We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ryan Romano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Ryan with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
Much of my musical and audio career thus far has pertained to idols, from those who have inspired my journey to begin, to the metaphorical idol I write about in my original rock album, ‘Idle Idol.’ From Elton John’s innovation in the music he writes, to the people in my own life whose own innovation inspires me, my proudest quality of myself is my work ethic. I can honestly say that, at the root, this quality is derived from my late grandfather’s own innovation and work ethic in his field. My grandfather developed very early audio technologies that simply did not exist before him. The microphones used now in security systems were developed by him. I would like to think that his technological skillset was passed onto me. I find myself now working in audio engineering and production, in the contemporary world. He created something from nothing. Though he passed when I was young, I have heard much about his stories and morals from my own father. One thing my grandfather was known for was a phrase he’d say to anyone working to do something revolutionary: “Sure, you’re busy, but are you making money?” I respect that statement a lot, and I live by it now. As far as my own work ethic goes, I hope to find a cause in the modern audio and music world that would benefit from his own lineage of audio innovation. He spent years developing his craft and building a skillset previously unknown to man, and I work today to live up to his own out-of-the-box thinking. I’ve spent my whole life climbing career ladders, from beginning performing paid live music at the young age of 10, to graduating high school a year early to be the youngest at my audio engineering school to graduate, and with the highest test scores the school had seen. Now, every day in Nashville, Tennessee I find myself analyzing my productivity in the music/audio industry to optimize my own workflow. I haven’t taken a day off since the New Year, and I aim to to engineer my own clients’ projects in a productive manner that shares the innovative productivity of my grandfather.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Though I am rarely seen wearing one, I pride myself on ‘wearing many hats.’ My name, ‘Ryan Romano,’ is an artist, an audio engineer, a clothing brand, a music producer, and above all else, a builder. I build things, sometimes tangible, sometimes audible, that people find exciting, and I am 19 years old. My musical artistry began at age 8, when I performed as a grand finale act at my third-grade talent show. I went on to perform around the Metro-Detroit area, where I was raised, as a piano-vocal solo act. My show outfits paired well with my musical influences to fall largely in line with the works of Elton John. Eventually, I found myself writing and recording my first record, ‘Old Soul,’ at age 15, and continued on to complete on American Idol for an audience of over 11 million TV and internet viewers, the next year.
American Idol Judge Katy Perry bought the sequin jacket I had custom-tailored for me on the show. Wild, but that’s exactly what happened on my American Idol experience. She took an interest in the jacket I had designed with my show-outfit tailor for her father, who is a large fashionista himself. When this aired on TV and online, my online messages were FILLED with people wanting to get their own hands on a sequin jacket of mine. Thus, I debuted ‘Ryan Romano Signature Series Sequin Jackets’ to the public, and I began to turn a profit on the business in about a year. Now, my clothing line primarily outfits show-choirs nationwide. My bright jackets are always available on my website, too!
Anyway, from producing my first album, to the wonders of on-set TV show production, I found myself taking a great interest in the production of media. My piano & vocal instructor, (and engineer of ‘Old Soul’) Sean Earle, taught me a lot about the music production process throughout engineering my own ‘sound’ for my first release of my original music. This album’s lead piano-rock single, ‘Vintage’ began a small but steady commercial wave that rolled into my own pursuit of education in audio engineering. I began noodling with audio software and hardware, leading me eventually to taking this education seriously, with a passion. So, I worked to graduate high school a year early, so as to sooner begin audio engineering school at Soundscape Studios in Michigan. I was the youngest at my audio engineering school to graduate, and with the highest test scores the school had seen.
At this point, having a graduated understanding of the technical side of audio, coupled with my own musical artistry and image, I took on some exciting production projects. Notably, I composed and produced three film-soundtracks with Detroit film-production company, Token Films. Then, my final project in Michigan was composition, recording, and production of my most recent album, Idle Idol.
This synth-and-piano driven album tells a fictionally metaphoric story I wrote about my own upwards journey to this point. “The Story of a Showman,” I called it. With this album were five music videos I wrote and directed as Ryan Romano Productions (now Ryaudio) in Michigan. “Extravagance” has a very otherworldly music video, with dramatic cinematic touches that really sell the theatrics of the music itself. This project served as a farewell to Michigan, as I then made the move to Nashville, Tennessee, to continue building these many endeavors.
