Paul Kledzik

I've been composing and arranging music for more than 30 years.  But my interest in music actually started long before that.  It began in the fourth grade, when I picked up my first pair of drumsticks.  Since then, drumsticks have never been too far away from my hands at any given time.  After all, drums and drummers add a great deal to almost any song.  They drive the rhythm.  They add the musical snap.

But, for as long as I can remember, I always wanted to play a "real" instrument.  Not that drums and other things percussionists beat on and shake around aren't instruments; it's just that drummers are rarely treated with the same deference and respect as other musicians.  For example, my childhood friend Scott was often asked to "sit down at the piano and play us something."  Well, I can't remember any time I was asked to "drag your drum set down to the den, Paul, and treat us to a two-hour solo, will ya?!"

Nope.  Never happened.

And then MIDI came into my life.

In California, I lived not too far away from composer/arranger Lenny LaCroix.  One day, he invited me to stop by his studio so he could show me "this Atari thing."  What a thing it was.  Somehow, someway, it had the ability to send a score of MIDI "notes" over some electrical conduits to a bunch of tone generators -- and create wonderful, awesome music.  According to Lenny, you just needed to learn to program it.  Imagine, a roomful of sound being controlled and "directed" by a small, toy-like computer.  Well, it wasn't any toy to me.  It was a magical gateway, one that opened up a whole new world of music to me.

As the years went by, I got better and better at harnessing the power of a computer to execute my musical ideas, especially when that computer was coupled to various keyboards, tone generators, and drum machines -- and then later was coupled with a wide variety of DAW's (Digital Audio Workstations) and VST (Video Studio Technology) plug-ins.  To date, that technology has enabled me to release five different albums, comprised of 57 "covers" and 8 original compositions.  

I am happily married to my lovingly supportive wife, Pat, and live in Sun Prairie, WI.  Currently, I am learning how to play the electric bass in hopes that someday, someone will say, "Hey Paul, drag your bass down to the den and treat us to a two-hour solo, will ya?!"  

I know.  Never gonna happen.