Skyping with Engineer Neeraj Khajanchi

Berklee alumnus, multi-platinum engineer, and Grammy nominee Neeraj Khajanchi has been busy since graduating in 2004 with dual music business/management and music production and engineering majors. Actually he was pretty busy before that, too. At age 15, Khajanchi landed an internship with legendary music producer Phil Ramone, who created recordings with Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Madonna. While Khajanchi learned the ropes, alumnus Ramone recommended that he study at Berklee, so Berklee became his next stop.

While at Berklee, Khajanchi recorded hundreds of demos and spent as much time as possible in the studios, often running experiments like recording a kick drum with 12 different microphones. After graduating, he landed a gig as assistant engineer at the famous Hit Factory in New York (R.I.P.). He gained his first major credit at the Hit Factory in Miami on Gonzalo Rubalcaba's album Solo (winner of the 2006 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album), and his second on the Killers's sophomore album, Sam's Town. Now living and working in Japan, and with multiple platinum albums under his belt there, Khajanchi isn't taking his foot off the gas anytime soon.

Lucky for students, Khajanchi took time out of his busy schedule to do a Skype interview for the Learning Center forum series. Fielding questions on how he got his breaks, tips for getting into the industry, and the mindset of a successful engineer, Khajanchi advised that students not get into the industry to get rich, but only if they love music and love people. Being likable was a theme he kept coming back to—and with a disarming humility and a sense of humor to boot, Khajanchi is very likable. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/kingneeraj.

Check out upcoming Learning Center forum events at learningcenter.berklee.edu/Forums/Current_Semester.