Today we’d like to introduce you to Aj Pyatak.
Aj, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am an artist, audio engineer, dad, and tinkerer. I am an east coast transplant who found my way here through a company called Outpost Digital. I was heavily involved in the early testing process of Apples Final Cut Pro and later went on to teach one on one classes through Outpost. As we transitioned into a full post-production company I took on the role of audio engineer. During that time, I found circuit bending which was a perfect way to combine the dismantling of small audio gadgets and my personal art aesthetic. I now work independently mixing audio for television, commercials, and film while also cultivating my new web market place of all my weird art objects.
Has it been a smooth road?
Trying to break out and support myself as a one man audio post-production business has been very challenging. I’m my own support engineer and salesperson, but I’m a messy creative at heart, and sometimes those ideologies can be very conflicting. Audio technology and digital post-production is a constantly evolving business and it involves researching and understanding what’s ahead while supporting the current and past systems. Computers are my favorite when you don’t realize you’re working on them. I spent many years fixing the computers I worked on at Outpost Digital so I’m well versed in being the computer guy, but I’m much happier when everything is working harmoniously.
In my personal life, I take care of my diabetes which I’ve had since I was 11. Things were simple when I was working in a full-time computer job, my healthcare needs were completely off my radar, it was easy actually. Over the years, I know my company struggled keeping the level of care continuous through healthcare changes. Now that I’m my own small entity I’m on personal healthcare and fighting with approval middlemen to keep up with my healthcare needs. I determined to keep fighting until I can achieve the level of care I feel we’re all entitled too.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My main company is NOva’s ROOM studios. I specialize in audio post-production for television, film, and commercials. I’ve worked with many great clients including TruTV, MTV, HBO, History, Lakai and Girl Skateboards. Most recently I completed mixing the second season of Real Money on AXStv Network. As a company, I’m very proud of the sound work I did on one of the more recent Lakai skate videos called The Flare. The director had a great vision to make each tricks sound cut through the mix, which meant recreating some of the skate sounds from a detailed library of recorded tricks. It was very challenging, but so much fun to do.
One of my circuit bent pieces, The Speak and Spellbinder, was published as part of course literature in a book called Electronic Music by Nick Collins, Margaret Schedel, and Scott Wilson for Cambridge University Press. The instrument is a combination of a Speak and Spell and a Rockband guitar and continues to make weird wonderful alien noises by my side.
Last month I created an Etsy web store to also start selling my artwork. It’s called Weird Art Things and I’ve started with one of my hobbies, wood burning. I’m currently building the next set of art objects which includes circuit bent instruments and weird sound gadgets.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The city is great because of its access to some of the most sought after resources. Not only all the audio post-production equipment you could ever need but also a thriving community of independent artists and filmmakers that are in need of audio work. It’s difficult to convince new clients that a smaller operation is capable of producing broadcast quality work, but hopefully as I continue and grow my track record will speak for itself.
In terms of artwork, the internet is as viable as any city. Los Angeles may have famous galleries, but artists are what make the gallery, and they are everywhere. I was discussing with my friend the other day how galleries seem very useless. Artwork can and should be made everywhere, a city should be your artistic influence, not your ticket to success.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.novasroom.com
- Phone: 310-433-4961
- Email: aj@novasroom.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gannon5000/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gannonbook/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/WeirdArtThings
Image Credit:
Katherine “DangerZone” Kastan
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