Music was never supposed to be my path, but looking at my childhood you wouldn’t know it. Piano at age 5. Church choir. TV appearance on Tiny Talent Time. High school band, stage band, concert band, pop rock band, choir, senior choral ensemble. French horn, flute, drumset, orchestral percussion, jazz piano. Composition, multitrack recording. Completed final level of Conservatory Piano at age 16.
And yet this person described above, who is me, went to university to get a Science degree in Immunology. The pre-med track. Music, in my household, was not a career. It was a hobby, a side pursuit, not a real job. “When you are a doctor, you can play all the music you want in your spare time.” was an actual sentence that was spoken to me regarding my future. Practical immigrant parent thinking.
After spending my university career trying and failing to get into medical school, and feeling somewhat directionless, I did some traveling and some soul searching. I realized that I could spend entire days, lose track of time, doing music recording. Working on mixes wasn’t like working. I enrolled in a recording arts program in 1995 and that is how I became a recording engineer and producer.
I worked my way up in a music studio from an intern, to an assistant, to a full time engineer, to producer. In 2003 a project I was an engineer on won a JUNO award for Gospel Album of the Year, “Instrument of Praise” by the Toronto Mass Choir. In 2011 I shifted gears from the studio, to working on post for a weekly faith-based national TV show.
Throughout this time I maintained playing as a drummer or bassist and sometime guitarist in church, and vocally as a choir soloist, with occasional gigs as a wedding singer.
Fast forward to 2022, and like many, the pandemic and its aftereffects made me realize that there is no time like the present. I learned how to solder and began building DIY eurorack modules. I determined to learn synthesis, not just using presets on a keyboard, but actually how to make sounds from scratch. I began a journey of exploration, learning, and discovery into electronic music. I suspect I shall be on that journey for the rest of my years!
In 2023 I released 2 albums, performed in various electronic music gatherings, and was an guest at Exit Points, a free improv electroacoustic concert series in Toronto.
Am I a musician? I’ve come to see that I’ve always been one, and perhaps only now am embracing that identity fully.
My motto for now, is be kind, make music.
Wei En Music 
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