Meet Aaron Tepperman | Composer, Producer and Sound Designer/Audio Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aaron Tepperman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aaron, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born in Mexico City and moved to San Diego when I was a year old. From the very beggining of my life, music has been an integral part of my family and my upbringing having classical music, jazz, world music and music from the 60s, 70s and 80s playing in the house all the time was a critical step in my journey, especially that my grandmother’s family comes from Spain with Flamenco being very present as well. It wasn’t until I discovered my dad and uncle’s Prog-Rock and Classic Rock band record collection from the 60s and 70s that this was the first major pivotal moment in my life where music, especially getting into guitar, took center stage in my life. Getting into guitar opened a whole new world of music to me that I just couldn’t get enough of and would lead me to becoming a serious musician. Having played in my middle school Mariachi band and then later joining my high school Marching band as a percussionist in the drum-line and playing in local bands, these were really my first trainings as a musician and through out this time, these were the things that were shaping me as a musician.

From my other side of the family, my cousin was a huge movie buff and would watch movies with him all the time but when I first watched ET and Star Wars when I was 10, something happened in me that would ignite the rest of my life. The music that John Williams made for these films were the real seed to my journey and was un-deniably the catalyst for me getting into film music. Film became the perfect medium for me as I loved music and story-telling, what a perfect marriage. From here, falling in love with cinema became one of the most important aspects of my journey and couldn’t stop watching films.

During these critical shaping years, I started venturing into electronic music and synthesis and this opened up even another world of music that I never knew existed. This heavily drove my musical style. From there I got into music production and inevitably audio engineering expanding my possibilities even further. From getting a guitar performance degree from Southwestern College and then getting into The Los Angeles Film School for audio engineering, I was ready to venture out but it wasn’t until studying at the UCLA extension film scoring program that solidified my film scoring skills. The first time I heard musicians play music I composed, was life changing and honestly one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever felt.

From the beginning of studies, I met incredible people along the way that I’ve been very fortunate to work with and those were the beginnings of realizing my dreams of becoming a film composer and sound designer. Today, I am already doing that and it has only just begun!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What makes my work truly unique is the honesty and heart I pour into everything I do. When it comes to film scoring or sound design for film, not only do you need to be good at the craft itself, you need to have a really good sense of story-telling and music and stories have always been my passion. I got to where I am at today through consistent good work and meeting incredible people along the way. It wasn’t easy and still isn’t but its the passion and determination that keeps the wheels turning and when you work with other like-minded people, it makes it a lot easier. That’s not to say that I haven’t experience my share of challenges – I still am – but the love of the craft and the love of the journey really drives the motivation. I am really just starting and I am here to go for it!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh man where do I start! Theres so much to do in LA I don’t think you can do everything in a week but I’ll keep it short. For food, theres great food everywhere of all kinds of cuisines. For Korean food, my favorite spot is Dan Sung Sa, the food feels super authentic and the vibe of the restaurant feels like you are getting a great Korean experience. Theres also a big Peruvian community in LA and theres a few Peruvian spots like Mario’s on melrose but the one that takes the cake is Rosty in Highland Park. Having family from Peru and being there many times, I can attest that this is the best most authentic Peruvian food I have tasted outside of Peru. If you want a great deli experience you have two options, Canters and Langers. I prefer Canters but Langers is the OG. And for a quick bite, a big shoutout the Marisco Jalisco. It’s a food truck that I think make the best shrimp taco in all of LA.

For bars, I don’t go to bars too often but I love Gold Line Bar. Great place to have some drinks with an incredible collection of records to listen to when local djs come in and play from. From there we would go just around the corner to my favorite music venue in all of LA, Lodge Room. They just book really great quality local and worldwide artists. The Hollywood bowl is also on the list of great places to catch great music especially the John Williams concerts. For A little more underground vibe to music theres Scenario nights on Wednesdays at the Love Song Bar which feels like the successor to one of the most important LA music scene events in it’s history, Low End Theory.

For places to hang out and walk around that are great if you haven’t been there yet is Chinatown and Venice boardwalk. As a bonus, if they like films the New Beverley Cinema is great to catch some classic films. Those are good places to get a feel of the people in LA and I think that no matter what you do in this city, it’s the people that make this city so special… except the traffic!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to shoutout my incredible composer friends Philip Eisenfeldt and Jean Tariech for helping me out in my journey. I would also like to shoutout the first friend I made in the industry that helped me get started Noel Palacios. But most importantly, a shoutout to my family, especially my parents! I wouldn’t be able to do it without them at all!

Website: https://www.aarontepperman.com