The idea for the People’s Choice Featured Artist originated in our wanting to leave it up to you to choose someone we might not have on screen ourselves. Not that this was the case when you chose rai, but we're still really glad that the majority of you share our estimation.

rai. has made a name for himself in recent years and that not only with his high-quality contest submissions - to name just one: the Trap Kid Challenge, which he also won. To limit his style to one genre would be wrong. What distinguishes his music, however, is the high degree of creativity and technical accuracy. Anyway, we are pleased to present to you an artist who is as talented as likable, and we will now let him take the stage before we get completely carried away.

Interview:

About Rasa Ichimori aka rai. :

Man, this is crazy. I never thought I would be chosen for the peoples’ choice feature! Not in a million years! I’m so grateful and surprised that there are so many people that are interested in who I am haha. My name is Rasa Ichimori. I’m from Japan, but I’m now in Utah and I’m currently a student at BYU studying Business Management. I am really interested in Web Development, but I am not going to school for that because school is actually a scam. The only reason I’m a student is for my student Visa to live in America. BUT, I still have to keep my grades up for my scholarship too:( Lose, lose situation. I lose interest in what I learn in school, so I’m self learning and it’s super fun! Sorry for that rant lol. I started audiotool when I was 14. I listened to a lot of monstercat at the time and making music like that was something I wanted to learn how to do. So I searched for free music making software and found audiotool. The audiotool layout was very different back then, but I remember seeing luxior’s ( luxior trying to be luxior ;-; (;-; edit) ) track being number 1 on the singles chart. After listening to that, I was hooked. I listened to all the other tracks in the singles chart and decided that this was the kind of music I wanted to make. I still remember the tracks that were in that singles list to this day. I made an account and the rest is history.

Which artist has had the most influence on you (on and/or outside Audiotool)?

My influence has been evenly split between mourn (now Ante), THRONE, luxior (now looks), opaqity, and dove. Outside of Audiotool, my inspirations have been Herzeloyde, Porter Robinson, Moe Shop, tails, J.ROBB and Chromonicci. It’s hard to pick one so I just listed a whole bunch of artists haha. Sorry audiotool.

Who would you like to work /collaborate with on and outside Audiotool, and why?

For audiotool, I’m evenly split between working with Opaqity and Luxior/looks. Do they count? They haven’t been active on the site for a while, which is sad, but man. They were making PROFESSIONAL banger tracks from way before Next. And both of them are prodigies, creating masterpieces from such a young age. I could defo learn so much from those absolute geniuses.

Outside of audiotool, it might be Glances. This guy also had an audiotool account (solir). When he moved away from audiotool and started producing from different DAWs, he became insane. His track’s are so complex and there is so much going on, but every piece works so well together. I’m so in awe of every song he’s made and I’m proud he had his beginnings in audiotool. Sadly, he doesn’t make music anymore, but we have talked about making something together. Hopefully that can happen one day.

Which film/game would you like to produce the score for or contribute a song to?

Maybe a song that will play in Flylo FM in GTA? I don’t really play video games so I’m not sure. If an animation company comes to me to make a song for a retro anime like Neo Tokyo or Akira, that’s a fat YES!

Have you ever had a writer's block? If so, how did you deal with it and what do you recommend to your colleagues?

I deal with writer’s block all the frickin time. I find that the best way to get over it is to get busy. Get super busy. Have responsibilities and deadlines. And these need to be things that don’t require creativity. For me, I find that school and work are perfect for this. When I’m under time pressure, I start procrastinating. I open my music programs and my best works have come out of that! On the other hand, when I set aside time to make music and I sit down I got nothing. So get busy!

What has helped you the most on Audiotool to improve and widen your musical horizon?

The best way to improve in music is to practice. Super cliche, but there is no shortcut. It also can be discouraging when you see these “new artists” making bangers off the bat, but you need to understand that these guys also have prior music experience. They’ve been in your shoes before. I definitely have. My first tracks were absolutely disgusting, but that's where we all start. Audiotool has this wonderful feature where you can look inside of tracks to see exactly how they were made. I try to keep all my tracks remixable just in case someone wants to see how a sound was made. After doing that for thousands of tracks, I’d say you’ll start to get pretty good. I don’t know if I can say I know exactly what I’m doing all the time, but I think I have a clue :)

What do you like most about Audiotool? Is there anything you would like to suggest?

Audiotool is so amazing that I’m just so grateful for the fact that it exists. Everything about it from the devices and layout, to the community and traditions are such a blessing. There are so many features, and it is free. I still can’t wrap my head around it. I recommend audiotool to anyone who has interest in music production because I love it so much. I think my favorite part about it has to be the fact that it is browser-based and I can make music anywhere. It has become so powerful over the years, and I am thankful I got to see it’s progress. Audiotool has changed so many lives for the better, especially mine.

One thing that I think would be cool to see is a way to pitch shift samples in the timeline without changing the speed..

Your message to the community:

No matter how much you hate your work, don’t ever delete it. You can hide it, but never delete it. You never know how much someone secretly loves your work. I’ve been on both sides of the story. I’ve tried looking for amazing songs that I couldn’t access anymore because they were deleted. I should have been more vocal about how much I appreciated them, but it is too late now. I’ve also deleted some of my own work, and I really regret it. Cherish everything you make.

