I’ve loved music ever since I was a kid. I got my first Walkman when I was about two years old, and have been a music addict ever since. I was always listening to music, and driving my family crazy in the process!

At the age of nine years old or so, I began taking lessons on the violin. I didn’t like it, but it was the instrument my parents had decided that I would learn to play. Have I mentioned yet that I was homeschooled? Not a bad thing, mind you, not at all–it just limited several aspects of my musical life. In any case, I grudgingly began to learn violin. My teacher, Cami, a very patient soul, taught me using the Suzuki method. This is all well and good, but it relies exclusively on ear training. Hence, my first and most influential musical training was ear-only. This, as we shall see, was both a good and a bad thing.

At about thirteen or fourteen years old, I quit violin, and began taking piano lessons. My parents also bought me an electronic drum set, and I began teaching myself how to play drums, too. This helped me resolve my tendency to bang on anything and everything in sight, making beats.

In about November of 2005, my piano teacher, Shellie, introduced me to the loop-based music making program called Sony ACID Music Studio. I fell in love with ACID instantly, as this allowed me to make my own TECHNO music!

Of course, the “music” I made using ACID wasn’t anything special, being mostly constructed of the stock loops and samples included. However, I was hooked, and bought my own copy within a few weeks. As I was using it, one day, I discovered a link to ACIDplanet.com, a website that allows artists and artists-to-be to post their music. I was thrilled, of course. Now I had some way to show my “genius” to the world! I soon discovered that there’s so much more to making music than just stringing default loops together, thanks to various other artists on the site.

While browsing the site’s other artists, I discovered a lot of what I thought was simply amazing music, and noted that many of the artists were using this program called “Fruity Loops.” I downloaded a demo, and learned that I could actually create my own musical ideas and beats; therefore creating original music. Soon after, I purchased FL Studio 6 and began my journey of learning how to really make music.

Through a process of learning from other artists (through emails, reviews, or tutorial projects), reading various magazines (Computer Music, Electronic Musician, Future Music, etc.), and just plain messing around, I got to the point where I was good enough for my music to be featured in various podcasts and enjoyed by many people. It wasn’t at an amazingly high level of quality, though, yet; while I thought I was good, the production methods of professionals escaped me. I thought I knew how to use what I had; yet, I was, in fact, quite clueless. Nonetheless, I released my first album, entitled A Sense of Urgency, in May of 2008, as a free download on the internet. I’ve since revamped and re-released that album.

Remember how I said I was almost entirely ear-trained before I started piano (while I was taking violin)? This was quite annoying when it came to trying to learn piano. My playing ability far superceded my ability to read music, and this in turn made it quite difficult and frustrating to get beyond a certain level. I didn’t want to practice (okay, so I was a little bit–or more like quite lazy, too), and I eventually quit taking piano lessons in early 2008.

So what’s a young engineer-wannabe who loves music and mixing to do? Go to school, of course! I finished my homeschooling in July 2008, and went the next week to start at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, an audio engineering school in Tempe, Arizona.

While at the Conservatory, I learned many things about recording and mixing, as well as aspects of live sound and many other things. I finished classes in March of 2009. During that time, I worked on my second (more like what I now consider my “real” first) album, Elements of Creation. I also made a change in my philosophy as an artist– instead of producing music solely to further me and my interests, I wanted to give glory to God through what I had to offer. You see, I’m one of those folks that people call a “Christian.” I believe that there is such thing as sin, and that one has to be saved from sin in order to go to a very real place called Heaven. There’s also a very real place called Hell, where God has shown that everyone, but for the death and resurrection of Jesus, will go.

The point of that is that my musical talent is not just for me to use. I want to use it to give glory to God, and with that in mind, I’ve made my second album a collection of songs that try to describe God’s first documented work; that of creating the world.