Multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer Rena Jones is a force to be reckoned with. At age 30, she boasts more than 30 collaborative albums, 20 years of classical violin study, and 12 years of cello–and she is considered one of the leading women in audio engineering today. Jones has toured internationally, performing at such electronic-music gatherings as the Shambhala Music Festival, Burning Man, and the Glade Festival. Her third and most recent solo release, Driftwood (Native State Records), is a fresh, innovative take on down-tempo electronic music, with her acoustic strings work intermingled with premade beats that she created from scratch.

“It’s basically a concept record about the life cycle of a tree,” she says. “I wanted the listeners to have that feeling of life growing and budding and evolving. I’m very fascinated by life cycles in general and feel that gets tied into most of my work. Driftwood just went a bit further and went for a whole concept on it.

“I think honestly it’s the signature record that defines my sound. It’s the one record that helped me really figure out who I am as an artist.”

Driftwood has received quite a bit of media attention, most prominently a feature on NPR’s Echoes radio program, which showcases new music released by independent artists. The 2006 New Age Reporter Lifestyle Music Awards nominated the record in three categories: Best Dance/Club/Dub Album, Best Ambient Album, and Best Cover Art.

Although she has relocated recently to Portland, Oregon, Jones has been called “the revered daughter of San Francisco’s electronic-music scene,” having spent seven years there crafting her unique hybrid of electronic and acoustic music. She studied sound engineering at Ex’pression Center for New Media in Emeryville, California, from 2000 to 2002, going on to freelance as an audio engineer and also work at WaveGroup Sound and at Digidesign, where she helped develop the ProTools sound program.

What sets her apart from the majority of electronic composers in the ambient scene today is her manipulation of string sounds from real acoustic violins and cellos along with purely electronic beats.

“There aren’t many producers out there doing what I’m doing. Almost every song I have was sourced from a real instrument, which gives my music a very organic feel even though it is eventually synthesized through the computer. It gives it that richer, rounder tone that you just can’t get from a straight synthesis computer.”

Her compositional approach begins with creating a musical palette of sounds, some acoustic and some electronic, arranging the song structure, and then mixing the sounds together until the desired blend is achieved. In the case of Driftwood, Jones worked to present a unified sound from her acoustic and electronic sounds.

“I feel with Driftwood that I really wanted to be super subtle with the strings,” she says. “I wanted to integrate the strings into the heart of the music, and be one whole piece together. I would integrate parts of the cello into the electronics through synthesis. My previous record, Transmigration (self-released), was much more focused on the strings. I would write super thick-staffed parts, 20 parts of violin and cello combined. I wanted to do Driftwood with strings as a supportive element, as opposed to the forefront.”

While growing up in Texas,Jones began studying classical violin in the third grade, but her eagerness for the classical genre grew into disenchantment during her teenage years as she resisted following a more traditional musical path.

“I was a writer from the very beginning. I remember from a very young age writing pieces and bringing them to my teacher. I’d ask him to play the songs for me and he wouldn’t,” she says. “I was always very frustrated with that. I loved the idea of going with electronic music, because there’s so much more freedom and no rules, really. Anything goes. That was the greatest appeal for me.

“It takes a long time to find your voice as an artist, and what really makes your music you. It just all of a sudden clicks at a certain point. You understand your tools, how to get the right mix, and you figure out what you want to say.”