Straight Talk with Edwin Ramos of ER Music

Recording Connection mentor Edwin Ramos of ER Music Recording Studios, located in Waterbury, Connecticut, is a Grammy-winning producer/engineer with record sales numbering into the tens of millions. As such, Edwin doesn’t mince words and takes a no-nonsense approach to getting people prepared for work in the music industry.

Edwin wants to work with people who are really serious about working in the industry and who are dedicated to the craft. Those star students are the ones who are taking their work home with them and who are working on projects of their own.“They’re constantly reaching out to me saying ‘Hey, Edwin. Take a look, listen to this. Let me know what you think of that.’ They’re pretty interactive with me, and I like that.”

Such enthusiasm really does pay off! Edwin Ramos just finished recording and producing for Brian McKnight and former student, Mike Possemato got to help out. He says, “Mike accompanied me to the Hit Factory in Miami where I recorded the strings. We did all the string work out there, and then I mixed in New York City. He was my assistant in New York as well.”

For an upcoming Robin Thicke project, Edwin tapped another recent grad, Frank Lupariello, to help out. “We’ll be traveling to L.A. to record Robin Thicke on a project coming from a label here in the New York area. Frank will be joining me on that project.”

Edwin is dedicated to teaching apprentices the skills they need to know to be competitive in the music industry, rather than just focusing on what they say they want to know. For example: “Some of my students are EDM-based, aspiring producers,” he says. “That’s not what I do here. I really try to motivate them and just say, “Listen, call somebody over there [at RRF]. I’m sure they have somebody standing by to answer all of your questions. I, on the other hand, this is what I want to focus on. This is what I want to teach you. This is really what you need to learn, so that someday when someone comes to hire you, you’re ready for it–because not everybody that’s going to hire you is going to need an EDM record.”

Edwin is also not big on excuses. One of his pet peeves is the “just a producer” excuse he sometimes hears from people who try to explain away shoddy recordings. “Get your music right,” he says. “Get it recorded well and people will listen to your music. If it’s not recorded well, don’t go anywhere with that bag of excuses, ‘Oh, you know what? I’m just not an engineer. I’m more of a producer.’ You know what? You had a chance to be an engineer but you goofed that up and now you want to become a producer? Sometimes, you really have to be that engineer before you become that producer you want to be. At the end of the day, that’s the decision you need to make if you really want your music to sound presentable. We’re looking for finished products these days, not excuses.”

So what does straight-shooter Edwin Ramos have to say about Recording Connection? He’s mentored dozens of students over the years and believes the hands-on approach is the only way to go. “I think at the end of the day, learning by watching someone is far better than learning with just sitting in the classroom,” he says. “I really love that about this program because that’s the best way to learn, and especially when you’re learning from someone who’s done it, when you’re in the real recording studio watching someone who’s sold 20 million records…that holds a lot of weight.”