Conversations with Bharat Raman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bharat Raman.

Hi Bharat, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Ever since I was young, soundtracks from film, television, and games have been my escape from the real world. Often, when I was not doing homework or playing with my friends, I found myself putting on a pair of headphones and listening to soundtracks from films and video games to escape into my dreams and let the music be the fuel to them. In college, while I battled my ADD to complete a degree in Physics at UCSB, music became my panacea. In the last couple of years, as I tried to fit myself into a familiar career path and worked in an educational games startup as a computer programmer and game designer, music has been like the comfort food I keep going back to. The soundtrack I composed for the startup’s adventure game, and the over thirty other tracks I composed subsequently for various projects, was what made me finally realize that music should be my career.

My background in music dates back to when I was introduced to the violin at six years old. I learned Western classical violin for about ten years and played in multiple youth orchestras like the El Camino Youth Symphony and the Oakland Youth Orchestra. I also spent a year in India during my tenth grade when I got the opportunity to learn South Indian Classical Violin (Carnatic) from Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandham, a world-renowned violinist and an incredible teacher. A class with Mami, as I called her, was never just about learning to play Carnatic music on the violin. She would have me learn to sing the piece, research the composer, and understand the nuances of each ragam or carnatic scale before allowing me to attempt playing it on the violin. More than music, what I learned from mami was how much dedication and hard work needs to go into any effort in order to excel in it.

I started composing during my last year of college as a hobby. During the time I worked for Rounded Learning, I had the opportunity to compose a soundtrack for Problemscape, a role-playing game that teaches algebra to middle-school students. After seeing my soundtrack used in a commercial game, my drive to compose music for games was invigorated and I began participating in various game jams online to develop my skills. To further my career, I applied to a few graduate programs and got accepted into Columbia College Chicago’s MFA program.

My time at Columbia was definitely among the greatest years of my life; I made some amazing friends, who I am still close with here in LA, and I have picked up many vital skills as a composer. I’ve also gained invaluable experience through multiple recording sessions with soloists and orchestras alike. The program culminated into a semester in LA, where I interned with a games composer, Gareth Coker, and worked on my thesis. The thesis was recorded at Fox Studios with a live orchestra! My internship turned into a full-time assistantship, which is what I am currently doing here in LA!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My main obstacle was figuring out what I really wanted to do in life. I spent a lot of time in STEM, thinking software engineering was my career path before getting to this point.

Now, while being an assistant, I find socializing can be a bit challenging. Though I do find it enjoyable as well! Have made a few connections I hope will be lasting. Also time management. I’m very disorganized by nature, so I find it especially challenging prioritizing my time.

I also find it intimidating thinking of the future. How will I move up in the industry? How can I establish myself as a reliable violinist for other composers here?

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an assistant to Gareth Coker, a video game composer who is famous for his work on the Ori games, and Ark: Survival Evolved. I’m versatile in the technical side of music production. Some of my responsibilities include building Kontakt instruments, Recording and processing my violin playing, and Orchestrating/Preparing protools sessions for large-scale recordings. I’ve prepared for sessions for AIR and Abbey Road Studios in London.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love driving around, especially to the ocean and the Pacific Coast Highway. Though I miss being able to casually walk around my neighborhood, which I was able to do easily in Chicago. Weather is quite nice. I enjoy dressing minimally (shirt and shorts, stuff like that), which was easy to do in the summer!

Another thing I love is the socialization of being here. There are so many like-minded people to share your thoughts and experiences with!

Pricing:

• $130/hr for recording sessions. My violin sound is a unique blend of Western and South Indian classical styles and will make for interesting and unique textures for your films/games!

Contact Info:

• Website: bharatsraman.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhsraman/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bharat.raman.9
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bharat-raman-86895367/
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/baharto?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Image Credits
Kristopher Karter (The one of me in the studio, looking at a score. I’m wearing a green ‘Kurta’ shirt)