I’ve been a sound and music person all my life — playing whatever’s at hand, working live concerts and studios, designing video game sounds, and scoring film.

My influences run wide: from Bay Area psychedelia through blues, funk, and soul, to jazz, Latin music, grunge, new wave, and Aussie rock.

Where I come from

My sound and music reflect the course I’ve traveled, and this is the journey.

Since I was a little boy…

I grew up tinkering with sound: splicing tape on Dad’s reel-to-reel, learning to speak backwards, making bizarre audio cut-ups, and building radio kits.
In junior high I interned at a radio station, cutting news carts, dubbing tapes, and helping wherever I could.
Music was always around me, though it was my sister Jessica who had both the talent and dedication to make it a career.

Through high school and beyond…

In high school I threw myself into stagecraft, concert production, and video and music projects.
Later I picked up assistant audio engineering jobs — building speakers and cables, helping with setups, tracking, mixdowns… and sweeping floors.

For the joy of it — and sometimes for pay

This is where the work begins to step onto a broader stage.

  • Atari: the first consumer video game sound designer, creating both sounds and audio tools.
  • Built and ran sound systems at Cazadero Family Camp, also teaching home recording and concert sound.
  • Freelanced and ran a small sound company, from SF Blues Festival to warehouse shows and pub gigs.
  • More recently: film scoring competitions and playing bass in a salsa band.

And throughout it all, I’ve loved jamming with friends — some of the most rewarding musical moments I’ve had.

Who are my influences?

I grew up with Bay Area psychedelia — Big Brother, Santana, Creedence, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead — and soaked up classic rock icons like Hendrix, Cream, and the Allman Brothers.

Later I found new wave and reggae (The Cars, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Bob Marley), then grunge and alt-rock (Nirvana, REM). Along the way came blues, funk, soul, jazz, salsa, and a healthy dose of Aussie rock from nearly a decade living in Melbourne.

At Cazadero I dipped into all sorts of music from classic rock to jazz, cumbia, and calypso. My friends and family shaped me too: most leaned blues and rock, some were deep into jazz. High school dances were all about soul and funk, and I shared a house with salsa musicians.

What I value

I savor groove and tone more than technique or cleverness.

B.B. King rather than J.S. Bach.

I love music that makes you tap your foot and hum along. And I love a good hook: there are radio jingles I can sing note-for-note after 50 years — they were that catchy.