Andrew Levin
Contact
Departments
Technology and Applied Composition
Courses Taught
Sound Design
Ensembles
San Francisco Symphony (2020)
Kev Choice Ensemble
Jazz Mafia
Q&A
What is your hometown?
I consider the whole Bay Area my hometown. I've lived in most parts of it.
What is your favorite recording?
This is difficult, but I'd have to say Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder. I feel like every time I listen to that album I learn something new.
What are you passionate about outside of music?
Nature, Yoga, Weight Lifting, Social Justice, Meditation
Who were your major teachers?
Michael Finley, Bruce Foreman, Clint Bajakian
What is a favorite quote that you repeatedly tell students?
It's not as much about what you say as it is about how you say it... with that said, more vocabulary will only help you express yourself as an artist.
What question do you wish students would ask sooner rather than later?
Why do I want to do music/audio in the first place? How can I use music to serve my community?
What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?
On some level it's always been what I wanted to do, but I knew from the first show that I played when I was 12 years old that this would be the path I took.
What was a turning point in your career?
Joining the Kev Choice Ensemble opened up a lot of doors for me as a performer, and then getting my job at Ubisoft opened a lot of doors as a Sound Designer/Audio Engineer
If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?
I would be working in Sustainability
What is your daily practice routine?
It changes all the time depending on what I am focusing on, but I mainly just try to always adopt a curious mindset about different aspects of music/sound and keep myself as busy as possible with different projects
If you could play only three composers for the rest of your life, who would they be?
Stevie Wonder, Trent Reznor, John Coltrane
From a music history perspective, what year and city are most important to you? Why?
New York in the 1940's because that is where so much of what we listen to today originates from in terms of popular music, film scores, etc. Jazz and Classical musical began to really influence each other, and you had artists like Charlie Parker working with Stravinsky. That seems to me to be a time and place where things really took off. I could also say a similar thing about New York in the 1970's.
What is your unrealized project?
A punk/metal band that says something new somehow
Please list your most important collaborations.
Guest artist with the SF Symphony (September 2020)
Audio Designer and Composer for Rocksmith +
Guitarist with the Kev Choice Ensemble
What recordings can we hear you on?
Currents from Scratch- SF Symphony
Oakland Riviera- Kev Choice
The Rapture: Live From Oaklandia- Zion i
Rocksmith + (once it comes out later this year!)
I've released several recordings under my own name
Andrew Levin is a composer, sound designer, and session musician from San Francisco, CA. His music is eclectic and varies widely, but is tied together by intricate synthesizer work and traditional instrumentation. He currently works as a Composer and Audio Designer for Ubisoft. In addition to releasing music under his own name, he has performed with numerous major artists such as the San Francisco Symphony, Zion i, Terrace Martin, and Jody Watley, and has been a long time collaborator with Bay Area music staples such as Kev Choice, Emily Afton, and the Jazz Mafia.