Musicians & Voice Talent

Aaron Walz

Senior Sound Designer & Music Composer, Vocalist, Pianist

Aaron Walz, composer and sound designer primarily for mobile, social, VR, AAA & casual games, earned his BA in music from Sonoma State University. He scored the top-ranking Facebook adventure, Ravenwood Fair, which enjoyed 25 million plays per month. He has received several awards for his audio work including “Best Game” at GDC’s Independent Game Festival and Game Tunnel’s “Best Sound.” Aaron sings and records with several projects. He has trained with Grammy award winner, Joseph Jennings, Chris Fritzsche of Chanticleer and Clerestory, Magen Solomon of SFCA, Will Johnson and Robert Worth, among others. Aaron strives to create music for media that stands alone as a worthy contribution to art. Aaron was a co-founder and partner of the Game Audio Alliance.

Dina Rao

Recording Artist

Dina weilds bluesy vocals and is inspired by her upbringing enjoying rock, singer/songwriters and jazz standards. Her influences include Dinah Washington, Etta James, Ann Wilson from Heart and Pat Benatar. Her vocals have taken her throughout the Mediterranean and Caribbean, as well as performances at the Fillmore Jazz Festival, Top of the Mark, Slim's, Red Devil Lounge, Rassela's, Pier 23 and Martuni's, all in San Francisco. Dina is also a professional voice-over artist for games and is working on completing her first single, At Last. You can preorder the CD now here! On June 5th, 2012, it will be available in physical CD form and digital download via iTunes and other partners.

Rosy Maguina

Recording Artist

Rosy Maguina was born in Chimbote, Peru. She came to the USA with her family in 1989. When she was 7-years-old, her mother gave her a guitar and she taught herself how to play. Soon, she was writing songs. From then on, music became an important part of her life. She grew up listening to songs that told a story in a very simple way. Songs with a meaning and a message. Rosy's songs are honest and passionate. Every word... every melody comes from her heart.

Lamont Ridgell

Voiceover Artist

Originally from Michigan, Lamont sings, dances, acts, and yes... voice-overs. He is a classically trained Lyric Baritone from Western Michigan University (WMU) and grad school product of Syracuse University.

While attending both universities, he also sang in their choruses as well as highly acclaimed vocal jazz ensembles. While attending WMU however, he was also a radio announcer at NPR affiliate, WMUK (102.1 FM). Since then, he's done projects including being the announcer for the Syracuse University Pride of the Orange, Books for the Blind, voice-overs for Fisher Price PowerTouch electronic books, and with Walz Music and Sound. Whether it's a romantic leading man or frightened turtle, there's a voice inside his head that's bound to be the right fit... somewhere.

Laura Domingo

Voiceover Artist

Laura is a theatre & film actress, singer, dancer and voice actor, who recently took home the 2012 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle award for Best Featured Actress in a Straight Play.

She is what as known as a quadruple-threat: she sings, she dances, she makes you cry, and she can make you laugh with but a single word. Go ahead, ask her to say "buffalo" and try to keep a straight face.

With this dynamite voice of hers, she has covered a wide range of characters: from a bingo-calling witch to a gruff card dealer, fiery Italian wife to washed-up Southern songstress -- and one has to assume that there's an anthropomorphic unicorn somewhere in the future.

Eva Maass

Classical, Jazz & Pop Vocalist, Flutist & Bassist

Eva has studied music since the age of nine. Her first instrument is flute and she began her study of voice about twelve years ago. Her studies began at the Santa Rosa Junior College and continued at Sonoma State University. She added the electric bass seven years ago in order to be able to cross into popular and jazz styles. Eva has sung with a wide variety of vocal ensembles, including the Sonoma County Bach Choir and Chamber Singers, with whom she toured Italy twice. She has performed as a chorister with the Santa Rosa Symphony, and was a member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Chamber Singers. Eva's flute, bass and vocal work can be heard in many Walz Music tracks. She is currently recording her first solo album.

Krisha Montmorency

Classical Violinist

Krisha has played the violin since age ten. She holds a BA in Music at Sonoma State University and studied abroad twice in Music History and Performance at the Royal Holloway College of the University of London. Although primarily a classical violinist, Krisha enjoys singing and exploring on the viola and electric violin as well. Krisha’s greatest passions in music are opera and orchestra music, and she is one of the founding members of the American Philharmonic-Sonoma County. She has participated with various domestic and foreign choral and orchestra groups in Mexico, Canada, Ireland, England, Italy, New York, Oregon, Hawaii, and California. She can be heard on many Walz Music tracks.

