Meet Shireen Ghosh | Composer, Producer, Sound Designer, Audio Tech Enthusiast!

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

Hi Shireen, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
I like this question specifically because I don’t believe in having endgoals! I hope that my career looks like a massive chaotic DIY collage of interesting projects that I’ve done throughout the years. I think life is much more interesting when you move in stages and phases, rather than thinking of it as an overarching journey – that part happens when you connect the dots in hindsight.

I have no idea what picture the dots will form for me when I look back on it. But whatever it turns out to be, I hope it’s full of projects that have been exciting or unique, made people think in a new way, provided a new opportunity to learn, or done something useful in the world.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Before I came to the US, I was mostly a self-taught musician. I did have piano lessons as a child, but I taught myself several other instruments, as well as how to compose, record, produce, and use all kinds of music softwares. I didn’t have access to a lot of traditional education, so I very much identify as a child of the internet when it comes to my education – I learned most of what I know from listening to music and watching Youtube videos. Going through the experience of teaching yourself so many things really gives you a solid identity in terms of the things you like to learn and, by extension, work on. Everything you do feels very intentional.

I didn’t study music formally before I came to the US. Instead, I got into film scoring by making friends with filmmaking students and working on their projects, and then once they graduated and started getting real work, they kept hiring me. I had a lot of opportunities that taught me a lot through experience, both good and bad. The industry where I come from is pretty exploitative and nepotistic, and that was obviously a series of challenges I had to learn how to navigate. Coming to the US, I had a lot of impostor syndrome about coming from a non-standard background, being so self-taught, and not having a lot of cultural knowledge. But I surprisingly found that a lot of the skills I built in resourcefulness, solution-seeking, how to research, have served me very well here, and I’ve been able to hold my own and progress by myself in a way I didn’t expect.

Not having a traditional background also means I’ve had to go through a lot of experimenting with understanding how I intake, process, and retain information. It’s not something that came to me naturally, and I had to learn how to do it in a way that made sense to me, and that process took several years, and honestly is still ongoing. Learning how to play or write music is actually a completely different skill from knowing how to live a sustainable life as a creative person. There’s so much you need to know about organization, workflow management, outsourcing, and all these other boring-sounding things – they are what give you the space to be unrestrictedly creative once you’ve established a system for yourself. But establishing that system takes time and a lot of work, and it’s something people don’t seem to talk about very much.

I think the biggest lesson I have learned is to not let overwhelmingness stop you from doing things. I do get overwhelmed quite often, but for me, working through it is usually the solution, even if it’s not a fun solution and doesn’t feel great in the moment. I’m usually happier with my work in retrospect, and I feel better when I know I was able to push through a problem rather than give up because of it. The ability to push through, and the ability to take a break when you need it, are both importatnt to have, and it takes practice to know which of those is appropriate in what context.

As an artist, your job is to get excited about things, and then explain to other people why they are exciting, through the work you create. Sharing excitement is such a huge motivator for me, and I love when I get to collaborate on interesting projects! I happen to like animation a lot. Anything animated always has some kind of unique visual style, and it’s my job to build a world of sound from scratch that exists as an expression of that style. I like to think about it like the several ways you could drape a garment over a film – there are so many little decisions, folds, stitches, extras, that all go into making the world what it is.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If a friend was visiting, I think I’d use that visit as an excuse to explore more new places myself! Some areas that can’t be missed are Little Tokyo, Koreatown, Thai Town, and North Hollywood. I love that LA has such a street food culture – you can get so many things from fruits to tacos to soup to ice cream, from local sellers right on the road.

There are also so many great hikes around Los Angeles. 2 of my favourites are Trail Canyon Falls, and Los Leones. Santa Monica Pier is also a great place to go.

This is going to sound a little weird, but many weeks, the Los Angeles Metro actually compiles a list of free events to go to in the city that are all accessible by public transit. I’ve been to so many small festivals, gigs, walks, pop-up shows, and food stalls because of that list. LA isn’t necessarily known for it’s public transit system, but whoever runs their social media seems to be genuinely passionate about the city and accessibility of events. So if a friend was visiting, the first thing i’d probably do would be to look up their events list and I’d probably find some kind of a cool local small business to support!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My community of musicians in my hometown of Kolkata – bandmates, collaborators, friends. As largely self-taught musicians, a lot of our learning and experience has come from experimenting together and playing with each other. I definitely wouldn’t be a music producer today without them, and it’s thanks to them that I’ve been able to pull from such a wide range of experiences that has served me very well after I came to the US.

Website: www.shireenghosh.com

Instagram: @shireen.gh

Other: https://on.soundcloud.com/eAQUD

Image Credits
John Betten, Robin Jamkatel