We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brian Gigerich a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brian, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

My name is Brian Gigerich, mix engineer & owner of HandKrafted Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. My experience comes from over 20 years recording, mixing, coaching, & developing artists, Specifically in the rap, hiphop, & pop world. Canvas recently contacted me for an interview & I was thrilled to be able to talk about my experiences, career & ways to succeed in this field. The music industry is one of the hardest industries to survive in. Trying to make a living as an artist, engineer, producer, or studio owner is a challenge especially in our current times. As an engineer & studio owner there are a lot of responsibilities that come into play in order to be successful. Looking back on it, I’m amazed that I made it to where I am now & I didn’t do it all by myself. Having a great foundation in life is in my opinion the KEY to SUCCESS. You won’t have longevity without being stable. Knowing what you need as far as education, network & realizing realistically what it’s going to take to get it is the start of it all.

Brian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

It all began with a passion for music, At a young age I wrote lyrics, performed & recorded my own music for many years. I began recording friends, & I fell in love with the art of making things sound great, even though my stuff didn’t sound great, eh maybe close to okay. Most people go to a typical college after they graduate, but I was the only one in my school who decided they wanted to learn how to be Dave Pensado. I attended CRaS in 2004 where they gave me a solid foundation & helped me get an internship at a real studio. My dream from the very beginning was to eventually own a recording studio. I stopped doing my own music, lost passion for it, it happens, but I kept following the path to position myself as an engineer. I wanted to be the guy you go to, I wanted to be as good as the engineers that I looked up to. I started an internship as a runner at a local studio, who just so happened to be operating out of a house in a neighborhood. They were on the verge of expanding & moving into a commercial facility. This was perfect, this was exactly the process I was going to take as well. Even though I was a runner & didn’t get much time in the actual studio at first, I studied how they operated In a home, how the engineer interacted with clients, I learned a lot from studio etiquette, repairing broken cables, file management, and just the daily in’s and out’s of running a studio business. I followed them into the commercial facilty where I witnessed that whole process and discovered how much it cost to own & operate your own fortress. I also helped the studio cut cost by hooking them up with the glass for the control room & booth. Having a good reputation & relationships in this industry is crucial, and actually more important than skill level, & what equipment you may have.

So I ended up getting married & purchased my first home & from about 2009 – 2016 i focused on MY STUDIO. I know, doesn’t sound romantic :) but nonetheless I was determined this is what I wanted to do . I had to get serious. I was working out of a small bedroom with a wooden box I used as a booth, where the artist would record. I removed the doors on my closet and put a couch in there so my clients were comfortable. I even dropped the A/C down low in the summer for clients & in AZ you know that’s a super generous thing to offer lol. One day my wife was like, “why don’t you move all this noise out into the garage”. That was the greatest Idea of all time to me, Yes yes absolutely right away sweetheart. I ended up building a soundproof room inside of my garage, with its own A/C, power, & VIBE. I made that place look like it was a million dollar studio on a 5k budget. A specific person played a huge role into helping me get my start and lift me off the ground. My dad, the guy who shares the same name as me, no I’m not a Jr. , he has a different middle name, anyway .Not only did he help me with purchasing equipment in the beginning, he gave my business card to a lady he worked with and she so happened to be the mother of a music manager here in phoenix. They came in, saw my studio and BAM, I felt like I was immediately plugged into the Arizona scene of artists. Mind you , this took 3 years to happen since I opened my doors for business all while I was still working a tech Job. So day and night I was working, non stop , everyday. I presented my self professionally and made sure I did fair, honest, good business. I priced myself low, I worked sometimes for free just to prove myself. It wasn’t about the money, I had a job, I was working to get better so that I would be desirable to work with, therefore I would make stable money and quit my day job. Sounds easy right? actually it kinda was, I just had to keep working and not let anything distract me from this path I was on. Eventually in 2012 I did just that. I quit my job as a tech and started full time recording, mixing, & working with artists. I out grew my comfy garage studio, & moved into a facility that was once a mastering studio. The control room was already built & built to perfection. I made that space mine and hired on my cousin Michael Gamarano to help run studio B.

As a DUO we combined forces and really started killing the game. We both shared the same mentality, and we both were focused to make it happen. Since 2016 when we moved in to the new facility we have had over 13 artists hit billboard, made it to the grammy short list to be nominated, & built up a staggering amount of clientele from independent to major label artists to keep us both busy 10 hours a day plus another part time engineer El-Jay Beats. We also partnered up with Respect the Underground which is a label & promotional platform, along with IKON radio. All of these puzzle pieces played a role in the success & longevity of HandKrafted Studios. We have been operating now for 10 years. Some people ask when is the slow season? we say ” We don’t know” . We provide top notch customer service , Recording, Mixing & Mastering no matter where you are in the world,

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I think this question is important because without capital it makes things sooo much more difficult. While I did go to recording school, I also wanted to have a plan B incase this crazy dream of mine did not work out. I took a few courses in computer networking. I was able to get a job as a tech making decent money to financially be a able to fund my dream. The tech Job also had a requirement that I put X amount of money into a retirement fund every paycheck. This was awesome because after 7 years with the company they match you on your retirement fund. When I eventually quit the tech job I was given a good amount of money that I could now use to start my business. I used some of it as a cushion incase things didn’t work out & I invested the remainder. I also had purchased a house which I sold and profited. Those 2 things were key components

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

This is an easy one, My business partner is my cousin. They call him Felix Don Gato, he’s an artist, & recording/mixing engineer and has really grown into a beast over the years. We never really hung out or even spoke to each other as children. Weird but yeah, we linked up around 2012-2013 and the rest is history. We spoke the other day and I told him, If I made the decision to go to L.A after I graduated who knows where id be right now, I could of had multi platinum plaques , & the biggest credits in the game. I chose to take the indpendednt route, and it brought us together as a team. We did it ourselves from the ground up & those plaques are going to feel even more rewarding when they get delivered to the door of the studio.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hksmusic.com
• Instagram: @BrianGigerich
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brian.gigerich
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMFYHef0gBWijFgLRj3qhudxSsE08BtPG
• Other: www.hksmusic.com/book www.hksmusic.com/education

Image Credits
Whitney Peyton Brian Gigerich