College Sound: Avy Gonzalez produces tracks

Avy Gonzalez is a familiar face among Austin Community College. He's the president of the Center for Student Political Studies and held offices with other organizations such as Student Government Association and Phi Theta Kappa. And he is also part of the ACC Mascot Search Committee. But years before he moved to Austin in 2005, Gonzalez built a name for himself in Miami as a music producer and continues to produce music to this day.

Gonzalez has no formal training in music. However, he got his start through DJing at a skating rink and began getting recognition DJing at clubs.

"My very first job, I was djing. I quickly became one of the best djs in Miami," said Gonzalez. "At the time, Exposé was very big. The producers and production company asked me if I wanted to be their road manager... And that's how I got into the business."

It was from that time with Exposé, the female group from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, that Gonzalez befriened one of the founding members, Sandra "Sandeé" Casañas. After Casañas left the group, she recruited Gonzalez to work on a solo track together. The first single he produced with Casañas "You're the One," was the first song he wrote and produced. Before Casañas sang the song though, another female group, Genuine Parts, did.

"One of the three songs that I had written for Genuine Parts was ‘You're the One,'" said Gonzalez. "I showed (Casañas) the other two from Genuine Parts' touring list and the song that she liked the best was ‘You're the One.' So I wanted to go with a different direction with it with her."

Almost 20 years later after that release and second single "Always Besides Me," Casañas reached out to Gonzalez to rerelease "Always Besides Me." Unfortunely, Casañas tragically passed away.

In 2010, two years after Casañas' death, Gonzalez decided to continue on with the remix for Casañas with another artist Jacinta. Jacinta is an Australian-born artist who's had multiple hits such as "Can't Keep a Secret."

"I started working on a track, just on my spare time," said Gonzalez. "I got together with Jacinta who is an international-known recording artist, but also happens to live here in Austin. Her and I always talked about getting together and doing a song."

Working with Casañas and Jacinta are just two examples of Gonzalez' work. According to Discogs.com, there is a list with over 10 songs he also contributed by producing or writing. However, when he started taking classes at ACC, Gonzalez decided not to major in anything associated with music.

Ever since music pirating drastically changed the business model, musicians as well as producers have found it harder to earn a living in this career.

"There's no way of you making money, so to earn a living at it, it's almost impossible," said Gonzalez. "So I maintain it and keep it as a hobby. Whenever I get into a studio and start putting something together, I go with the intentions of ‘I'm not gonna make money at it,' and that it's just gonna be something that I do for fun."

So with his music hobby, classes, family and ACC club and organizations he participates in, how does Gonzalez keep it all together?

"Well, it's definitely a full time job. I try to pick easy classes," said Gonzalez with a laugh. "It's a lot of time management. I dedicate certain hours of the day toward certain things and try to stay as organized as I possibly can. But, yeah, it's definitely tough."