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Talented Indian music producer Rayomand Engineer’s debut EP (extended play) album Untold Stories released under the banner of Submarine Vibes on January 21, 2019 was placed at No. 58 on the first day. According to Submarine Vibes, "Rayomand’s six compelling tracks combine the mystic sounds of the East with warm and deep melodies and beats. At a time when the majority of club music sounds alike, Rayomand’s unique approach to producing sets is a shining example of what electronica is capable of sounding. He effortlessly manages to make music that is at home both in the clubs and private residences of his listeners. Rayomand strives to keep his sound and vibe organic and create a visceral atmosphere in his production and DJ sets.”
Convinced that music is the best way to express emotions, the 29-year-old  senior advertising copywriter says, "For me, music is a way of making people let go and be in the moment. I like to make them forget what they’ve been through during the whole day… Because of my prior training in music, I have some sense of rhythm and melody that has definitely been a boon. So I am not a stranger to sitting and ideating on my own, and putting the sounds down and working on them. For me it is quite another world, one in which you don’t have to talk to anyone else and can just do your thing.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talking about his maiden release the artiste adds: "My EP consists of six tracks ranging from electronica/downtempo to melodic house and techno. I tried to showcase quite a wide range or moods and sounds on the EP. I spent six months working on this music, starting in January 2018. I then sent the finished music to my mix engineer Khordad Edulji (artist name: Meraki Vibes), who used his expertise and creative inputs to give me a tight mixdown. I forwarded two tracks to Submarine Vibes, a record label based in Sarajevo, Bosnia, that is under the Proton Radio system (Proton has 1,000 or more labels under it). They really liked it and wanted to release it on their sub-label called Gentlemen Lounge Records. However, when I sent them the rest of the music, they agreed to release it on Submarine Vibes itself. So the music was completed in June, mixdowns were ready by July, I sent it to the label in August, and got a release confirmation. My music is being sold online on Beatport and Juno Download.”
"I was fortunate to undergo formal music training when I was really young thanks to my late father Sam,” acknowledges Rayomand. By the time he was in the eighth standard in school he had completed his Grade 6 in Piano, Grade 5 in violin and Grade 5 in music theory in western classical music. A Fellow of Trinity College of London in pianoforte, Sam was a well-known professional musician of Calcutta who performed on stage, television and radio.
Rayomand shares, "The period of learning piano and violin for exams was a little intimidating. It was exams, concert and contest. All learning was towards an end: for the next grade and exam. In those days, however, there was always an old digital synthesizer (an ancient Yamaha PSR 300) that we had at home in Calcutta. I would fiddle around with that in my spare time. You could start off a beat, and layer a pad or another sound over it. Arrangement or saving anything on that very basic Yamaha keyboard was impossible, but it was my earliest foray into how things worked.
 "After I turned 16, I got interested in learning the guitar and taught myself to play it. And after school, I played in bands sporadically through my later life, a lot of rock and blues and the like, both the guitar and the synthesizer.
 "It was around 2011 or 2012 that I chanced upon a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). That is when I learnt production, in Bangalore. I feel it was a culmination of all that I had picked up over the years. It felt rounded and good. You can create anything you want on a DAW. You are a band. The computer has really democratized music making it in more ways than one. A blank canvas is scary and inspiring at the same time. Another thing is that while I love working with other musicians, DAW gives me a chance to explore things on my own.”
What made him decide to take up this genre of music? "I always loved listening to all genres of music right from the beginning, except Bollywood and commercial pop music. I have transcended cassettes, CDs and now listen to music on digital formats on the computer,” responds the musician.
Asked whether his family was supportive of music as a choice of career, he says, "Well, just one EP is a very small start. I would need many more releases across many more labels, before it becomes a career. But yes, the end aim is to do this full-time. If I stop the day job, would my folks be supportive of me doing this full-time? My immediate family, that is my mother Yasmin is supportive, as are one or two others who understand what music production entails.”
Currently a group head at an advertising agency in Bangalore, Rayomand elaborates, "I started working in sales right after graduating, and moved into advertising where I started copywriting. I also worked as a journalist for a year at The Better India, writing impactful stories to facilitate change.” Always interested in language-based subjects and history, he passed his 10th from La Martiniere For Boys in Calcutta and 12th from Hyderabad Public School in Hyderabad. He returned to Calcutta and did his BBA from J. D. Birla College. Yasmin (née Vakil) recalls, "He is a very good athlete and was good in academics too.”
Recalling his Parsi upbringing, he mentions that he would accompany his parents to the agiary on Navroz and other occasions. "I am not religious, but that’s just me, and that loss of interest happened over time. I am definitely quite happy to be a Zoroastrian, even though there are a few ways of the community that I don’t quite identify with. For example, the treatment meted out to women who choose to marry outside the community. I think that’s extremely discriminatory. Apart from that Parsis are a chilled out lot. Where the community is headed, I have no idea; I am more focused on the path I need to forge for myself.”
Although he enjoys reading off the laptop or the phone, he has little time for any other pursuits: "Since I have to spend eight hours a day at my copywriting job, whatever free fragments of time I get I invest in production. I would like to learn how to play new instruments and increase my skill on other instruments that I play at a very rudimentary level, like the bass guitar. I would like to dive into analog/modular synthesis and see how things work. I am currently working on new music that I can send to another label, so that’s keeping me busy. Creatively it is also pushing me to expand my sonic palette.”