Interview with Ray Li

Here at TMN we were pleasantly surprised to see Ray Li’s name appear on Aleksandar Dimitrijevic’s website for Teddy Bear Music.

We had written a brief article about his CD release, and just two months later he had music on Teddy Bear Music’s first release, Smash the Screen! Ray kindly took a few moments for an interview, and we’re excited to share it with you all.

TMN: You’re not the typical trailer music composer that we usually interview. Tell us a little about yourself! What’s your musical background? How did you become interested in trailer/production music specifically?

Ray Li: My musical background pretty much doesn’t exist. I took a few weeks of piano lessons when I was around 7-8, but that’s about the extent of my musical training. Since those lessons, I haven’t had any experiences with music until about two years ago, when I just sat down at my family piano and started messing around. Everything I know about music I’ve taught myself, and I’m fairly proud of that.

My intention has never been to create trailer music. When I was working on my CD, Final Horizon, I really just wrote tracks that appealed to my tastes… And those tastes just happen to correspond with trailer music style.

TMN: How did you get involved with Alexandar Dimitrijevic’s Teddy Bear Music?

RL: It was actually TrailerMusicNews.com that started the whole thing. You guys were kind enough to include a link to my website in a short article on TMN, and in a great stroke of luck, Alex visited my site. After listening to some of my songs, Alex contacted me via the AIM that I listed on my website. At first, I was really skeptical that the person talking to me on AIM was really Aleksandar Dimitrijevic. Haha, I put him through a torturous amount of confirmation tests to verify that he was who he said he was. I just couldn’t believe that this could be happening to me.

TMN: What tracks from your Final Horizon album were chosen for Smash the Screen? Did you make new versions of them for Teddy Bear Music? What was that process like?

RL: Alex chose my songs “Life” and “Forsaken” to include on his CD. I sent Alex MIDI files for those songs, and he re-arranged and produced them for the CD. I’m very impressed with what he’s done with my songs. It shows just how much I still need to learn about music production.

TMN: Being self taught, and making a public CD must have taken a lot of dedication. What drove you to produce Final Horizon? Do you have any favorite tracks of yours?

RL: Really, just a love of music, and a need to express emotions that I can’t express any other way. When I’m working on a song or improvising at the piano, it’s a great experience. Sure, the production and tweaking is a lot of work, but the whole endeavor has taught me a lot about myself and has been very fulfilling.

Hmm… Favorite tracks… I pretty much like all of my tracks equally, but if I had to choose I’d say some of my favorites are “Forsaken,” “Edge,” “Life,” and “Starlight Grace.”

TMN: Do you have any favorite composers, or trailer music companies?

RL: The odd thing is, I only discovered trailer music AFTER I had finished with my album. It wasn’t until a friend of mine listened to my music and suggested that I listen to Immediate Music that I became interested in this whole trailer music stuff. I still have a lot of listening to do, so I’ll hold off choosing favorites. But so far Immediate Music and Aleksandar Dimitrijevic’s stuff is great!

TMN: What are your plans or hopes for the future? Will you be pursuing music as a career?

RL: Right now, I am in the midst of the college application process… (Applications are due in less than a month!) I most likely will not be studying music in college. At this point in my life, taking on music full-time just seems too risky. Also, I’ve kind of dedicated myself to exploring music on my own, so I wouldn’t really be interested in music theory classes anyway. In college, I plan to study physics or engineering. I’ll always be working on new songs in my free time though, and hopefully one day my music can become a real way for me to make a living. It would be my dream job.

TMN: Any last comments or words of wisdom for our multifarious readers?

RL: I still have a lot to learn, and I really appreciate the comments and support that everyone at TMN has given me! I’d like to apologize for not coming out with anything new recently. As soon as I finish this whole college application process I should be pumping out songs on more a regular basis. Thanks for reading, and I will try to deliver newer and better songs!

____________________

You can check out Smash the Screen here; it’s the first epic release from Aleksandar Dimitrijevic’s Teddy Bear Music.  Also, be sure to head on over to Sycross Music for Ray Li’s CD Final Horizon.