Edward John Primeau
501 Lockmoore Ct
Rochester Hills, Michigan 48307
248-853-4091 Studio
248-853-4098 Fax

©2009
www.primeauproductions.com
Ed@PrimeauProductions.com

Since 1984, I have concentrated on diverse set of skills acquired within the audio visual field as an audio engineer, video director and producer, and have a strong background in audio video production on various editing formats and systems.

In 1979, I began as an apprentice audio engineer and was trained to record and edit spoken word recordings such as training tapes and audio books. I remained a dialog editor using razor blade editing as the only form of audio editing available back then. I used my audio perception (not visual perception which is how audio editing is executed today) to match voice tone and levels as well as create smooth content and flow for these products.

That apprenticeship led me to becoming a full time audio engineer for nearly 8 years. In 1986 I left Ambience Recordings where I completed my apprenticeship and worked as a full time audio engineer and began to work for my part time business Primeau Productions.

I attended the University of Detroit from 1979 to 1985 with my major in communication studies and a minor in criminal justice. While at the University, I was a volunteer probation officer for the 53rd district court in Troy Michigan under judge Drewery.

Since then, I have completed dozens of audio and video evidence based cases for many courts and attorneys across the United States. I have authored several articles that have been published by LEVA, NSA, TASA, and Midwest Meetings. I authored the book “The Art of Production” as well as the E Book “The Video Revolution”.

My philosophy is that forensics examination and restoration of audio/video media ideally combines art as well as science. The methods that an expert uses require attention to detail and scientific principles, complemented by an appreciation for clarity and aesthetics. My techniques are derived from both formal education and application of skills gained by working in many forensics situations.

To present a few milestones: I have provided audio restoration of informant wire recordings that served as key evidence in convictions involving two Detroit area judges. In the course of my career, I have completed dozens of forensics-focused assignments for attorneys throughout the United States.

• 1979-1985: University of Detroit (Communications major, Criminal Justice minor)
• 1978-1981: Probation officer, 52nd District Court, Troy, Michigan
• 1980-1988: Ambience Recording Studio, audio engineer/national sales manager
• 1984-present: Primeau Productions, Inc., President; focusing on marketing videos for professional speakers, audio/video editing, convention/conference production
• 1996-present: TASA audio and video identification/restoration/authentication expert
• 2006-Member of International Association for Identification
• 2005 Member Audio Engineering Society
• 2006 Member American College of Forensic Examiners
• 1998-1999: National Speakers Association of Michigan, President
• 2000-present: Member of Law Enforcement/Emergency Services Video Association (LEVA)
• Certified Digital Video Expert at Pelco Global Training Institute
• Member American Society of Information
• Established expert with acetate and vinyl restoration – Primeau Productions, Inc.
• Hundreds of spoken-word recordings analyzed, clarified and/or restored using computer technology and visual examination of audio and videotape to establish critical listening skills
• Experienced in court testimony and pre-trial preparation of counsel
• Published author, audio and video forensics articles (LEVA, Homeland Security magazine of the American College of Forensic Examiners; National Speakers Association)
• Author of the book "The Art of Production"
• Resource Audio and Video Forensics for Dateline NBC.
• Served as voice ID expert for the Wall Street Journal
• Appointed to the Office of Drug Control Policy of the State of Michigan under State Drug Czar

AUDIO FORENSIC SERVICES*

• Background noise removal/sound clarification
• Voice identification
• Audio recording authentication
• Micro cassette transfers to any format audio
• Audio conversion to compact disc
• Courtroom Testimony

VIDEO FORENSIC SERVICES*

• Video Authentication and restoration
• Video image clarification
• Frame capture from video
• Video conversion to DVD
• CD ROM and DVD design and programming
• Courtroom Testimony

*Any and all formats of audio and video accepted

The following is a partial list of cases I have worked on and/or testified in.

1. William Richmond 121 2nd St., Beckley, WV 25801
Beckley Steel Inc.
Ex-employee recorded conversations of Beckley Steel management with employee. I analyzed recordings on behalf of plaintiff Beckley Steel and was deposed via the telephone. The case never went to court.

2. DiGiacomo & Baffa 16th Floor, 1601 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Fitzgerald v. Skobeloff
I represented the plaintiff with counsel DiGiacomo in a medial malpractice suit against a doctor (Skobeloff) and hospital. The case involved a phone answering machine tape erasure – accidentally erased by court reporter. I confirmed the erasure and explained the information could not be recovered I testified in this case in Deleware County Pennsilvania.

