reflecting on year 1 of RRA with ravi
4 min
Hey y’all, Meera here and I’m excited to be bringing you the first blog of 2023! Although 2022 has passed, if there’s anyone who had a more exciting, stressful and wild year, it’s our founder, Ravi.
Ravi originally hails from Houston, Texas where his interest in music began at 12 years old. That interest continued to grow into a passion as he joined his middle school band. Eventually, he put his passion in his back pocket as he pursued petroleum engineering at Texas A&M and started a career in the energy industry. In 2019, Ravi realized it was time to take his passion out of his back pocket and make it a reality. He started studying at Berklee College of Music, producing, and freelancing as a mix engineer during the pandemic. In June of 2021, he quit his job in oil & gas, continued to develop his craft and then a year later, packed his bags to move to NYC/NJ. Today, Ravi is a in training to become a recording engineer at Manhattan Beach Recording, works live sound events, and freelances via ravi ray audio.
This interview was such a special conversation as over the last year, Ravi and I not only have become teammates but also close friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better piece to write to kick off the year!
What’s an unexpected feeling you’ve experienced as you shifted career paths?
When I was living the corporate life, “the grass is greener on the other side” is how I viewed the creative life. I felt like the life of an artist was so amazing because they got to do what they love and make money while doing it. Once I finally got over to the other side, I realized how big of a struggle it actually is. You’re doing projects for free or less than your worth, working late night shifts, and/or dealing with an incredible amount of inconvenience just to make it in this industry. It also put the thoughts in my head to the test. “Can I really wake up every day and do this without thinking about the pay? Can I have my face run through the dirt, and still continue to fight for this? Do I love this enough to keep going?”
Tell us about a lesson you learned the hard way, but were grateful you learned?
I realized not everyone has your best interests in mind. There’s a lot of people in this industry who want to see you do well on paper, but not better than them. You have to look out for yourself and I think that’s when people can get manipulative because, at the end of the day, they’re just trying to do the same thing. I can understand how sometimes it’s hard to take the morally right approach when you’re just trying to make ends meet. It’s unfortunately a result of how the industry makes you work.
Can you take us back to the first project you mixed, and the most recent project you mixed? What’s changed the most?
Wow, oh my gosh, I love this question so much! The first project I mixed was done at a time when I didn’t even know I wanted to be a mix engineer. I just got a DM from someone that said “Yo I saw you mix podcasts, do you ever mix music?”, so I decided to just take my hand at it. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and just used the stock plug-ins. I remember putting in 10-20 hours for a song that just had 4 stems (laughs). Then, the most recent project I mixed was for our fellowship winner Priya Mani and it was one of the most complex sessions I’ve ever done. Compared to my first project, this had 50-60 stems!
Towards the later part of a mix engineer’s career, people come to them not necessarily because they’re the most skilled person for the job, but because they like the sound they put out. In the same way an artist tries to find their sound over time, a mix engineer tries to do the same. I’ve started learning my habits and am continuing to develop Ravi’s sound.
How do you deal with creative blocks?
I think that’s actually one of the beautiful things about my role because I’m the artist’s right hand man— I’m constantly inspired by the different artists I work with. Once they’ve laid down a fire vocal over a beat, my brain begins to buzz about, for example, what effect throws I can put on it to emphasize what’s being said.
What are 3 qualities or habits you think every mix engineer should possess?
Be organized. This includes everything from booking projects, client outreach, social media, etc. Even if your skill isn’t all the way there, but you’re the person who stays up to date with communication, project progress and delivers timely, clients will come back to you.
Be curious. Have an appetite to continuously be learning and growing. Try new things out to just to grow your understanding of sound and how you can use that in your mixing process.
Seek projects and if you can’t find them, make them yourself. Fellowship 2022, for example, generated 3 new mix projects. It gave me the opportunity to work with new artists, genres, and scenarios.
What’s the best advice you’ve received in the music industry that you’d pass onto someone breaking into the space?
Sounds a bit cliché, but don’t give up. Success breeds success and you will improve over time. I know it’s really easy to look at peers and other people in the industry who are doing better things than you or are much farther down the road and feel underqualified, but you have to remember everyone was a novice at the some point.
My favorite thing about Ravi is his optimism. He brings a positive energy to everything he does and everyone he meets. I feel so lucky to have a front row seat to watch him achieve his goals and support him in his journey. Even though 2022 has been full of milestones, Ravi mentioned offline that this is just the beginning. He plans to grow on the recording side of things, work with new artists / genres and release amazing projects like Snow Sessions Vol 1 and Fellowship 2023 next year! Make sure to follow Ravi Ray because you don’t want to miss this what he has in store.
To learn more about working with Ravi or any of RRA’s projects like Fellowship and Snow Sessions, reach out here.
Stay well, shine bright.
~Meera
