Dan was born in Boston and comes from a family of musicians. After graduating Harvard College, he came to New York City to be a session bass player and performed with a variety of major label artists, DJs and Broadway pit orchestras throughout North America, South America and Europe, in venues ranging from Brooklyn loft parties to Carnegie Hall. He also played keyboards for the RCA Records’ rock group Stellastarr*.   

From his early days in New York City, Dan was involved in New York City’s underground live electronic music scene, nurturing his fascination for mixing acoustic and digital instruments. In 2005, he performed his first show at Berghain with Virgin Records’ Xaviers, using Ableton Live 3. The possibilities of the software inspired him to form Comandante Zero – an electro-funk digital art and music collective that performed with groups like the Brazilian Girls and The Juan Maclean at venues and festivals in NYC, LA, Latin America and Europe.

In 2011, Dan became an Ableton Certified Trainer and joined the faculty at New York City’s Dubspot, where he became the director of Dubspot International and launched electronic music production programs globally.

Dan is currently on the faculty at NYU Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, New York City’s Electronic Music Collective, and DJLAB in San Jose, Costa Rica. He has been hired by Ableton to train numerous major label artists on Ableton Live and Push and has launched Ableton Push 1 and 2 in the United States, with presentations in New York City.

Dan has given workshops on electronic music production and performed at festivals, universities and schools worldwide including SXSW, Harvard University, Berklee College of Music, DNA, The Strøm Festival, IATEC, AIMEC, The Universidad de Caldas, The International Museum and Library of Music, Argenlive, Tecnologico Monterrey, The Universidad de Santiago, and SONAR.

In 2015 Dan founded the Brooklyn Digital Conservatory, a platform that brings leading music producers, performers and educators to emerging markets in Latin America for courses and performances. The Brooklyn Digital Conservatory has done numerous workshops and courses in Latin America including in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Mexico. In 2017 he partnered with DJLAB to create Central America’s first Certificate Program in Electronic Music Production.  

Dan works from his studio (Studio J – The Playroom) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, where he produces, records and creates live performance set-ups for artists. His specialty is NYC house and disco house, but since he has a jazz and classical background, and played for years in Brooklyn’s Indie rock scene, he incorporates a variety of influences into his work.