In a house, in the garage, in a box . . . music is made.
I am not a musician, or rather, I am not a trained musician. I am not a composer, or rather, I am not a trained composer. I can only marginally read music. My left hand and right don’t always cooperate. If it were not for technology, I doubt that I could make intelligible music at all, at least out loud. But my mind, my mind has always been filled with music and much to my frustration, I was never able to get it out until my best friend showed me how a MIDI keyboard and a good DAW could be used to make music. This was my epiphany. The moment when I could see how the music that was trapped in my head could finally be released. So not a musician and not a composer, but instead, perhaps the best way to describe me is a “music hacker.”
I am The Other Don Dixon. Why “The Other” do you ask? Because there already is a famous and talented musician/producer laying claim to my name (to be fair, he has been around longer than me 😉) and being known as The Other Don Dixon is a good way to differentiate myself from him. As The Other Don Dixon, I create music that can best be described as soundtrack music, though it is only the soundtrack to my imagination. When the Pandora streaming service categorized me, they compared me to being similar to Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ramin Djawadi. Flattered as I am, I feel that Pandora has probably maligned them more than elevated me. I can only inspire to compose music as well as them.
I also create music that is more electronic and non-traditional and when I do that, I record under the name of T.O.D.D. Convenient for me, my first chosen recording name of The Other Don Dixon formed an acronym of T.O.D.D. When Pandora categorized my T.O.D.D. recordings, they compared me to being similar to Tangerine Dream and Ulrich Schnauss. I hope these talented musicians never find out and take offense, especially Tangerine Dream, one of my all-time favorite bands (drove 18 hours to see them once). I am flattered, however.
Music is not my career, it is a frequent 8 PM to 11 PM passion that I enjoy between putting the kids to sleep and having to go to bed myself. During the day, I work at a public radio station helping to keep its technology infrastructure functioning so that it can deliver the news and music programming that we all love. And in all the times between making music and doing public radio, I have a beautiful wife and two remarkable children that I love dearly. I am fortunate to have a daytime job that I love, a family that I love and the ability to create music. Life is good. Let it remain so.
And as for that box, my studio was once the under-stairs closet; a 3.2′ x 6.5′ space that I squeezed into regularly. I affectionately called it “The Lair.” But since Summer ’23, I have occupied a 7.3′ x 6.5′ box-like structure I built in the garage called “The Cubey Cubby Studio;” a luxurious upgrade over my previous studio.
Contact
theotherdondixon(at)gmail(dot)com
+17202279036 (leave a voice mail)
The Other Don Dixon / T.O.D.D. 