Everyone in the world, if given a chance, would like to pursue their passion as profession. But to do that, it takes a lot of courage, persistence and courage, because switching from a mainstream job to something different and experimental comes with challenges and some tough days in the initial stages. However, there are many in the world, especially in the field of creative and performing arts, who have sacrificed a lot to ensure a happy and satisfying life. There are several success stories, we can read on a daily basis, and one such story is written by Indian-born DJ, producer and recording engineer, Peter Madana.
Born on September 22, in Hyderabad, Peter has lived his entire life in Chicago, IL, and has had a creative streak since childhood. Amid the classes he had taken for Indian classical dance, he developed interest in break-dancing, producing and engineering songs. Upon finding his connect with music, peter studied audio engineering from DePaul University and The Art Institute of California, and there has been no looking back since then.
Today, Peter is considered to be one of the successful Indian/ American DJ/ Producer & Recording Engineers amongst the fraternity and has worked with the likes of Green Day, Machine Head, Zhavia, AR Rahman, Mickey Singh, Amar Sandhu, Raja Kumari, Zack Knight and many more. His interest primarily includes Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, and fusion music and his focus in engineering music being ‘eclectic’ involves the use of using heavy bass & percussive instruments.
Sharing his experience of working with popular names in the music space, Peter said, “Earlier in my career, I was finding that DJ-ing in local clubs wasn't enough. Even being a producer, I was working with a lot of local talent and trying to figure out how to get my foot in the door, really to be honest, like most musicians. So I decided to take my craft/ skill-set of engineering and began doing it for free. I began reaching out to a lot of established artists in the music industry that were already successful via social media and email blasts. I would message them asking about the opportunity engineer (record, mix, master) for free in order to gain the experience and make the proper connections. Soon after doing this for a while, artists began to notice my value that I contributed to being in the studio. I created a ‘sound’ for myself that artists and musicians couldn't find elsewhere, and eventually stopped providing free engineering services. Once I did this, I began showing off my other skill-sets, such as producing, songwriting and vocal production in the studio with these artists.”
Peter’s career began in 2006 and in the due course, he has worked with prominent labels like Urban Asian Music, Sony Music India, and Warner Music. While attending college, Madana interned and assistant engineered for Green Days’ Jingletown Recordings in Oakland, California, post-which he re-located back to Los Angeles and opened his first commercial recording studio to work alongside many renowned names in the music scene.
In his career spanning over 14 years, Peter has engineered Amar Sandhu’s album called New Era, collaborated with Warner Music’s international act Jasmine Kara, performed in New York City’s first Urban Music Conference, collaborated with Epic Record’s recording artist Raja Kumari and international musical legend, AR Rahman on Rahman’s World Music Tour, connected with Sony Music India’s Sun J, to produce & engineer RAW, a boom-bap style record, collaborated with Sony Music India’s first ever Bangladeshi Trap Group, Bhanga Bangla, and achieved a lot more.
But the challenges increase as the industry involves, and how did he overcome them so far, Peter added, “This is a tough one to answer, as everyday there is an obstacle that one has to face. But there is one challenge I can recall that I have overcome, which was getting over criticism of the public, and that was pinnacle to my career. This back then could make or break a career. I began obsessing what people thought about my music and me as a person. I think social media is an evil necessary and every post I made about myself and my music, I was obsessing over what the media thought about it. Once I balanced myself again and started re-gaining my inner thoughts regarding what was most important, I once again began creating content that was healing and essential to me as a musician.”
Peter’s first solo mixtape titled ‘Nirvana’ released in 2017 with clashing world sounds and originating a new genre called ‘Indian Trap’ and the success of this mixtape took him to London for a tour and further collaborations. In 2018, he released his first debut single called Howling at the Moon’ featuring vocals from Warner Music’s Milow, and in 2019, he released his second solo mixtape called ‘Crimson,’ consisting of original, remixes, and mashups of the Indian Trap genre.
Peter last visited Indian in 2018 for a tour with Raja Kumari, and he currently resides in currently resides in Los Angeles as the proud owner of Se7enPM Recordings.
Finally, sharing his prospects of working with Indian musicians in the future and traveling more to India for work, he said, “Yes, across the board, I plan to be in India this summer 2020, to work on new projects. I am working on a debut album for myself (untitled at this time) and I’m planning on producing, recording, writing, and completing these records in India, for the same. At this time, I can't reveal who those artists are, as I want to keep it a surprise. But once they are announced, it’s surely to have everyone in awe. This will include both Bollywood and urban desi artists. It's important for me to engage and incorporate these elements to my music. ITS MY ROOTS!”
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