About

My Story

When I was in grade school, a teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  “A singing mailman” was my response.  Not just any mailman, mind you.  But a singing one.  Thus marked my life-long love affair with music – and along with it, the complicated struggle to balance the creative with the conventional.

In school I was in the chorus and played clarinet in the band.  And I was in every theatre production I could be in.  By high school the acting bug had firmly bit me, and I was in leading roles for two fall productions.  Unfortunately, I was grounded every year by Spring for getting bad grades, so I blew my chance to try out for Oklahoma or Kiss Me Kate, or The Wiz.  I did play in the pit band of The Wiz, however, by not telling my parents.

At an early age I took an interest in recording, saving all my birdbath-cleaning allowance money to buy my first cassette 4 track – a Tascam Porta Two.  From high school to college I recorded my first full length album, titled “Reflections 1”.  While it did not enjoy the same success as Bruce Springsteen’s cassette masterpiece, it did cement my love for songwriting and music production that would accompany me for the rest of my life. 

While my career took a fairly traditional path, I continued to nurture the desire to create and connect while living in Durham, NC.  I alternated combinations of taking piano, guitar, drums, and singing lessons.  I played in bands, attended jam sessions, and ran a project recording studio out my second bedroom.  I even had a short stint as a “professional” actor.

And then it seemed like it was time to give up.

A few years after relocating to New York City to be more in the thick of the music scene (but still working a demanding day job), I had reached a point where I wasn’t seeing my music productions improve.  And I wasn’t feeling driven to write songs for some time.  After many years of building myself up and investing in lessons and gear, I realized I didn’t have what it takes, and perhaps never will.  

Or so I thought.

One night I was lying on the couch – depressed.  And I stumbled upon a video by Dave Pensado, a hip-hop mixing engineer.  He was explaining a mixing  technique called “parallel compression”.  I had never heard of parallel compression.  With this technique he was getting this massive roar from the drums in his mix.  He was using all the tools I thought I knew how to use, but it had never occurred to me to try what he was demonstrating.  I was intrigued.  Was there more?

Oh there was.

For 2 days straight, I went with as little sleep and food as possible, and consumed as many videos as I could.  I felt a burst of adrenaline that seemed like it has been storing up for years.  It was a new beginning.  Turns out, it wasn’t that I didn’t have what I takes – it was that I didn’t have the path to learn what it takes.

Until now.

I ravenously devoured all of the free content on YouTube.  Then I attended weekend workshops at Flux Studios, taught by the brilliant Fab Dupont.  This represented another exponential period of growth.  I finally realized the power of mentorship, and regretted the times I did not recognize opportunities that were offered by life when I was younger.  I just didn’t know.

Once I felt that I was back on the path to creating music technically, I had to get my creativity muscles in shape again after years of neglect.  This took another several-year journey of discovery about mindset, belief systems, my health, and rediscovering my muse.  This turned out to be the greatest transformation yet, and is what I believe allows me to now frame a new obstacle as simply ground that is yet to be paved.

That leads me to now.  I started a YouTube channel in 2020, and use that medium to document my journey, in many ways, back to my childhood when creation felt fluid and effortless.  Only this time with intention and tools to maintain it.   And to share my progress as I finally put myself, and my music, out in the world where it belongs.

This is my journey back to creativity.