Mi(hearing) the beat

Senior creates own studio to produce music

Lulay+practicing+on+the+piano.+Along+with+playing+the+piano%2C+Lulay+has+been+playing+the+guitar+for+more+than+eight+years.

Photo taken by: Yusra Waris

Lulay practicing on the piano. Along with playing the piano, Lulay has been playing the guitar for more than eight years.

His music studio is filled with chaos from the multiple instruments playing over each other; the sounds of the keyboard clashed with the strums of the guitar while the vocals strained to match them. Two hours later, those disorganized sounds develop into a unique rhythm and then slowly evolve into different songs.

Senior Mihir Lulay has been creating his own music at his studio at home since the end of sophomore and start of junior year. There, along with his friends, he spends his time coming up with tunes and beats and eventually turns them into potential pieces. In the making of his studio, Lulay was able to save up $800 and received another $800 from his uncle to help in buying the equipment.

“I’ve been playing guitar since third grade, but I never got serious about [music] until high school,” Lulay said. “After I got serious, I started playing with other people and realized that when I recorded on my iPhone, it doesn’t sound that good at all, so I started saving up to buy the equipment I would need.”

Lulay’s basic setup consists of two speakers, a vocal mic, two mics for acoustic guitar, one mic for electric guitar, and a keyboard which he uses with friends, seniors Sean Ghedi and AJ Abdullah.

“I think he’s doing very well,” Abdullah said. “When he puts his mind to something he usually accomplishes it. Some people just kind of buy things and leave it, but he raised the money for his own stuff and then on top of that he also learned it.”

When he is composing music with his friends, Lulay plays with the guitars, Ghedi works with the keyboard and drum pad, and Abdullah writes and sings the lyrics.

Lulay practicing on the keyboard at his music studio at his house. With the help of his uncle, Lulay bought all of his equipment from the money he earned.

“I actually write and produce my own music as well and I really appreciate Mihir’s support for my own content,” Ghedi said. “But there’s nothing like making music with your friends. I love coming together and just creating. I hope that we can continue to carve out a little time occasionally to do what we love, despite our busy senior year.”

Currently, Lulay and his friends are experimenting with tunes and genres for a couple of musicals and albums. They find inspiration from artists like Jon Bellion and Kanye West.

“We are just a couple of dudes messing around with some instruments,” Abdullah said. “Sometimes we find a catchy tune and rhyme something accidentally and we’re like ‘hey that’s not that bad.’ We recorded a few things but haven’t put anything out there yet, we are just kind of waiting and just editing things. But I’m definitely going to continue because it’s fun.”

Lulay found his inspiration in music because he views it as one of the things in the world right now that brings unity instead of tearing people apart.

“It’s like my outlet,” Lulay said. “[The main] things that I can do and not care about what people think about me is theater and music; it feels right when I’m doing it.”

Even though Lulay is planning to go  into biomedical engineering and then medical school, he also plans to minor in music and wants to keep pushing music production with his friends.

“I look forward to seeing what Mihir’s studio will look like in the near future,” Ghedi said. “He has some really cool plans and aspirations. No matter what he does with his life, I know that music will always hold an important place in Mihir’s heart.”

Along with being involved in theater and his music studio, Lulay is also among the 11 National Merit Semifinalists from the school. He plans to attend UT-Dallas, UT-Austin, or the University of Houston.

“I want to be successful [in music] but then again I got to have a stable career first,” Lulay said. “[But], I want to make something good and release it, and that’s the end goal.”