Meet Natsuki Aihara | Music Producer, Audio Engineer, Guitarist

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

Hi Natsuki, why did you pursue a creative career?
I’ve always wanted to and tried to do something different than other people. I want to go somewhere else, I’ve always like that since I was kid, but at the same time I was very shy to express my honest thoughts. So my parents, friends and anybody who knows me was really surprised when I said that I wanna be a musician. on top of the fact that I was a little shy kid who rarely shared my dream with others because I was very conscious about what others think about me, there is another reason why they had never thought that I would say such thing. When I was a kid, music wasn’t really my favourite thing. I took a piano lesson when I was a little but I didn’t like it. But one of my friends from high school who was one or two years older than me asked if I was interested be in a rock band and wanted to play the guitar. I though it was a cool idea if i could join his band although I didn’t particularly want to learn how to play guitar. But because none of my friends from the same year play in a band( some can played an instrument but they did classic music), I decided to join his band. I bought my first guitar which was a Gibson Les Paul knock off at about $100 and stared practice. It was really slow and frustrating, especially I really struggle with open G chord. But I practiced all day. I spent time for guitar as much as I can. I was really passionate about it. I don’t remember particularly why but it felt all natural. So It wasn’t hard to decide to come to the states for my dream. Since then, my interest has been shifted from playing guitar to producing music and now I see me as a music producer/ mixing engineer. Especially I love to produce other artists. They often come up to me with a super dope idea but don’t know where to go with it. I truly enjoy to go the creative journey with the artist. Today literally countless music is release to the public everyday, musicians including me are always trying to do something unique or different although it is extremely hard. I reckon that the best way to achieve that is to collaborate with others. Of course, we often have to face artistic differences but most of us can humbly listen to someone’s idea and at the end of the day respect each other and take any cool ideas no matter whose idea it was. So like I said earlier, I am not good at sharing my thought. But with music and creative and artistic people, I feel safe to share. This is why decided to devote my life to this creative career.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an audio engineer and music producer. Sometimes I make beats/tracks, sometimes I record musicians. what sets me apart from others is that I don’t have particular music style that I really love. This might be a bad thing as an artist but I think this is really a blessed thing as a producer. Since I widely listen to any kind of music, I can add some spice to the music in a way that they wouldn’t even thought about. Also the fact that I have played guitar professionally for years really helps because of many reasons: I can communicate with musicians using some musical language about their song or their equipments, I can write their parts, I can read music etc… Those advantage has made my career so far some what easier but I still have tons of things to learn. The Lessons I’ve learnt along the way is….. This is the tough one because I learn something new whether it’s technical or more emotional stuff. But the most important lesson I have ever long along the way is that I am there to do the best music because with the mindset I can focus on making good music and stop worrying about how many ideas I put into the music as long as I am part of the team. And when I work with other artists and keep this in my mind, I can be less egoistic and more open to others.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Honestly it is hard to say. Because what I like most about LA is that wherever you go, you find something new. there is always something new and interesting. So if my best friend comes over, just put them in my passenger seat and start driving till we find something. I will most likely start with down town. But there are some my favourite spots in LA. One of my favourite spots is on 134 freeway. If you get on 134 west from Pasadena and drive few miles, you go up on a little hill and you can see the all the tall buildings. One, the view is very cool and second this reminds me of a cut scene from GTA V where Trevor watches the city of Los Santos from the hill on his way to Los Santos. The spot really gives me an excitement of being LA but this is very personal and it’s hard for other people to relate.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to shoutout two artists here who have been working with me and have Rebelle and Sun Zu. Rebelle is a Croatian singer who has an exceptional performance skill and fabulous voice. Whenever I have to work with her, I really have to make sure that I did everything right because I don’t want miss any of her moment. The session is always intense but she has made me a better engineer and producer.
Sun Zu is a LA based rapper. His creative mind is in next level. He never be scared of sound different or “weird”. I am always astonished how he is so creatively unpredictable and he really makes me want to hear what’s coming next from him. He makes me more creative.

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