Vallejo, California native Louie Valentino (LV) started in the music industry at a young age. Being recognized for his talents in music afforded him opportunities to sign to notable music groups in the bay area by age 7, and by age 12 he was well into a solo career as an artist.
Music wasn’t the only interest as LV always had an entrepreneurial spirit. By building out his other media skills, LV was able to use other career avenues like videography and photography to learn other aspects of the entertainment industry. By surrounding himself in the many facets of music LV was able to identify that he had an ear for quality, especially because he had spent so many years focused on being an artist. The same passion that LV had for learning other areas of music, led him to engineering and It has been a primary focus since.
After spending time in sessions with other engineers like Young Chariz and Silly Da Man in the early years, LV decided it was time to make an investment into his own studio equipment so that he could take his career to the next level. Fast forward to age 25 and having developed skills more as a notable engineer, LV was able to work exclusively with Bay Area artist Mistah Fab and the client list grew from there.
LV has engineered out of many studios in the Bay area including the legendary studio “The Grill” in Emeryville California as well as Empire in San Francisco, a popular music label that has been highlighted for its accelerated success of musicians and the like.
LV has worked with many notable music artists such as Lil Boosie, Snoop Dogg, G-Eazy, The Game,Trey Songs, Gunplay, T.I., Juvenile, Jacquees, E-40, Too-Short, and many more! LV has an ambitious goal of becoming one of the best and the biggest engineers in the music industry and with over 4 million streams and counting, is well on his way to being a contender in the engineering space.
“The focus has always been to create my own sound and the sauce I add to records will help them stand out”
LV remains a student of the engineering space by studying others who are notable like Teezio, Bainz, Jaycen Joshua, Leslie Brathwaite and Mixed by Ali. LV’s profile can be found among other notable choices in “Engineears” for bookings but it won’t be the only place his name rings in the industry.
What motivated you to be an engineer?
I’ve been an engineer since I was young doing all my own music and all my friends in the neighborhood used to come to the house or my grandmother’s house to record. But I didn’t start taking it seriously until I found out I was having a baby. I was doing acting at the time and I knew I would have to put it on hold eventually, because that took up a lot of my time so I was like “What can I do to still make the same amount of money?” Or more, so I started taking over doing Mistah Fab music, found a studio to work out of and from there everything just took off. Especially during covid my client list was super long. Once it started getting serious I started watching more videos and reading books to get an understanding of everything and shadowing other big engineers.
AllHipHop: What was it about that part of the game that got you hooked?
What got me hooked on engineering is when new clients came in and did sessions I would put a ruff mix on their records and they would get hella juiced like, “Bro you’re super dope. I’ve never had anyone make me sound like this before.” And I was doing simple little things drops in the beat telephone effects on the voice little delays and they loved it. So from there I knew I was really on to something. Especially working with singers I would hear a reference of their work with other engineers and be like this is trash. I know I could take your sound to the next level and that’s what I did created my own sauce.
AllHipHop:Didn’t you try to rap? What made you shift gears?
AllHipHop: I wouldn’t say I tried to rap. I did rap and had some great success with my career especially starting so young. I never stopped. I just took a break to find myself as an artist, what my sound and lane are, and what my fans like and dislike. I also felt like me learning engineering all the way would take my sound to the next level and it did. And the best part for me is I got an intern/assistant and put him up on so much game on how to mix an after session. After session he got my sound down and knows how to make me sound like I would if I mixed it myself.
AllHipHop:Do you think you will go back to being an artist?
I’m still an artist. I’ve got four projects fully completed and over 50 singles just sitting waiting to be released. My Ep “Late Night Hype ” Part 1 & 2 is definitely coming soon then after that my album ” Welcome To Louieville ” is dropping.
AllHipHop: Who has been the most pleasure working with?
To be honest all my clients are a pleasure working with. Mistah Fab is definitely one every session. We have had is always creative and a different style of rap. Lil Boosie is also another artist that’s dope to work with great energy, funny as hell, and never a dull moment. I just finished working on MMG artist GUNPLAY’s new album. I mixed the majority of the album. It was definitely fun trying to take the rough mixes and turn them into something next level.
AllHipHop: What is the most important aspect of being an engineer?
The most important aspect of being an engineer to me is taking the song to the next level, and having as much creativity as possible. Engineers have the biggest job at the end of the day the producer makes the beat the artist makes the song then it’s your job to make it sound amazing. There are plenty of songs out there that are terrible because they weren’t mixed the right way or don’t have any creativity to them. With me, I try to focus on making sure all the vocals are crispy, clean, and clear. The beat has life space and bottom that hits hard to make you feel it. So to all the artists out there stop being cheap and going to these hole in the wall studios get you a real tracking engineer an engineer that really knows how to mix and can take your vision to the next level that way when you hear your song you can sit back and excited about it but also visualize what your listening too.
AllHipHop: Can you tell what are some of the best engineered album in rap history? From your point of view.
I definitely feel like all the Kendrick Lamar albums are mixed to perfection and I haven’t heard anything in Hip-Hop mixed like that in a long time so ima just end it there on that note, shout out to mixed by Ali.
AllHipHop: Salute.
Photo: 📸 @ryan_corr