Monday

Music

A Passion for Sound

I walk up the stairs of a Manhattan apartment, looking for someone’s residence and then I hear the sounds of Hip-Hop infiltrating through the hallway and I find myself outside the apartment of Raj Makhija – a New York-based sound engineer and record producer. Along with his brother, Ravi, together they founded Soul Tap Records, the label responsible for discovering talents such as Nivla, P. Oberoi, Feroze and Karishma. Raj is also one half of production heavyweight, RVM Sounds. The tracks which Raj produces cover an array of sounds from raw underground Hip-Hop to slow melodic film scores to upbeat pop club bangers.

But the South Asian scene isn’t where Raj started his career. He’s accomplished what a lot of “desi producers” only see as a dream – Raj has had the opportunity to personally work with some of the biggest names in the mainstream industry such as Musiq Soulchild, Busta Rhymes, Chamillionaire, Fabolous, Missy Elliot, Serius Jones and many more. He is using his experiences to make Soul Tap Records the first South Asian record label from the US to break barriers and make history. Raj is a mastermind when it comes to creating something beautiful in the studio, living by the rules of determination and perseverance.

Born into a musically inclined Sindhi family, Raj’s mother was always singing at home and at families’ & friends’ events. His father would accompany her on the tablas. Outside of school, Raj auditioned and was accepted at Rufus Reid’s Jazz for Teens program beginning in the 8^th grade. He also attended Manhattan School of Music for a summer jazz workshop. After attending Rutgers University for a semester, he realized that his call in life was elsewhere. He quickly dropped that and joined the Audio Engineering program at SAE Institute (New York) part-time while working in South Jersey. After completing the program, he picked up an internship at Water Music Studios in Hoboken, NJ.

After 2½ months, he found an internship at the world-famous Quad Studios (NYC). While interning at Quad, Raj made lots of coffee, cleaned many toilets, and shadowed whoever he could during many sleepless nights in order to learn the variety of studio techniques and move up in the game as fast as possible. Before long, Raj was bringing in his own clientele to the studio and engineering sessions while still an intern. Quad soon recognized his potential and quickly made him an assistant engineer, allowing Raj to learn from the best engineers and producers in the business. It was after working at Quad for several years and earning the respect that he currently has that Raj became a freelance engineer and started Soul Tap Records.

It is clear that Raj has climbed the ladder of success and is making his way to the top. Most South Asians don’t have what it takes to deal with all the innate pressures that come with being South Asian and go against the grain. Raj is intelligent and fully capable of being a great doctor or lawyer. But what drives him to defeat the norm and set new standards is what makes him successful alongside his handsome eyes and chiseled physique! We sat down in his “lab,” also known as his studio, and discussed his Sindhi heritage, his passion for music and where he sees himself as a producer in his sea of musicians.

Tirusha: Raj, tell us a little bit about your Sindhi heritage? From where in India has your family migrated from? Do you speak Sindhi?
My mom was born Lakhnau and my pops was born in Visapur. I understand Sindhi although my ability to speak it is limited. But I’m working on it! I definitely want to pass on the language to future generations.

You come from a musically inclined family, so did you encounter any problems when you told them that you wanted to do music as a full-time career?
My mom would love for me to get a degree while doing music on the side. I’d love to get a degree as well, there’s a lot of things that I have an interest in and would love to learn more about. The problem is that I could not have gotten where I am by doing music “on the side.” It’s all or nothing for me. I’m sure I’ll take some classes in the future to learn more about my other interests at some point in my life.

You never attained college degree in Finance, Biology or any other Computer-related field; sadly, many people look down upon that. Do you feel as if a ‘degree’ behind your name is needed to be a successful and happy person?
Yeah a lot of people look down upon that and the irony of it is that a lot of those same people are miserable! Being happy and successful go hand in hand. Like they say, success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. Of course it’s important to make money and be able to support yourself, your family, and your interests. But none of that matters if one isn’t happy. And being happy comes from being around things that you love, whether it’s music, art, medicine, anything.

Do you ever look back at the past and wish that certain decisions you had made were different, such as not continuing your education at Rutgers?
No. Can’t live life saying “shoulda coulda woulda.” What I can say is that I do look at the past and learn from my mistakes all the time.

When you first entered the mainstream music scene, did you feel as if others would not be acceptant towards you because you were of a different ethnic background?
Coming up in the mainstream music industry in American is not easy for anybody, regardless of what ethnic background they are from. I have definitely dealt with biases and racism in this business because of my background, but that’s in any business, that’s just a part of life. Generally, people from all races, cultures, and industries love me!

Who has been the most entertaining mainstream artist who you’ve worked with till date?
Busta Rhymes, Musiq Soulchild, Serius Jones, Missy Elliott

Recently you were a finalist in the Doritos-sponsored “Crash The Superbowl” contest. What feelings over came you when you were in Arizona performing in front of thousands of people and music enthusiasts?
It was amazing to be able to connect with that many people at one time. It was just a small stepping stone into what the future holds to say the least.

How do you think you’ve grown as a producer throughout the entire Doritos experience?
I’m growing as a producer, engineer, and simply as a person on a daily basis. The Doritos experience was just bananas, one of the best experiences of my life. I grow as a producer when I get to work with different kinds of people. I had the chance to produce a collaboration-track between the three finalists, ourselves, Kina Grannis, and Landon Austin. That was definitely one of the coolest things that could have happened. In addition to that, the Doritos experience exposed to me a team of about 30 people that were ALL so genuine and passionate about what they do that it forced me grow in more ways than one.

What’s on rotation in your iPod right now?
Entire Bob Marley catalogue, Musiq Soulchild, Jill Scott, Jack Johnson, Red Hot Chili Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magic), Earth Wind and Fire, Spinners and lots more.

What is the first song you produced?
Didn’t have a name, I would just record myself playing guitar and singing on a 4-track cassette recorder in middle school. I would overdub other guitar and bass parts, and bounce down tracks to parallel tracks which allowed me to have a total of 7 tracks on any song. And that’s it, those were my first songs. The first song that I worked on production-wise that YOU probably know is “Be Easy (Koi Naa)” along with Bobby Konders.

If you weren’t producing music, what would you be doing right now?
If I wasn’t doing music I’d still be involved in a creative field. I love animation, graphic design, etc. Because of my entrepreneurial nature, I’d still make that creative part of me into some sort of a business and try to make history one way or another.

What advice do you have for those who want to make a career in music production but are too scared at how their family and peers would react to it?
You are the only person who is going to have to live with every decision you make in your life, so follow your heart no matter what and give it everything you’ve got.

Any final words for the readers of Bravura Artist?
Thanks for your time Tirusha! I love my people and hope that each and every one of them will feel my music and one point or another. Check www.SoulTapRecords.com for more information, frequent updates, and photo/video blogs. Also check out www.rvmsounds.com, the site for my production company, RVM Sounds.