Here at pointblank, we’re only as successful as our students. We’re spoilt for choice when it comes to success stories and that’s why we love to highlight our student’s accomplishments. For this installment, we are shining a spotlight on singer, songwriter, producer, and pointblank L.A. student, Remi Sira.
Hey Remi! For those who aren’t familiar with you, could you give us an intro?
Hi! I’m Remi. I’m a pop singer, songwriter, producer, and math nerd. I moved from Colombia to LA about 2 and a half years ago to pursue my career as an artist here.
What led you to study at pointblank L.A.?
I’d been writing and performing music for several years when I moved to LA. Although I knew my way around a DAW, I didn’t feel confident and fluent enough in musical production, and I wanted to insert myself into a musical community in LA.
What classes did you take and how have they helped your career since?
I first did the music production certificate, which helped me gain more confidence in production. I really just meant to become proficient enough to produce my own music until I had the resources to enlist someone else’s help for the production stage, but I fell in love with it, specifically with sound design and synthesis. I ended up taking the Advanced Sound Design course as well. The experience has really opened my eyes to the different ways in which one can be a musician, and it’s helped me figure out the kind of musician I want to be. I used to be very one-track-minded in the idea that I want to be an artist and that’s it, but now there are all these other avenues I want to pursue as well, and it’s inspiring to look at all these musicians that pursue so many of them at once. I’m also a mathematician and have discovered different ways math, data, and coding are being used to evolve the field of sound design. It’s fascinating and definitely something I want to be a part of. That’s something that wasn’t on my radar at all until I joined pointblank.
Who are your influences or what artists do you look up to?
I love what Imogen Heap has done as far as developing technology that can change the way we perform and create music, and how she simultaneously incorporates that into her own artistry. On a sonic level, I also admire Magdalena Bay, Caroline Polachek, Grimes, Lykke Li, and Tove Lo. I love pop girlies, I love people that innovate on what pop is. And I LOVE the Swedes, they really know how to do it.
What has been the biggest challenge that you’ve faced while writing or creating music?
I feel like in music, you’re always getting a new challenge. We all deal with writer’s block periodically, and that’s just par for the course. But most recently, I think it’s just being a little overwhelmed with how much there is in the world of sound for me to learn and explore. It’s obviously a good kind of overwhelming, it’s exciting! But you do get this feeling of “oh, I actually know nothing. I’m actually just starting”. I’ve been learning, performing, and making music my whole life, and every few years I’ll get that feeling, and it’ll make me question what it is that I really want out of my career as an artist. You think you know what path you wanna take, and then you hit a fork in the road with 50 different prongs, and they all seem so cool.
You’ve recently performed on our PBLA “Open Sessions” where you performed 2 original songs, “Electrical Wave” and “Skeptical.” What was the inspiration behind each song, and can you give us some insight into your songwriting process?
I write from a pop perspective, and the main character in pop music is typically the hook, so I usually start there. In the case of Electrical Wave, it was the first line of the chorus, which kind of came to me as an image of this orange sunset over the beach casting neon light reflections on the ripples in the water. I then built the track around this beachy aesthetic with a laid-back vibe. In Skeptical, the “hook” I started with was the piano part in the verse, so the suspended chord with a descending bassline to dictate the harmony. At some point while messing around on the piano I played that D major chord that had a very grungy feel to it in the key, so that was what inspired me to take it in a more rock-ish direction towards the end.
What’s in the pipeline? Are there any other interesting projects (personal or professional) you’re working on that you can tell us about?
I have a synth pop EP I’m working on releasing throughout the second half of this year! The first single, “KITC,” will be out 7/24/24. Also have some performances around LA in the works starting in August, so all of that will be announced through my IG and other socials (@remisira everywhere, if you’re interested).
Pre-Save “KITC” — Out everywhere July 24th
Successes such as these are common among our students and alumni. If you are looking to follow in the footsteps of Remi Sira, and create music for all to enjoy, we can help you begin with our music production and singing and songwriting programs courses in Los Angeles and London. If you’d like to learn how to produce, then we can build your skills from the ground up with our range of courses in Los Angeles and London. For those who have a hankering to do both, we offer a BA (Hons) Music Production & Vocal Performance in London as well as a range of short and longer combined diplomas in Los Angeles. For more information, you can contact us here.
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