Laura Escudé


Laura Escudé is an American artist, entrepreneur, and live show performer. She has programmed shows for artists including Kanye West, Jay Z, American Idol, Herbie Hancock and Porter Robinson, as well as composed and performed string arrangements for Kanye West and Jay Z.
Escudé founded Electronic Creatives, a company where she trains music programmers and artists.
When not working on live shows, Escudé creates music as a solo artist under her own name. She has also released music under her former alias Alluxe until 2019. As an artist, Escudé's signature "future classical" sound fuses avant-garde and classical music genres with live electronica.
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Early life and education

Born in Pensacola, Florida, Escudé was trained as a classical violinist and pianist from the age of 6. She began pursuing the violin more seriously and became the Concertmaster of Rogers High School in Newport, Rhode Island and was awarded the 1997 Governor's Scholar Award to attend the Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Music Program. She later became the Concertmaster of the Rhode Island Youth Philharmonic.
Aside from her keen interest in music, Escudé was passionate about singing and acting, and actively participated in school musicals such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and was involved in many other school events while growing up. Her passion towards fitness and wellness also started young as she was a competitive runner and was the captain of the school's cross-country track and field team.
When she was 18, Escudé received a scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University, but transferred to Florida State University after a year to explore more contemporary music in Violin Performance and to pursue a minor in Business. It was there that she became a self-taught music producer, while performing in the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra as well as the Florida State University Symphony. As a student, Escudé would book shows at the campus’ live-music venue, and participated in many electronic music festivals.

Career

Upon graduation in 2002, Escudé taught at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa, Florida and began her violin performance career with the Santa Monica Symphony, Torrance Symphony, Multi-Ethnic Star Orchestra, and the Observatory Orchestra.
In 2005, she began working in Technical Support at M-Audio, where she went on to do Sales and Artist Relations.
In 2007, Escudé became Ableton’s first West Coast Product Specialist and a few months after, she became the world's first Ableton Live Certified Trainer and became one of the first to implement music software in some of the most prestigious live shows all over the globe.
In 2008, she founded Evotech Audio, a freelance consultancy for musical instruments brands as a product specialist for clients such as Ableton, Dubspot, MacProVideo, FXpansion, Rob Papen, MV Pro Audio, Celemony, X-Tempo Designs, Namba Gear and Toontrack.
In 2009, Escudé formed Electronic Creatives, now an Ableton Certified Training Center, that conducted educational events in the field of music production. One of her first major clients was Kanye West’s engineer, Anthony Kilhoffer, whom she assisted in the programming of the Glow in the Dark tour. At that time, she was also touring with Niyaz as a violinist and a music programmer. A few months later, she moved to Las Vegas and worked on the pre-production for Cirque du Soleil’s as a programmer.
In 2011, Escudé began going on tours with Kanye West as his official music programmer and live vocal effect designer, and has been his primary playback engineer since then. Over the years, she also worked with other prominent artists such as Porter Robinson, Demi Lovato, Iggy Azalea, Charli XCX, Logic, The Weeknd, Miguel, Becky G, Missy Elliott, Rita Ora, Solange, Crystal Method, Camila Cabello, Jay-Z, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Herbie Hancock, Cat Power, Bon Iver, Drake, Silversun Pickups, Garbage, Childish Gambino and M83.

Musical style

Escudé has released music under her own name and under her former moniker "Alluxe". Her music fuses avant-garde and classical with live electronica, which she performs using custom LED controllers, vocals, and live violin playing.
Escudé's production skills have earned her remix commissions from M83, Polica and Mr. Hudson, and her violin playing can be heard on albums by Kanye West, Jay Z, Big Grams, Hit Boy, Sage Francis, Solillaquists of Sound and in EastWest’s sound library.
As "Alluxe", Escudé opened for the likes of Miguel, Garbage, Machinedrum, Robert Rich and Funkstorung. She has performed with Kiesza, Charli XCX and Iggy Azalea.

Community

Escudé is the creator of the Transmute Retreat, which allows live performers to experience accelerated transformation in a healthy, relaxed atmosphere focused on self realization and care. In recent years, she has expanded her work in the area of wellness for artists after years of professional touring, and advocates for artists to discover the tools to begin their own transformation in shifting towards a healthy and supportive atmosphere.
Escudé is widely regarded as “one of the best in the world” in the live music field. She aims to inspire other women and the next generation through women empowerment conferences and speaking engagements, and has been invited to speak at leading music technology institutions such as the University of Southern California and Berklee College of Music.

Discography and performances

Live Shows
Original Music by Albums
  • 2017 Fervor
  • 2016 Contrast
  • 2015 Stay The Same ft. Mr MFN eXquire
  • 2014 Hold U ft. Sister Crayon
  • 2013 NOMAD
  • 2010 Pororoca
  • 2005 Trace Element Human
Remixes
  • 2014 New Beat Fund – Get Up
  • 2013 Mr. Hudson – Fred Astaire
  • 2012 M83 – Steve McQueen
  • 2012 Polica - Lay Your Cards Out
Violin Recordings
  • 2015 Big Grams “Goldmine Junkie”
  • 2012 Hit-Boy HitStory mixtape
  • 2011 Kanye West's “Dark Fantasy” tour H.A.M. Intro -arrangement and recording
  • 2011 Kanye West & Jay-Z “Watch The Throne” on “Made in America”
  • 2011 90210 TV Show
  • 2010 EastWest's Quantum Leap Silk sound library* 2009 Power of the Game documentary
  • 2009 Power of the Game documentary
  • 2007 PlatEAU “Kushbush”
  • 2007 Sage Francis “Human The Death Dance”
  • 2006 As If We Existed
Filmography
  • 2008 Kissing Cousins
  • 2007 ATF: Asian Task Force
  • 2007 Red Is the Color of
  • 2006 Welcome Home
  • 2005 Lovewrecked
Performances