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Michael Yolch’s passion for music began in 1974 when, at the age of 5, he received his first drum set for Christmas. The drum set was called “Blue Denim,” and was proudly set up next to his giant KISS poster. He went on to play the drum set through the high school jazz band, and lead snare in both the marching and orchestra bands.
His passion for technical illustration began in 1986 when he became a jet mechanic in the U.S. Air Force. He was enamored by the exploded-view drawings in the repair manuals for his aircraft. After leaving the Air Force in 1990, he went straight to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh to learn the fundamentals of computer illustration. He went on to serve as a technical illustrator in 3 different firms over the years, along with owning his own technical illustration business over the past 14 years, called Yolch Technical.
His passion for audio gear began in 1990 when he purchased his first portable, 4 track cassette recorder. He has since purchased enough gear to sink a good-sized island. This includes guitars, amps, drums, banjos, basses, compressors, EQs, preamps, monitors, microphones, etc.
The primary catalyst for creating Yolch Design began when Michael became a Sweetwater Sales Engineer. Just one of the many benefits of being with Sweetwater was meeting countless manufacturers, reps, artists, etc. Michael forged great relationships with many of them. He learned that manufacturers were often trying to either, create their own illustrations and manuals, or having someone else do them rather poorly. They also really had no idea where to go for these types of things.
But now...they do.
Welcome to Yolch Design.