RC grad Oluyomi Osh Tops the Charts in Nigeria!

Oluyomi Osh is a self-taught afrobeat producer from Nigeria. Before relocating to the United States, Oluyomi had amassed connections with a number of A-list of gospel artists in his home country. After a period of self-reflection, Oluyomi realized that in order to get where he wanted to be in the music industry, he needed firsthand knowledge, the kind one gets by training hands-on with a pro: “I saw where I was lacking. All the previous knowledge I had before was all self-learned. I needed a hands-on approach, to see the process all the professionals went through.”

Prior to leaving Nigeria, Oluyomi did his research online and set his sights on getting the firsthand training he needed with Recording Connection. Upon arriving in the U.S. Oluyomi was sent to interview with RC mentor Jake Grotticelli at House Studio in Washington DC. He was instantly “blown away” and enrolled in the program. From the moment he started the program, Oluyomi was in the studio helping record high-profile clients including Grammy-nominated R&B artist Carolyn Malachi. Thanks to the program he was able to get the firsthand experience he needed, working in a professional studio up against tight deadlines and implementing professional practices, including refinding his workflow within the Pro Tools environment:

Jake’s approach to setting mix buss processes was something I had not previously ventured into. Seeing him work the way he did, actually opened my eyes up to his approach and how to put that into my own workflow…I never used to have stuff on my mix buss. Like, I didn’t know how to go about it.”

Seeing the emphasis Jake and the rest of the team at House put on building great songs from the ground up, also enabled “Osh” to really and truly appreciate that the foundation of a great song is a great performance and great setup:

When you have garbage in, definitely you have garbage out…Make sure it’s right at the source. If you don’t have it at the source, it can never be. It all starts from basically your arrangement to the end process. From process to process, it all has to be on point. Even to the point of distribution and all.”

Being entrepreneurial in his approach, Osh connected with the A-list artists he knew back home and started getting paid to work on their tracks while he was going through his apprenticeship with Jake. Although he did most of the work at his home, he did have the opportunity to bring in his tracks and get pointers from Jake on how to improve them: “He would tell me ‘do this, do that’ and I’d get to hear what my mixes would sound like at House since my room at home was not treated at the time.”

Well, Oluyomi’s hard work paid off! He mixed six of the tracks on Nigerian Gospel artist Frank Edwards which topped the iTunes charts in Nigeria, literally occupying the number one slot.

When asked what’s next for the Nigerian-born mixer and producer, it’s more than apparent that Osh is staying grounded focused on setting himself up for future success: “My immediate plans are setting up my own rig, setting up my own studio…And I’m in the process of registering the business name, as well. And I’m stopping my full-time job to make this full-time already. I’m already putting everything together.”

Keep your eyes on the prize Osh! We’ll be watching!

Here a track Mixed by Osh.