About Aaron Levine
Seeking community through music and our shared history, Aaron Levine is a professional musician and Audio Engineer intent on interpreting and passing down our shared history of music. He began taking private lessons on guitar at age 7, continued so through middle and high school, loves to sing and reminisces of having the most fun in choir and Jazz Band. After high school he studied Music Theory at Northern Virginia Community College and graduated top of his class from The Omega Studios' School of Applied Recording Arts and Sciences in Rockville, MD. After Omega, he made his living running live sound and recording artists in the DC Metro Area on a freelance basis and for various companies including Blue Ridge A/V and Lighting. During this time, he continued to gig with bands and produce original music.
Much of his Engineering work has been with choirs, a'capella groups and bands of all genres. Through the National Association of Broadcasters he was hired by American University in Washington DC to work with the Engineering Department of WAMU 88.5FM. He rose to the position of Production Coordinator for WAMU's Bluegrass Country 105.5FM, the world's longest running bluegrass radio station. He was given charge of the recording and broadcast studio acting as a recording, mix and broadcast engineer for all Bluegrass Country events. In working with top bluegrass and old time musicians, historians and broadcasters, he was immersed in the music's history. This reshaped his goals and he has transitioned to teaching for a living. He loves being around musicians and decided he was wanted to play his instruments everyday, as opposed to recording others.
For the last five years his focus has been in old time and bluegrass music with forays into Dixieland, jazz, gypsy jazz and blues. He performed professionally with the Magpie String Band utilizing steel string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, dobro and banjo. For banjo, his focus remains on clawhammer, two and three finger index or thumb led with some Scrugg's style. He teaches finger style and flat picked guitar and accepts all students. Due to his engineering background he offers recording and mixing instruction. Teaching has shown him the plethora of students which yearn to record their music but have limited access to gear. His goal is to help instruct them how to produce the best music they can with whatever gear they have access to by utilizing the fundamentals of acoustics and recording.
He stays busy and is currently building repertoire on various instruments besides his favorite, main instruments. These include dulcimer, autoharp, harmonica and bones. He runs, hikes and practices archery as often as possible and can be found learning new recipes with fresh veggies from his garden most everyday. With fellow DC musician, Henry Meyers, he plays old time music at local breweries and wineries. He enjoys woodworking and is currently building himself a gourd banjo. At his recording studio, he can be found mixing local artist's music and dialogue for various podcasts as well as producing his own music. He has deliberately built his life around his love for music so as to sustain and grow himself without sacrificing his passions.
