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Select Projects & Clients
The following are projects & clients of Simon Higgs:  
   

Client: Zemaitis International
Project: Guitar Consulting
Date: 2008-

Scope: Japanese guitar manufacturer Kanda Shokai/Greco have revived the legacy of legendary English luthier Tony Zemaitis. We were honoured to assist them at both the 2008 and 2009 Winter NAMM Shows. We also created the Zemaitis Guitars application on Facebook.

Zemaitis International
   

Project: Wattkins Amp Forums
Scope: Guitar Amp Building / Online Community
Date: 2007-

Details: Wattkins Amp Forums was founded by members of 18watt.com from "over-spill" discussions surrounding the cheap and easy to modify Epiphone Valve Junior guitar amplifier. Using our previous award winning online community expertise, we designed a new set of forums to be as inclusive as possible while providing separate discussion areas for the different genres of guitar amplifiers. As a result, a group of discussion forums with common login credentials were created around the "watt" theme under the general name "Wattkins Amp Forums". The following sites are all part of Wattkins Amp Forums:

* ppwatt.com (for push-pull tube amps)
* sewatt.com (for single-ended tube amps)
* 45watt.com (for Marshall JTM-45 & Fender Bassman amps)
* wattkins.com (a place for the amp building community to hang out)

 
   

Client: Lipe Guitars USA
Project: Guitar Consulting
Date: 2007-

Scope: Michael Lipe was the Master Luthier at Ibanez's artist custom shop in Hollywood, California and hand-built the guitars played by primary endorsers Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and many others. Now he's building guitars under his own name. We are providing management & marketing consulting services including the creation of ads for Vintage Guitar magazine. We also provided assistance at both the 2008 and 2009 Winter NAMM Shows.

Lipe Guitars USA
   

Client: Monster Guitars
Project: Guitar Consulting
Date: 2007-

Scope: We provide Internet and marketing consulting services. Check out the Monster Guitars ads that we created for Vintage Guitar magazine.

   

Client: TogaMan Guitars
Project: Guitar Consulting
Date: 2006-

Scope: Togaman have refined the electric guitar so each string can be bowed using an ordinary violin bow and have been awarded a US patent defining a new instrument as a result. Now Hollywood's composers use Togaman guitars as their secret weapon in blockbuster scores, turning up in the sound tracks of movies from Curous George to 300 as well as TV shows such as CSI Miami. We have provided internet, marketing and management consulting.

 
   

Client: N*Soul Records
Project: Music Distribution
Date: 2006-

Scope: They describe themselves as "the largest Christian Dance record label on the planet" with releases such as the Nitro Praise series and remixes of Larry Norman. We provide the digital distribution in online stores such as the iTunes Music Store.

   

Client: Vineyard Music Himalayas
Project: "Thirst"
Date: 2004

Scope: The songs were recorded in a studio in Kathmandu, Nepal and sent over to us for mixing and mastering. Because of the difference in available recording technology, some audio restoration and cleaning was required before the project could be mixed. This was done with a Pro Tools-based system using various noise reduction, compression & EQ plug-ins. The project was mixed and mastered by Simon Higgs and Boris Menart.

This recording is distributed in the iTunes Music Store by Higgs Communications. Thirst - Journey Into Worship

Thirst - Journey Into Worship
   

Client: Platform Records
Project: "The Cosmic Storyteller"
Date: 1997-2001

Scope: The Cosmic Storyteller master tapes were were in pitiful shape. The first step was the transfer of all the tapes to a digital medium. The tapes were in fact worked on in several studios where the ADAT format made it possible to take them back and forth between Macintosh and PC platforms. Some of the original master tapes were on four-track masters on which elements were sub-mixed, but most of the songs were originally done on an eight-track Ampex recorder. On these multi-track tapes, we had the luxury of being able to clean up a lot of problems before actually mixing and mastering.

