Meet Santino Padilla | Music Producer, Audio Engineer, & Radio Host

We had the good fortune of connecting with Santino Padilla and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Santino, why did you pursue a creative career?
No matter what, I’m going to have something creative going on in my brain. I was a communications major at Sacramento City College, but I spent a lot of my spare time making beats. Music had been a hardcore hobby of mine for a few years but as far as school was concerned I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do by majoring in something that would lead to a “good job”. I was encouraged by my wife to change my major to music, since it was obviously my passion. The specific program I switched to was Commercial music production with an emphasis in audio engineering. My goal since finishing with college has been to make my passion my career. My passion is making music, and helping other artists bring their ideas to fruition via my skills as a producer and audio engineer. I want to live the cliche, “If you do what you love you never work a day in your life.”

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am an audio engineer, music producer, and host/producer of a weekly radio show. What sets me apart from others when it comes to music is that I am equally skilled as a producer and an audio engineer. Being good at both helps with the creative and technical aspects of making music. I’m very proud of my radio show. I’m a lifelong fan of Hip Hop and the shows purpose is to get people to learn more about Hip Hop so I’m excited for the opportunity to carry the flag for Hip Hop. I got to where I am today professionally by keeping faith that I reach all of my goals despite whatever challenges come up. I still have a lot to achieve. A lesson I’ve learned is to remember to be happy. I used to beat myself up about what I haven’t accomplished. Now, I still have a lot of goals to reach but I take the time to remind myself of what I’ve already done and remember to appreciate the things that I have done to get to this point as opposed to always having a whats next mentality like what I have already done isn’t good enough. I want the world to know that making music and producing my radio show are really cool things but I’m just another human trying to make it in this world. I have my flaws but every day is an opportunity to improve myself and the world around me.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We’d probably go digging through records at different thrift stores and and record shops. We would for sure have to go to the iconic VIP Records. Assuming it’s a music homie we’d spend a lot of time at the Hella Loud Recording Studio and Production Room in Long Beach. Everything we need to create is there. We could go through records, make some beats, lay down some vocals, all kind of fun stuff. Probably going to get a carnitas burrito at Bubu’s on Orange. Of course go down Pine Ave. Def gotta hang out at the bluff. For a proper meal I’d say hit up Taste on Broadway.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Definite big shoutout to my wonderful wife for encouraging me to follow my passion for music and always being supportive. Shoutout to the great people at 99.1 FM KLBP Long Beach public radio. They gave me the opportunity to be on the air and any questions I have or anything they’re always happy to help. Big shoutout to all of the artists that I’ve worked with over the years that put their trust in me to help turn their artistic visions into reality.

Website: https://www.donjuandesparko.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donjuandesparko/?hl=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@donjuandesparko702/videos

Other: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/50vfaEOCvqTOhRa1E902az

Image Credits
Jacqueline Padilla-Perez