Teresa Carney

Voiceover Artist & Vocalist

Teresa performs with Cabaret Bohème in Tucson, Arizona, as a leading vocalist. They perform at Club Congress frequently and should not be missed!

Teresa is blessed with a chart full of fire signs. You will sense her warmth the moment you see her flaming red hair and hear her sweet, passionate voice.

Teresa made her Walz Music debut with nR Element's album "Miscommunication" on the track "The Promised Land," which is a cover version from the Final Fantasy video game.

Teresa is warm & healing and is an important part of the Walz Music team of artists.

Hyd (N. Hemler)

Electronic Music Creator

N. Hemler aka Hyd is a musician, game designer and enthusiast, and techie who dreams of creating worlds full of wonder and intrigue. Hyd's interest in music began when listening to video game soundtracks but didn't blossom into a love for music production until picking up a demo copy of FLStudio 3 and playing with various samples and instruments to create remixes of various video game songs.

It was from there he started making bootleg eurobeat and dance remixes of pop music and the love only grew from there. To date he has collaborated with a number of wonderful designers, singers, and other musicians to lend his take on their songs through remixing and also in filling game worlds with music for people to enjoy while playing anything from rhythm games to RPGs..

Pete Ellison

DJ & Remixer

A steady and important contributor to Walz Music & Sound as a remixer for our side-projects and artist releases and assistance with electronic genres. He also created our website and our current logo revision.

Pete draws cute things, produces music and art, designs logos, creates t-shirts and merchandise, builds websites, and directs short films. Whatever the medium, his goal is always to create something iconic and memorable. He's heavily influenced by Rave Culture, Anime, Video Games, J-pop, Crafting and Retro Style.

Pete Ellison (as deejay Kid Whatever) is a mainstay and innovator in the Portland rave scene. Gleefully mixing both the accessible and obscure, his sets work 90's rave, speed garage, 4x4 Shibuya-kei club stompers, Korean crunk pop, Italo-disco, arms-in-the-air princess trance, and a bag full of custom re-edits and bootleg remixes into a dancefloor frenzy THAT DESTROYS ALL IN ITS PATH.

Kid Whatever is 1/2 of underground electro-pop duo Peroxide Mocha and runs the mostly-free record label Donut Nook. He has recently completed remixes for Microfilm, Foxdye, Graz, Little Nobody, Angel Theory, Th' Mole, and Attery Squash.

Side Projects

nR Element

Eurodance Duo Project blending electronic music, Video Games, Anime & Classical and Opera vocals

It all began on a sunny afternoon in Sienna, Italy, Summer of 2000. Eva and Aaron met and were instant friends. They sat and people-watched at the Piazza del Campo and were inspired suddenly to start singing. The duo decided to start a project after returning home. Acquiring Ana soon after, the group started to get to work.

The classically-trained trio integrated their passions: classical, electronic dance music, anime, and video games. Eva offered opera vocals, blues, jazz and funk and live bass and flute. Ana wielded her incredible spirit and vocal accuracy and a killer, sultry alto range. Aaron, the half-Australian producer, has composed songs and sung since childhood and also composes and produces video game music.

nR Element collaborated with several great musicians and finally released its first studio album entitled "Miscommunication" in July 2004 and followed up with several live shows promoting the CD.

As nR Element neared completing another album, Denis Curman from Akyr Music approached the group and remixed So Curious - now Internationally released on iTunes and many other distributors.

In 2008, Aaron met Jason and immediately recognized his talent as both a soulful singer and songwriter. Jason gladly accepted an offer to join nR Element for both their live gigs and also the production of their next studio album likely entitled "In Our Element." Jason has sadly left the project but his vocals will be featured on the upcoming album. nR Element is planning the release of a single in winter, 2010.

nR Element on iTunes

The Morning Star Quartet

Holiday Recording and Performing Group

The Morning Star Quartet are enthusiastic, loyal and professional singers who perform in San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma County.

www.morningstarquartet.com

Morning Star Quartet on iTunes

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