DAS

Captivating harmonies, pulsing melodies and intricately simple rhythms symbolize Dana 'DAS' Solomon's work. On every project, the SESAC affiliated keyboardist and music producer creates an original, electrifying sound that has the listener humming days later.

Music always has played a huge role in this Georgia native's life, presently living in the S. Jersey tri-state area. DAS (pronounced 'Daz') grew up on a steady diet of his father's old vinyl collection, listening to the Motown and jazz legends of the time such as The Temptations, The Four Tops and Miles Davis. In elementary and high school, his musical interests bloomed and he played the drums, trumpet, trombone and baritone.

DAS went on to attend West Chester University, in suburban Philadelphia, as a music education major in piano and voice minor, with a classical music curriculum. It's in college he honed his craft, becoming an expert in music theory, harmony and composition. "This formal training helps me everyday as a producer because I'm so disciplined when it comes to instrumental and vocal arrangements," DAS said. "I'm very meticulous when it comes to recording and arranging. l always take a serious attitude towards maintaining a certain level of quality with what I create. I would never present a person or organization any of my work that isn't my best. If I can't feel 100 percent confident in what I've created, then I wouldn't possibly expect anyone else to have much confidence in my product either. I believe that my presentation means everything: sonically, astethically, and personally."

Since college, his professional career has taken an impressive path. DAS worked as an apprentice for Bill Jolly, who was keyboardist and composer for the late jazz legend Grover Washington Jr. "Learning from him gave me vast experience in audio engineering, arranging, production techniques, and something that no single textbook can explain to you , how to deal with people." said DAS, citing Quincy Jones, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Teddy Riley, L.A. Reid and Babyface, and Dave Foster as other musical influences.

DAS has scored music for the independent short film drama "Behind These Doors", written and directed by Philadelphia film director Wilfredo Manzano, for Manzano Productions. Taking his skills to the next level, DAS also produced and mixed a full 14-track album and 7 track Christmas EP for a local indie South Jersey singer/songwriter artist, Ashley Greenwood. This album was then later mastered at Sterling Sound in NY. He also completed two remixes on spec: "Spanish Faster" by Geffen Records, alternative rock group Ringside and "Down Here in Hell" by Capitol Records, R&B singer Van Hunt.

In addition, DAS has placed with HARPO Productions two of his instrumental tracks that have been featured in "The Oprah Winfrey Show" nationally and internationally. Recently released is a music production cd-rom library DAS has completed for the Creative Software division of Sony Inc., which markets and sells pro audio applications such as Acid Pro, and SoundForge. This Sony Acid library is a reggaeton construction kit CD Rom released commercially in June of 2008 entitled "Caliente".

DAS has been using Mac and PC software DAW(s) with many pro audio applications, as well as different hardware synthesizers and audio processing hardware for his production needs. He arranges, records and edits a variety of digital recording projects from his current South Jersey home project studio.

But despite all the technological advances, he never lets the computer do all the work. "As beneficial as technology can be, I always remember that I'm a musician and composer first," DAS notes. "All of these devices can't create great music on their own. They're just tools to help me create what I do best, and that is music. The musical experience is more important to me than the tools that have created it. Of course a huge advantage that I have is the skill of audio engineering. This gives me the best of both worlds by allowing me to first mentally hear how a song or composition could be arranged, and then having the technical know how to translate that in a post production mix and master. "

For further inquiries on any music/production needs, contact DAS at 856.607.8947 or das1029@gmail.com .