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

Ofek , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

As a music producer and a sound engineer, I believe my job is to help artists express themselves in the best way possible. That means creating the best environment, physically and energetically, in the studio. I love people, and I truly believe the quality of the work depends a lot on the relationship between everyone in the studio. Therefore, I always do my best to get to know the people I work with before we even get to the studio and make it clear that what I care about the most is not the money, but the people and the music. A good example of that would be the latest project I’ve worked on, where a customer approached me with the idea of recording and mixing a full LP. After listening to some of his demos, I realized this guy was very talented and so, excitedly, we immediately began working on the record. We’d been working for 3 months before we realized this LP was going to take much longer than we originally anticipated, at which point he told me, honestly, that he was running out of money and that pretty soon we would have to part ways, as he wanted to try and finish the project by himself. I heard him and I took a minute to think about it, quickly coming to the realization that this project meant much more than money to me and that that was not going to stop me from working on it. With that, I told him he didn’t have to worry about it anymore and that we should get back to work. It truly is like that for me – the music, always, comes first.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Ofek Ariov, I am 26 years old. I am a sound engineer and music producer, living in and working from Tel Aviv.
I grew up in a family of music lovers, and ever since I was born there was always music, of all genres, playing in my house.
I originally fell in love with music through drums and at first, my dream was to be a drummer until I fell in love with the world of sound and production.
I’m still a drummer by nature, but nowadays, my main focus is still sound and production.

At the age of 16, my friends and I started a band and we recorded our first album at my house, slowly collecting equipment and doing everything completely independently.
At 19, I enlisted in the Army, where I served as a sound editor in the filming department of the Israeli Air Force.
Because I was working daily and was free in the evenings, I decided to start studying sound professionally and moved to Tel Aviv.
After being released from the army, I started an apprenticeship at “Bardo” studios which was the biggest, most famous recording studio in Israel at the time.
Like any young sound engineer, I started as an apprentice and slowly worked my way up until I got to be the studio’s main engineer. I had the privilege of working with the greatest musicians, producers, and artists in Israel.
Unfortunately, after working there for 3 wonderful years, Bardo had to close down their studio because of financial reasons stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
I then got my own studio in Tel Aviv with two other partners, from which I continued working with many more artists.

Nowadays, every musician has a studio at home, so it is very difficult to understand what the advantage of large studios is. You can make good music alone at home with your phone, using the microphone of your headphones if you really want to. However, it is important to know how to work in the best way.
I am very happy to have had the privilege of honing my craft in a professional studio and really understand the advantages of working like that. Personally, it’s very important to me to work with the best tools, even if it means I earn less for my work.
In every project I take on, I always put my whole heart into it and I’m always happy to see that with great motivation and creativity, you can create amazing things on a low budget.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

One of the tools that helped me the most was making Instagram stories of different people and tagging them.
At every show or session I attend, it is very important to me to photograph/video the musicians and tag them.
At first, it embarrassed me a little but I quickly realized this was very important for my brand, as well as the musicians I was working with.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

In every project I’m involved in I always give everything I’ve got. I’m a perfectionist, and I am very patient. I try to be as flexible as I can in the way I work, and my personal relationship with the people I work with is, always, above all.
I have big dreams, and I view every project I work on as part of my personal journey.
I believe the musicians I work with can feel that I’m not doing it for the money, but for the art and that gives them a sense of freedom and security.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Ofek Ariov
• Facebook: Ofer Ariov
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Yuval Peleg