Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Jumper.
Ryan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always been infatuated by music. It’s the most emotional form of entertainment that we have as a society today. It influences our lifestyles, our moods, our behavior and so much more. Because of the way music made me feel, I wanted to know how it was all “put together” on a professional level. This all started in grade school when I would tear out my basement closet, line it with carpet and other sound insulating materials, grab a guitar hero USB microphone, a free copy of Audacity, and get to recording my own music. This was the fire that got it all started. After graduating high school in 2010, I attended Columbus State (Columbus Ohio) where I earned my Associates in Business Management specializing in Entrepreneurship. All while attending my first two years of college I researched audio and recording schools left and right. I came across Full Sail University, and after taking a tour of the campus, I was sold. I packed everything I owned and made the 18hr drive from Youngstown, Ohio to Orlando, FL. I remember telling myself “welcome to the first day of the rest of my career” on day one of class.
If it wasn’t for Full Sail laying the foundation of audio engineering I don’t know where I would be today. That said, upon graduating with my Bachelors in the Recording Arts I moved to Atlanta in hopes of landing an internship at a recording studio in town. I chose Atlanta because of the music scene as well as a gut feeling. Well..my intuition paid off, and moving here has been one of the best decisions in my life. I was hired right away to start my internship at an incredible recording studio called Silent Sound Studios. It’s a very private boutique recording studio designed for the top tier (A-List) Recording Artists. It’s not a bad start when your first day out of school is an Usher and Jermaine Dupri session! After grinding out about eight months of interning I was approached by a well renowned Mixing Engineer Miles Walker. Miles has a room in Silent Sound, so it was great to be able to grow a personal relationship with him throughout my internship. Like they say, timing is everything and Miles was in the market looking for an assistant engineer to work with him around the same time that my internship was wrapping up.
Moving forward to a paid and stable position within the music industry was a massive progression for me. I quickly learned the level of skill needed to make it as an established Mixing Engineer. I’ve learned so much from Miles, and still, continue to do so each and every day. He not only helps me progress as an engineer but also as a better and more well-rounded person. Today Miles and I have been pumping out record after record for a little under three years now. It has helped me bring major label credits to my name, such as T.I. Young Jeezy, Meek Mill, Kygo, Fifth Harmony, U2, Wyclef, and Lecrae, being able to befriend numerous industry professionals, and even bring me a few gold record plaques. (Kygo, and Meek Mill) I also freelance engineer outside of working with Miles. I have a solid client list that I record and mix records for. Recently I’ve been able to have some big recording sessions with major acts such as K-Major, Dinah Jane, Sean Garrett, and Raja Kumari to name a few.
Being able to make a living constantly since graduating is not as frequent as one may think in my profession. I’m very fortunate to be able to work on my craft full time, day in and day out. This is my full-time job, and it’s incredible to be manifesting my dreams right before my eyes.
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?
Picking up your entire life and moving thousands of miles away from comfort to embark on a dream that guarantees you nothing in return definitely presents its struggles.
A big struggle was knowing I had to now move out of Orlando to yet another city I knew no one in to be closer to my dreams. Orlando had a small music scene but my dreams are bigger than that. I had to get to where it was happening, and Atlanta made the perfect sense for me.
Once in Atlanta, sustaining my internship was the next struggle. I knew I needed to be in the studio, surrounding myself with those doing what I wanted to do. But this required me to be available and have time. Well for an unpaid internship, that was a huge struggle. I needed to work to sustain myself to live, but it was more important to be at the studio. So eating instant rice with bbq sauce was my go-to meal for a long time, but in the long run, I wouldn’t have changed a thing!
I think struggling with some mental aspects in this industry effect a lot of people including myself. It’s a very stressful profession. Long hours, sleepless nights, impossible deadlines, dealing with multiple personalities, trying to provide the best service you possibly can, making sure your clients are always happy, the cost of keeping up with new technologies, gear, and software, worrying where you’ll next gig will come from and when. There is a lot to this music game mentally, and we need to make sure that we stay on top of it in a healthy way.
Please tell us about Engineered By Jumper.
I’m an Audio Engineer. I specialize in the Recording and Mixing process of music. I work with the artists and or producers closely to capture a clear and emotional recording from their vocals or instruments. I then work with the captured signal to process it to sound a certain way. This can range from something off the wall like making hitting a table sound like a kick drum to just perfecting that vocal to sound clear and natural. Furthermore, after the recoding process is typically the mixing process. This is where every sound, instrument. And vocal are all on separate channels so I can sonically shape the sounds to give it that perfect “radio” sound we are all used to hearing on commercial releases.
To my clients, I feel that I am known for giving them a superior, and commercially competitive product to release in the marketplace. They know by coming to me, I can take their worries away about making sure their song comes out how they visioned it. They trust me and my decisions for at the end of the day I will always provide what the client, as well as the market, calls for. Music changes constantly. It is imperative to keep up with the trending aspects in music so you can provide those techniques for your clients so they can set themselves apart from the rest of the competition as well.
What role has luck played in your life and business?
Luck is a weird term for me these days, I feel timing and being prepared for opportunities awards you with your “luck.” In my opinion, nothing is happenstance, everything happens for a reason; from the smallest to largest of things. I wake up every day knowing that I am in charge of my destiny. Not my friends, family, job, or luck…ME. I make it go happen for myself because that’s what I want. If I want something, I work my ass off to go get it. I envision it, feel it, dream of it, then I go manifest it. Sure, some are easier than others and some may come with little to no effort at all, but I don’t think luck has anything to do it with.
Contact Info:
- Email: RyanJumper.atl@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jumper_atl/
Image Credit:
Elijah Davis
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