Meet Andrew (Andiroo) Baker | Musician/Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrew (Andiroo) Baker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrew (Andiroo), how do you think about risk?
Music has been a major part of my life since I was six years old – starting with piano lessons. I learned extremely quickly and my family knew I was a music prodigy and had a gift within the first year or two, seeing as I had been playing high-level, classical piano pieces by the time I was just eight. And after outgrowing my first piano teacher, I began taking lessons at an extremely high level which perpetuated my knowledge and skill in music theory and piano performance. By the time I was getting ready to go to college, I had decided to apply for a Piano Performance degree at the University of Southern California – Thornton School of Music. Although that dream was immediately shot down after seeing tuition costs – being from a single-mom household where we were in poverty our whole lives. But at the time I had been a few years into my new passion, which was singing, rapping and producing/engineering music. As I was in my gap year after graduating Rampart High School, I began recording local artists for as low as $10/hour and even some for free. My clientele began to skyrocket, because my intricate knowledge of music theory took my production and mixing/mastering skills to the next level. I started charging more and by the time I was 20 years old, I had so many clients coming in and out of my home studio that it was time to take a risk. That risk was quitting my day job at a trampoline park and pursuing my business as a professional recording studio full-time by leasing an office space. At this time, I also needed to move out of my mom’s house and into an apartment. This risk could’ve been detrimental financially but instead, proved to be the biggest reason for my success. My clientele got even bigger, and I was making more money than I ever did at my old job. Four years later, I’m still working full-time as an engineer and my notoriety as a skilled musician and producer continues to grow in the local music scene at the age of 24. If I hadn’t taken the risk of moving my studio into a professional space at just 20 years old, I wouldn’t have seen the amount of success that I currently have. This has also given me time to work on my own music, which has seen it’s own success where I consistently have over 30,000 monthly listeners and tracks with millions of streams. I would probably be at a basic 9-5 job if I hadn’t taken that life-changing risk.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I record music as an artist under the name “Andiroo”. I make pop-rap and experimental rap where I sing pop-style choruses and rap in the verses. One of the main things that allowed me to get my 30,000+ monthly listeners and fans was my Tik Tok account that I created in 2019. I began uploading videos and within a few months I had gained over 100,000 followers from my comedy videos and covers. I had fallen off around mid-2020 because I stopped posting due to stress-related mental health issues – so a lot of that fame has gone away. But I’ve continued posting much more this year and now have gained back 10s of thousands of followers on both my Tik Tok and Instagram.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a big nature person, so I always love taking new friends (especially out of state) to lookouts, hikes and even shows at Red Rocks or around Denver.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When I leased my first office space for my recording studio, I ended up having to move out just months later because the other tenants had complaints of the noise coming from my studio. Within a month I needed to rack up at least $2,000 for deposits and find a new space for my recording studio. As an artist I had booked many shows through local legend and promoter Black Pegasus. Time was running out, and I still had no clue where to go – but luckily Black Pegasus had kept an eye on my progress as an artist and producer and ended up offering me his old office space out for me to start recording my clients there. This was life-saving and I have no clue where I’d be without that opportunity. Since then, he’s mentored me as a content creator and artist and allowed me many amazing opportunities that have excelled my career as an artist such as producing music with him and YouTuber Anthony Ray Reacts, opening for major artists like Token, and has had me as a guest on a ton of videos for his YouTube channel with over 250,000 subscribers – racking in millions of views and giving me thousands of new fans.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsandiroo/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsandiroo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndirooOfficial

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@itsandiroo

Image Credits
Samantha Knott Photography