Meet Stratøs | saxophonist, producer, 5x award winning composer

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

Hi Stratøs, how do you think about risk?
It’s the only way to grow. However, the current struggle is being able to make space so that one CAN take risks. As a modern freelance artist, every opportunity I’m able to carve out space to create comes with some sort of cost. An example of a risk I took recently is the sample pack I just released. The time it took to make something original, unique, thorough, and stylish is time I had to pin down. You never know when a gig is going to be offered, or how people will receive what you make (if they end up receiving it at all). This can’t be forgotten!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

My name is Stratøs and I’m an artist from Michigan. Before I moved to Los Angeles in August of 2022, I studied jazz saxophone in college. I became a composer and won 5 awards from ASCAP and National Sawdust. I became a producer and started independently releasing my own albums. I started doing photography and ended up having my work featured by Kodak & Moment. I picked up cinematography to document it all in motion, and headed for the west coast.

Since being in LA I’ve been involved in a lot of projects ranging from my own live shows in town to an appearance on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” (S2E20). However, recently my attention’s been aimed toward two important projects, one short and one long-term, in particular. The long term project is my 3rd album “Challenger Deep.”

As somewhat of a response to my space-themed debut LP “Planets,” “Challenger Deep” shines a light on some of the current issues modern society faces through the lens of my late fisherman grandfather “Edward Codrington” à la Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy.” Codrington was a fisherman from Barbados in the early 20th century. His unique status as a master of his craft with a rare motorized vessel gave him access to waters that other fishermen couldn’t venture into. I’d like to use this motif to tell a story where Codrington descends from the surface of the sea all the way down to the “Challenger Deep,” the lowest part of Earth’s deepest ocean, the Mariana Trench. The themes this motif makes room for will range from climate change and the ever-mysterious contents of our planet’s oceans to the fates of enslaved African people whose bodies never made it to the Americas. Sonically, this album takes the heavily emphasized audio production elements of “Planets” and combines them with the more compositional, chamber, and thematic aesthetics of my 2nd album “Hohemheim Suites.” As a producer, I’ve spent years developing a unique sound that combines all of my accumulated knowledge as a saxophonist and improviser. As a composer, I’ve spent an even greater amount of time developing a foundation for these sounds to exist.

My short term project, lucky for artistic readers, is my most recent sample pack called “Space Tape,” available now. For those who might not be familiar, a sample pack is a collection of sounds that an artist or producer records and makes then makes available for others’ own musical or audio needs. Where sample packs get creative is in HOW these sounds are captured. Allow me to tell you how I captured mine.

“Space Tape” the world’s most comprehensive, stylish, and beautiful sounding saxophone-based sample packs ever made. There are 41 one-shots (short, isolated audio samples of every note I play on saxophone. 4.5 octaves!), 8 saxophone cluster chords (pretty-sounding saxophone choirs in any key you want), 24 saxophone spread chords (rich, full-sounding saxophone choirs in any key you want), 8 flute & clarinet cluster chords (gorgeous flute & clarinet choirs in any key), and a bonus section where I processed these woodwind sounds through my reel to reel and cassette tape machines, all recorded through a vintage TEAC Model 3 and Fostex 250 recorder/mixer. As a producer and a photographer, analog textures like tape and film are a big part of my process and style, and thus turned this project from just a saxophone sample pack into a true packaging of my current sound and style, now made deliverable to you.

Space Tape is available here: https://shorturl.at/acESY

My goal here in Los Angeles is to use my unique work to contribute to the rich artistic ecosystem that exists here. I want to work with my heroes and make music with my friends. We’ll get there! 

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.
If you’re in town, a must-visit is my studio The Stratøsphere! I run a boutique recording studio that specializes in recording, production, mixing, tape transfers, and music videos/short films. It stands out because of its unique visual style, and thoroughly curated gear selection for those truly special sounds. It’s located in Boyle Heights, which also happens to be where some of the tastiest food is. Standard operating procedure for guests, collaborators and clients is a trip to my favorite coffee shop, Weird Wave, before the session!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shoutout my wife Julia Moffa! No one works harder and is kinder. Her art as a singer, ceramicist, and photographer has a naturalness that reminds you of what art really is – self expression. She’s one of my biggest inspirations and truly supports me.

Website: https://stratostones.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stratosnolastname/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stratosmononym

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stratosnolastname/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoODhMOrJxGh7Q-c8awaA4w

Other: the Space Tape sample pack: https://stratostones.com/sample-packs-1/space-tape-sample-pack

Image Credits
Julia Moffa