Student Spotlight, Volume 14: Listen to New Works from Soundfly Student Artists

man producing in Logic Pro

man producing in Logic Pro

The ongoing pandemic does not seem to be letting up.

We’ve spoken to hundreds of musicians affected by the global crisis, whether medically, financially, or just from a creative standpoint; and it’s been hard on just about everyone. Yet while life may have slowed down to a halt for so many, the musicians who have come to us with a drive to continue learning and improving their work from home have jumped miles ahead!

Our staff here at Soundfly is made up just about entirely of musicians and we’re doing what we can to support our fellow musicians’ journeys along their paths, whatever that might be. It’s pretty inspiring to see so many artists turn a tragic and difficult situation into an opportunity for growth — and so we’d love to share the results of some recent student projects our team of mentors have helped out with.

The following is a playlist filled with recent student works, made either in a four-week Headliners Club session or a six-week Mainstage course session, all with the guided personalized support of a Soundfly Mentor. Below, you’ll be able to learn a bit more about each project.

Grant Luv

Grant Luv is the nom de plume of Soundfly student Grant Kandia, and his latest in-depth learning experience was organized by mentor Joseph Capalbo around our very popular harmonic theory course, Unlocking the Emotional Power of Chords. Grant’s overall goal was to create chord progressions that evoke a strong emotional pull, and we think he succeeded immensely.

According to Joseph, by the end of their session, “Grant was applying concepts from the course as well as mentor tips while writing full tracks. I think it’s safe to say he’s creating some emotionally charged music and I can’t wait to hear what’s next!”

Ella Miss

If this name sounds familiar, it means this isn’t the first time you’ve ridden the Soundfly carousel; and this likely wasn’t the first time on the horses for Ella Miss, aka Lisa Reshkus, either. Lisa’s been working on and off with Soundfly Mentors for over a year now, and to create the professional, radio-friendly fidelity of her latest electropop production, “The Playground,” she enlisted the help of Soundfly Mentor Andrea De Carlo, an award-winning mixing engineer and educator.

It doesn’t take a trained ear to hear how lush and well-balanced this single is, both in production arrangement and the mixing. A job well done for Lisa, this one’s a hit!

Andrew Smolin

“Night” is a brand new track created in-session by student Andrew Smolin, a producer out of Jersey City, NJ. It’s an instrumental electronic track that has jingle potential written all over it, and here again we see the audio engineering talents of Mentor Andrea De Carlo contributing to Smolin executing his overall vision, which was to get the best possible mix on his new suite of material.

According to Andrea, “Andrew was a great student and I really enjoyed our session! He has always been very passionate and eager to learn, and he happens to learn very quickly!”

TÍHO

So, we’ve been pretty much head over heels for Lana Cenčić latest single “Ophidia,” released under her TÍHO moniker, for weeks now. Yeah we wrote about it and interviewed her about the amazing music video she produced as well. Produced in full over the course of two back-to-back mentorship sessions with Marty Fowler, this song is both hopeful and nostalgic, both epic in scale and intimate — rich with emotion and the passion of a songwriter hitting her stride and confidently transforming inspiration into indie pop gold.

Marty reflected on their session together, telling us that “Lana is such a talented performer and songwriter (and now producer!), the song was already beautiful, but her production really turned out gorgeous and lush and I feel it’s an incredibly strong recording.”

Rainbow Laces

Rainbow Laces is the artistic engine of producer and programmer John Le Drew, who underwent a four-week Headliners Club mentorship session with Joseph Capalbo to dig further into music theory and harmony than ever before. John’s “Playing In the Orchestra Pit” is a slow-building 7-minute electronic odyssey that is both whimsical and uplifting, employing minimalist tactics straight out of the Steve Reich playbook.

Joseph said of John that he “was quickly able to adapt some new ideas and make them his own in his writing. He now has a streamlined process of writing with a deeper understanding of harmony and I’m excited to see where those tools take his music in the future!”

Eva Grill

German composer and multifaceted musical thinker Eva Grill is one of the most active members of our community at the time of writing. Her engagement with Soundfly goes deeper than her one-on-one session with Mentor Mahea Lee, although the focused execution of her choral piece “Red Red Rose,” is a thing of beauty. Despite being written entirely in MIDI (which is itself an accomplishment given the complexity of the arranging), this piece brings poetry to life in a baroque yet secular choral style. Get ready to shed those pent-up quarantine tears!

Speaking to Eva’s pure passion for all things compositional, Mahea declared that “Eva’s enthusiasm for music is contagious and her creativity knows no bounds. It was a such a pleasure to work with her and watch this beautiful vocal arrangement take shape.”

Ready to reach your musical goals?

Our one-on-one mentorship program is built on our belief that accountability and guidance can have a huge impact on students reaching their goals and developing their musical identities. Soundfly’s community of mentors will help you set the right goals, pave the right path toward success, and stick to schedules and routines that you develop together, so you improve every step of the way.

Tell us what you’re working on, and we’ll find the right mentor or course for you! 

Ryan Lott: Designing Sample-Based Instruments

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