Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Ray.
Austin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Austin Ray, I live in Oklahoma City and I am an audio engineer at Boom Box Studios here in OKC. I didn’t grow up in a family of musicians but I did grow up in a family of music lovers. I have old memories of my mom playing Led Zeppelin and Def Leopard CDs in her old car. And I will always remember my grandpa playing Conway Twitty and Ottis Redding vinyls out of his dusty antique record player. So my love for music has been rooted in me at a young age. I never actually got into the engineering part of music until after high school. I didn’t really have any direction or the slightest clue on what I wanted to “do with my life.” I was about 18 at the time and I was taking my first semester of college classes at the University of Central Oklahoma and I didn’t have a major. I soon found about the audio courses I could attend at the college sister school (The Academy of Contemporary Music).
The school is actually funded by UCO so I got to transfer over quite easily. I attended seven semesters at ACM and I actually didn’t graduate. Although I have no degree, I have quite a bit of experience under my belt as I soon found that actually working in studios taught me more than going to school. During the last semester I attended at ACM, I landed an internship at a commercial-sized studio that had just opened up here in OKC. I spent about three months there and learned a whole lot and got to work with a lot of amazing artists, producers and other engineers. I left there and decided that I wanted to go more of the freelance route and be “my own boss.” I went on for a while to work all over the city and then even around the country.
As of last year, I was offered a lead engineer position at Boom Box Studios and that’s where I’ve been since. I spend most of my time mixing sessions, mastering mixes or running recording sessions. I love it here and I love the team that we have working here as well. The best connections I’ve made though have been in New York City. A good friend of mine is the head engineer of Threshold Studios in Manhattan and actually just got on staff at the Germano Studios, which use to be the Hit Factory. So when I can, I head out there to work with a bunch of crazy talented artists.. The main genres I work with are Hip-hop & RnB. I have a ton of experience with rock bands and country bands but rap is the main genre I work in. Some of my credits include Ellesse, Grand National, Brandon Romans, Coriano Gipson, J. Mitchell, Next year and more.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all. Its never easy in this industry. You always hear people say, “you get out what you put in,” and that’s the honest truth. It takes long days and nights to become good at mixing music. You have to be dedicated the art and you can’t take it lightly because they’re a hundred other people out there trying to take my position, it can really take a mental toll on you sometimes trying to compete and stay relevant in this business. Besides the hours and hours of commitment to the craft, it also in incredibly expensive to get started as far as buying gear and space.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I work at Boom Box Studios, where we specialize in all things music. Me personally, I love mixing. I work in a hybrid style of mixing where I do a blend of in the box (digital) mixing and console (analog) mixing. It’s the thing I do the most and its really the thing that got me into this whole industry. I like to give my clients mixes as much dynamics and clarity as I can and I find that incorporating analog equipment into my workflow separates me from a lot of other engineers. A lot of clients won’t ever let another engineer touch their mixes because of how happy they were with my work. I really pride myself in making people truly happy with their music because music is such a vulnerable form of art, and anything I can do to make that come to life for someone then it just makes the world a little bit better, I believe.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Hard work, honestly and communication
Pricing:
- Mixing – $150 per song (pro-rate prices available for projects over 4 songs)
- Mastering – $50 per song (pro-rate prices available for projects over 4 songs)
- Recording – $50 per hour
Contact Info:
- Address: Boom Box Studios
5120 N Santa Fe Ave
Oklahoma City, OK, 73118 - Phone: 405 201 9708
- Email: mixedbyaray@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a_raymixedit/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/a_rayMixedIt
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