3. Camile Conway Pugh, Jones & Johnson, 180 N. LaSalle St., Suite 2910, Chicago, IL 60601
This was the well-publicized Chicago nightclub stampede disaster that made national news. I was retained by the city attorney of Chicago to examine a nightclub’s digital surveillance system. The system had been tampered with and the original footage was not available to examine. Several people were trampled while trying to evacuate a nightclub on Michigan Avenue. The surveillance system incorporated a digital video recorder. One of the owners was behind the accidental erasure of all video evidence.

4. Patrick Coolihan Coolihan, DeMeo & Beard, P.C.
1900 Spring Rd., Suite 508, Oak Brook, IL 60523
I represented the defendant as a video expert. A CCTV video tape of a (jewelry store) robbery was provided and I captured some frames from the surveillance video and clarified them. I then made several prints of the captured video frames and sent the prints and video files (on a CD). I testified to my findings in the DuPage County courthouse, 1900 Spring Rd., Oak Brook, IL 60523.

5. Mark Bendure Bendure & Thomas
577 E. Larned, Suite 210, Detroit, MI 48226
The Judicial Tenure Commission v. Ferrara
I represented the defendant, Judge Ferrara, with counsel Mark Bendure. My responsibilities included voice identification and examining the tapes for tampering. The Executive Director, Allen Sobel, represented the JTC. I testified in this case here in Detroit in front of the Judicial Tenure Commission.

6. Jeff Ogren Bochetto & Lentz
1524 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA 19102
Michigan Public Service Commission
Knox v. Pathfinders
I represented the defense, Pathfinders, with Counsel Jeff Ogren. My responsibilities included determining if a third-party verification recording had been tampered with. I testified in front of Judge Goldstein and the Michigan Public Service Commission.

7. Deborah Marik Newton Falls, Ohio, Circuit Court
Clark and Langley v. Patrick Layshock
I represented the plaintiff with Counsel Deborah Marik. My responsibilities were to determine whether the (8) audio tapes submitted to me were intercepted phone calls; determine how these calls were made; were they tapes made by anyone involved in the conversations and were the police involved in making the recordings. I was deposed in Michigan for this Ohio case.

8. Margolis Edelstein 1500 Grant Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-2203, (412) 281-4256
David Brinker v. Municipality of Marysville
I represented the Municipality of Marysville to analyze general police department tapes for authenticity and possible alteration. I testified via deposition. I was hired by the police department in Marysville, Pennsylvania.

9. Charles McKinney Columbus, Oh
People of Ohio v. Wendall Jackson
This is a criminal case I testified in where a CI made audio cassette recordings of a police officer during business transactions. He tried to entrap the officer with receiving stolen merchandise. I examined the cassette recordings, testified in court in Columbus Ohio for this criminal case and determined that they could not be authenticated. We won the case which went on to a civil case I also testified in.

10. Michael Gorte Bay City, Michigan
989-894-670
People v. Edward Murray
In this case, I examined an answering machine recording and compared the voice of the accused with the voice on the evidence recording which was the recorded evidence in a parole violation matter. I examined the answering machine and recording under the supervision of the Sheriff’s Department as well as the prosecuting attorney. I testified in court 10/14/05.

11.Ron Snyder Columbus, Ohio
614-461-4455
State of Ohio v Wendall Jackson
This is the civil case as described above held in City Hall in Columbus Ohio. I testified on behalf of Wendall Jackson, the plaintiff on March 29th 2006.

12. Steven Potter Auburn Hills Michigan
248-377-1700 (Contact Misty)
Haddad v Indiana Pacers
Haddad v Indiana Pacers I was the video expert for the defense, the Indiana Pacers, during this one week trial, took the stand once to explain the video evidence I had assembled from all network sources, including ESPN, Fox Midwest and WB20. I testified in The United States District Court, Eastern Division of Michigan The jury returned a not guilty verdict on behalf of the Pacers

13. Garry Weiss Merrillville, Indiana
219-736-5297
State of Indiana V. Wesley English
This is a criminal case in the Circuit Court of Lake County in front of Judge Thomas Stefandaker Jr. that Involving analog video tape. I was retained by the defense to prove to the court that video evidence submitted was not reliable as video evidence and should not be used in the trial. I testified on behalf of the defendant Wesley English.

