Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Koch (aka Detective 47).
Alex, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I began becoming fascinated with sound at a young age. Playing guitar and learning tabs out of guitar magazines was an obsession, I would read all the guitar player magazines front to cover and learn all the songs, and study the equipment and stories they would tell. I soon bought a four-track tape machine at 15 years old. I began overdubbing music with my guitars, an old boss Dr groove drum machine, a Casio keyboard, and a random mic I bought off a friend for 10 dollars and a pack of smokes.
My evolution went from the tape machine to an eight-track digital Boss BR 8, to a 16 channel Yamaha device and then to recording in the computer using a DAW. I grew up in upstate NY and moved to Baltimore, MD in my late teens and started a production space with a friend. At the time, we were making a lot of beats and focused on a certain sound using a machine called the ASR 10. A machine Kanye West, Rza, and Timbaland are known for using. I wanted to see the west coast so I packed my bags and headed to LA after a year in B’more.
I began studying music theory and production over at Musicians Institute in Hollywood. I was working with bands, recording at home and interning in a pro studio down the street. I continued building my collection of equipment while recording and producing different acts and gigging.
I’ve continued collecting gear and random accessories to create sound. In 2013, after getting a production deal with one of the artists I was working with I turned my home studio into a business and today, I have a full-on recording studio that I operate inside of a room at Red Gate Recorders in Eagle Rock. I also have access to the full studio at red Gate recorders which includes a beautiful live room, drum room, vocal booth, and control room… It’s here where I record full bands and various artists. In my room, I focus on production, mixing, mastering, and writing. Everyday is different. I’m currently releasing my own projects under Detective 47 while also producing, mixing, and mastering for other artists. I also score film projects and collaborate with different synch companies for film/tv projects.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The music industry isn’t a smooth road. It has steep hills, valleys, and sharp turns. I try to keep tunnel vision and not get distracted. Always move forward and learn as many lessons along the way. Working with various artists in all different types of genres gives me a lot of fuel. The creative side of things comes more naturally to me and working in the studio and recording although challenging at times is where I find myself most comfortable. The more challenging part for me is the marketing side. Keeping up with social media and promo is very important but requires a different form of creativity which I’m learning as I move down the road.
Please tell us about Digital Dust.
My business Digital Dust revolves around music production. I can work with an artist from the ground up or for just a stage along the way. It depends on the artist and what they need. I have singer-songwriters that come in and we build a song out of thin air from scratch. In this situation, I’m often there from beginning to the end. I write the song with them, record it, later the instruments, hire different musicians to play on it if necessary, edit/arrange, mix it, and then often times master it. There are other cases where I work with bands and they have already written all the songs. In this case, it is my job to capture the sound and make the choices necessary to make their musical vision come to life through the recording. Different preamps, mics, compressors, instrument choices and many other factors come into play amongst this process. Once I’m done recording the band, I will edit and mix the project. These days I often will master it as well. I also work with a rappers and MC’s where I generally will record their vocals, and mix them to the beat, and then master their music.
I use a hybrid setup in my studio meaning that the brain of my operation is my iMac Pro and all music eventually ends up here inside by DAW setup which is run on Cubase 10.5. I prefer the sound of analog gear though rather than using just plugins and staying in the box. This is where my sound separates me from others. Using a hybrid mix when mixing, I sent all the tracks out of the iMac through various gear including compressors, eq’s, guitar pedals, old synthesizers, tape emulators, and various other machines. I love analog gear cause it allows me to actually have a physical connection with the music by turning actually knobs of machines in real-time. They are living breathing machines that insert character/life into the sound which is something that brings me joy and is a form of meditation for me a lot of time. I use a 16 track summing mixer which routes all the audio into a final stereo track which I then print back into the computer for the final mix. This process gives me a unique sonic stamp that I put on all of my mixes.
When it comes to production, I have a wide array of equipment mostly vintage and acoustic. I collect old guitar amps and stompboxes, analog synths, and various instruments such the hammered dulcimer, mandolin, glockenspiel, and various percussion. Having access to all of Red Gate Recorders equipment allows me to track on their grand piano, vintage wurlitzer, or 60’s Conn organ to name a few. The sonics soundscapes are endless and I’m always envisioning new sounds to come up with or creative ways to capture the instruments I have. Also, I still love working in the digital domain as well I use plug-ins and vst instruments in the box too.
I would say I’m known in my productions for laying a solid sonic soundbed into any material I work on. I put on my Detective hat when working with artists and inspect exactly what they envision in their heads and do whatever is necessary to bring that vision to life.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Learning to play my first riff on guitar at age 10. I was in this random camp out in the woods in the catskill mountains in Upstate New York. I was with 8-10 other kids studying acoustic guitar and we had this cool hippie type instructor. One of the kids knew how to play the intro for the song “The Man Who Sold The World” from the Nirvana unplugged album. He taught me how to play the intro and I was so pumped. At the time, I didn’t know that the original song was by David Bowie who would later go on to be one of my all-time favorite musicians and the biggest inspiration in my life.
Pricing:
- Mixing varies from 150-750 per song. Rates are decided based on the project and various other factors
- Mastering is $75 per song
Contact Info:
- Address: 4440 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90041
- Website: https://www.digitalduststudio.com
- Phone: 323 301 8859
- Email: whoisdetective47@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sounddetective47/ https://www.instagram.com/digitalduststudios/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whoisdetective47/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/whoisD47
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/digital-dust-studios-los-angeles?osq=digitaldust+studios
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