Today we’d like to introduce you to Myra Choo.
Hi Myra, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When I was really young, I loved watching Television. There was a programme called “Hi five” which featured a girl that played violin. From there, I told my parents that I would like to learn the violin. From the age of 2-16, I was fully focused on classical music and playing in the Singapore youth Orchestra made me fall in love with my craft. It also helped me realize that as much as I love classical violin playing, it wasn’t a scene that I was cut out for. How could I turn my passion for music into a career that allowed me to live and support myself. This was when I started to explore the pop/jazz/ Rnb scene. After enrolling into Berklee at 16, I was exposed to all these different genres. It was also there where I discovered the art of music production. Being able to bring out the best in people, conveying stories through sounds; these were things that I had always wanted to do. Hence I decided to go more into the music production scene. While producing these artists, I discovered that I was able to use my violin skills to create emotionally powerful lines and backing tracks. It was such a new world to me and I loved discovering all these new sounds that my violin could create.
Now I am a freelance music producer that specializes in string and vocal production. These two areas are my passions. Using melody lines and polyphonic harmonies to bless the artists and community around me while making it a sustainable and fruitful way of living is currently the end goal.
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 would say the biggest struggles would be dealing getting comfortable with the uncertainty as well as dealing with people. My exploration in the modern music scene brought me to LA. I had this big dream of wanting to be a music producer that also did session work around town. Putting in the hours and sacrificing my work-life balance to achieve my goals has never been a huge struggle. However, I noticed that the difficulty in this situation was how unclear the path ahead was. LA was high and the music scene that I had always wanted to join almost seemed underground and in the cracks of this desert city. Finding an in was the most difficult part. Thankfully, I got in contact with some composers and producers in LA that I had mutual friends with. While meeting with them, I slowly ironed out the necessary content I needed to have on hand to show that I had the skill set they were looking for.
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?
As a music producer and string arranger, I produce indie pop artists and work with them to bring out their artist vision as well as turn it into a piece that is commercially viable. Some of these artists include JJ Lin, Sorn and Gentle Bones. I was also blessed with the opportunity to work with Earache Records “Wormrot” for their new album “Hiss”.
I also work in film. This comes in many forms, from being a session musician for the music to sitting in the control room and running protools to preparing sessions for mix engineers. Most recently, I worked on the Marvel Series “She-Hulk” , the Netflix movie “Mr Harrigan’s phone” written by Stephen King and the movie “Charlie’s Horses”.
I would say my goal when working with people now is to make their life as easy as possible, with the process and product being something they are satisfied with. I believe that I can bring something to the table in every project while painting, respectful of the art and artist at all times.
Pricing:
- Arranging ($40/hour – a 3min pop song would take around 3 hours)
- Recording Strings ($40/hour)
- If you would like me to both arrange and record strings for you, we can work out a price that works!
- Vocal cleanup (time and tuning – $25/hour)
- Vocal Production ($25/hour during a studio session)
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/at_the_beat/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx0jcsfQj9gYtXorV1Ui6IA
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2SpnwuX7Vq0xVBg1N6aqIS
Image Credits
Photographers: Ryan Chang, Paul Zhao
