Roma Sheth on Music Production and Releasing Music
By Olivia Wood
October 14, 2021
Image Credit: Josie Jack for The Campus Trainer
Few can say that they have successfully written a song, much less produced, mixed and mastered one, but University of Maryland junior government and politics major Roma Sheth can.
To date, Sheth has released three singles on Apple Music and Spotify: “Send More,” “Come Free” and her latest “So I run.”
Her Instagram account features a number of covers, collaborations and unreleased originals that she recorded and produced herself.
Not only is she a talented vocalist, Sheth is also a self-taught musician. She plays piano and the ukulele, but identifies her main instrument as the guitar and her main instructor as YouTube.
The pandemic gave Sheth the precious commodity of time to pursue music more seriously. When the opportunity to take an online music production class arose in summer 2020, she took it.
“Producing changed everything - even my whole music style,” Sheth said. “I definitely used to be a really singer-songwriter type of artist. I would just play with really basic chord progressions on the guitar. I think my music used to be a lot [slower], and I would really describe it as basic. But after I learned how to produce, I realized there’s so much you can do with music.”
To illustrate, Sheth excitedly pointed out that “you can literally take water running down and record it and turn it into something.”
“With producing, I think my style became a little more upbeat,” Sheth said, “maybe a little bit happier… and just more interesting.”
Learning how to produce even changed Sheth’s writing process.
“Before I started producing, I would write on the guitar. But, now, I start with producing. I’ll lay down a chord progression or a track, and usually I build up the track with a bunch of different instruments. And then I just experiment,” she said.
But Sheth’s passion for production extends beyond a mere interest in picking up a new musical skill. One of the main reasons she cited for learning to produce music herself was the fact that there are few women who produce in the male-dominated industry.
Doing her own production is also partially an artistic decision for Sheth, as she explained that producing her own music makes it feel more personal.
To date, Sheth has released three singles on Apple Music and Spotify: “Send More,” “Come Free” and her latest “So I run.”
Her Instagram account features a number of covers, collaborations and unreleased originals that she recorded and produced herself.
Not only is she a talented vocalist, Sheth is also a self-taught musician. She plays piano and the ukulele, but identifies her main instrument as the guitar and her main instructor as YouTube.
The pandemic gave Sheth the precious commodity of time to pursue music more seriously. When the opportunity to take an online music production class arose in summer 2020, she took it.
“Producing changed everything - even my whole music style,” Sheth said. “I definitely used to be a really singer-songwriter type of artist. I would just play with really basic chord progressions on the guitar. I think my music used to be a lot [slower], and I would really describe it as basic. But after I learned how to produce, I realized there’s so much you can do with music.”
To illustrate, Sheth excitedly pointed out that “you can literally take water running down and record it and turn it into something.”
“With producing, I think my style became a little more upbeat,” Sheth said, “maybe a little bit happier… and just more interesting.”
Learning how to produce even changed Sheth’s writing process.
“Before I started producing, I would write on the guitar. But, now, I start with producing. I’ll lay down a chord progression or a track, and usually I build up the track with a bunch of different instruments. And then I just experiment,” she said.
But Sheth’s passion for production extends beyond a mere interest in picking up a new musical skill. One of the main reasons she cited for learning to produce music herself was the fact that there are few women who produce in the male-dominated industry.
Doing her own production is also partially an artistic decision for Sheth, as she explained that producing her own music makes it feel more personal.
Image Credit: Josie Jack for The Campus Trainer
|
|
When recalling her first single, Sheth remembered how cool it was to hear her own song fully mastered. She produced the song herself, but a professional producer mixed and mastered it to specific streaming platform specifications.
On release day, Sheth’s family was supportive.
“They sent it to every single person they knew; my friends all shared it. That was a great day—definitely one of my favorite days of 2021,” she said. Her friends and family would agree.
Two of Sheth’s friends at UMD, junior kinesiology major Sarah Coffman and junior public health major Sophia Eclarin, remembered how proud they were feeling when Sheth released her first single.
Coffman specifically recalled that “[their] friend group was ecstatic about the whole thing and could not stop listening to [it] on repeat.”
“She got such a positive response, not just from family friends and all of our friends, but also from [viewers on] Instagram,” Sheth’s twin sister Rima Sheth said.
Though she continues to make time for music, Sheth is still a college student. “During the semester I’ll just get ideas, and I’ll produce some stuff,” she said. “But when I really grind out songs and produce them it’s always in the breaks.”
Sheth said that she plans on attending law school after college, but she would like to continue making music on the side. She aims to continue practicing production so that she can help other people produce their own music in the future.
For the time being, Sheth will continue to play, record, produce and release music when she can.
As her sister put it: “she won’t drop this passion.”
On release day, Sheth’s family was supportive.
“They sent it to every single person they knew; my friends all shared it. That was a great day—definitely one of my favorite days of 2021,” she said. Her friends and family would agree.
Two of Sheth’s friends at UMD, junior kinesiology major Sarah Coffman and junior public health major Sophia Eclarin, remembered how proud they were feeling when Sheth released her first single.
Coffman specifically recalled that “[their] friend group was ecstatic about the whole thing and could not stop listening to [it] on repeat.”
“She got such a positive response, not just from family friends and all of our friends, but also from [viewers on] Instagram,” Sheth’s twin sister Rima Sheth said.
Though she continues to make time for music, Sheth is still a college student. “During the semester I’ll just get ideas, and I’ll produce some stuff,” she said. “But when I really grind out songs and produce them it’s always in the breaks.”
Sheth said that she plans on attending law school after college, but she would like to continue making music on the side. She aims to continue practicing production so that she can help other people produce their own music in the future.
For the time being, Sheth will continue to play, record, produce and release music when she can.
As her sister put it: “she won’t drop this passion.”
Image Credit: Josie Jack for The Campus Trainer