about

I play & learn the nylon stringed guitar, lap steel, resonator (dobro), sometimes electric guitar, sometimes Sarod, and good 'ol voice leading on the piano :)

Used to be mostly focused on notated music composition, but realizing the kind of musical language I'm looking for comes through improvisation -- for me that is through studying Partimento (piano first then extrapolate to guitar), 12-bar blues, jazz tunes, the Barry Harris ideas, Indian Raag families, pop harmony, and some helpful Kenny Werner courses (over different forms: baroque dances, jazz tunes, blues, nursery rhymes, etc.) - and very slowly channeling all that into Frets&Notes and YouTube.

Most of the time I work on games and other media -- I enjoy the problem-solving aspect of music composition & sound creation to linear or interactive visuals, and audio integration (Unity, Wwise, Unreal MetaSounds, Premiere/ProTools, etc).  I've also done some work as a picture/sound/music editor for short docs and short comedies in the Chicago area (editing is a very musical job, very enjoyable work.)

Past work has involved sound design, music editing, music composition, and sound editing for pinball games (Jersey Jack Pinball: GnR & Wonka), slot machines (IGT, WMS Gaming), mobile slots (Zynga, Blue Hare Studios, DGN Games, 2By2 Gaming), coin-op arcade machines (Raw Thrills, Chicago Gaming Company), commercials (Elias Arts, Soundwell, Beta Petrol), sound editing/mixing for short films and documentaries, and program music for U.S. Olympic Ice Dance Skaters Maia and Alex Shibutani.

In addition, I'm working through a therapeutic music course (mhtp.org) related to playing for patients in hospitals, hospice, senior homes, NICU, etc.  Since I don't have a background in  any type of material science, I thought I'd try some research on my own with the Muse2 (though I have no idea what the Muse2 is doing, or what effect/affect music has on our brain waves, but learning what I can :)