Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Jacinto.
Hi Drew, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Originally from Fresno, CA. I began my collegiate career as a Mechanical Engineering Major, although since high school I was always involved in music in some way or another. I first moved down to Southern California in May 2014 but due to unfortunate circumstances, I had to move back home in November of the same year. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason though and because of that, I met some great people that I don’t think I would have met if I never moved back home. One being an amazing audio engineer by the name of Matt Montanez who became a lifelong mentor of mine in the music industry and a close friend as well and another being an incredibly talented music producer by the name of Keyel Walker who I believe has also been featured in Voyage LA as well.
Keyel ultimately introduced me to an up & coming artist in Los Angeles named C5 who I started doing production work for and would grow to become the main artist I produce and engineer for. Knowing he was in Southern California I decided to make another jump and move back down there. Combining the two things I loved at the time (Mechanical Engineering and music) I found an Audio Engineering program at CSU – Dominguez Hills. Enrolled in 2017 and earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in 2019 where I learned an incredible amount from my professors Cesar Mejia & Joshua McKendry and also as a mentor for the younger classes. Over the last five years, I’ve used my pre-university self taught knowledge as well as my newly acquired university knowledge to engineer/produce around 200 – 300 songs for a wide variety of artists from Rock to Rap and I continue to aim to help artists find their sound and grow my brand under my company Route 9 Studios.
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 definitely had some struggles along the way. But nothing more than anybody else, relationship struggles, financial struggles, and family struggles all contributed. It’s been really rough being away from family for 5-6 years so far only seeing them a hand full of times a year can take a toll on you for sure. And relationship/financial struggles were the main reasons for having to move back and forth over the years, but like I said I firmly believe everything happens for a reason and glad everything happened the way it did.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m an Audio Engineer who specializes in audio recording and mixing. I’m mainly known for the work I do as a mixing engineer. I’m most proud of each and every record I get to work on because knowing how much artists’ music means to them, I think it’s a blessing that each one trusts me to make the record the best it can be. I think what sets me apart from others is my ability to comprehend what an artist is trying to convey through their music. Mixing is almost 80% artist preference and 20% technical stuff so being able to decipher and interpret what the artist wants the music to sound like is extremely important.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
One of the biggest risks I’ve taken in my life was moving to Southern California and I did it twice. I don’t really view myself as a risk-taker but moving down here was definitely one of the bigger ones because of the extreme cost of living differences between my hometown of Fresno and Los Angeles and also the fact that I had no family down here either.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.route9studios.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drewmixedit
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/drewmixedit
Image Credits:
@DannyMajorr
