ABOUT ME
After graduating high school and touring with my band for a year, I was convinced that I wanted to pursue a career in the music industry. I already knew how to play guitar and had some previous recording experiences.
It wasn’t long before I started doing research for an education in the field. I didn’t want to be a classical musician. At the time music theory was a little overwhelming to me.
I started working at recording studios and my attention started drifting towards production. Invested in basic recording gear and before I knew it I was making a decent living recording mix-tapes and demos for local artists and bands.
Audio Engineering became my first choice and after many thought I decided to move to Hollywood and attend The Los Angeles Recording School.
I graduated from LARS as a Recording Engineer and resumed working with my band, built a studio in my guest house and started using it commercially to record music, jingles, podcasts, videos, etc.
Attended Law School at the Autonomous University of Baja California (Mexico), graduated, obtained my license the following year and started working as an Entertainment Lawyer in Mexico.
After touring for eight years I decided it was time to give up the nomad life and stay in the studio to write music for as many projects as possible. I started focusing more on making beats, mixing and mastering.
I made my mixing and mastering services available on my first beat selling website and also through Soundbetter.com and Fiverr.com where I have completed over 3,070 orders and received over 2,000 reviews. Retired as an engineer in 2023 to focus exclusively on production.
I’m grateful for being able to complete my initial 10,000 hours in the game. I’m ready to give back to the community. This is just the beginning.
Fernando Costello [Tekwan] – Producer & Entertainment Lawyer
BEHIND THE BEATS – Interview @ Rockefeller Center, NYC.
Q: Tekwan, tell us about yourself.
A: I’m a Producer and Recording Engineer from Tijuana, Mexico.
Q: Tell us about your latest project.
A: I have a full project ready to drop featuring exclusively upcoming artists.
Q: What else are you working on these days?
A: Selling beats and blogging about music production and entertainment business.
Q: Tell us about your credentials.
A: Los Angeles Recording School Alumni. Entertainment Lawyer in Mexico.
Q: Please tell us about about a project that you are very passionate about.
A: I’m very proud of the outcome of my first instrumental album, it took me places that I never imagined and met a lot of amazing people because of it.
I’m also very passionate about my former band’s discography consisting of three EPs filled with ambient electronica tunes. These early works shaped my sound.
Q: What’s the thing you love the most about your job?
A: I can do this all day and it never feels like work. Being in the studio is all I think about.
Q: What music genres do you specialize in?
A: I mainly produce Guitar Type Beats that resemble the style of Juice WRLD, Rod Wave, Polo G, Toosii and Scorey. As a mix engineer I work with all hip hop sub-genres. I also have a strong rock background and spend a lot of time in the studio recording bands.
Q: Please tell us about your studio setup
A: I use Logic Pro, Electric Guitars, Rhodes Piano and Synthesizers. For mixing purposes I have permanent access to an SSL Duality Console with a state of the art monitoring system and a wide selection of outboard gear.
Q: Describe your process.
A: I bring up Logic and start working on melodies from scratch. I personally don’t use samples. After I have a decent eight bar melody playing in loop I like to add some basic drums, just a simple kick, snare and hi hats to establish a bounce.
After this I usually add a tuned 808 or synth bass with a basic progression. Once this is done I like to add a synth pad or an element that creates tension and countermelodies. At this point I start thinking about arrangement and putting the pieces together in an order that makes sense.
Once the arrangement is done I like to go back to work on variations, fills and one time events. When I’m done I do a rough mix to get a better idea if any sounds are clashing. And after listening to it again with fresh ears I do mix revisions and master the instrumental so it’s ready to showcase.
Q: What do you expect to accomplish next?
A: Produce a series of hit records, get certified, go after a Grammy and claim a place in music history.
