Meet Manny Meza

Today we’d like to introduce you to Manny Meza.

Hi Manny, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born and raised in San Diego, CA and found an interest in music at a really early age. By the time I was around 11, I had already been fully submerged into the world of music mostly consisting of Urban, Latin and Tropical genres. Once I got into high school, I was introduced to recording and started working on music more as a serious profession. In college, I found real definition to the things I was messing with, I knew how to mess with things like an EQ by listening for example but once I learned about frequencies and how to adjust things in a more technical manner, I was able to get in depth and detailed with the adjustments I would make. All of these things would eventually lead up to me opening my own recording studio which is where I’m located now full time.

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?
Of course, there have been struggles! There was a lot of times I wasn’t sure I was gonna be able to pay bills. I had hit a point where I didn’t know if I could afford gas! But I pushed forward and always did my best to find a way to make sure things got taken care of. I knew that if I wanted music to be my career, I was going to have to make sacrifices and that I was going to have to endure hardships. The hardest thing is probably being validated by the community because there are so many people who are after the same career (dream) and it becomes very saturated. How do you stand out? How do people believe that you are serious and that you are willing to put in the work? They’re not watching you every step of the way and so here’s another kid who “makes music/records/produces” and you have to PROVE yourself every. Single. Day. and once people can physically see the progress, they come in waves. Earn the respect of the people you want to call your colleagues.

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 am a recording/mixing engineer. That is my job and what I am most proud of is my ability to be able to help an artist achieve their goal of getting a song creatively where it needs to be along with the quality control of course. I also have experience with production, songwriting and artist development in order to make sure that each person who I work with gets what they are looking for from a session with me. I have a wide variety of projects I’m incredibly proud of so it’s really hard for me to name one but even the fact that I have entire albums that I’ve done is really awesome! I’m grateful for people allowing me to be a part of the body of work they release. I don’t think there’s anything that really sets me apart. I’m just a guy who really enjoys making music and I really can’t see myself doing anything else, so thank you to everyone for allowing me to do this consistently!

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Being able to take risks is important, there is no reward without a leap of faith. That doesn’t mean be reckless either, you want to make sure your risks are calculated and that you at least land in the general intended area. I’ve taken plenty of risks, one being opening a recording studio. I didn’t know if I was going to generate any sort of business but I knew it was what I was going to do and so I put in the work necessary to make it happen.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: blackwav.com
• Instagram: @mannyfrezko
• Facebook: Manny Frezko