Meet Alex and Richard!

I’m lucky to have two very talented people helping out in my studio this summer. They each have serious skillsets in contrasting areas of music, which is great for keeping things interesting around here. Here’s a quick introduction in alphabetical order:

Alex Wand is pursuing an MFA in Music Composition at CalArts, studying under Mike Fink. This after triple-majoring in Music, International Studies and Spanish at the University of Michigan. He’s studied composition under greats such as Bright Sheng and even spent time abroad in Spain where he also studied classical and flamenco guitar.

What drew me to Alex was his natural sounding compositions and very broad knowledge of music. Here’s one of my favorites by Alex, a track from his band Light in August:



Head on over to alexwand.com to hear more.

Richard Howarth has worked with some heavy hitters in the hip hop community including Raekwon and Ghostface Killah (of Wu Tang), Pill, Prof, and YelaWolf. In addition to the hip hop work, he’s also done soundtrack work for a sports documentary and remix work for Taylor Swift’s iPhone app.

I was drawn to Richard’s work as it’s full of creative, compelling textures that I find quite motivating to listen to as a producer. Here are 2 of my favorites: