Meet Alexander Tebeleff | Music Producer, Composer, Mixer, Songwriter and Teacher

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

Hi Alexander, how do you think about risk?
Taking risks has always been one of the biggest parts of my life. One of the best pieces of advice my mother ever gave me was that anything that was really worthwhile in life involved some level of risk. Music was a clear life path for me pretty early on, and I’ve been taking risks to keep that the main focus of my life for the majority of it. Quitting my job to go on tour across the country for two months with my old band Paperhaus, moving across the country with my now wife without a place to live from DC to LA to look for new opportunities and challenges, starting a house venue in my living room to help create community during my time in DC, I could go on and on. And looking back, I can’t say I regret a single one of those risks. Even the ones that didn’t work out the way I hoped, I learned something significant that made me make better decisions later on. A risk is almost always worth it as long as you learn from it, regardless of if it ends up in success or failure. That latter part is often out of your control, but you have no chance at success or learning at all if you don’t at least take the risk in the first place.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m really proud of the records I made with Paperhaus, and all the live shows and touring work we put in to make that project special. It was incredibly difficult but it led me to so many life paths that were special. My work in DC helping on DIY shows all around the city, including my own home, came out of that project. Meeting musicians all over the country and opening my mind and spirit wide open to new music and people and ideas came out of that project. I certainly wouldn’t be in LA today if it wasn’t for touring out here and realizing how special this city is. Just completely changed my whole life.

Through making those records, I was lucky to learn how to produce and mix as well, in large part to our co-producer and mixer Peter Larkin. Peter was so generous with his time, and such a great teacher. There’s never a mix I do for my own music or for others where I don’t end up using a lot of what I learned from those days in the studio with him.

Living in that creative house that the band used to all live in, I also was introduced to so many amazing people that changed my life. One big example I often think about was a musician named Ben Schurr from the band Br’er who lived at our place for a little after his van broke down hitting a deer on the way to playing a show in our living room. He loved the community we had, and just never left! Eventually he moved down the street. But when he was staying with us, he re-introduced me to synthesizers after I felt lost my first go around in my younger years. That led me down the path I’ve gone today in sound design, modular synthesis, and eventually mixing in a round about way. I even ended up doing beta testing for one of my favorite synth companies out there, Steady State Fate.

Most people get into modular synths after they’ve gone down the production rabbit hole, but my experience in being a professional mixer and producer was the opposite. Modular synths in particular opened me to new ways of thinking about timbre, the movement of sound over time, and signal flow. Those ideas combined with all the experience I already had in the studio and as a longtime songwriter really brought it all together for me as a producer in particular.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m constantly learning new things about LA and new things to do here. Seems endless! But if I wanted to show someone around the LA area, first thing I’d do is take them out to eat. The food here is really wonderful, and represents so many different cultures and ideas across the world. Definitely would consider some Sichuan first and foremost in the San Gabriel Valley, probably Xiang La Hui or Chengdu Taste. But Mexican or Thai would be a good choice too!

Next I’d take them to do something in nature. So many options so depends on the person! Beach in Malibu, hike in Griffith Park or the Angeles National Forest, even a walk through Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. A little bit of something for everyone in that regard, or a lot of everything I love personally.

Last, I’d take them to a show on the east side. Zebulon, Club Teegee, Permanent Records Roadhouse are probably the most regular venues for me these days, but the east side of LA is certainly not lacking for fun places to see live music.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Definitely wouldn’t be here still pursuing music as my primary life path without my mom. She was a guitar player as well, and so many of my early musical memories involve her. From my mom I got The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and so many more. I can still remember dancing like a little lunatic as a small kid to her Elton John records. Music was always around. My dad too, getting me into soul and funk that still really resonates with me today, like Sly & The Family Stone, Stax Records, and James Brown. I was very lucky to have encouraging parents in an alternative life path to what was expected in the DC suburbs I grew up in.

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