Balancing school and outside activities can be a difficult task, and for electrical engineering junior Carlos Montes this idea holds true. Under the alias “Starane,” Montes produces electronic music and according to him, managing his music career is not easy.
“My biggest struggle as a student producing music is having enough time to do both,” Montes said. “Electrical engineering is a pretty hefty major in terms of work load and time commitment and actually put all my music making stuff away throughout the quarter just so I don’t you know waste time making music.”
The budding artist was introduced to music at a young age, fueling his passion to create tracks. Since his piano-playing days as a child, Montes has come a long way, finding a niche within the electronic music community. When The Chainsmokers, an EDM duo, came to Cal Poly, they invited Montes backstage after hearing about his music.
“Every song that I work on is a different experience,” Montes said. “Some songs will be very melancholic. I guess I would try to portray a feeling of sadness, others portray a feeling of happiness or like good vibes. Other ones just like kick ass you know, vibes where it’s like trap music. I don’t know. It really all depends on what song I make.”
Montes is meticulous about his music; his songs require the right vocalists to evoke particular emotions. Due to this, Montes said that his work production has slowed on his search for female singers.
“EDM sounds best with female voices, or high-pitch male voices. Not a lot of women in SLO want to be recorded,” he said.
As it stands, Montes is currently looking for female vocalists interested in being featured on his latest tracks.