SoundGym Hero: Anton Shamrilo

A musician and data engineer who balances his love for music, technology, and creative projects like 3D printing and photography. Anton Shamrilo is this month's SoundGym Hero!

How did you first find your way into making music?

Music has been with me almost all my life. I started playing the piano at the age of 7, then five years later, I started learning to play classical and electric guitar. In college, I decided to get additional secondary music education and entered Almaty Jazz School by Tagir Zaripov. After three years of intensive study, I graduated and received a diploma.

At the music school, I was lucky to find like-minded people and put together an instrumental progressive metal band called Endless. We rehearsed for many years and occasionally performed on the rock scene in Almaty.

Then most of the band members went abroad to get higher education. Some videos of our performances remain somewhere on the Internet. I continued to slowly study as a sound engineer on my own.

Aside from music, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy?

My main job is data engineer in a fintech company. I love learning new technologies in IT and sound engineering. I ride a bicycle all year round. When I have free time and a flight of fantasy, I shoot photos and videos.

What’s something you're surprisingly good at that has nothing to do with music?

I love my job and everything related to coding and electronics. Sometimes, I model various 3D parts and print them on an FDM printer.

If you could play or create with any artist, who would it be and why?

My idols are David Gilmour, Bruce Soord, Gavin Harrison, Mikael Akerfeldt and Steven Wilson. I really love their work and am always surprised by a new look at music and arragements. It would be really cool if I could ever play on stage with any of them.

What piece of music gear do you love the most, and what makes it irreplaceable in your creative process?

I use a lot of different gear. For recording guitar and bass guitar, I mainly use Line 6 Helix Rack and Kemper Profiling Amp Rack.

For recording synthesizers and keyboards, I use various plugins and the Arturia Keylab 88 Mk II midi keyboard.

For multichannel recording with microphones and live mixing, I use Behringer X32. Behringer X-Touch helps me with my DAW.

What daily or weekly habits do you have in place to keep you creating?

I listen to and analyze a lot of music of different genres every day on my way to and from work. Whenever I have the opportunity, I pick up a guitar or sit down at a midi keyboard to repeat what I already know and try to play some new tunes. Daily exercises at SoundGym have also become a habit.

What keeps you motivated to continue making music?

I can't imagine my life without music. All sounds that surround us can, to one degree or another, merge into melodies and rhythms. You just need to start noticing and hearing it.

Music is everywhere and in everything.

What song would you choose as the soundtrack of your life?

The Pineapple Thief - It Leads to This. When I first heard this composition, I realized that it would stay with me forever in my heart. Melody, arrangement, air, meaning!

What's your favorite feature on SoundGym, and how has it helped you in your musical journey?

I really like the frequency and dynamic processing exercises in SoundGym. It also helps me feel and hear the time shifts in the delay and reverb exercises.

What’s something exciting you're working on or looking forward to?

I am currently working with friends on a progressive rock project called "on.air".

I hope you will soon hear some studio and live covers performed by us, as well as our original compositions.

 

You can follow Anton on his Instagram and YouTube

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