WHO I AM
I’m a bassist/producer and music technologist based in New York City. Since 1997, I’ve been firstly a bassist/performer and then after 2010, a producer/ music technologist with studios in Brooklyn and at the moment near Manhattan’s Union Square. I’m also an Ableton Certified Trainer and currently an Associate Arts Professor at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music where I coordinate the Contemporary Digital Music Production (CDMP) area. I’m also on the faculty at The Juilliard School’s Center for Creative Technologies. Between 2022 and 2025, I was a full professor at Berklee College of Music’s Electronic Production and Design Department where I helped launch the EDI (Electronic Digital Instruments) program. One of my proudest accomplishments, however, is the founding of the Brooklyn Digital Conservatory which since 2015 has provided music technology and production education to Latin America. In 2018, the Brooklyn Digital Conservatory partnered with DJLab in San Jose, Costa Rica to create Central America’s first electronic music production certificate program and Ableton Certified Training Center.
BACKGROUND
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts and come from a family of musicians in my mother’s native land of Nicaragua. I trained on classical piano and and jazz bass at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School and was the first-ever student to complete the Level IV Jazz Certificate. I attended Harvard University where graduated Magna Cum Laude in History and also spent two semesters at Berklee College of Music as a Jazz Bass Performance major. My teachers over the years have included Matthew Garrison, Cecil McBee, Dave Buda, Richard Bona and Lincoln Goines. My true love though was funk. I became obsessed with it after hearing James Jamerson, Jerry Jemmott and Jaco Pastorious when I was 14 and at Harvard became the bass player for the Kuumba Singers and the Mass. Ave Baptist Church. Three weeks after graduating in 1997, I moved to New York City to work as a session bass player.
BASSIST/LIVE PERFORMER
I have performed live countless times since arriving in NYC, first on bass and since 2005 on both bass and electronics. In my early years as a session bassist and keyboardist, I had the pleasure of playing in Broadway pit orchestras and performing with artists like Angelique Kidjo, The B-52’s, Stellastarr*, Toni Braxton and Peter Gabriel. As a bass player, I’ve performed in a huge range of venues throughout the U.S., Europe and South America, from Carnegie Hall to the old CBGB’s. I also played often in NYC’s underground electronic/queercore scene including the legendary Squeezebox and Homocorps parties.
In 2005, I formed a digital art/music collective called Comandante Zero. Our goal was to push the limits of incorporating laptops into live musical performance. From 2005-2015, we had the good fortune to play countless shows in NYC, Europe and South America, ranging from our own curated loft parties to clubs/festivals like Berlin’s Berghain and Colombia’s Festival de La Imagen. It was an exciting time to be in Brooklyn’s indie/electronic scene and we shared the stage with many incredible acts including the Brazilian Girls and The Juan Maclean.
Since 2015, my focus has been mainly on developing and performing with new interfaces for digital live performance. You can read more about the ideas behind my current live set here.
PRODUCER
I have been extensively producing, primarily using Ableton Live, since 2005 and have maintained production studios in NYC (mostly Brooklyn since 2010.) My specialty is disco/house, indie electronic, synthwave/retrowave and electronic music sound design. I have produced numerous records and music for film as well. Please go here to listen to some of my work. I have also worked in the studio with artists like: De La Soul’s DJ Maceo, Rachel Z, Omar Hakim, Honey Dijon, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and DJ Spinna. I currently produce out of New York City Studios near Union Square.
EDUCATOR
In addition to being a professor of electronic music sound design, production and performance, I am a curriculum designer and have created courses in electronic music and sound design for The Juilliard School, New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, The Electronic Music Collective and DJLab (San Jose, Costa RIca). I also contributed to the curriculum of Berklee College of Music’s EDI (Electronic Digital Instruments) program.
I have also had the pleasure of being an Artist-In-Residence at Berklee College of Music and presenting and performing worldwide at many universities and music festivals including: Harvard University, SXSW, Sonar (Barcelona), Universidad de Santiago (Chile), Argenlive (Buenos Aires), Universidad de Caldas (Manizales, Colombia), Technológico de Monterrey (Mexico City), International Museum and Library of Music (Bologna, Italy) New York Tech Week 2024 (NYC) and The Strøm Festival (Copenhagen, Denmark).
Among the academic conferences where I’ve presented are the Instruments, Interfaces and and Infrastructure Conference at Harvard University and New York Tech Week 2024 (NYC).
Finally, between 2012 and 2014, I served as as an Arts Envoy for the U.S. State Department in Colombia, Chile and Denmark.