Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Irez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

IREZ, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I was born and raised in orange county, roughly 35/40 mins away from the Capital of Entertainment (Los Angeles/Hollywood), and that in itself was enough to inspire creativeness. I grew up playing sports and having a passion for music. They sort of went hand and hand for me. When I wasn’t at practice or playing sports I was in my room listening to music or downloading music from Napster (Which took about an hour to download ONE mp3 back in those days haha). Music always inspired me to push more especially during practice or a gym session. In The summer before my senior year of High School, I ended up getting my first job at Anchor Blue. I earned enough money to buy myself a Zoom MRT-3B that summer. Basically a beat machine where you can create beats/rhythms and musical patterns with audio samples or loops. I started making beats in my room at night or when I wasn’t at practice or at game. But, As years went by, I never made it to the pro leagues in soccer “Hahah”, but I did end up developing an obsession for music. I can’t explain exactly how or why the love for music, but every time I was able to experience live music at concerts, clubs, festivals, or sporting events, a heavy rush of excitement/adrenaline would overtake my body and that feeling of joy became my world. I just knew that music was my calling and it was something that I needed to get into. Which eventually I did. I didn’t play an instrument nor did I have a “musical” background, but I could compose or hear sounds and beats in my head. Reason why I loved Hip Hop so much. It was a fusion of all types of music with heavy hitting drums. Soon after high school, I started taking music more serious and eventually I ended up working to buy a Dell PC and a Rhode NT2A microphone. I was set.! I started recording friends & local rappers to my beats ALL FOR FREE, just so I can get my “skills up”. Since YouTube didn’t really exist at the time, everything was self-taught & learned.

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

Both parents Born in Mexico, So I am a first generation Mexican-American kid who is following his dream.
After knocking on so many doors, eventually I landed a internship at one of the most well known studios in Los Angeles, Paramount Recording Studio, which was HUGE for me. Not knowing this at the time but, that is when my professional career eventually would start. During my Internship (which lasted a little under a year with ZERO pay), I came across many talented people and learned a lot by watching top producers in their creative element. Just being around all these talented people’s presence was majestic in itself. I was able to learn so much and really shape my skills to a higher degree which really helped mold me as a producer/engineer. Eventually, I started to work and run recording sessions of my own. As time went by, I started to accumulate more and more clients of my own by word of mouth. I would record rappers for $50 bucks for several hours and sometimes even a whole album.! So let’s just say my name flew around the streets fast because I was extremely CHEAP and Affordable! It wasn’t my skills hahah, at least not yet… As I kept recording artists, which was mainly at my house or someone’s home studio, I eventually came across a studio that was very affordable and extremely well put together; Neighborhood Watche Studios. By far, one of my favorites studios till this day! Extremely clean, great quality, Huge space, and best of all, extremely affordable which gave engineers (such as myself) an opportunity to charge a cheap/fare rate for top end professional work. Well eventually, The “watche” became my home base go to studio (still is). Jon doe, the studio owner, him and I became great friends as years went by and as I grew more into my profession, he noticed I started landing more quality work with well known Artist. Eventually he gave me a gig that would have me end up on TV. Love and Hip Hop, a show on VH1. The gig consisted of me and one of the artist from the show. I had to record a song and mix the record for them, all while they filmed us in the studio during the process. That opened up doors to many more opportunities later on… As years went on, now being on my 9th year since I started this journey, I eventually built a huge clientele. From signed Artists & Producers on major labels to independent Artists & Producers, you name it, I’ve worked with many. And tons of songs have reached well over millions of streams from multiple platforms such as youtube, spotify, and apple music. Some of my credits consist of : Artists/Producers include – Snoop Dogg, BlueFace, G Perico, Snow Tha Product, 1TakeJay, Kalan Frfr, Lil Pump, Azchike, King Lil G, Kruk One, $tupid Young, Bravo the Bag Chaser, Casey Veggies, DoughSoOfficial, Hi-Tone, Krayzie Bone, J Valentino, King Los, Caskey, Rucci, AD, Azjah, Steelz, Mike Crook, & many more…
I am a Music Producer and Mixing Engineer. I can provide you with a professional sounding recording of any sort. Whether that be a instrument or a vocal. I can provide you a professional sounding instrumental/beat from multiple genres such as: Hip Hop, Reggaeton, EDM, Cumbia, Trap, Pop, And Rnb. Most of my work is known for Engineering, Mixing a song and delivering a Professional ready record that is ready to be put out to the world.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

As funny or “corny” as this might sound, Honestly – Youtube! Many many hours on youtube has helped me tremendously. So many tutorials, tricks, and tips are available that you can really teach yourself just about anything. Along with that, An organization named “Mixed by the Masters” has also taught me alot. It allows you to watch videos of industry Engineers and Producers on how they create and mix big well known songs.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The reaction of every Artist I work! Helping them bring their vision alive and seeing how proud they are with the final result.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsirez
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/itsirez
• Other: https://www.itsirez.com

Image Credits

None Needed