Frequently Asked Questions

What is that weird looking guitar that you play like a violin?

It is actually a 6-string electric violin, the "Viper" model, made by Mark Wood, a well-known rock and roll violin player from upstate New York. I met Mark at the Mark O'Connor Fiddle Conference in San Diego in 2001, and ordered the Viper soon after. They are all custom made for each client. Mine is a 6-string with white "pearlized" finish, beautiful gold colored metal geared guitar-style tuners, 6 individual Barbera bridge pickups, and a fretted fingerboard. I use it primarily for recording, although occasionally I will play it live, especially for solo performances.

What music software and hardware do you use for recording?

I use Cakewalk's SONAR Producer Edition for tracking and mixing and Steinberg's Wavelab 6 for mastering, and have a number of useful VST pluggins for both, including Izotope Ozone 3, UAD-1 powered plugs (precision mastering bundle, LA2A, Neve 1081 EQ, Fairchild 670 compressor), various Voxengo pluggins, dbAudioWare, Crysonic, and others. I use the PC platform mostly because that is the only one available for SONAR which I find to be a very serious piece of software which is also quite easy to use. Lately I have been experimenting with electronic and beat-oriented music using Cakewalk's Project5, the Dimension Pro sampler synthesizer, and Cakewalk's Rapture synth.

My approach is to combine pristine digital recording with analog processing, both on the front end, using high quality preamps, and the backend using analog summing and an external signal chain for EQ and gain. As I am something of a gear freak I am always looking for great gear at reasonable prices. Stuff I use a lot are the Presonus ADL600 tube preamp, API A2D, A-Designs Hammer EQ, just to mention a few, and a variety of valve and ribbon mics, including the Rode K2, Blue Woodpecker active ribbon, several Cascade ribbons, Chameleon Labs TS-1, just to mention some of my favorites to date.

I am philosophically opposed to smashed and overly compressed mixes, which are common today even in some acoustic music, not to mention pop and rock. I prefer to monitor using Bob Katz's K-14 system, which helps me to keep the levels reasonable and listenable, while still competitive with other mixes. For more information on this approach see Turn Me Up.

How long have you been playing the violin?

I was blessed with living in a progressive school district in Lakewood Center, Washington (Clover Park School District) which had both a band and strings program starting with 4th grade. My mother, Bonnie, is the reason I am in music today. She was a violin player in college, playing in the Stephens College orchestra, so she must have been a pretty good player at one time. Strangely enough she did not play much around me. She also played piano and organ, which is what I remember most about her. I still have her old violin. I continued in the school orchestra until 9th grade. I then quit for a while, and picked it up later in life when I came to the University of Arizona in Tucson for graduate school. So while I have been playing off and on for most of my life, I have really been concentrating on performing and improving my skills for the past 10-15 years. I intend to be playing and composing for the rest of my life.

Do you teach violin?

Yes, I give both private lessons and formerly taught a class of 6th and 7th graders at Sierra Oaks School in Oracle, a charter school. Lately I have taken on an adult violin class through Central Arizona College (Arivaipa). I work mostly with beginners. I also teach alternative fiddling styles to intermediate students. My teaching rates are $25.00 per hour, or $15.00 for 1/2 hour.

What is your favorite style of playing?

I like a wide variety of musical styles, and try to play as many as possible. While I played mostly bluegrass, folk, and old-time country for much of my career, lately I have branched out into swing (30's style hot swing), Celtic, and improvisational jazz, with a smattering of just plain weird stuff. Mashing up genres is something I really get into, to the annoyance of some traditionalists!

I enjoy playing improvisational blues and folk, and will play traditional country anytime (but not the new stuff!). While I enjoy classical violin, and my earliest training was in that area, I don't consider myself a player in that genre, as I don't read well enough for serious orchestral music. My reading skills are pretty basic, although I am improving in that area as the need to learn new tunes arises. Most of what I play is by ear, and I think I have a pretty good skill at that, particular for harmonies. I sing mostly harmony when I play in bands, although I have tried a few lead tunes.

What other instruments do you play?

I learned guitar in high school, after discovering Bob Dylan! The first photo I have of me playing is a performance at the Girls Club assembly at Clover Park, in 1966 I believe. However my guitar skills are pretty basic, and I don't usually perform publicly on guitar.

I do perform on mandolin and mandola, as they are tuned like a violin and viola, respectively. Some violinists pick up on these instruments, probably because of the pattern similarities, although we fiddle players tend to play the mandolin like a violin, with lots of single note runs and a few double stops. Bill Monroe played alot like that, and he was a fiddler as well as a mandolin player. Guitarists who pick up the mandolin, like my friend John Mattingley, tend to play lots of mandolin chords, which I find more difficult.

I am currently trying to learn keyboard, mostly because I need it for recording overlays for various midi instruments. I just love noodling around on the keyboard, producing strange and exotic sound textures with the fantastic variety of patches available. My favorite virtual synth is Cakewalk's Dimension Pro. I also have an Alesis QS 6.2 keyboard, which was used extensively on Barn Jazz Vol. 1. But don't ask me to sit down and play you a piano tune, or read music for piano! I am just a noodler on keyboard.

My old high school buddy, Clancy Rash, with his sister, Karen, ca. 1966. I think we played Don't Think Twice Its All Right that day. As this was my first time on stage, I thought I would be nervous, but for some reason I wasn't. There were about 100 kids in the audience, and we did alright, thanks to Clancy and Karen! Hey Clancy, if you ever Google yourself and find this page, send me an email!