Mark Snyder is a musician, video artist, composer, engineer, producer, and teacher living in Maywood, Illinois. Playing drums and tuba as a member of One Ring Zero, Dirtball, and Easy Chair, Mark has shared the stage with acts such as the Dave Matthews Band, the Roots, They Might Be Giants, and Drive-by Truckers.

Mark’s multimedia compositions have been described as “expansive, expressive, and extremely human.” His songs and compositions for theater, dance, orchestras, film, and TV have been broadcasted and performed all over the world, including CBS, PBS, and ABC.

As a producer, writer, engineer, and performer, his discography includes world, electroacoustic, pop, rock, classical, hip-hop, and country records. Mark dedicated 30 years to curating and presenting Electronic Music and Arts Festivals, including Imagine II, Electroacoustic Juke Joint, and the Electroacoustic Barn Dance.

Mark’s commitment to music education has been recognized with two Grammy Music Educator of the Year nominations. Over the past three decades, he has guided his students to remarkable success, including an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award winner, a student’s capstone paper published in the journal Metamorphis, and three students securing second place at the Nashville Audio Engineering Society Mix Competition. Many of his former students are now engineers for esteemed bands like Primus, Butcher Brown, Flipturn, and an in-house engineer for NPR in Washington, D.C.

Mark earned the DMA from the University of Memphis, an MM from Ohio University, and a BA from Mary Washington College. Currently, Mark produces, writes, and performs out of his own studio, Simpleton Sound, which he established 30 years ago. He is the audio producer of the Southeast Asian Crossroads podcast, and is an instructor at Northern Illinois University, where he directs the popular music ensembles and teaches songwriting, rock history, and ear training.