In 2001, Paul Heitsch founded Push Play Audio, Inc. Through his company, Paul pursues his passion for all things audio, including original music, sound design, and voiceover.
Paul began training as a classical pianist at age four. While in high school, he studied at the Austin Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, where he won the Young Artist Award (the highest award possible), at the annual concerto competition two years in a row. He studied Piano Performance, and Music Composition and Theory, at University of Illinois, before leaving to pursue opportunities in Chicago. Over the next ten years, he performed in bands, and as a soloist, session player, and accompanist for dance, improv comedy, and musical theater companies. He spent two years playing for The Second City National Touring Company, where he worked with, among others, Steve Carrell, Jeremy Piven, Jane Lynch, Bonnie Hunt, Joel Murray, and Chris Farley.
In 1990 he joined the staff of Williams Electronics Games as a composer and sound designer. He is credited on over twenty arcade game titles produced there. In 1997 he was hired by O’Donnell/Salvatori, where he created sound design for “RIVEN – The Sequel to MYST,” and the two “Myth” games from Bungie Studios, in which he lent his voice to the brief, but pivotal role of Hapless Villager No. 2. His music and sound design also appear in “Sid Meier’s Civilization V,” “Peace Navigator,” and several children’s interactive titles from LeapFrog, VTech Kids, Kindermusik, and Publications International.
In 2006, Paul was recruited by Rosetta Stone to manage their Audio department. While at Rosetta Stone, he hired, trained, and directed the team that produced all the audio content for the launch of their V3 product in 2007. This effort included creating an off-site recording facility housing 9 studios, 7 offices, meeting rooms, a kitchen and client lounge; recording, editing, testing, and integrating over 250,000 speech files, performed by over 40 different talents speaking 10 languages. Everything was delivered on time, and under budget.
In 2011, Paul enrolled as a returning adult student at James Madison University to pursue a degree in eLearning. You can view his current portfolio here He is now also an adjunct instructor for the JMU School of Music, teaching a course in multitrack recording and engineering. He is also an administrator and Music Director for the JMU School of Theatre and Dance.
His most recent new professional endeavor began in the fall of 2011. After directing and engineering hundreds of VO recording sessions, Paul decided to see what life is like on the other side of the glass, and began narrating audiobooks. His current listing of available titles can be viewed here and here.
You can view his LinkedIn profile here.
Thanks for visiting, and feel free to drop Paul a line here.