Meet Alex Venguer

We were lucky to catch up with Alex Venguer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I feel like finding your purpose never is really over and it changes and evolves through time. Instead I think of it as a path with choices that lead you one way or another. In my particular case I think it could go back as far as Middle School where I started getting really obsessed with my guitar and music, eventually creating a band with some friends and getting serious and committed enough to release a self produced record. This, in combination with my obsessive listening to records made me realize that I was really into the concept of making records, at first thinking I wanted to work as a producer and be able to lead sessions from the fully artistic side (helping write, arrange, perhaps even play some) and with absolutely no interest in the technical aspect of it. As I started studying this at college, I realized that I was actually more of a natural at the technical engineering side (even if I have never been a super technical engineer myself) that can serve the art rather than direct it. As it turns out, I eventually realized that most of the producers I grew up admiring, were actually first engineers and then eventually shifted into the role of producers. With time my career has developed in a way where I more naturally set myself up in the role of an engineer who is very involved in the production side of some projects or even where I am the producer, and so little by little that purpose has been evolving into what it is today, which is still more of “the engineer rather than the producer” and shifting towards what feels the most natural to me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’ve been working as a recording & mixing engineer for the last 22 years in NYC and really my prime objective is to be able to work on music I enjoy and feel inspired by, and one of the very fun parts about it is that with time I’ve learnt to appreciate, enjoy and learn from projects that I might have never guessed would be “my style”.

One of the quirks of the “recording/mixing engineer” world is that maybe 9 out of 10 people who get into it want to wind up being involved more in mixing than recording (in fact, many might be happy just mixing) but to me, having the chance to do both in my life is such a big part of what I enjoy. I can’t say I like one or the other more but rather the fact that some days I’m recording and others mixing. What I find interesting is having challenging and different kinds of sessions where I have to come up with new ways of approaching the work and I think that happens more if you’re involved in more parts of the project than just the mix.

Lately I’ve had a good combination of very fun records with music that I love as well as a few film scores that have extremely beautiful music to them come out. Some examples of these are the Ken Burns “Leonardo DaVinci” documentary (as well as an upcoming one for the American Revolution), new records with artists such as Ryan Keberle & Catharsis, Pedro Giraudo with his Tango Quartet and the Idaho State Civic Symphony and a new score by Carter Burwell for an upcoming Ethan Cohen film (as a huge fan of the Cohen Brothers and of Carter Burwell’s since college – I feel extremely lucky to get to work on these).

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Through the years I think that the most important qualities that have helped me develop the career I have are mostly human and communication qualities, not technical ones. Obviously you have to be good at your skill, but I think the most important ones in my type of work (and I would say this probably applies to many other fields) are being kind and helpful, easy to work with and an easy person to be around for long periods of time – particularly in the studio where it can be long and stressful days, and to never make the job about yourself. I think that last one is very particular to the music engineering world where it is very easy to fall into feeling you’re the one who has done hundreds of records and has spent countless hours in the studio and therefore the one who must be right. But at the end of the day, the artist is the one who knows what the music wants to be like and in the end it is their art and project. This obviously doesn’t mean you don’t want to impart your experience or opinion (though it’s also important to know when and how to do it), but rather that you need to do it in a way that respects the artists, never makes it about yourself or that feels condescending to the project, artist or music. Again, it all comes down to creating good relations and being someone that people want to spend time with in the studio.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

I can be nothing but extremely grateful to my parents who not only brought and encouraged music in our lives from day one, but also supported me in following through with what, in High School, might feel like a very passionate hobby that might not lead to actual work. Particularly because I was not one of those kids who grabbed a guitar and had an immediate talent for it, so their support through the years and years of work on it means the world to me. Not only that, but they kept at it through college and particularly through my first years in NYC where I worked a job that seemed ridiculous after graduating college. Working for a big studio in NYC as a runner meant being on call every hour of every day, working 70 hour weeks doing nothing but taking out trash, cleaning, running gear up and down, sitting at the front desk, etc. etc. and all of it for minimum wage. So them not going “what are you doing with your life after you spent 4 years in college?” and instead supporting it and letting me have the time needed for this type of career is the best gift possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alexvenguer.com
• Instagram: @ootermind @ootermindstudiopics @trufaeats
• Facebook: Alex Venguer
• Twitter: @ootermind