Musical Background

Yascha is a producer-composer-performer who is equally profficient on many different instruments including drums/percussion, electric and upright bass, piano/organ, and guitar. In addition Yascha uses some of his many other instrumental flavors such as marimba, vibraphone, steel drum, mandolin, dobro, accordian, and others in his productions and compositions. After a childhood in Baltimore, MD which included training at the Peabody Convervatory of Music and performences at Univeristy of Maryland, Towson State, and with the MD All-State Jazz ensemble, Yascha moved to Denton, TX to study Jazz Performance at the Univeristy of North Texas. During his time in Texas, Yascha toured with several rock bands and was frequently hired to do studio sessions in Dallas, Austin, and Ft. Worth. Shortly after moving to Portland in 1999, Yascha opened Starfish Studios and has been producing and engineering albums for artists of many different genres ever since. For a list of gigs, see the news page.

Production Style Being so profficient on so many instruments and knowing so many of Portland's best session players, Yascha has worked with many solo artists who don't have a regular backing band but want an album that realizes their vision as a band would. He has also worked with bands who need a producer to help solitify an approach for their album. Having such a diverse musical background and taste, Yascha has worked with Rock bands, Hip-Hop artists, Bluegrass bands, Alt-Country bands, Jazz artists, Experimental artists, Pop Singers and many more. Yascha believes that every song paints a picture with lyric and melody and the production style should support that image without distracting from it.