I'm gloriously addicted to listening. Sharing that addiction is just what flows afterwards. I'm dedicated to making sonic reality a dimension of life people experience deeply through acoustic design, building sound technology, and music. Perhaps it's convenient but I'm convinced this addiction can better the world.
In general, I smack, bow, click, work with, and wildly wave my hands in front of whatever and whoever I possibly can to make sounds that range from heart warming to gut wrenching.
Would love to hear from you. Click the contact button above to get in touch.
Interview with Matthew Aidekman
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Don't rely on gear for your ideas. Think about what everything yo do means. Everything will come into focus.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: I mostly do pop, metal, rock and electronic music, but I've also worked on gospel, a cappella, blues, folk, avant garde, classical, and salsa.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: The creative process. I can throw paint at the wall and hone the resulting mess into a focused idea.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I think a song (or whatever else your working on) is the product of everything that goes into it. The biggest factor are creativity, honesty, compassion and understanding. When I work with an artist, I make sure I know what they want, I try and anticipate their needs, I collaborate. After many years of doing projects, I can hear that in a recording.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: When I'm tracking and producing the utmost important thing is to make sure the artists are comfortable and inspired. Tired artists make bad music. Pissed off artists make bad music. When I'm mixing, I work in stages. First thing is to edit everything so it sounds amazing. That means cutting out hiss, doing noise reduction if appropriate, tuning vocals, replacing bad notes. Then goal is make sure the timbre of each track is appropriate through whatever means possible. From there I see if there's any space that needs filling with ear candy, pads or effects. Finally, it's time to *actually* mix the song which means making sure that everything is in the proper space on the sonic canvas in relationship to the other elements. Most people beginners and even many professionals don't do this. They just want things to sound awesome, but they never make sure they're arranged correctly because they're obsessed with tone.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a protools HD rig. Avalon, neve, pendulum, empirical labs, Shadow hills, etc. etc. etc.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Flood is one of my favorite producers.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I'm a recording and mixing engineer. I have been for 17 years. If you need something to sound amazing, I'm your guy. I also put together software for performers and artists using Max/MSP.
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $300 per song
- Vocal compingAverage price - $40 per track
- Vocal TuningAverage price - $40 per track
- Time alignment - QuantizingAverage price - $40 per track
- Beat MakerAverage price - $150 per song
- ProducerAverage price - $400 per song
- Game AudioAverage price - $500 per day
I typically do two passes of revisions with an artist and then they have to start paying me on an hourly basis to tweak things. I can mix things in as little as two days.
The first job I get here, I'll do one song for free provided the job is two or more songs.
