Biography
I am a native San Diegan, and a graduate of Point Loma High School.
Mom tells me that from the beginning I had a keen interest in mechanical things, and she offered this picture of me "driving" my Dad’s 1953 Ford as proof.
As a youth I was in the Boy Scouts and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. I developed a real affinity for the outdoors as a result of the numerous hikes and backpacking adventures I had with my scout troop.
While growing up, I became very interested in taking things apart trying to understand how they worked, and later trying to improve them. This started with bicycles, and later automobiles. To help reinforce what I was experiencing first hand in my parent’s garage, I had my mom drive me to the downtown San Diego Main Library where I would pick out books about bicycle and automobile repair from the Science and Technology section. Since I was only twelve years old, my mom had to check the books out for me because technical books could not be checked out by anyone younger than sixteen.
Wonder Years
While in high school, I got a part time job at Sea World in the Productions Department as a show operator, which involved live sound mixing at shows in the park. A few years later I worked in Sea World’s recording studio creating audio tapes for the various shows, educational exhibits, employee orientations, and marketing presentations. Several of the people I worked with were graduates of the Telecommunications and Film Department at San Diego State University, and they encouraged me to enroll in the Telecommunications program. I graduated from SDSU in 1978 with a BA degree in Radio & Television and a minor in Industrial Arts.
Career Highlights
Since graduation, I have been self-employed as the owner of McManus Enterprises, and later Paul McManus Recording. Managing these businesses has allowed me to pursue and develop both technical and creative areas of interest, including broadcast engineering, audio/visual system design, installation and repair, live sound mixing, and music recording for CD releases. I have worked as a freelance audio engineer extensively across the United States and in many foreign countries.
Highlights of my career include recording J.J. Cale on a European tour in 1994, and also at Carnegie Hall in 1996. These recordings resulted in the "J.J. Cale Live" CD. I was interviewed about my Cale tour recording methods in a 2002 Mix magazine article. A John Hammond CD featuring three songs that I recorded received a nomination for a Grammy award in 1998.
I hold a California C7 Low Voltage Systems Contractor’s License, which allowed me to complete many broadcast, audio/visual, and sound system projects for a wide variety of clients. Selected past clients include Sea World, the San Diego Hall of Champions, Pan Am, Jack in the Box, the US Navy, and numerous San Diego area radio stations, production companies and recording studios.
New Professional Directions
I am a full member of both the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). I have helped organize, develop, and present several educational audio engineering historical exhibits at national AES conventions held in both Los Angeles and New York.
Through my experiences researching background information, presenting content, and creating numerous displays for these various historical exhibits, I became quite interested in the education field.
In order to develop the skills required for a career as an educational technologist, I returned to SDSU and earned a Community College Teaching Certificate in 2005, and a Masters Degree in Educational Technology in 2006. Now I am using my instructional design knowledge, together with my technical, creative, and consulting skills and work experience to improve workforce learning and performance efforts.