{"id":2,"date":"2015-02-23T16:06:30","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T16:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2016-10-31T09:23:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T13:23:18","slug":"bio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.waltcollins.com\/music\/bio\/","title":{"rendered":"Bio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Walt\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Walt Collins<\/span> is a contemporary electronic musician and music producer\u00a0with\u00a0over 30 years\u00a0of production experience<\/strong><\/span>, based in Harleysville, in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA.<\/p>\n

Walt’s unique brand of dream grooves<\/strong><\/span> (a.k.a. evocative and hopeful melodies and rhythms<\/em><\/strong><\/span>)\u00a0<\/strong>are\u00a0often\u00a0tagged as chillout<\/strong><\/span>, trip-hop<\/strong><\/span>, IDM<\/strong> <\/span>(Intelligent Dance Music), downtempo<\/strong> <\/span>or ambient<\/strong><\/span>. Walt’s original tracks are\u00a0inspired by celebrated electronic music artists such as Steve Cobby (Fila Brazillia, Solid Doctor, Cutler), Boards of Canada, Northcape, Dzihan & Kamien, Aphex Twin, and The Crystal Method.<\/p>\n

An avid listener to internet radio stations like\u00a0SomaFM’s\u00a0Groove Salad<\/a>\u00a0and LOUNGE-RADIO.COM<\/a>, Walt’s song\u00a0arrangements incorporate\u00a0modern electronic, dance, and ambient sensibilities, rather than\u00a0traditional pop-oriented “verse-chorus-bridge” song structure. His melodic and rhythmic motifs synthesize\u00a0elements from diverse musical styles, including\u00a0funk, jazz, blues and rock.<\/p>\n

Walt’s musical accomplishments\u00a0include playing piano, synths and organs, lead and rhythm guitars, bass, drums (acoustic when appropriate). He also sings lead or harmony vocals, and can sometimes muster up a trumpet or harmonica part.<\/p>\n

Walt is also half of the songwriting team “Collins & Frick”, together with Paul Frick. \u00a0The pair continue to write and produce music on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

Early\u00a0Influences<\/h3>\n

From a young age, Walt has been a singer\/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer. \u00a0Pop, rock and psychedelic musical influences included 1970s icons such as\u00a0Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and the Grateful Dead. Walt formed his own high school band in the early 80s, taking the role of lead singer and primary\u00a0songwriter while\u00a0playing a borrowed bass guitar. \u00a0The desire to produce music was evident early, as he\u00a0began experimenting with home recording techniques like tape-to-tape overdubs, and eventually a\u00a04-track cassette recorder.<\/p>\n

As a college student at the\u00a0University of Pennsylvania (and continuing for several years after that), Walt played in Philadelphia-based country\/rock bands including The Angry Biscuits, Fjord Rangers, and Rolling Hayseeds. Walt toured with the Rolling Hayseeds to play at SXSW (in Austin, TX), among other destinations, in the mid-late 1990s.<\/p>\n

In the early 2000s, Walt opened his own local recording studio, Waltenstein Studios<\/strong><\/em>, serving as lead engineer and producer, as well as session player for a wide variety of recording clients. \u00a0He\u00a0produced literally thousands\u00a0of songs and parts over the years for local bands, in\u00a0a wide variety of musical styles, including\u00a0rock\/pop, country, metal, R&B, folk, Irish, blues, punk, emo, and more. \u00a0Walt closed the studio to the public in 2009, leaving more time to focus on his own original production work.<\/p>\n

Personal Life<\/h3>\n

Walt enjoys being a father and a husband. \u00a0When not producing music, he\u00a0pursues video game development as an \u201cindie\u201d game producer and founder of\u00a0Arcanoria Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n