The Plaza Roja is my one-human-only shop where I work as a composer and producer. It’s open to all media creators and musicians who collaborate with me. I’m proud to provide a uniquely crafted approach to composition and production and help expand people’s sonic horizons.
Located in an acoustically treated room in my Brooklyn home, I can produce, compose, track, overdub, edit, mix, and master, offering high-end production standards at reasonable rates, always with the aim of making exceptional, unique music.
I compose and produce high-quality bespoke music for media creators and help them find a musical voice that fits the identity of their production. CLICK HERE to learn about my process working with a-la-carte music for media.
I collaborate with artists, help them through their creative process, and assist them in realizing their vision. CLICK HERE to learn about how I work producing artists.
I record live instruments played by me or others, create sounds, beats, or anything sonic on-demand.
I write music that I perform with my ensemble, the Alexis Cuadrado Group, founded in 2001.
I compose music for film, dance, radio, podcasts, installations, and any other media you can think of.
I write, arrange and orchestrate music performed by other artists, musicians, and ensembles.
I investigate, study, learn, practice, teach, play, and never stop being curious in the life journey of being a musician.
I’ll be happy to discuss with you a way to make music with or for you. Feel free to send me a message, and let’s get a conversation started.
“Alexis has that rare mix of artful musicianship and precise producer. He sees the big picture but is also intensely aware of all the tiny details that make music work. An artisan composer-producer who makes bespoke music, thoughtfully, intentionally.”
Leo Sidran - Singer-songwriter, composer, and producer.
“We gave Alexis a tight time turnaround, expecting it might be difficult to create the requested music in a few days. He provided us with music that exceeded our expectations. I’m happy to have had a chance to work with him and hope to again in the future.”
Taylor Palmer - Producer for the David Zwirner Podcast - Slate Studios
“Alexis composed music for a very difficult story on political torture victims under Assad in Syria. He gave us a series of cues that allowed us to enrich the piece, create space for reflection, manage pacing, and tether transitional gaps. It really helped the listener digest and handle the stark brutality of the material.”
Paul Schneider - The New Yorker Radio Hour
RADIO-PODCAST
I’ve composed and produced music for radio shows/podcasts such as The New Yorker Radio Hour (NY Public Radio), Fiasco (Luminary), I Travel For… (Slate-British Airways), The Slowdown (American Public Media), Imaginary Worlds (Panoply), Quiet - The Power of Introverts (Panoply), Coming Clean (Sound Made Public) or David Zwirner Art Galleries (Slate) amongst many others.
FILM
I’ve collaborated with filmmakers Caryn Cline, Melissa Friedling, and Juanjo Martínez, composing and producing music for their gorgeous pictures. I’ve also composed the music and produced a live series called Silent Film Scores for Social Justice, in which my ensemble performs live along early 20th century movies by Charlie Chaplin, Alice Guy-Blaché, Lois Weber, and Harold M.Shaw.
DANCE
I’ve written and produced music for renowned dancers and choreographers like Kata Juhasz (Hungarian dance revolutionary) and Roger Cuadrado (principal dancer of the National Czech Ballet).
INDIE ARTISTS
I’ve worked as a producer (and sometimes co-composer) with artists such as Antonio Lizana, Andreas Arnold, Araceli Poma, Ismael Fernández & Sonia Olla, Erik Jekabson, John Chin, Kris Bauman, and Alguímia.
As a DIY ARTIST
I’ve made six albums with my own band, booked tours, produced podcasts and webcasts, co-owned and managed a record label, produced shows, and anything else you can imagine. Through all these experiences, I have pretty much done it all and honed a set of skills that make me the producer I am today. Composing, arranging-orchestrating, music engraving, organizing, coordinating, producing in the studio, cooking, you name it! I’ve been lucky to collaborate with an incredible pool of artistic talent, a name list that sometimes makes me pinch myself: Claudia Acuña, Diego Amador, Steve Cardenas, Regina Carter, Sara Caswell, Avishai Cohen, Henry Cole, Blas Córdoba “El Kejío”, Chano Domínguez, John Ellis, Alan Ferber, Mark Ferber, Román Filiu, Amy Kang, Martha Kato, Ryan Keberle, Andy Milne, Marc Miralta, Hadar Noiberg, Nadje Noordhuis, Miles Okazaki, Luis Perdomo, Franco Pinna, Victor Prieto, Christos Rafalides, Rodrigo Recabarren, Chloe Rowlands, Perico Sambeat, Emily Sgouros, Brad Shepik, Leo Sidran, Tyshawn Sorey, Loren Stillman, Chris Stover, Marcus Strickland, Israel Suárez “Piraña”, Dan Tepfer, Yosvany Terry, Shirazette Tinnin, Tomasito, Pablo Vergara, and Miguel Zenón.
I am looking forward to adding your name here!
I compose and produce meticulously crafted original music that stands out from commercial music houses and libraries. In my one-human-only Brooklyn shop, I create handcrafted beats, electronic sounds from scratch and play real-live musical instruments.
I collaborate with filmmakers, audio producers, choreographers, and media creatives of all types. I am open to producing music of any style, from a string quartet to a thrash-metal jam, from a Latin-jazz descarga to an electronica piece. My background as a composer and performer of jazz-chamber-world music, as well as my production work with film, dance, radio, and design, have allowed me to keep an open mind that informs a unique approach for each piece and fulfills my clients’ vision.
My clients and I begin a project first with a kick-off brainstorming session. Sometimes they have a particular idea, and sometimes they don’t. I find it very useful to create a collaborative playlist, and I ask clients to highlight what they like about every piece: the feel, groove, instrumentation, sounds, ambiance, emotions. Once we have determined how much music is needed, I’ll create a simple rough demo cut and check in with the client for feedback. That first impression goes a long way to set the foundation of what the piece will sound like. At this point, editorial production discussions will shape the direction of the piece. From then on, I regularly send temp mixes as the music progresses until I have a “mix” to present. We then have one more round of revisions to the mix to ensure the client is fully satisfied. :)
The photo here demonstrates how I build my Modular Music sessions. Every block is basically a song with sections that can be looped, scrambled, and stripped down to create various ambiances and moods using the elements of a single track. You can call it “musical legos” if you will that can be combined and repeated endlessly. I also prepare stems (mixed separate tracks) that can serve as a theme or as interstitial music that can be comfortably spoken over. Every session is delivered in such a way that a producer or engineer can easily manipulate any of the segments.
All pieces can be mixed down to stems that can be combined in any possible way. I also make sure to walk my clients through any possible technical issues they may have manipulating stems.
When I produce for an artist, my goal is to bring out the very best version of their music and facilitate their creative process.
There is no blueprint for what a producer does, and that job varies from case to case. I’ve gone through these processes many times, and I’m happy to be of service to the artist, whether it’s just a fresh pair of ears, or an editor, organizer, technical director, mixer, facilitator, contractor for musicians, arranger, music preparer, bassist… the list is endless!
I like hanging out with people and listening to their work; that’s generally how a relationship starts; if we’re a good match, I’m super flexible to work in whatever capacity I can to make a project closer to their creator’s vision.
Please get in touch, come and visit The Plaza Roja, and let’s have a conversation!