At age 17, Jake started working as an assistant live sound engineer under mentor and analogue purist Brett Van Hoorn. Their work on multiple amateur theatrical productions was formally recognised at the Gippsland Associated Theatre Awards. At age 19, Jake worked at major Australian music festivals as a live sound engineer, stage technician and monitor engineer with artists such as Felix Riebl (The Cat Empire), The Meltdown, Saskwatch, The Kite String Tangle.

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Jake started to favour recording engineering over live sound as they dived into the world of sound acoustics. At age 18, Jake wrote a short ebook and developed an audio plugin that accurately replicated the reverb of any room.