Anything Audio With Mike A

I started playing the drums at a very early age as I was inspired by my Father who is an accomplished guitar player in his own right.  I studied drums for many years with various teachers and spent considerable time annoying my mom with becoming a speedster on the drums.  I got the "could you just play a song request quite a bit in my teens."  Through out the years my skills developed on drums and I became interested in music production both live and studio.  I was obsessed with recording every practice every gig, I would spend hours cleaning up live tracks first off of 24 tracks of ADAT recorders then I got into cubase and from there I came home to Nuendo which I believe is the ultimate production tool at least in my opinion.  I have dabbled in collaborating on writing songs over the years but I am more of a producer/arranger/engineer kind of guy.  I do co-write with my good friend Peter Arcuri and my brother Jeff Aurigemma but is a more collaborative effort and I usually help them get their ideas to flow together.  On occasion I have a good musical idea as I am told and I go to them and we turn it into something but it's been far too long since we've done that.  We wrote the Gear and AXYS tunes that are eventually going to be posted here.  Aside playing drums I also play enough keys and guitar to get myself in trouble I wish I had more time to really learn to play guitar as I believe it's the most expressive instrument on the planet but who has time these days. 

I have also done a bunch of Jingle work the two more notable ones were "Higher" which was the Devil Rays theme song a few seasons ago and the "Sweet Sweet Life" it was and still is the Sweetbay grocery stores TV commercial backround and in store music.  There now a million versions of that tune the one I played on sounded like Hot, Hot, Hot.   

I have been influenced  by the following drummers over the years: Vinnie Colaitua, Dave Weckyl, Steve Smith, Simon Phillips, Neil Peart, John Bonham, Virgil Donati, Gregg Bissonette, Joel Rosenblatt, Dennis Chambers and I will stop here as I can go on for hours.

My favorite bands include Rush, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Kings X, Genesis, The Police, Chicago, Led Zeppelin, Yes and again I'll stop here.

My favorite producers are David Foster, Dan Huff, Terry Brown, Rupert Hine, Trevor Horn to name a few.

As you can see I am all over the map musically that's what keeps it interesting for me.  I am enjoying the site and refreshed by the quality of the music out here as well as the site itself.  Hope to hear from anyone who is interested in talking shop as I am an absolute gear freak.

 I am very interested and enjoy colloborating with other artisits.  PLease email me if you need some drum tracks!!