Making music with Rex

The  music industry is quite a big business in today’s modern world and many of the musicians we come to know today are millionaires because of the type of music they give to their audience.
Some musicians produce their own music by writing their own lyrics, playing their own music, mixing their own music and they even become their own sound engineers.
For 25-year-old Rex Ka¬vana his dream of owning his own music studio and becoming a local sound en¬gineer are starting to show positive signs.
But that dream took an ugly twist some years ago when he stopped recording following his computer sys¬tem crashing and lack of fi¬nancial support.
The former De Salle High School student from Koiari and Kwaipo in the Rigo dis¬trict is a fast learner of engi¬neering music or simply put producing music.
Rex is setting up his own studio and has already re¬corded and produced some songs in his local dialect and also in other PNG languages.
He admitted in a recent in¬terview that he still has a lot to learn in terms of produc¬ing music and breaking into the PNG music industry.
The dream started in the late1990’s when a group of 11 boys who all lived on a same street at Bomana just outside Port Moresby came up with the idea of playing musical instruments together and recording their owns songs.
“I was doing grade three that time and it was from there my interest in music started,” recalled Rex.
“There were many big boys in the group and they never gave us the chance to learn.
“Eventually the group broke up and they all lost in¬terest, the other members got married but my interest was still there to record songs.
His interest was boosted when Rex met Justin Yamo, of Chimbu and East New Britain parentage who taught him the art and trade of re¬cording music.
“We lived on the same street and he (Justin) had a background in I.T
“He was a music lover and self-taught and I had no clue in recording music and sound engineering.
“This was actually my first big step into making my dream a reality,” said Rex.
Rex started doing some work for Justin.
“I did some demo work with him and he saw I was interested and taught me the software for producing and recording like “cool edit” and “fruity loops 5”. We started with those software’s.
“My first song I recorded was A. Cee, after that I was motivated to do more.
“My other songs that fol¬lowed were Asua, Coffee Candy and Music man,” said Rex.
After building up his con¬fidence with Justin Rex start¬ed his first group.
“The first group we started was ‘Strugg 5’ (Struggle 5), the members were Steven Dickson, Apa and brothers Roy and Ben Ipian.
“But the group broke up and it was just me and the engineer Justin.
“Justin taught me very well and I felt that the time was right to do my own thing and that led me to make my own decision
“That’s when I started from scratch to form the group known as Bata Crew which gave birth to my stu¬dio named Dreams Record¬ing Studio”.
Rex bought his first re¬cording equipment in 2007 and improved a year later with additional equipment.
“In 2007 I produced a demo titled Asi Kilanata. It was sung by a girl named by Vali from Kwaipo village.
“It was in 2008 that I was really on my own and I bought my set of equip¬ments a new computer, mi¬crophone, headphones, they all were roughly worth about K400 and I used a boom box as a mixer.
“Justin helped me with the music programme, he was my mentor and he taught me all I needed to know to make my own music and set up my studio.
To date Rex has recorded 104 local songs which in¬clude gospels, traditional and contempary and music.
Songs recorded are in various dialects including Kavieng, Madang, Kerema, Popondetta. Most are in Central Province dialects of Mailu, Dirinumu, Kwaipo, Koiari, Mamalo, Moleh, Kore, Mekeo, Saroa and Ka¬mali.
“I get their music chord, drums and keyboard and base and use fruity loops 5.s
“My clients make a guide for me and I send them away and work on their music and they come back for the sec¬ond time for the final song to be recorded,” explained Rex.
“At first I charged my cli¬ents K35 but than I increased to K45 and if they wanted me to burn their songs on a CD I charged them K10 and to download 15 songs to a phone it’s K20 and K45 for 10 songs.
“At this stage I still need to master the software really good to become an expert
“There still a lot of areas I need to polish up on because there still some weakness there.
Rex lives at his father’s village Dabunari along the Magi Highway in Central province.
When not making music, Rex is employed as a con¬tainer and logistics controller at Vitis factory at Nine Mile outside the city.
“The majority of the peo¬ple who come and record their songs at my studio live on the highway.
“I believe in a couple of years I’m confident that I will make my first real break into the music business and attract quality singers or bands.
“My advice to young tal¬ented people like me who have big dreams in this in¬dustry is to strive and never give up on their dreams be¬cause I know there are peo¬ple out there who want to set up a studio and I want to tell them to just go for it.
“I’m welcoming people living along the Magi High¬way who want to record their music to drop in and I will be more than happy to assist them,” said Rex.
To record an album at Dreams Recording Studio will cost K850. Believe me you will get your money’s worth. Rex can be contacted on 7390 4475.