The extremely talented Maor Appelbaum, producer, sound engineer, mastering engineer and musician, takes time out of his crazy busy schedule for a little Q&A with JLG365.
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Tell me about your childhood. Where were you born? At what age did you become interested in music and engineering? Who were some of your early influences?
I was born in Israel. At a very young age I fell in love with music and how it sounds; the instruments, the melody and the performance.
I wanted to become a musician but I didn’t find the right instrument to put the time into. In high school I decided I wanted to try to be a bass player and it worked. After playing for a year I formed a band and we started rehearsing. I wasn’t a good player in the beginning, but after practicing and playing with a band it helped me get better and better. [When that] band split, I formed a new band and got even better. So, basically I played bass for a lot of years [and it was during that time] I got more and more involved in the recording/mixing process [as well as] the production part of it.
I learned and worked in various positions in the sound engineering field from LIVE sound to broadcasting to DJ to studio – getting everything I [could] from it and building a client base and more experience.
How did you finally break into the “industry”?
As a musician, a lot of my music was sold outside Israel, so the international market was always something I liked being part of. I started working with international artists in Israel . Most of it was live sound and some mastering. When I moved to the USA I started working for some producers. I worked on a lot of projects that got me some recognition and then more and more clients came in.
It’s a lot of work to get the client in and to keep him happy and then hopefully he will bring you more clients based on his good experience with you, so it’s a words of mouth thing. Some people you meet and [wind up] working with them later on down the road, so you never know how things will come your way.
Tell me more about what it is you do. Is there any particular aspect of your work you enjoy more than others?
I have done a lot of things in the audio field from recording, mixing, designing and all that. I feel that in mastering I can give a fresh outlook on the music and bring in the objective approach that can make an album have that final touch to it. It’s like the icing on the cake as some of my clients call it. I love doing mastering. I can’t describe how much I love doing this and I go the extra miles for each project. Mastering is an objective art and it needs ears that are fresh and unbiased [that can listen] to it in a different perspective and giving it the extra impact to make it shine and develop in a way that it gives the song the push its needs.
Who are some of your favorite musicians to work with? Why?
Every musician that I work with I get connected to his music. After so much listening and feeling the overall vibe of the song. I get connected to it very fast and I absorb it deeply. So many names that I love so little place to write.
What are your proudest accomplishments?
Being a mastering engineer in this day and age. The music industry has been going [through] a lot of changes now and new things are coming in and other things are going out The creative approach in mastering is now a bigger part of the process and bands rely on more than before, especially because of the huge amount of music that is being self-produced today.
What are you currently working on?
[I] just finished a new album of Rob Halford’s called “Winter Songs” and the new Lita Ford album called “Wicked Wonderland“. Both [albums] are getting a lot of attention over the media.
I am also working with some other international artists [that includes] lots of music from all over the world in different styles and sounds ranging from soul, pop, fusion, funk, alternative rock, progressive rock, hard rock and metal.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Good question. I hope to be still doing mastering and enjoying it. I hope to keep working on a lot of music and getting more and more clients. I might move to a different place in the world and see what that place has to offer. Nowadays, with the internet, you can basically live on an island with great a great internet connection and work on whatever you want. The distance is becoming smaller all the time. I won’t live on an island, but it will be interesting to see what will happen in five years. Hopefully something great!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Really enjoyed reading all about Maor, thank you for that Jen. I have listened to Wicked Wonderland a number of times and its certainly different to other albums, more innovation and complexity given to this album I think, compared to some of her earlier work.
Great interview! Lita Ford has a new album coming out?!
@Jess
Ayup. Buy it at Amazon HERE.