Sai Hanif has been working in the music industry for over sixteen years. In addition to live event production, he founded and continues to run a successful musical instrument brand. Sai has taken his business acumen and applied it to the artists he works with throughout his career. He specializes in scaling artists by implementing processes to create efficient workflows with respect to the creative process. Specialties: Tour Direction, Production Management, Design, Budgeting, Travel, Logistics, Business Strategy, and Artist Development.
Founder and CEO
Masters of Maple Drums
Established in 2002 Masters of maple is one of the leading boutique drum manufacturers in the world. The brand produces high quality instruments with a limited distribution model, and is one of the few manufacturers to make their ply drum shells in house.
Tour Director, Production Manager
Gabriel " Fluffy" Iglesias
May 2019 – Present
Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is an acclaimed stand up comedian with multiple Netflix specials, and storied career in entertainment.
Production Manager, Technical Director
X ambassadors Contract
Oct 2019 – Present
Production management for the “Orion” world tour album campaign. X ambassadors are a Grammy award winning alternative band from Ithaca, New York. I oversaw design and fabrication of the new stage production, which incorporated video elements utilizing the new disguise D3 media server.
Production Consultant, Drum Technician [Joshua Homme]
Eagles of Death Metal
Dates Employed Apr 2015 – Present
Eagles of Death Metal are a rock band from Palm Desert, California. I served as drum technician for Mr. Homme when he would play drums live with the band.
Tour Manager, Production Manager, Creative Director
Jakob Dylan
Jul 2014 – Present
Jakob Dylan is a Grammy award winning and lead singer of The Wallflowers. I have been responsible for all special projects in many capacities. Mr. Dylan is involved in many charities at the forefront of health and world issues.
Founder and CEO
Ghost Tech Touring Full-time
Mar 2012 – Present
Ghost Tech Touring is a full service production company. We specialize in all aspects of touring operations such as but not limited to: bus rental, insurance, crew management, budget control, audio visual services, backline, logistics, expendable management. Typically clients save between 4-19% on gross revenue touring expenses.
Production Manager
Walk The Moon
May 2016 – Present
Production management for the “What if Nothing” album campaign. Walk the Moon are a rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Tour Manager, Production Manager, Management
The Wallflowers
Jan 2011 – Present
Tour Manager | Production Manager [2013- Present]Stage Manager | Backline Crew Chief | Drum Technician | Keyboard Technician [2011-2013] The Wallflowers are a two-time Grammy award winning rock band from Los Angeles, California.
Tour Director, Technical Director, Band Liaison, Production Accountant
Echo in the Canyon
Dates Employed 2018 – 2019
Echo In The Canyon is a 2018 film paying homage to the music of the sixties and the cultural revolution surrounding Laurel Canyon. It was released in theaters May 24, 2019.
https://Mdrums.com/
https://myghosttech.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ladrumguy/
https://www.instagram.com/mastersofmaple
Al Schmitt video referenced in interview
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.