Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Arasi.
Hi Anthony, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I had always sang since I could speak (as many singers will tell you). When I was 13, I began playing guitar and fell in love. I knew early on that music was something I would always do to some capacity, but I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to earn a living at it.
That was until I went into the studio for the first time. It was a small place, but I was immediately captivated by the process of recording and producing music. A few years later, I enrolled in Full Sail to learn how to record and mix, and began working shortly after graduating at the age of 21.
A few internships later, and I was mixing music freelance for several years until I began working with a company that does music for competitive cheer and dance. From there, we’ve built a production music catalog, a pre-made cheer mix website, and continue to run the premier custom cheer/dance music company in the industry. And I’m now the CTO of the parent company that runs these individual entities.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I’ve been extraordinarily lucky in my career, in that I found a group of people early on who believed in me and my skills in the studio. They provided me a place to work and build my skill set, as well as a steady flow of clients to work with from the ground up.
In that regard, I never had to do much self-promotion or marketing, I was able to service clients brought to me by those who helped me get my start for quite awhile. Of course there are typical problems being a young creative, namely, money and direction. These two things took me some time to sort out. But once I did, I can knock on wood and say it’s been a fairly smooth and steady rise to where I am today.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As an audio engineer, I get the rare privilege to help people create their art. And in fact, I get to actively participate in shaping the final product, in come cases, to a great extent.
I specialize in mixing audio, which is the process of blending the raw audio recordings together to create the final sound and character of the piece of music. This is one of the final stages in an audio production before it is released to the public. I do this with powerful computers, software, and equipment.
I’m proud to have contributed to the sound of cheer and dance music in a profound way, largely shaping the way this music sounds across every sector of the industry. In my work with New Level Music, I have helped producers and music creators transform the sound of cheer music from its humble origins. Previously comprised of simple drum loops and samples mixed in with radio pop songs, they are now fully-original productions crafted by instrumentalists, songwriters, producers, and engineers, just like you would find in a real record label.
I have a particular attention to detail in my work, and pride myself on letting my ear do most of the heavy lifting. I can think analytically, but turn it off when I need to operate on experience and instinct. A lot of engineers tend to lean heavily to either direction, either thinking too scientifically about their work, or completely disregarding the technical aspects of music. I blend both perspectives well, and this is one of my greatest strengths.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Enjoying what I do. Simple as that. I want to master the art of living, which to me means the following: living in such a way as to not have to draw a sharp distinction between work and play, labor and leisure, mind and body, education and recreation, etc.
Whether I’m with my family, in the studio, in the gym, or enjoying a lazy day off, I want those things to all feel roughly the same to me. And I’m lucky to say that right now in my life, they do.
Contact Info:
- Email: anthonyarasi@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anthonyarasi/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anthony.arasi/
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/anthonyarasimixing
