Meet Zachary Rippy | Grammy Nominated Mixer & Engineer, Producer

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

Hi Zachary, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Music was always the biggest thing to me. An absolute obsession. At the age of 4, my cousin showed me how to work a tape player and it was game over. All through the 90’s I was making my own mixtapes of songs from the radio. My favorite was Garth Brooks “Standing Outside the Fire” so, I made a tape with that song 6 times on one side, then 6 times on the other… When my parents split up I noticed that music made me feel “better” and I dove into that furthering the obession. I started to learn guitar around age 10 then trumpet at 12, neither of which my parents or other family members were stoked for.. When the iPod came out, my life changed forever. I could fit all my music in my pocket and curate my own mood like ever before. No more hiding broken headphones in my hoodie sleeves from the walkman in the front pouch. I had it ALL in my pocket! When I finished high school, honestly, I had no goals in life. I had no direction, no money, hopped jobs every few months. I hated punching a clock and couldn’t wait to get to band practice or the show that week. I was working at a bar in 2012 when my father passed passed away from cancer. Sure, it was a tough but I was afforded the opportunity to do whatever I wanted with my life. I had resources he worked his whole life to attain and with some encouragement from my uncle, I decided to run with it.

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

I guess it’s that pursuit of catching lightning in a bottle or “chasing the dragon”, whatever you want to call it. Nothing is cooler than finishing a take or getting a song idea out that you know will be well received or that you “got it”. It’s a hard feeling to explain but I imagine it’s the same thing that most driven people in a creative field chase. There was nothing, and now there’s something, and, if you’re lucky somebody might enjoy that something.

When recording music, my goal isn’t to get the band to fit into my ideas or check off all the boxes on some list. I try to listen to what the band or artist does or likes naturally and try to accentuate those unique qualities, whatever they are while giving the project a professional sound and feel. Anybody can play a beat and line it up to the grid and add some drum samples. I’ve taken the time to learn every aspect of producing rock music in order to help musicians at any level make professional level recordings the right way. I don’t ever want anything I record to sound the same, so I don’t have any templates or do any plug and play type sessions. I treat ever session and project completely fresh in hope of catching that lightning. Nobody can make records that sound like mine because I don’t think I even make records that sound like mine… Hell, I’m still trying to figure out what “my” records sound like.

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.
My current favorite place to take people is Tacos Chiwas in Mesa, a delicious Mexican food spot and the Arizona Science Center. I took Cave In ( a band from Boston) there recently and we had a lot of fun. The science center has been around since I was a kid. It’s been run through but its still super fun. The planetarium always gets the mind going..

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to shoutout two bands, Skin Ticket and Gemm. These are two current bands from Arizona who’s members I’ve been working with since I started back in 2014. My friend Shelton (Skin Ticket) has brought me in to record almost everyone of his projects since our old band broke up and I couldn’t be more thankful. They’ve allowed me to grow with their bands and come up over the past almost 10 years. Seven years ago I produced a record for a band called Withered Bones, (now, Gemm) and helped get them signed to the label they were pursuing. It was an incredible experience making on of my first records and Im so happy to be working with the guys again on their latest project. I recorded music with both of these bands in 2022 that comes out next year (2023) and it is absolutely the best stuff any of us have been a part of.

Website: http://www.soundsignalaudio.com

Instagram: @soundsignalaudiovisual

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-rippy-27432228?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SOUNDSIGNALAUDIO

Image Credits
Zachary Rippy, Yeshua Flores, Marc Birr, Logan Fadden, John Jarrell