SoundGym Hero: Kevin Rangel

Self-taught pianist, guitarist, and aspiring audio engineer with a soft spot for late-night boom bap, Kevin Rangel never set out to be a mix engineer, just a kid raised on Elton John and the Bee Gees, a 2017 obsession with the wavy, ethereal sound of Plugg, a first batch of beats he admits sounded terrible, and years of teaching himself piano, guitar, theory, and sound design after long days at a job outside of music, before discovering that the best way to make something great is to first learn how to hear it. Kevin Rangel is this month's SoundGym Hero!

How did you first find your way into making music?

Music has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember, when artists like Elton John and the Bee Gees defined the sound of my early childhood. Over the years I got exposed to different genres and gradually shifted to listening to hip hop. My actual music making process began back in 2017. At the time, I was really into the emerging Plugg genre of hip hop which was steadily coming into the mainstream by the likes of rappers like Playboi Carti, Famous Dex, Rich the Kid, etc., after having been a primarily underground sound up until that point.

The whole Plugg sound was something that I had never heard of before, and it really caught my attention because of its unique ethereal, wavy, retro sound. All credit goes to the producers who helped build that sound, especially to ICYTWAT, whose remix of Playboi Carti’s song “Talk” was the very song I heard where after hearing it I said to myself “I want to make something like that”. From then on, I attempted my hand at producing beats but to be honest, they all sounded terrible. I had no musical training at that point and didn't even know how to play an instrument. After spending the first 10 months of 2018 trying to be a producer, I stepped back and decided to focus on honing my skills to become a better musician. From then until now, I taught myself how to play the piano, guitar, learned music theory, sound designing and eventually found a passion in audio engineering.

Aside from music, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy?

I enjoy cycling and exercising from time to time. I think it's important for everyone to do some form of physical activity for the sake of just being healthy and taking care of yourself. You don't have to go all out and train like a world class athlete but just doing something consistently and routinely is better than nothing. I also enjoy watching films here and there as well. Before wanting to do music, I was actually really into creative writing and aspired to do screenwriting.

If you could play or create with any artist, who would it be and why?

Of course, one would think about what big mainstream artist I would love to work with, but I equally prioritize wanting to work with artists who are only beginning to make a name for themselves. Staying in that mindset, I would really like to work with this rapper from Maryland known as Grange. He has such a unique voice and sound whose music I can only describe as late night boom bap chill smoke sessions. If I could produce a track for him or just mix one of his songs, that would be a dream of mine.

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What piece of music gear do you love the most, and what makes it irreplaceable in your creative process?

I’m tempted to say my Adam A7V studio monitors which I won from the SoundGym Stereo Blasters Challenge. But as you can tell from my setup, I haven't even been able to properly set them up due to spacing issues and improper room treatment. It's really one of the few pieces of professional high-quality audio gear that I own. Realistically then, my FL Key midi keyboard would have to be piece of gear I value the most simply because I’m able to play out what I want to in front of me when making music. I’m not someone who enjoys clicking in midi notes all the time in my DAW. I want to have a feel of what I'm making.

What daily or weekly habits do you have in place to keep you creating?

I always designate time after coming home from work to just casually playing or jamming either on my midi keyboard or guitar. I try not to make the process of creating music to be so strict in the sense that I come home, and I know that I'm going to make something right off the fly. I do it so that I don't get complacent. At times I'm practicing either playing a new song or playing technique, and I casually find inspiration that motivates me to create something.

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What keeps you motivated to continue making music?

I consider myself a music enthusiast at heart. My current line of work involves nothing in the field of music, yet I devote my free time wanting to learn and make music because I genuinely have a passion for it. It's hard to describe but when you find something that piques your interest, you naturally obsess over it to the point where it becomes a part of your identity, and you can't let it go.

I think that goes for anyone in any career, whether they're a musician, athlete, entertainer, etc. It's that belief that if you stay committed to your craft, not only will it bring you happiness but that you could earn a living doing simply what you love. And that love is knowing how music impacts people into feeling whatever it is that they're going through in their lives. We’re all human beings, and as musicians or artists, it's our role to accentuate those emotions that we all experience in the form of sound which in turn is therapeutic for many of us.

What song would you choose as the soundtrack of your life?

I would have to say the New Radicals “You Get What You Give”. I think it perfectly encapsulates the idea of never giving up on your dreams and to always shrive and push forward even if you have doubts. Plus, it's just a really good song.

What's your favorite feature on SoundGym, and how has it helped you in your musical journey?

I would have to say EQ Mirror. When I first started using SoundGym I would have to say it was probably the most challenging and intimidating game featured on the site. It's simply because it forces you to be precise in translating what you hear to recreating it via EQ moves that aren't limited to just a selection of answers like in the other games. You have to be the one to make the right judgement amid a myriad of potential options which I think really sums up what it means to be an audio engineer. Ultimately, I think the learning curve for this game drastically gets easier if you learn how to hear frequencies across the audio spectrum, which is what EQ Mirror has helped me in.

What’s something exciting you're working on or looking forward to?

Like I said before, I currently am not involved in anything related to music as my main line of work, but I hope to change that in the next year or so. I have been self-taught in almost everything that I know when it comes to music, but even I know there comes a point where you need that additional help or just guidance to help you get where you want to be. I really aspire to work as an audio engineer and I’m making plans to enroll in an audio engineering course so I can learn beyond the basics I know and become a certified engineer. I hope to make what is now a hobby into a full-time career.

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