Musical Horizon originated out of necessity. Today, I am a classically-trained violinist. As a young student, whose parents are not musicians, when I first had to send audition recordings of myself to summer music festivals, I initially used my family's portable tape recorder. However, I quickly learned that my competition was spending hundreds of dollars recording in professional studios. I was never accepted at any of the programs I applied to until my parents insisted that I go on live auditions. To my amazement I blew the competition away.

However, live auditions are not always feasible. My parents invested in a professional quality Tascam tape cassette recorder, which to this day I still own and use for my tape cassette needs. I remember listening in disbelief to the difference in quality of these recordings in comparison to those I had produced with the portable tape recorder my father had purchased a few years beforehand. Later on, I would also find out that the professional-quality microphones that we purchased with the Tascam had also been a major factor in producing the better sound quality.

Quite a few years later, while attending high school, I took courses in music and video technology, broadcasting, recording, and editing. The skills I had learned enabled me to compete with other students sending in audition tapes. I was one of the first students to send in professional quality video tapes as auditions for entrance into undergraduate degree programs.

I was accepted with a merit-scholarship to Penn State University as a violin performance major. In my sophomore year at Penn State, the School of Music acquired professional recording gear for use in their recital hall. I decided to take advantage of this equipment in order to benefit myself as a violinist. Other students quickly found out that I knew how to use the equipment and started asking me if I could record their recitals and audition CDs as well. This prompted the School of Music to create a list of "Penn State School of Music Qualified Recording Engineers". I was one of the first people on this list and my services became extremely popular and were used by many of the School of Music's professors, students, and ensembles. One of the first recordings I produced at Penn State was for a grant recording by Professors James Lyon (violin) and Marylène Dosse (piano) for their CD "French Romantic Women Composers". It is currently for sale on CDBaby.com.

While attending Penn State, I was under the supervision of Mark Ballora, Penn State's professor of music technology and integrative arts. His expertise, lectures, and advise guided me and improved my recording and editing skills techniques over the three years in which I was a student recording engineer for Penn State's School of Music.

In May 2005, as a proud graduate of Penn State, I decided to continue my services at home. I purchased my own professional equipment from some of the top retailers in the industry, and had expanded my company to service areas in New Jersey and New York City. Also, I started advertising Musical Horizon in several NJ music journals, as well as, in the local yellow pages.

In November 2006, Musical Horizon awarded the winners of the NJ Chapter of the American String Teacher's Association's Solo Competition and String Quartet Festival Competition with recording contracts! Congratulations to the winners! I also expanded my service to cover areas in Eastern Pennsylvania.

In early February 2007, Musical Horizon added a mass duplication and CD printing service, after choosing the Microboards GX-1 as their duplication unit of choice. Most recently, in April 2007, Musical Horizon has fully integrated a videography division, Horizon Videography. Not only does this new service provide Video with Professional Sound and musician promotional videos, but also non-musical productions, including the famous format of photo montage!

- Max Sverdlove, Owner and Lead Audio Engineer