Aldo Arechar’s ‘mind blowing’ trip from Byron Bay to big time

A young man on the rise has revealed how Byron Bay was a springboard to rubbing shoulders with rap god Dr Dre and working on blockbuster movies like The Lion King and Dune.

Byron Bay’s growing links with Hollywood have taken another huge step as a young man who went to the town to up his audio game is now slaying the silver screen.

Since graduating from the SAE Creative Media Institute, Aldo Arechar has worked with Oscar and Grammy award-winning composer, Hans Zimmer’s team on international blockbusters including Dune and The Lion King – both of which he was recognised for by The Recording Academy.

Aldo Arechar in the LA studios. Photo: Contributed

Mr Arechar joins the ilk of fellow Byron celebrities like Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky, Liam Hemsworth, ‘honorary Aussie’ Matt Damon, TV presenter Carrie Bickmore, the late Olivia Newton-John, Aussie folk-indie pop duo Angus & Julia Stone, former Socceroos midfielder Tim Cahill, netball legend Liz Ellis, and Aussie supermodel Gemma Ward.

Journey through Hollywood

From collaborating with some of the most prolific composers in Hollywood, including Hans Zimmer, David Fleming, Henry Jackman, and Ludwig Göransson to shaking hands with American rapper and record producer Dr Dre, Mr Arechar said becoming an audio engineer wasn’t his Plan A.

“I first started studying audio at SAE because I wanted my music to sound as good as possible,” he said.

“It was never really my plan to record other people, be an engineer, or mixer – that came later. When I was studying, it opened my eyes to what was possible.”

Film score composer and music producer, Hans Zimmer (left), and American rapper and record producer Dr Dre.

In Los Angeles, Mr Arechar had the opportunity to network with fellow audio engineers, including 21-time Grammy award-winning sound engineer Al Schmitt, who worked with the likes of Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones and Ray Charles.

The two became good friends.

Mr Arechar would get an insight into Schmitt’s work, when he was regularly invited to sessions at Capitol Records, made famous by Frank Sinatra, Norah Jones, and Aretha Franklin.

“On one occasion, Al was recording strings for Dr Dre’s Beats documentary,” Mr Arechar said.

“It so happened that Dr Dre was also there, which was crazy. Getting the chance to shake the hand of one of the icons of the music industry was pretty surreal.”

Audio engineering graduate Aldo Arechar in the studios at Byron Bay SAE college campus. Photo: Contributed

The silver lining

Speaking of his work on Dune, the young talent said learning how ideas developed from scratch was ‘mind blowing’.

“I was part of the audio engineering team recording singers and flautists and worked closely with David Fleming,” Mr Arechar said.

“My role was to work with David to deliver all the creatives to Hans, who would then prepare and finalise the soundtrack for the film.

“Henry, Ludwig, Hans, and David all have impeccable timing with their music.

“They are all filmmakers and I’d certainly say as part of their craft, they’re not afraid to do something new and potentially outrageous.”

The Lion King

In 2019, Mr Arechar was recognised by The Recording Academy as an assistant engineer for the Grammy-nominated soundtrack for The Lion King, which he worked on with Hans Zimmer and David Fleming.

“David and Hans were working on a demo for the ending of the film, and I was in the studio with them to provide playback and record the singers,” he said.

“It was a special moment, because more and more people started to come into the studio to listen – Hans was there, and it came to this beautiful crescendo.

“I felt honoured to have been a part of that, and it made all the work worthwhile.”