We recently connected with Lior Tzemach and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lior, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The word risk is a relative term, I would call it “A leap of faith”, and that is something I’ve been somehow doing many times in my life. By this point of my journey I have been able to learn the valuable lessons behind every big step and decide that it’s an opportunity to grow and expand my skills, rather than not. I would say that my first “risk” have been leaving my home country Israel at the age of 20, when I was already performing as a guitar player, touring and recording with many artists. I went to study Audio Engineering & Production at Berklee College of Music in Boston, going deeper in the realms of the science and technology behind the creation of this magical thing, looking for explanations on why it makes me feel this way and how can I inspire others. That meant put the guitar aside, and focus on producing other artists, collaborate with songwriters, spend time in studios recording different bands as the engineer and later work as their mix/mastering engineer, not sitting in sessions as just the guitar player, but having a broader perspective. After finishing this degree, I wanted to be back playing to bad, and got accepted to the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, spent time with giants such as Danilo Perez, Dave Liebman, Terri lyne Carrington, and John Pattituci, which re-inspired me to pick up the instrument again and be an active performer. Later on I moved to New York, and jumped on an opportunity to manage a Jazz club and recording studio, owned by world class Bass player Omer Avital. The place was new and it was just me and another friend, doing the work of a full team. That is where I learned about entrepreneurship big time.
And when Covid started and borders started to tighten up, I was visiting Israel, and found myself staying there for 7 months seperated from my girlfriend at that time, when she was in Belgium visiting her own family. Eventually I decided not to come back to NY and I moved to Brussels, we got married over there and it was another “Leap of faith” not knowing the local language, but trusting life and it turned out great, I collaborated with many great artists in Belgium and Europe in general and got exposed to a completely new market and awesome people.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My hometown is Ramat Gan, a city near Tel Aviv, which have no music scene whatsoever (at least not when I was growing up) and no professional artists in the family, though everyone is a music fan and this is where I learned how to enjoy music in a very innocent way, not analyzing stuff too much. My musical journey started at home, my brother started to play as well and we have some relatives who were showing us a lot of old blues, and rock such as Paul Simon, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Sting, Led Zeppelin, John Lee Hooker, and a lot of great stuff. A big day for me was when I discovered the DVD of Red Hot Chilli Peppers “Live at Slane Castle” and it never occurred to me that concerts of this magnitude exist, with close to 100,000 people in the audience, with this beautiful music, I was mesmerized and it felt like pursuing this craft was the right thing to do, since then I played guitar in my room for maybe 8 hours a day, learning as many records as I can, immersing myself in this experience. The next step was to study at “Thelma Yellin” high school, which is a special high school in Israel, consisting of a world class Jazz department, and that’s where I could connect the dots with getting to know arranging, composing and musical theory as well As to what I do now, some of these terms might overlap but I would define myself as an artist, producer, guitarist, audio engineer, not necessarily in this specific order. Most people know me as a professional guitar player, I have been fortunate to play in many music festivals around the world as a guitarist and musical director, had the pleasure of playing with legendary drummer and producer Terri Lyne Carrington, I have been leading a few projects consisting of my music and always working on new stuff in terms on original music. Also for the past decade I have been working in the field of sound engineering, everything from recording to mixing to mastering, and these are huge independent fields but I feel immense confidence saying that since I have spent time with some of the best engineers in the world at my time at Berklee, and beyond using the machines, I’ve been fortunate to learn about perception and the philosophy behind the work. I have been producing a few records for Indie artists in the U.S. and back in Israel, working as a freelance engineer mixing and mastering albums for artists/bands worldwide, and composing music for media on the side as well.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Indeed, it’s easy to say, and takes a lifetime to execute if at all. What drives me at least, and I do my best to surround my self with like-minded people,
Is showing the world that music has the power to liberate us, not to sound cliché but make us feel timeless.
I know it because I felt it, and many people can say the same, you don’t have to be an artist to get immersed by the beauty of a musical piece, or to appreciate it, don’t have to be smart, you don’t have to be anything! Just be present.
People still buy concert tickets, paying for streaming services (the equivalent of buying records at the time) and are hungry for a few moments of this liberation moment, this feeling of being overwhelmed in a good way.
I believe that music can make you a better person if you are receptive enough, music has and still is a crucial part in many religious ceremonies, tribal culture, and basically humans were always looking to create some sounds that will make them feel free of the mundane, Like when I listen to Wes Montgomery, John Frusciante, Wayne Shorter, Led Zeppelin, Ravi Shankar, Oscar Peterson, Richard Bona, Squarepusher, or Jimi Hendrix.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I knew there are no rules, and that I’m allowed to not restrain myself and letting out whatever needs to flow. Anyway I shouldn’t take ownership of my musical ideas, I’m just here to let it happen through me. There’s many instances I look back on and think that I could have acted differently, play differently etc.. but these are all lessons.
Also most of the music schools today, the most valuable lessons are when we learn about those musical giants that never had any chance of getting musical education, never knew about any rules, and created accidentally new genres in music, ones that would never be brought up by the educated. So now every music school graduate needs to confront the idea that everyone is a potential innovator.
So as much as I don’t regret any moment of my path, I wish to have known this earlier.
Almost 2 years ago, I had the honor of spending an evening with the great Wayne Shorter, and the way he revolutionized the music world, crossing between genres, using his skills to break beyond the conventions is just like no other, He was a beautiful person and our conversation will forever be etched in my memory. I realized many things thinking back about that night and about the fact that so many musicians are still stuck in the imitation game, instead of being active thinkers.
To sum it up, philosophically speaking, I wish I knew I didn’t need to learn so hard to think outside the box, when in reality there is no box.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.liortzemach.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lior_tzemach_music/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiorTmusic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lior-tzemach-aaab55106/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4NREihFn-b-wXHbL-OmRLg

Image Credits
LT 2011 Braids – Tzilumation Crew LT 2018 – Berklee College Of Music LT gtr+mic – Levontin 7 LT Mastering Studio – Roy Boukris LT NY 2019 – Andrija Gavrilovic LT nylon 2018 Cambridge – La Fabrica Central LT PowerStation Console – Roy Boukris LT Psycadelic 2011 – Tzilumation Crew