Meet Aaron Kaplan of Improper Records in Torrance/ South Bay

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Kaplan.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Aaron. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started in music at around age six. I came from a musical family with a grandmother that was a classically trained opera singer and pianist. My dad, on the other hand, played guitar and studied everything from Bach to Hendrix. I expressed early interest and got a lot of encouragement from my family and got a 4-track cassette recorder when I was a teenager, sparking a burgeoning interest in recording and music production.

I continued to pursue this path and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston where I graduated with a degree in music production and engineering in 1996. Subsequent to that, I moved to New York City where I landed my first job supporting Elias Arts in providing a production music catalog to sports profile producers for NBC and the 1996 Atlanta summer Olympics.

My real career path began when I landed a general assistant position at Right Track recording on music row (48th /Broadway in NYC). During my time at the studio, we supported some of the biggest acts of the era including David Bowie, James Taylor, Slash, and Metallica, just to name a few.

In 1997, I relocated to Los Angeles, where there were simply more recording studios per capita and therefore, more opportunities! I continued working in the studio with artists including Britney Spears, Dave Koz, the Goo Goo dolls, Beck, Matchbox 20 and many others. My biggest break at the time came when, after befriending the production team behind the Greatest American Songbook series, I was asked to play guitar on several Rod Stewart albums. The legendary record producer, Richard Perry, became a good friend and mentor and I worked with him for several years as both a session musician and recording engineer/producer.

During this time period, several close collaborators of mine became involved in the film and tv industries and as the record business began to fracture in the early 2000’s, my career veered into composition which embodied everything I loved about music; both the creative aspect of writing music and the technical challenges of sequencing and programming. I moved into a studio at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control in Santa Monica and became a go to session guitarist around the campus, playing on huge hits like Ironman and on the TV shows including the Closer, Glee and Rizzoli and Isles.

At the same time, I became part of a composer collective called Barefoot music which eventually splintered off into Groove Brothers, a company that I still am an active member of. We scored all of the first waves of reality TV shows which included the Top Chef Franchise, Real Housewives of Orange County, New York, Atlanta and New Jersey, Project Runway and Greenlight amongst many others.

In 2012 I moved to Sonic Fuel Studios in El Segundo where I became a composer in residence and collaborated both as a composer and session guitarist on films including Horrible Bosses, Identity Thief and Ride Along, to name a few.

Over the years, I’ve amassed quite a large collection of guitars, vintage keyboards and recording equipment. I moved to my current location in Torrance in 2018 where it has been possible for me to combine all of my gear and finally put together the studio that I’d always dreamed of having. ARK studios is a combination of modern, digital technology but with a solid foothold in the analog recording realm. I have developed a workflow that allows me to compose and produce music and also to track live instruments, mix and master recordings.

Currently, my business partner, Ryan Johnson and I have established a record label that features artists that we have been developing in a variety of different styles. Improper Records endeavors to bring a lot of what traditional labels used to do; developing talent and empowering artists to create their best work. We have embraced new methods for distribution and monetization, fully utilizing platforms and new outlets for our content. We currently have an artist roster that we believe to be brilliantly talented and outspoken up and comers and we cannot wait to be able to share our music with world when we launch officially in early 2021.

Has it been a smooth road?
Well, it’s the music business so there isn’t a straight path to anything. The biggest challenge is staying relevant and current. The music that turned me on and inspired me to pursue my career is decidedly different than what is popular now. Even the processes for creating it have changed drastically since I started out. Ryan Johnson (my business partner) and I come from very different backgrounds musically. He excels at electronic music styles and I have more of a traditional songwriting and production background. I feel that collaborating with a variety of contemporary artists and keeping an open mind lends itself to merging tradition with the cutting edge and that is what our label aims to do.

What else should we know about Improper Records?
We describe Improper Records as an Americana label for the modern era. What we mean by that is that the traditional concept of “Americana” typically relates to country, bluegrass, blues and anything else homegrown on American soil. That definition subjugates and excludes a lot of modern music but what is Hip Hop, for example, if not wholly American from its inception? America is a country of immigrants and their musical styles have blended into our culture as much as anything else that has originated domestically or from abroad. We want to blur the lines and bring these traditions together. There are no more rules and there are no borders when it comes to music. We believe in integrity, first and foremost and by supporting that narrative, we aim to break through boundaries in order to create our unique identity.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Our industry has always evolved rapidly but in the streaming era and during a time where big tech somehow has managed to commandeer musical content without treating the providers of that content fairly, I think that everyone from industry leaders to artists and innovators are striving to find a new path forward that is inclusive and respects the art itself. There’s power in numbers and whether or not the answer is a revamp of the streaming model or not, eventually the tides will turn. Nothing can replace the experience of live music and there are new and emerging platforms and concepts that are developing all the time. Personally, I believe that one of the most exciting innovations is around immersive audio technology. Whether as stand-alone or as part of a wider production, audio and music must be designated as something important to consider from the beginning of a production as opposed to being treated as a post-production process and that adds a lot of consideration around its overall value.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.improperrecords.com
• Phone: 310-809-6486
• Email: improperrecordslabel@gmail.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/improperrecords
• Facebook: facebook.com/improperrecords

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