I was fortunate to grow up surrounded by both music and technology from an early age. I began classical piano lessons at age five, and a few years later became serious about guitar and bass, performing in club bands as a teenager. During high school, I had the opportunity to play in one of the strongest jazz programs in the region under an exceptionally demanding band director, but it was the discovery of music theory and composition that ultimately gave me a sense of musical direction. For the first time, I felt like I was learning the language behind the music itself.

Around the same period, I discovered computers through friends who owned Apple II and Commodore 64 systems. Before long, I had commandeered a friend’s Apple II and found a second passion that would shape much of my professional life.

I began college at the University of North Texas as a Jazz Studies major, studying with Dan Haerle, before a chance encounter with music theorist Kevin Korsyn led me to shift my focus toward Music Theory and Composition. During my time at UNT, I was nominated Junior Theory Student of the Year and planned to continue my studies abroad at the University of Surrey. However, after five years at UNT, the technology world pulled hard in another direction.

After accepting a position with Apple, I left school and entered the rapidly evolving world of Macintosh systems, multimedia, and creative technology. It was during this period that my interests in music, production, and technology fully converged, leading to years of studio development, consulting, teaching, orchestral workflow design, and music technology education.

In January 2020, I presented the Modular Template™ at the NAMM Show in association with MOTU. The Modular Template™ incorporates many of the workflow concepts and production techniques I developed through years of orchestral template design, film-scoring infrastructure consulting, and collaboration with composers working in modern hybrid production environments.