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Stan Xidas Originally from Pittsburgh, Stan is an accomplished music composer, producer, and arranger with a strong background in songwriting. He moved to Nashville when he was 19 to pursue songwriting and feels very blessed and fortunate to have learned the craft on the streets, in a town that is known as a "mecca" for writers around the world. While in Nashville, he started writing local commercials. Then, following his instincts Xidas moved to Chicago in 1988. Xidas Music Stan opened the doors to Xidas Music (originally known as Hot Sox Music) in 1994, after spending 3 1/2 years as a staff composer at Pat Patrick Productions in Nashville and 7 1/2 years as a composer with Moore Music Group in Chicago. With this wealth of experience, Stan has an advertising resume that rivals the best in the industry. Over the years, Stan has created music for many high-profile clients and agencies including:
 Stan Xidas"I started as a songwriter, so that's where my heart truly lives. In great songwriting, there is such a strong emphasis on the marriage of lyric to melody. When it's right you can 'feel' it. In a commercial you must get to and focus on the 'hook' of the melody/lyric much quicker. I really believe that my songwriting background has made me a much better commercial writer, and my commercial writing has made me a much stronger songwriter. It's definitely a case of one hand washing the other." Music for Everyone Xidas composes in a variety of genres; from hot rock 'n roll to classical scores and everything in between including pop, blues, orchestral and vocal scores. In addition to his commercial emphasis, Stan has a particular knack for writing country music. He is a partner in Five Star Music, a Nashville-based song publishing company he co-founded in 1991. It's this interest in country music that gives him a broader musical base. Having his home here in Chicago allows access to the wonderful musician and vocal talents here in Chicago and his Nashville association affords him the ability to make use of the vast talent pool located there as well. It's not uncommon for Stan to import talent on any given session from other locales, especially since he lived in Nashville for so long and has many talented friends within the industry there with whom he still keeps a close relationship. In fact, many of his Nashville cohorts have gone on to become quite successful in country music. Billy Dean, Pam Tillis, Kathy Mattea, Kenny Chesney, T. Graham Brown, Jeff Carson, Skip Ewing and all the members of Western Flyer, have all garnered successful recording contracts and are now household names within the country music industry. Xidas has also been commissioned by Walt Disney Records in Los Angeles to write, arrange and produce on several of the children's sing-a-long records they produce. Most notably, he produced the 101 Dalmations (Live Action) sing-a-long album that hit #4 on the Billboard Magazine Kid's Audio charts, and hit the Billboard Top 200 chart at #160 in September of '96. Stan's Approach to Music  When creating music for advertising, Stan likes to be involved early in the creative process to make sure that the music track caters to each individual piece rather than just sitting underneath it (the proverbial "rug under" approach). "Music doesn't have to be turned way down in the spot if it's written, arranged and mixed well with the other audio elements of the spot," says Xidas. "I understand that the product and the message are the stars of the spot and my music should only point to and embellish, not distract and de-emphasize what the client is trying to say." This hands-on approach to music production is just one of the ways Stan maintains his high standards. |
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