in 1978, jones moved north to san francisco, california to work at the automatt, a recording studio known for cutting edge developments such as automation in mixing, an innovation followed quickly by the purchase of one of the earliest digital audio recording systems. jones recorded many cues for the apocalypse now soundtrack and recordings by herbie hancock and carlos santana. she trained with engineer fred catero and producer david rubinson. she also recorded albums by maze, confunkshun, holly near, and angela bofill.