We had the good fortune of connecting with Hedras Ramos Sr. and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hedras, how do you think about risk?
I’ve taken many risks in my life, but probably the biggest one was to leave the established security of owning a nice house back in my home country to come to California to start a new life from scratch in one of the most expensive cities in the US like Los Angeles. But when you have a dream, faith, and hope for a better future is all worth it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My story begins when I was 11 years old and had my first encounter with an acoustic guitar, and it was love at first sight. Soon after that, I became obsessed with the guitar to the point that I recall taking it with me to the bathroom to avoid wasting time :), this action soon became a motive of laughs among the members of my family. I also took my guitar to school where I kind of became popular because everybody wanted to sing along. To make it short, I played in several bands, and without me being aware of I became a Music Producer in my early 20’s. I produced many albums mostly for singers, but playing in a loud rock band was (and still is) my true passion. I was fortunate in having a great mentor, a really nice guy named Jorge Estrada, who allowed me to discover myself musically and gave me the opportunity to become an associate producer in his company. Together we dominated the jingle world of Guatemala during the late ’80s and ’90s.

In 1996 I decided to start my own company named Audio 7 Productions, a tough moment in my humble beginnings since it was kind of starting from zero, except that I had a vast experience producing. Endurance and perseverance kept me going and the dreams of hearing my work outside of Guatemala was so strong that in a few years I was producing commercials for the top ad agencies of Central America who managed the accounts of huge names in the industry of fast food, beverages, cars, banks, etc. Companies that we all know because they are all over the world. Later in my career, I started producing a few commercials in English and I was dreaming of having my work to be heard/seen in the USA and Latin America which came true when I still was living in Guatemala. The Internet played a major role here.
My son Hedras (Jr) and I share a common story as musicians and producers, we felt like we hit the roof and desperately needed a change for the better. Moving to the US was the natural move for us, and we worked unceasingly for almost 10 years building strong immigration cases that would allow us both to get our passes to move here with the family to expand our horizons. During those 10 years, many awesome things happened like getting endorsements from many companies in the music industry that got me to tour three continents playing Bass with my son, during those trips I gave some good use to my experience as a recording/mixing engineer to record our shows, while at the same time I found time to co-produce, record, and mix his albums, this was happening simultaneously while I was producing commercials for the advertising world. I also worked as a recording engineer and bass player for the legendary actor/heavy metal singer Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Dracula, Star Wars, and 280+ movies) on a full album and 2 EPs.
Since we came to California almost 3 years ago, I never stopped dreaming of having my advertising work being aired beyond the whole American continent (North, Central, and South America). Recently, I had the honor of having a couple of commercials I produced in English to be broadcast on national tv in several countries in Asia, I guess Europe and Africa should be the next stop 🙂. Going retrospectively, I see a pattern here, when you have a dream you have to go for it and believe it’s possible and it will come true, and most importantly, never stop dreaming, there are always new frontiers to conquer. Perseverance outperforms talent!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I think the mandatory stops should be, in no particular order: Hollywood Blvd, Santa Monica beach, The Observatory, The Getty, Downtown LA, Americana & The Grove Malls (especially for Christmas), a drive through Beverly Hills to see some mansions; traveling a little bit further, Laguna Beach, Santa Barbara, Solvang, Napa Valley (for an exciting air balloon adventure and some wine), Lake Tahoe for the cableway ride and perhaps skiing if you are into that. Some places to eat in the Valley would be Panini Kabob and Grill for the Mediterranean flavor, for the Mexican taste I think a visit to Las Fuentes for the best tacos de pollo con queso is in place, Los Toritos, Salsa & Beer are a must, especially if you love fajitas; if you like sushi a stop at Makoto on Ventura Blvd is recommended. For a healthy dessert, I definitely would take my friends to Ubatuba Acaí, and if my friends are from overseas I definitely have to take them to Cheese Cake Factory for the food and dessert as well. The list could go on and on…

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate this shoutout to my beautiful and sweet wife Evelyn, who’s been a loving supporter and has endured the changes that come when you move to a new country and you have to leave behind the people you care for like family, friends, your cozy home, the food you love, and even your dogs, all to support the dreams of your husband and your son, even when you have to face the challenge of a new language, new traditions, and a system somewhat different, but you know that staying together will pay off some day. Our two beautiful and very smart daughters who are at college one in Asia and the youngest one in Europe for their encouragement and example of endurance and perseverance, and specially Hedras Jr. who live with us and has been a great support in many ways, mostly because we both speak the language of music and share similar goals. I would like to thank two Guatemalan families who live in LA and showed us some love when they provided us a place to stay and a car to use for almost a month for free while we got our own place and own transportation, it really helped a lot having the great support of special people that we didn’t even met before, and still, they served us and loved us by making it easy for us when we came and knew nobody. I can’t thank enough the Gonzalez and the Arevalo families. I know the time for us will come to pay it forward, I’m looking forward to that moment.

This shoutout would incomplete if I don’t thank publicly these two successful and gorgeous ladies who through their skillful knowledge and expertise made it happen for us, I can’t thank enough immigration attorney Lorraine D’Alessio + her team at D’Alessio Law Group and attorney Liz Profumo + her team at Global Talent Immigration Law Group, both of them are case winners!

I also, think this shoutout could be – although unusual – dedicated to some people that thought that this dream of mine of coming to The US and have success could not be possible, but in fact, their disbelief was fuel for my dream. I have this thing that could be a curse or a blessing, depending on what angle you see it from and is that when somebody tells me “it’s not possible”, my brain translates it as “Yes you can!”.

Website: https://audio7productions.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hedrasramossr/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audio7/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Audio7Prods
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Audio7Productions
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/audio7productions/videos
Other: https://soundcloud.com/audio7producciones

Image Credits
Pics by Jacqueline Castillo

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