At Coachella ‘18 I initiated discussions with my friends and aspiring music-industry entrepreneurs Christian Dimitriades and Trent Peltz. We brainstormed alternative strategies for partnering with prospective partners for the live performance series we all had long envisioned.
I met Jack Koplin (pictured above on the left) my freshman year of college through my fraternity and USC’s Music Industry program. Jack began working on his first remix in the spring of 2016. Noah Arin, a talented audio engineer (pictured above on the right), is a student at UNLV – we met through a mutual friend named Oscar Chaltiel, who also happens to be member of our AEPi chapter.
This summer, while I was in LA taking extra courses, Noah travelled to campus from Vegas to spend a couple of days hanging out before heading to a music festival with Oscar for the weekend. Like most college kids, we found ourselves sharing music and stories over meals and video games… despite constantly having to clean up after them, I appreciated every minute.
I invited Noah back to LA a week later so he could meet Jack – I knew each of them possessed a unique, complementary skill set. In short order, Jack and Noah formed RÜST, an EDM duo I began working closely with on branding, business development and marketing.
RÜST’s first studio session was held in Jack’s family’s living room above their garage in the Palisades. What’s so unique about this space is that it used to be Stewart Copeland‘s personal studio, the drummer from The Police.
Having taken courses in audio recording and critical listening during my first semester at SC, I was eager to apply the knowledge I was learning in class. Although I had no formal music training and didin’t play any instruments, I wanted to get more involved with the music making process.
Back in High-School, when I already knew that I wanted to attend USC, but before my application was officially submitted, I was offered an incredible opportunity. I was invited by a dear family friend and mentor, Lisa Hepner, to travel west from Montreal to LA in order to shoot a scene for her ongoing documentary, The Human Trial.
The project is designed and dedicated to raising awareness and money to find a cure for diabetes. As a person living with type 1 diabetes, this is a cause close to my heart.
