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Conversations with Azhar “Ace” Hai

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Azhar “Ace” Hai

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My comprehension of music and its rhythmical patterns began when I was less than a year old, sitting in my grandfather’s arms, listening to classical Indian music. I would shake my head after a 16—or 64-bar pattern repeated itself, showing my grandfather that my musical intuition was connected to the power of music. I come from a family of creatives, with my mother and father both being architects and many of my uncles being classical Indian musicians. Music has always been embedded in my culture, and my first memory of discovering music was singing and performing songs in front of my family from classic Indian films in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where I was born. In the basement of our home, my life would change forever after watching the premiere of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean music video at the age of four. I discovered a whole new genre of music that spoke to me. This experience led me to discover more music and indulge further in pop culture.

In 1984, my family moved to Los Angeles, and my pallet continued to grow while being exposed to various genres through local radio stations my siblings would play on car rides and in the house. My earliest memories of becoming obsessed with the art of DJing were when I was 14 in 1994 when I recorded a radio show on tape cassette called Powertools from the local radio station in Los Angeles called Power106 from 12 am to 4 am every Saturday to Sunday morning. This electronic music radio show featured DJs from around the world who showcased their talents with seamlessly long blends between records and shared music that you would not be able to discover during syndicated hours. Their beatmatching abilities consumed me, and I was hooked on the craft. After recording countless hours of music, I knew I needed to learn how to DJ.

At 15, my sister introduced me to a local DJ named Hooter, whom she knew from college and who played parties and weddings. He took me under his wing and taught me about the equipment, beat matching, and track selection. I spent three years with him as his roadie and had the opportunity to meet many other DJs who introduced me to many different genres of music, including Hip-Hop, which became my second love and launched my journey into turntablism. If it wasn’t for my sister and her support for my passion for music, I don’t know where I would be today. I am truly grateful for her love and care for my passion and for connecting me with the right people to help me thrive.

After high school, I finally got my first pair of turntables and spent countless hours scratching and manipulating records to learn how to mimic my favorite DJs, such as the Beat Junkies and DJ Jazzy Jeff. In my early 20s, my focus began to change from DJing to music production, and I quickly realized that my mind wanted to learn how music was created and how it sonically spoke to the soul. I began experimenting with sampling and composing music, which led me to understand that my real passion was audio engineering.

It wasn’t until I had a life-changing moment when I unexpectedly lost my cousin at the age of 30 due to a fever and cardiac arrest. His last words to me were, “Ace, all I want you to do is find what you are good at and become the best at it.” A week later, he passed away, and it changed my life forever. Losing him taught me the importance of not letting life pass you by and reaching for your dreams without hesitation. I left my dead-end job, enrolled myself in the Art Institute, and finally understood my inherited musical intuition. I combined my love for music, science, and math and put words into things I understood about sound, which propelled my academic and professional career. I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Audio Production and graduated with a 4.0 as valedictorian.
After college, I landed a job in live production in the audio-visual industry. I worked in corporate theater, began developing lighting and video skills, and worked in the industry for over a decade. When the pandemic hit, my industry plummeted, and I worked as a freelance audio engineer, just trying to make ends meet.

In July of 2021, I began a new journey within live entertainment when I became a stage manager for a live performance venue in downtown Los Angeles called Grand Performances. In this new career, I began working with musically acclaimed entertainers, including DJs, where I got an opportunity to produce live productions by combining my sound, lighting, and video skills. While curating their events, I would engage with these artists and collect stories on how they became successful. I realized that there was something special about me at this moment. I had a knack for making people feel comfortable around me. In return, they would become open and share their most profound moments with me, their wisdom, and their stories of resilience. Every conversation drew me closer to believing that I had the talent to extract valuable information from talented people who carried valuable knowledge.

My life dramatically changed once again on November 3rd, 2022, when I lost my mother due to COVID-19. While my mother was hospitalized for a year, I was approached by the University of Southern California to apply for the Digital Media Management master’s program. I took this as a sign because it was my mother’s dream for me to get my master’s at USC. After she passed, I embarked on a journey to fulfill her dream of getting my master’s at USC and got accepted into the program. While in the program, I was inspired to combine my love for music, passion for DJing, and talent in communication to create a podcast. I gathered the most talented people I have ever worked with to create a production team. Jack Monforte and Pablo Aguilar from Grand Performances and created For The Rotation. For The Rotation is a podcast that aims to educate, motivate, inspire, and drive its audience to accomplish their goals, dreams, and aspirations by uncovering a DJ’s story to success.

My podcast was submitted as my Capstone (thesis) for the Digital Media Management master’s program. I launched the project shortly after I graduated in May of 2024 with the highest distinction and a 4.0. This podcast was created to be a fully monetizable digital business with an omni-channel presence geared toward promoting the craft of DJing and expanding a message beyond the music to make a positive impact on people’s lives by sharing a relatable story to encourage change, adaptation, resilience, and a positive mindset. For The Rotation is my way of giving back to an art form that changed my life and helped me find my purpose. I have released a four-part series and am building a catalog of interviews where I will be releasing a new episode weekly. Today, I am blessed to have the opportunity to positively impact people’s lives by interviewing my favorite DJs and providing a platform for them to share their stories to inspire the world.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The path to discovering my purpose has been challenging. I started college as a pre-med student and quickly realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do after struggling to pass the Introduction to Chemistry. I left college and took many dead-end career paths for about a decade to finally commit to my true passion. The loss of my loved ones caused me a lot of grief and sadness but helped me shift my perception and find my purpose. If I were to live this life all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m truly grateful for the journey and remain optimistic and excited for the future. For The Rotation is yet to reach its pinnacle by capturing a large audience, but I’m confident that its message will speak to everyone and become one of the most successful podcasts known in the industry.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I work in everything related to production, from sound, video, lighting, broadcasting, and streaming. By combining the skills that I have acquired during my professional career and the master’s that I have obtained in Digital Media Management from USC, I now specialize in content creation (professional and user-generated), digital marketing, social marketing, monetization, content distribution, brand development, audio engineering, film, video editing, studio, and live production. I am known for my calm, cool, and collected personality, ability to solve problems efficiently, and knack for curating, managing, and producing large-scale productions with exponentially unforgettable amazing outcomes. I am most proud of my academic accomplishments and my ability to see things through from thought to fruition, such as my For The Rotation podcast. What sets me apart from others is my inherited diverse musical culture, my exceptional ability to communicate with others and help them share their story, my ability to relate to anyone’s story of struggle, my passion for paying knowledge forward, my ability to help people channel their greatest talents, and my uncanny ability to find solutions in any given situation with professional efficiency.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I have a passion for paying my knowledge forward and teaching. Today, I mentor young adults who have recently graduated from high school and teach the art of live production and producing large-scale concerts at Grand Performances. Live production is a craft that is not easily obtained. You are either born into it or need to know someone willing to teach you. With Grand Performances, I am blessed to have the ability to provide a platform to teach the art of live production and make it accessible to anyone who has the drive and passion to learn how their favorite concert experiences were created. I believe I inherited this trait from my mother, a school teacher who always taught me the importance of teaching and sharing information. One of my most significant career accomplishments was being the sound designer/project manager for Draymond Green’s wedding and having the opportunity to mix live shows for Leon Bridges and Babyface.

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