Tell us a little more about yourself. How and why you started playing, who and what inspired you etc?
I started composing at the piano when I was about 8. I just liked finding notes and making stuff up. I then took guitar lessons for a while but soon switched back to piano. When I got my first synth and discovered I could bend notes the way guitars could, I began experimenting and became a big fan of players like Jan Hammer and Chick Corea.

What songwriters and musicians inspire you today and where do you see your musicianship in five or ten years from now?
These days I am listening to John Powell’s scores. He’s very versatile and uses a rich palette of unique sounds. I’ve been creating my own palette of original sounds and injecting them into my music to help give it a signature sound. Hopefully I’ll continue to grow as a composer over the next decade and make more progress toward creating more unique sounding music.

What is your relation to electronic drums?
There was a time when electronic drums always sounded electronic, even if you used acoustic samples. This was fine if that was the sound you were going for.  If I want acoustic drums now, I can record them live, but it is time consuming. With EZ Drummer, I have the option of using drum samples and grooves that are the real thing, so the time intensive tracking work has already been done for me.

Any new exciting projects coming up in the next year that you can tell us about?
Unfortunately I can’t discuss them, but I can say that I used EZ Drummer in my score for Jewel Quest 2, and it won a G.A.N.G. award this year at GDC in San Francisco.

In closing is there anything you would like to pass on to the Toontrack.com visitors?
Yes. I’d say use all the tools at your disposal and push their limits to get everything you can out of them.
/ Greg