This recording is now distributed outisde the US in the iTunes Music Store by Higgs Communications. Unicorn

Unicorn - Cosmic Storyteller
   

Client: Universal Systems Inc. / Integic Corporation (now aquired by Northrop Grumman)
Project: Document Management Consulting
Date: 1997-2000

Scope: Hired for a DoD web project on the west coast, we found ourselves working hard to eliminate fat-clients on the desktop. In doing so, we successfully obseleted our client's existing core business software. Fortunately, they came back to us for more abuse and we helped them position themselves as the prime contractor on a number of other DoD web-related projects.

   

Client: U.S. Department of Defense
Project: Composite Health Care System II (CHCS II)
Date: 1998

Scope: DoD's premier health care system, Composite Health Care System II (CHCS II) is the first (military or civilian) cradle-to-grave automated health care record, one that can revolutionize the effectiveness of the Military Health System by providing instantaneous patient information to health care providers worldwide. CHCS II is on the leading edge of technology and links multiple commercial-off-the-shelf products together, both within and among nearly 170 military treatment facilities worldwide, in a way that is not being done or even necessary in the civilian sector.

As a sub-contractor, Higgs Communications created the first demonstration model of Release 1 which Pentagon upper management used to evaluate and approve program funding. CHCS II is now called the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA).

CHCS II
   

Client: U.S. Department of Defense
Project: e-Commerce Contract Management Program
Date: 1997-2000

Scope: Starting under the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA) Defense Contract Management Command (DCMC), the project culminated in the creation of the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) in early 2000. Web and internet architecture, network design, and graphic design services were provided to the Information Technology and Public Affairs departments.

Defense Contract Management Agency
   

Client: Sonic Images Records / Christopher Franke
Project: Sonic Images Web / eCommerce Site / Distribution
Date: 1995 & 2007-

Scope: For the April 11, 1995 launch of the Babylon 5 TV show soundtrack CD, Higgs Communications was commissioned to design and create the Sonic Images Records web site and shopping cart. Deciding to host their site in-house, this also involved creating their networking infrastructure as well as editing audio clips for online distribution using Pro Tools. Sonic Images Records is owned by Christopher Franke (ex-Tangerine Dream) who composed the Babylon 5 sountrack.

Christopher Franke's solo albums are now distributed in the iTunes Music Store by Higgs Communications. Christopher Franke

Babylon 5 - Christopher Franke
   

Client: Marshall Industries
Project: Marshall Industries / eCommerce Site
Date: 1994

Scope: Electronics distributor Marshall Industries started on e-commerce before the word even existed. The company began investigating direct Internet-based connections to its suppliers in 1993, and Higgs Communications built its first web based-system which was launched in July 1994. In the next five years, electronic supply chain initiatives helped grow Marshall Industries from $500 million to $2 billion. Marshall Industries was acquired by Avnet, one of their major competitors, in 1999.

Marshall Industries
   

Client: Electronic Cafe International
Project: Electronic Cafe Showcase @ Viacom
Date: 1993

Scope: Higgs Communications has worked on a number of projects for the Electronic Cafe providing Telecommunications and Internet expertise. Please check out the case study of the ECI Showcase @ Viacom Interactive TV event.

Electronic Cafe International
   

Client: Pantheon Productions
Project: Charlton Heston Voyage Through The Bible (CD-ROM)
Date: 1993

Scope: Video & sound editing for the New Testament portion of this project. The original footage from the PBS television series was captured by a Radius Telecast i/o box, where it was edited on an Apple Macintosh using Adobe Premiere. Equilibrium's Debabelizer was then used to optimize the video to match the 256-color pallettes of the background stills. The audio was edited with Deck II and the final optimization and sample rate reduction was done using Digidesign's Sound Designer.

   

Client: Gibson Guitar Corp.
Project: Artist Relations Consultant
Date: 1990-1992

Scope: Originally hired as an intern to maintain the Artist Relations guitar collection, Simon Higgs was hired as a an Artist Relations consultant upon gradusting from Musician's Institite's GIT.

He worked as a liason between Gibson's West Coast Custom Shop, Gibson Labs, and the Artist Relations department. Please check out the case study of the original Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul built by Roger Giffin.

   
 

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