Audiotool

Interview

My name is Rasa Ichimori. I'm from Japan, but I'm now in Utah studying Business Management at BYU.

About Rasa Ichimori aka rai.:: My name is Rasa Ichimori. I'm from Japan, but I'm now in Utah and I'm currently a student at BYU studying Business Management. I started audiotool when I was 14. I listened to a lot of monstercat at the time and making music like that was something I wanted to learn how to do. So I searched for free music making software and found audiotool. I still remember the tracks that were in that singles list to this day. I made an account and the rest is history.
Which artist has had the most influence on you (on and/or outside Audiotool)?: My influence has been evenly split between mourn (now Ante), THRONE, luxior (now looks), opaqity, and dove. Outside of Audiotool, my inspirations have been Herzeloyde, Porter Robinson, Moe Shop, tails, J.ROBB and Chromonicci.
Who would you like to work/collaborate with on and outside Audiotool, and why?: For audiotool, I'm evenly split between working with opaqity and looks. They were making PROFESSIONAL banger tracks from way before Next. And both of them are prodigies, creating masterpieces from such a young age. Outside of audiotool, it might be Glances. When he moved away from audiotool and started producing from different DAWs, he became insane. His tracks are so complex and there is so much going on, but every piece works so well together.
Which film/game would you like to produce the score for or contribute a song to?: Maybe a song that will play in Flylo FM in GTA? If an animation company comes to me to make a song for a retro anime like Neo Tokyo or Akira, that's a fat YES!
Have you ever had a writer's block? If so, how did you deal with it and what do you recommend to your colleagues?: I deal with writer's block all the time. I find that the best way to get over it is to get busy. Get super busy. Have responsibilities and deadlines. And these need to be things that don't require creativity. When I'm under time pressure, I start procrastinating. I open my music programs and my best works have come out of that! On the other hand, when I set aside time to make music and I sit down I got nothing. So get busy!
What has helped you the most on Audiotool to improve and widen your musical horizon?: The best way to improve in music is to practice. Super cliche, but there is no shortcut. Audiotool has this wonderful feature where you can look inside of tracks to see exactly how they were made. I try to keep all my tracks remixable just in case someone wants to see how a sound was made. After doing that for thousands of tracks, I'd say you'll start to get pretty good.
What do you like most about Audiotool? Is there anything you would like to suggest?: Audiotool is so amazing that I'm just so grateful for the fact that it exists. Everything about it from the devices and layout, to the community and traditions are such a blessing. I think my favorite part about it has to be the fact that it is browser-based and I can make music anywhere. One thing that I think would be cool to see is a way to pitch shift samples in the timeline without changing the speed.
Your message to the community:: No matter how much you hate your work, don't ever delete it. You can hide it, but never delete it. You never know how much someone secretly loves your work. I've also deleted some of my own work, and I really regret it. Cherish everything you make.

“Audiotool is so amazing that I'm just so grateful for the fact that it exists. Everything about it from the devices and layout, to the community and traditions are such a blessing.”
— rai.