Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Pace.
Aaron, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started mixing / producing bands in 2011, a little over a decade ago. Even though I was raised on pop and oldies, I cut my teeth working on heavy bands (metalcore, deathcore, etc). Pretty quickly that opened up into pop punk and more wide varieties of rock music and my job basically became to inject my pop sensibilities into all the genres people were bringing me!
A few years in, after I finished an unrelated college degree, I went full-time on production and mixing. I kept my head down and focused on improving my skills whether I was working on an artist or just on my own. My mixes got better, and that made me think of production differently, which in turn made my mixes better, etc.
Doing that over and over also helped me hone my songwriting and arrangement chops enough to start making my way into the pop / country world.
The variety of things I do for work is a bit wider too nowadays. I still produce and mix full-time, but I also do sessions as a standalone writer where it’s just my job to come up with melody or lyrics or whatever is needed.
I still produce and mix all kinds of genres and my task to this day is still injecting some pop flair into whatever people send my way.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t say it was smooth by any means.
I’ve never had a traditional job really, my income has always been tied to my art and that’s a hard road to follow for more than a decade.
The music industry is tough, I’ve put faith in the wrong people and been let down more times than I can count. I’ve also constantly been up against imposter syndrome and the feeling of “almost made it”. I also have had many times where an artist was so close to a breakthrough and I put in crazy amounts of time to help them, only to have them quit or break up right before they gathered that momentum.
There’s also just the nature of doing art for work, my productions, my songwriting and mixes are always on display and my income is tied to whether or not people resonate with those things. And if they don’t I probably won’t hear from that band or artist again etc.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize mostly in mixing but writing and producing are a close second. I think I excel at what people call alternative or Spotify pop, not to mention rock and country.
Some of my high moments in those genres would be Mind of Mine – Lø Spirit, I Would Die – Lahar and With All The Memories – Dalton Dover. Those songs are all songs I wrote a decent portion on, worked on either a little or a lot of the production and then mixed to a point where they all really resonated with listeners. All three songs really helped those artists have the confidence and freedom to pursue making more music but every song I work on is special to me.
When I co-write, I try and channel everything that my collaborators are feeling into the melody and words. When I mix, I focus on detail and impact so that the listener can truly hear the intention behind the song. And when I produce, I make sure to follow the song, to give it everything it needs to thrive and speak to the person that needs to hear it most.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
This is an interesting one, I don’t have many concrete memories from my childhood. Most of that stuff is lost to the sands of time as it were. I do however remember hearing Dreams – Fleetwood Mac all the time in my mom’s green Pontiac when we still lived in Texas. That song is still the way I get acquainted with speakers or a room I’m working in.
Contact Info:
- Website: MixByAP.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/aarontpace/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/aarontpace
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2IGUDaPAMV0YsZBDoKbO6M?si=bb053189e9ee438f
Image Credits
Haley Mewborn
