corporation). One of her career highlights was directing Jonathan Winters for School Zone Publishing. A personal fantasy-come-true was giving Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith a neck massage right here at River City.

If you spend time with Sandra, you're sure to hear about her passion for natural health, her grand daughter, Jade Cameron, alternative movies, weightlifting, and reading.

email: sandra@rivercitystudios.com

Jackie Heldt

Jackie Heldt is the heart of River City Studios. As Administrative Assistant, Jackie meets and greets clients on the phone and at the door. She is involved in most aspects of client services, including accounts payable and receivable.

Jackie has been with River City since 1995. If the last name sounds familiar, it is . . . since she's the spouse of Studio A engineer, Tim Heldt.

Since Jackie arrived at River City, she has added her own special touch to organizing and making things run smoothly. Besides her office duties, Jackie also knows her way around around the CD duplicating business at River City and knows how to sling MP3 files all over the country.

Of all the employees at River City, Jackie is the sports fanatic. She can put the guys to

shame with her knowledge of sports. In her free time, she enjoys roller blading, dance, writing poetry, and arts & crafts. What she does best is to put a smile on the face of anyone who comes in contact with her and River City.

email: jackie@rivercitystudios.com

Joseph McCargar

After obtaining a Master’s degree in Communications, Joe signed on with River City Studios as one of the original staff, and for 27 years, he has been a recordist and the company’s financial manager. In this capacity, he designed, from the ground up, the rather complex billing and payroll system that is required by a part-product and part-service company like a recording studio.

It’s not an accident that Joseph MCargar has made his lifetime career in the recording arts. During the hayday of the Beatles and the Stones, Joe was a Capital Records recording artist as lead singer for the band, "Rock Garden."

Joe teaches three classes in sound recording and one in sound design for film & video at Grand Valley State University's School of Communications.

His recreational passion is cycling, and he avidly follows international professional bicycle racing.

email: joe@rivercitystudios.com

Tim Heldt

Tim is a Western Michigan University graduate with majors in both music and broadcast communications and has an Associate’s Degree in Electronics Technology.

Tim has been instrumental in helping to create a reputation for River City as an industry leader. He prides himself in keeping abreast of today’s (and tomorrow’s) fast-changing technological climate. Tim’s the kind of guy who gets an idea and then does whatever it takes to make it happen. Tim is also the head of the Music Recording Technology program at Grand Rapids Community College and is studying to earn a master's degree in Educational Technology.

His activities outside the studio include his family, flying, rolllerblading, camping and video games.

email: theldt@grcc.edu

Roy D. Wallace

Roy Wallace is the newest (and youngest) member of the River City Family. Music has been a big part of Roy’s life beginning at the age of four when he started playing Violin using the Suzuki Method, and continuing to the present, playing drums and percussion in numerous bands, from Jazz to Rock ‘n’ Roll, Reggae and Funk. His second band, Mission Orange, enjoyed much success in their seven-year run, and toured all over Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, opening for national acts such as Merl Sunders and Guster. Roy has been in numerous youth symphonies including the prestigious Blue Lake International Youth Symphony, with which he toured in Europe and the US. He continued with his musical studies throughout college where he majored in violin and percussion performance for two years, before he changed majors to Recording Technology.

Currently, Roy has an Associates of Arts in Recording Technology and a Bachelors of Science in Music Industry Management with a Certificate in Direct Marketing. When he is not playing in one of four bands, he records various artists such as rock great, Chuck Leavell (keyboards for the Rolling Stones, Allman Bros.), singer/songwriter Dan Walker and many more, as well as running live sound for many national and local acts throughout Michigan.

When not performing or working with various artists at River City, Roy enjoys restoring old air-cooled VW buses and hitting the Mountain Bike trail, Hiking trail, or screamin' along on hisTandem Road bike with his wife, Courtney. Aside from these activities you can find him on the phone and computer helping other artists and students with their music careers.

email: roy@rivercitystudios.com

Jake Chase

Jake has been into music ever since elementary school: first trombone and then the drums, which he has played for the past 10 years. Jake is currently acquiring a bachelor’s degree for Film and Video Production at Grand Valley State University. Under the tutelage of Joseph McCargar, he has completed the full gamut of audio production classes, which led to an internship at River City Studios. He now works as an audio engineer recording music, on location performances, and voiceovers for commercial clients at River City.

Along with recording, Jake is also fluent in graphic design. He has designed album artwork for bands as well as art for the studio. Give him a few ideas, explain what you want, and chances are he’ll make them dance a graphic ballet in 2-dimensions you never thought possible!

Outside of work Jake enjoys playing around in Photoshop, riding his bike up and down town, and watching a movie or two.

E-mail: jake@rivercitystudios.com

Brian Pepera

Brian's been playing drums since he was 5 and singing since he could talk. His love of music led him to Berklee College of Music in Boston Massachusetts where he received a Bachelors of Music with a degree in Music Production and Engineering. He also used his time "out east" to gain real-world experience as an intern and later as an engineer for the prestigious Blue Jay Recording Studios just North of the city.

After completing his education, Brian started BP Audio Productions. This production company was dedicated to the recording of spoken word and Brian had the opportunity to work with distinguished clients like Prentice Hall (Pearson Education) and The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (a division of The Library of Congress).

Brian is now the newest member of River City Studios. When he's not recording, editing, and mixing for RCS, Brian enjoys playing with his band, cooking, reading, and taking walks with his wife Natalie and their dog Copley.

E-Mail: brian@rivercitystudios.com

River City Studios Ltd.; 147 Goodrich SE; Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Phone: (616) 456-1404; Fax: (616) 456-1410; email: rivercitystudios@att.net