Today we’d like to introduce you to Leonardo Hernandez.
Hi Leonardo, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It started on July 23rd, 1999; the day I was born. I was born and raised here in Orlando, Florida. My family moved up here from Puerto Rico a couple of years before I was born. Throughout my life, I have done and learned a lot. I’ve lived in a single household my entire life. My mom raised me with two older siblings all by herself. I had to become a man at a young age. I learned the do’s and the don’t’s of this world throughout my life. I also learned a lot of discipline from all the sports I was involved in when I was younger. One thing that stood out the most in me, was my creativity. I love creating art. At a young age, I was always filled with imagination and inspiration from music, movies, TV shows, and cars.
My life has always been filled with music. Coming from a Hispanic background, especially a Puerto Rican background music has always been there. My first word as a baby wasn’t momma or dada, it was the word “Butt” in Spanish from a Pitbull song called “Culo”. The fact that my first word to speak into this world was from a song’s chorus say’s a lot about my love for music. Growing up listening to Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Pop, and Rock influenced me a lot as a kid. Seeing artists like Michael Jackson, Jay Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Drake, Daddy Yankee and etc. Seeing these superstars inspired me to chase the music dream. What grabbed me most about music wasn’t just the lyrics but the feeling of the song, the vibe of the song. That is what drove me to create my own vibes and be able to show people what I am feeling when making music.
I started really getting into creating music after I graduated high school in 2017. I started producing on FL Studio. The more I got comfortable with the program I started creating better and better music. Once I graduated high school my goals were completely different than what my goals are now. I originally went to college to study mechanical engineering. I always dreamed of working for NASA because of my love of space and exploration. But things didn’t feel right when going to school for that career. I didn’t feel like I truly loved it. So, I ended up dropping out and started to work full time jobs. I did that up until 2019. At that time I was still producing beats and I figured, why not try to go to school for music? So, I looked up local universities that had music programs. I decided to apply for the bachelor’s degree in recording arts program at Full Sail University. Once I got accepted I knew this is what I wanted to do. I want to work in state of the art music studios and just make good music. I am currently still attending Full Sail and I am set to graduate by the end of this year. I recently started working at music studio near my home. I am a recording engineer there and I am still in school. Hopefully, when I graduate I can move on to bigger and better things in life.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
“It’s only a matter of time but in that time is what really matters.” This quote I made and live by because it hasn’t been a smooth road. It’s had its bumps and hills and mountains. But I know being able to get through all those difficulties is going to pay off in the long run. I would say the major struggles has been balancing school, work, and music life. At least now I have opportunities that could get me into a full time music life when I am finished with school. Without all these trials I have faced in my life I wouldn’t be here today. It’s made me who I am and I am thankful for that.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Right now I am a music producer, recording engineer, mixing engineer, and an artist. I wear a lot of hats but I enjoy wearing all them. I love every aspect of making music. From producing the beat and instrumental, to recording vocals and working with artists, to mixing and making the final product of a song, and also writing my own lyrics and rapping/singing them into the microphone. I love it all even taking cover art photos and being involved with music videos. My nickname is Leo, I am also a Leo too. One thing about me is that I want to be me. I want to be unique, different than everybody else. I want to show people that there’s more to music than what meets the eye. I make music for artists that truly love there craft and want to express that in their own way. If you were to listen to my beats, none of them will sound the same. That is because I don’t try to be like anybody else, I just create what I am feeling. I would say a project that I am most proud of is an album I made with my rap group. We made a 10 song album all by ourselves with no help. I produced all the tracks, I recorded and mixed all the tracks, I even wrote my own lyrics in the songs I performed in. We also did our own cover art and pictures. I published it and promoted it myself without paying anyone. Did the album do good? No, we didn’t get a lot of exposure because to get a lot of exposure you need to invest a lot of money so we just released it because we wanted to.
What matters most to you?
Family. Family matters most to me because at the end of the day family is all we got. We wouldn’t be here without them one way or another.
Pricing:
- $500/Beat/Includes Stems, WAV, and MP3
- $25/hr Recording on Pro Tools
- $100/ Song to be mixed
Contact Info:
- Email: Leo.hernandez2399@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.beatstars.com/lionheartedrecords
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leofire23/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLDVQvg-ib7PzLNHqebxHfQ
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2MO1mM0Ivyohb5HjRjnari?si=ZyXZBwCiT_mc3RPrvGIVNA
- Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-hotboizz/1537604991
Image Credits
Leonardo Hernandez
