Today we’d like to introduce you to Avanti Singh.
Hi Avanti, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised in Mumbai, India. My first real introduction to music was around the age of eight when I started learning Kathak (an Indian classical dance form) and was introduced to different Hindustani Taals (North Indian rhythms) – Teen taal, Jhaptaal, Ek Taal, and more. Through Kathak, we weave stories and ancient folklore through footwork, hand and eyes gestures and graceful movements. It was here that I first learned about the power of music, dance and art in general. In the Kathak classroom, my guru told us stories and then we learned how to depict them with our movements. This was my first introduction to storytelling through art.
Through high school, I sang and wrote songs (most of which will *thankfully* never see the light of day), but I never saw myself making music full time – I was very into my academics – particularly physics, chemistry and math. So that’s what I did; I applied to UCLA for physics and got in! I was so excited for it. Then Covid hit. After taking classes online for a quarter, I started to rethink all my plans. I took a quarter off and started an online music production course with an institution called The Media Tribe. It was here that I rediscovered my passion for writing songs and learned how to produce music with Logic Pro X! I released two songs over 2020 and 2021 called ‘Callisto IV’ (mixed by Hersh Desai) and ‘No Stalgia’ (prod. by Jash Mistry and mixed by Hersh Desai) both very ambient and ethereal songs. After releasing these songs, I knew that I wanted to make music full time and I found Berklee College of Music. I applied and got a scholarship and my parents were very supportive of my decision to transfer there so I did. Since January of 2022, I’ve been studying Music Production and Engineering at Berklee and I have loved every second of it! I am so grateful to be surrounded by the most talented people on Earth and to learn from awesome professors. I’m constantly growing and learning from the people around me.
That brings us to today! I released a really cool song in January of this year called Drip Drip (produced by me! and mixed by my dear friend Hersh). It’s ambient and spacey with really fun drums and a catchy hook. The song has lyrics in English and Hindi because I love making bilingual music.
This year, I got an internship at a company called Arturia which makes hardware synthesizers and controllers and software instruments and effects. I’ve been working as a sound design intern with them this Summer at their headquarters in Montbonnot-Saint-Martin in France. I’ve become much more fluent in production with Ableton Live and I’ve been learning sound design!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My journey has been really smooth so far! I’m so grateful for my family and all of my friends who have supported me along the way.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I sing, produce music, sound design and engineer recording sessions.
For production right now I’ve been in love with indie pop and drum and bass (think Lyn Lapid, Jorja Smith and Kenya Grace), so a lot of my production has been that direction. I have a bunch of new songs lined up that I will be releasing starting October/November of this year, so stay tuned! It will be bilingual (English and Hindi) and be a huge blend of indie pop/rock, ambient, drum and bass, and RnB. I’m very open to collaborating with other artists, so reach out to me on Instagram if you’re into any of these genres and need a producer! I use Ableton Live and Logic Pro X to produce.
I’m also a recording engineer and throughout the semester while I’m at Berklee, I engineer sessions for my friends or assist other engineers with their sessions using the API Legacy 500 console at the Berklee studios. It’s so much fun I love keeping a lively environment during my sessions to make sure the artists have a comfortable recording environment while making sure we get things done and get some great takes.
I love singing and performing as well and I’ve been working on playing live sets with Ableton and using effects on my vocals during performances so if you’re in Boston in November this year, you can catch me at some shows! I post a lot of covers and original music on my Instagram page so you can check more of my stuff out there it’s @avantilikestosinghlol. I recently started a series with my friend Sanyamita Shrestha where she sings and I dance (Kathak) and we’ve posted a few videos that have done pretty well! So you can see more of that on my Instagram.
(I’ve also been into scoring to picture recently, so if you’re an indie filmmaker looking for someone to score your short film reach out to me!)
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I love reading and my favourite authors are Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jane Austen. I’m a huge fiction gal, especially when it’s witty and immersive. I also love doing the New York Times games every day (the daily mini, the spelling bee and the crossword). The Daily Mail cryptic crossword is tons of fun too. They help keep my brain running!! I also read the news – generally BBC News, the NYT and the Times of India. I haven’t found time to diversify my news reading but I’m working on it!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avantilikestosinghlol/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avanti-singh-bb392869/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiCV3gVJDG0LXMHglvsPToA
Image Credits
Dhiaan