I have now been living in Nashville for one year. Here, I am often found at local venues performing rock n’ roll on my keytar and piano, with various rock bands. I started the progressive rock band Dream Fever with a good friend I met here to indulge in psychedelics in rock n roll. I have also been seeing the beginnings of commercial success recently, composing & playing in arena-rock band, Slickson Revolver. Further education also inspired my Nashville move; I am in college to bring my existing certificate to a Bachelor’s in audio science. After completing a 7-month internship here at in:ciite Studios, I am also in the midst of building a recording & mixing studio in my new home right in Nashville, so as to make use of this ever-growing skillset. I look forward to filling my studio, duly named Ryaudio, with passionate audio productions, each bigger than the last.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The quality of mine that has MOST contributed to my success is staying ahead. The skillset I began developing at a young age just so happened to be the one that stuck. So, graduating high school early to begin specialized education in my audio field worked in my favor. Take a gamble with your existing skillset; chances are, if you develop it enough in ways that people can care about and want to push upwards, it’ll end up turning you a profit. This has been the case with every thing I have stuck with: they all make money now, but only because I stuck with them from my first hint of interest. The first time I sang in front of an audience at 8 led to my first paid gig at 10. My introduction to music production at 14 led to my first client at 17. My first music video creation at 15 led to my first video job at 17. Each of these things flourish because I started them young and saw them to fruition. This is my experience in my fields, but I have no doubt that if you stick to what you KNOW you do well, you can find a way to make it work for you.
Another valuable quality to success, in my world, is determining what ‘extra’ I can do for an interested party. Each of the worlds I have placed myself in are rather competitive fields. Audio engineering and musical artistry both require a person to be exceptional at their field, and as far as I’m concerned, to provide some value to a client or audience that nobody else is. This is easier said than done, when everyone educated in one of these fields walks out with a pretty similar set of skills. In my case, whether it be the speed at which I operate my audio software, or the precision of my piano-playing, the key is to find the thing I can provide on top of the developed skillset. In audio, it’s the social media content production & skillset I provide to my clients, so as to promote the work we did together. I spend time investigating what ‘works’ on social media to deliver quality promo material. In live music, it’s my connection with the audience and massive stage presence. I tend to be the shortest person on a stage, but also the most exuberant; I’m proud of this skill. I run my keytar wirelessly to the PA now, so I can walk out into the audience and literally have an audience member start playing the keytar with me. It’s quite an esoteric instrument, and this connection I develop with every audience is the over-the-top value I work to provide to keep moving up.
There’s a fine line that people of success tread, between apprehension and arrogance; the middle of this line is modesty. All entrepreneurial mindsets aside, the most important thing to get you places is modesty. This means that everyone below you is walking that same line, and nobody is too far above you, either. We’re all people, and everyone is ACTIVELY writing their own success story, whether it feels like it or not. I disagree with the common sentiment of “respect your superiors,” because I’ve had more success treating EVERYONE with the same amount of respect, honestly. Having people that look up to me now, I find myself a bit more receptive to small talk with those that treat me like a human than those that are terrified to say hello. Say hello to your idol the same way you’d say hello to your best friend; we’re all people. Modesty goes a long way in interactions with all scales of people; a person being consistently likable and humble in their communications with various people goes far.
How would you describe your ideal client?
I work best with people who have a similar drive to mine. Some of my favorite audio-client experiences have been some of the fastest, believe it or not, since the clients were on their own success journeys; theirs and mine intertwined for some work, and they’re off continuing to succeed, as am I. I like to stay in touch most with these people: we each build our own enterprises a bit more off of each other. That’s productive in my book. It wouldn’t have made any sense for me to move to Nashville to work on my own projects by myself; I could do that in my parents’ basement in Michigan. I’m here to work with clients that are also building something of their own. In this artistic industry, a ‘client’ is simply a person you’re spending a lot of time with, and making money in building with. In this regard, I always say to my clients pretty early on in our work: “I’m here to work WITH you, not FOR you.” My least favorite client interactions are ones wherein I DON’T feel this is true. Interactions that feel just a bit too forced and ‘commercialized,’ if you will. I love meeting a client that brings me on because of the genuine interactions we have, revealing that we’ll both do passionate work together. TL;DR: I am always building, and therefore, so are my favorite clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ryanromano.weebly.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanroman0/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072378305027&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanroman0/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RyanRomano
Image Credits
First Street Photography, Cap2red Studio, Ryan Romano, Joshua Bigelow, ABC/John Fleenor, Anthony Niedzwiecki, and petezphoto
