My creative work brings together audio production, songwriting, ethnographic research, media production, and collaborative teaching. Across two decades of studio work, field research, and interdisciplinary projects, I have tried to use recording, media, and production technologies not simply as technical tools, but as ways of supporting collaboration, documenting culture, and building creative communities.
Audio Production and Studio Work
After attending recording school at California Recording Institute in San Francisco, I began my career at The Plant Recording Studios in Sausalito, one of California’s most iconic recording facilities and the former home of artists such as Santana, Fleetwood Mac, and Metallica. While assisting on sessions for artists such as E-40 and Zero, I also began producing local artists, writing songs, and developing independent recording projects.
Between 1997 and 2005, I worked across a wide range of studio and media environments, first at The Plant and later through Nick Reeder Studios in San Francisco and Three Trees Music in Nashville. I recorded and mixed projects spanning bluegrass, gospel, jazz, hip-hop, rock, R&B, film, and multimedia production, and I collaborated with musicians, filmmakers, and visual artists on a range of independent work.
Clients and collaborators included MC Hammer, E-40, Steve Kimock, Resin, Stroke 9, Universal Studios, Martin Obeng, and numerous Bay Area independent artists and ensembles. In 2004, singer-songwriter John Morris and I co-founded Aqueduct Records, a small independent label supporting collaborative releases and multimedia projects.
Acoustic Design and Embodied Learning
My interest in studio design and acoustics grew out of both necessity and curiosity. While building recording environments in San Francisco and later at Lake Tahoe Preparatory School, I designed and constructed control rooms and acoustic treatments to better understand how physical spaces shape listening, communication, and creative work.
These experiences strengthened my belief in hands-on, experiential learning. Building studios required me to combine carpentry, acoustics, listening, experimentation, and collaboration in practical ways that continue to inform my teaching. I remain especially interested in how people learn through movement, participation, and shared experience.
In coaching lacrosse, for example, I teach dynamic movements such as yoga-inspired practice warm ups that emphasize safe movement, balance, and coordination and serve as important parts of injury prevention, learning, and personal growth. Whether in classrooms, studios, or athletics, I enjoy helping students build confidence through practice, communication, and collaboration.
International and Ethnographic Collaboration
My ethnographic and musical work has focused heavily on Afro-diasporic musical traditions, particularly in Ghana and Brazil. At Brown University, I studied Ghanaian drumming under master percussionist Martin Obeng and later co-engineered Africa’s Moving Forward with Brown University’s Jim Moses at Brown’s recording facilities. These collaborations deepened my understanding of improvisation, rhythm, participation, and the social dimensions of musical communication.
Kwaku Obeng – “Africa’s Moving Forward” (2014)
During fieldwork in Bahia, Brazil, I collaborated with Afro-Brazilian musicians, percussionists, and community members through informal recording projects, musical exchange, and participatory learning. I often used my recording and production skills in service of the music communities I was studying, exchanging engineering and media support for opportunities to learn about Afro-Brazilian percussion traditions, Candomblé, Axé music, and broader Afro-diasporic musical cultures.
One of the most influential experiences during this period was studying with master percussionist Gabi Guedes in Salvador da Bahia. Through drumming lessons, rehearsals, and participation in ceremonies connected to the Alto do Gantois community, I gained a deeper understanding of music as a social, spiritual, and communal practice. These experiences continue to shape both my teaching and research, particularly in courses involving world music, improvisation, ritual, and participatory culture.
Creative Collaboration and Multimedia Projects
Many of my creative projects have combined music, research, media production, and collaborative learning. At Brown University, I received special permission to complete a multimedia master’s thesis that integrated written scholarship, documentary film, interviews, music, digital media, and interactive materials exploring musical collaboration and techno-culture.
I have also collaborated on community-centered multimedia and performance projects involving musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, and students. One example was The Potluck Opera, a collaborative event bringing together classical, jazz, and experimental musicians in San Francisco for performance, recording, and documentary work. These projects emphasized creative exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and participatory production rather than commercial outcomes alone.
Songwriting and music production also remain important parts of my creative life. Across studio projects, collaborative recordings, and independent releases, I continue to view music as both an artistic practice and a way of building relationships, communities, and shared creative experiences.
Jeff Stevenson and the Potluck Opera – “After You Fell” (2009)
Nick Reeder Band
The Nick Reeder Band grew out of the collaborative music community I became part of while engineering recording sessions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Working in studios across the city allowed me to collaborate with a wide range of talented musicians, songwriters, and producers whose creativity helped shape both my songwriting and production style. The project became a way to bring together many of those musical relationships through collaborative recording, arranging, and performance.
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