Social/Musical Links:

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/officialrai

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/this.is.rai/?hl=ja

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/02XjTOUw55eQr8KgsAHRYD?si=3XG6_fSXQPa_BaSzKcegrg&nd=1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwN2fwP_oEyHNPCFZmAicPQ

Extra long Album

Track #1:

Things To Come (XRB, Abstract) by 4▲4

This was the 2nd song I listened to. 2nd place on the singles charts when I joined and it’s basically the track that convinced me to start making music in Audiotool. I even remember showing my mom this track lol. I listen to this track and it evokes an amazing feeling of nostalgia and motivation. Xavi and Frij are now really big players but they were a dream team even then.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/things_to_come-nssol/]]

Track #2:

I Can't Explain by Ante

Cold winter mornings on the trains in Japan and on my way to school. The early sun peeks through the buildings. That’s what I remember from listening to this track. I had it saved on my phone and I listened to this song almost every day. Never got tired of it.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/i_can_t_explain/]]

Track #3:

there's always tomorrow by opaqity

This track has already been featured but damn, I just can’t resist. There are so many melodical layers and they work so well in this masterpiece. I find that whenever I try to layer many melodies, it just ends up a jumbled mess, but opacity is a genius. The melodies are so soothing and inspirational. This was actually my alarm sound for a long time. It was a great start to my day.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/there_s_always_tomorrow/]]

Track #4:

Lonesome by Someone

nother track that’s been featured a thousand times haha. I’m 95% sure this is Frigolito in disguise. Who else could pull this off? I’ve been called Frigolito jr. on a couple of occasions for my own experiments (a totally undeserving title by the way) and it’s one of the biggest compliments I’ve received. This track shows that there are really no boundaries in Audiotool as long as you put in the effort. The best part is, it’s an amazing song, even excluding the fact that it was made with a single 303.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/lonesome-xl0sef/]]

Track #5:

6282 by SOLACE

Solace is an example of a jack of all trades. And a master of them all. I remember when he had his DnB phase and that was FIRE. This track in particular is special to me because it gave me an idea about chords. The meat of this track is the luscious sample being shifted up and down. You could do the same thing with a major 9 chord and it sounds so good!

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/6282/]]

Track #6:

Ashamed by THRONE

One of the absolute legends of AT. THRONE manages to make insane quality tracks when audiotool didn’t have half of the devices we have today. Just look at the snapshots. I’d feature every one of his tracks if I could, but “Ashamed” would have to do for now. This was another song I listened to almost every day. THRONE is able to create such iconic melodies.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/ashamed-layte/]]

Track #7:

Daydream (X_____X) by X___________X

Dedface is not active on this site anymore, which is sad. Why do people keep leaving? Anyway, he was known for making banger remixes and this is a perfect example of that. Kavil is another legend (that left lol) and I think this track is a great example of a perfect marriage between two artist’s styles. The fact that this is possible is why I love Audiotool. Also, it’s such a happy and fun track. What is there not to love? Listening to this track now brings back nostalgic feelings for that era of Audiotool.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/daydream_x_x/]]

Track #8:

Kickstart [lux, abs, clu, nav] by future baes

This is an insane roster. Every one of these artists are giants. I wanted to feature each of these artists, but this song is a convenient way to showcase their insane talent. The melodies in this omg. The structure of this track omg. Mixing is a little harsh but ICONIC nonetheless. I find myself humming the tune to this some days.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/pragmatic_lux_abs_clu_nav]]

Track #9:

heissen x dove by dove and solar plexus

Gahwd dayum bruh. Such a bop. Honestly one of the bounciest tracks on AT. Let me tell you, I’ve learned so much from track just by opening it up. This was published while I was on my 2 year music break, and when I found it, I was immediately blown away. This track gets some credit for the trap stuff I do today. So inspirational.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/m1vdjm8psj2o/]]

Track #10:

Because a month is too long for no beats by Weightless

Lastly, a throwback to when Features used to have an “Artist Recommendation” section where you showcase underrated artists. It’s got to be my mans Weightless. One of the humblest guys I know, never looking for clout, but deserves it. Master at finding and chopping up the samples. This track is the original 10 second jam, but only has 6 favs?!

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/because_a_month_is_too_long_for_no_beats//]]

Track #11:

skyburst! [ATD2020] by rai.

It’s usually hard to pick a favorite of mine because I usually start to hate a song after a week of publishing it lol. But this one was different. This is actually the only track that I’ve posted to soundcloud without changing anything. This track won the 2020 audiotool day competition, and reading the nice and encouraging comments after winning was such a touching thing for me. I’ll never forget it. Competitions are such useful tools in making your musical breakthroughs imo. You are forced to push harder and the drive you get is pretty remarkable. ATDay is one of my favorite parts of audiotool so enter and make something amazing!

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/lxrtaavx9/]]

Full Album

Edition Audiotool: rai.

• a-records

38

about 2 years ago

1		Things To Come (XRB, Abstract) 4▲4	4▲4	15182
2		I Can't Explain Ante	Ante	761
3		there's always tomorrow opaqity	opaqity	3821
4		Lonesome Someone	Someone	20603
5		6282 SOLACE	SOLACE	849
6		Ashamed THRONE	THRONE	773
7		Daydream (X_____X) X___________X	X___________X	389
8		Kickstart [lux, abs, clu, nav] future baes	future baes	5082
9		solar plexus x dove dove solar plexus	dove solar plexus	10708
10		Because a month is too long for no beats Weightless	Weightless	226

Show all 11 tracks