14. Dianne Marx Dayton Ohio
937-222-2500
U.S. Gold and Diamonds vs. JKD Diamond Brokers
This case is in Federal Court in Dayton Ohio November 3rd, 2008. It involves my examination of a Integral Technologies digital video CCTV system examination and authentication of video evidence and the operational characteristics of the system itself.
The Software is version 4.0. Integral Technologies was sold to Pelco December of 07 and is now known as Pelco; Global Leaders in Security Systems.

On November 24th 2008 the jury awarded my client a total of 6.9 million dollars in loss and compensatory damages as well as legal fees. A letter from my client reads:

Ed,
Just writing to let you know the jury came back with a very favorable verdict: $8,400 which represents the actual cost of the diamond, plus the cost of shipping ($400); $1.7 million representing the wholesale price of the diamond and $2.3 million which represents the retail value. We are entitled to treble damages on the $2.3 million. We couldn't have done it without you! We, obviously, are very, very pleased, as is Mr. Stafford. Thank you again for all your help.

Patty

Complete article appears in the Dayton Business Journal November 25th 2008. Link to article: http://dayton.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2008/11/24/daily21.html

16.State of Ohio V James McClellan
Jerry McHenry
Columbus, Ohio
614-466-5394
Ohio Public Defenders Office.
I testified in this video case held in the Allen County Court of Common Pleas and helped the court understand the details about a poor quality police car video tape of a traffic stop.

Contributed to an article as voice ID expert for the Wall Street Journal:

(Letter from author of article)
Hi Ed,

Thanks again for your help with the story. Your critical ear was right; it was Pynchon. When I confronted the publisher with your findings they admitted it, so it was a great scoop for the Journal. Here's a link to the story.

-Steven Krutz (Article in Wall Street Journal)
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/08/11/pynchon-revealed/

Yup, It’s Him: A Pynchon Mystery Solved

Last Tuesday, long-suffering fans of the reclusive writer Thomas Pynchon received a double gift. Pynchon’s latest book, “Inherent Vice,” a stoned-out detective story set in early-‘70s L.A., was released by Penguin Press (read the Journal’s review). And to promote it, the publisher put out a cool video trailer featuring a narrator whose slow, lazy cadence sounds suspiciously like that of Pynchon’s, as evidenced by a guest appearance on “The Simpsons” and this clip from what appears to be a German TV spot. Inquiries by GalleyCat and others as to whether Pynchon is the guy channeling the novel’s main character, beach bum private eye Doc Sportello, have been met with “no comment” from Penguin Press and the video’s producers, Meerkat Media. And, of course, the man himself is mum (Would Pynchon fans expect anything else?).

In an effort to solve the mystery, Speakeasy did a little sleuthing and called Ed Primeau, a Michigan-based sound engineer and voice identification expert. Like handwriting analysis, voice identification is an inexact science, often used by law enforcement to rule out a suspect rather than to provide a 100% clear-cut ID. Still, people have unique vocal timbres and deliveries, especially Pynchon, who sounds like actor John Astin (i.e. Gomez Addams from the old TV show), mixed with a Midwest corn farmer, with a dollop of aging stoner.

So is it possible to rule out the man in the “Inherent Vice” trailer as being the same guy in the Simpsons episode and German TV clip? Not at all, according to Primeau. In fact, he says, based on a preliminary analysis the speech pattern and inflection is “virtually identical” in all three clips. “It’s a very unique style of delivery,” Primeau says. “It’s very up-and-down. He’ll hit these accented spots every few words. You know the TV show “Dragnet,” how Joe Friday talked? It’s the opposite of that.”

We should point out Primeau is an unbiased witness, having never read Pynchon (“I don’t know this guy but it looks like he has some history as an author,” he said). Nevertheless, if he hasn’t been taken by the man’s work, Primeau is intrigued by his voice, which he describes as “a tobacco-driven soft rasp.”

Primeau’s conclusion: “Beyond a reasonable degree of professional certainty, I believe these voices were delivered by the same person.” Confronted with Primeau’s findings, Tracy Locke, a publicist at Penguin, came clean and admitted, “It is, in fact, Thomas Pynchon doing the narration.”

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Edward John Primeau
Audio Forensic Expert
Certified digital video CCTV Expert
Member ACFEI, AES, IAI, NSA
Primeau Productions, Inc.
(248) 853-4091
(248) 853-4098 (FAX)
Ed@PrimeauProductions.com