William Knauft

At a young age, William Leo Knauft, who goes by Leo, proved to be much like he is now (at 24yrs): patient, focused, and continually looking onward toward new challenges. At six years old, he started with the violin, then the piano, and by the time he was a teenager, he was a skilled guitarist and formed his first band called 7Ate9. His band developed local renown for themselves by playing many shows in Virginia. But Leo and his bandmates fell victim (as all musicians do) to the tedious process of recording and mixing. He was fourteen with fans but had no money for production costs, so he did what a determined musician should do: he figured it out on his own. He bought an interface, a cheap condenser mic, Sony Acid Pro recording software, and began once more honing a new skill. This lasted throughout his high school years.

In high school, Leo compelled himself out of his musical comfort zone and shifted gears to district 13 motocross, where he was a known contender in the sport for five years. Motocross lead to him beginning a photography and graphic arts business with his father, taking photos for the riders at the racetracks and creating posters with riders’ names and sponsors on them. Leo quickly fell in love with photography and graphic arts and discovered his passion for computers as a tool.

At eighteen, It was time to get serious about being an artist, and Leo once again built local reputation, this time for recording rap and R&B music. As his clientele grew, he quit his laborious landscaping job and obtained a business license for his freelance production company called Leo Fam Entertainment, which records and mixes live sound and video, and generates photography and graphic arts for musicians.

Today, Leo operates his engineering practice while excelling in his recording arts degree program at Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida. He remains evermore determined and focused.