User:TVFILMBIGFAN/sandbox

Rafael Torres (born March 6, 1971) is Colombian American, Record Producer/Engineer, Remixer, TV/Film Composer. Since the mid 90’s, he has composed/engineered music for 180+ TV shows, films and records combined. His works include music on the films The Next Three Days with Academy Award Winner Russell Crowe, Picture This with the Award Winning Teen Actress from High School Musical, Ashley Tisdale and Zelma Davis (Formerly of C&C Music Factory) Solo Debut single “Power” (Amp Latin Mixes) which landed on the Billboard Dance Charts.

He is the owner of UP 2 U Music, a music production company that creates custom music for many TV/Film Multi-Award-Winning Music Production companies such as Universal Production Music, Boosey & Hawkes, Ole Music (Majorly Indie), Heavy Hitters Music and Vanacore Music.

Early Life
Rafael Torres was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up listening to a variety of Latin, Disco, R&B and Rap music. His mother played guitar and his father was a music collector of vinyl records, 8 Tracks and reel to reels. At the age of 6, he learned music which started with an upright piano and a Casiotone Casio Keyboard.

In the early 1980’s, he became a Breaker during the emerging Rap music era. You could see him B-boying in parties, streets and the same roller skating rinks where you would find B-boy icons like Crazy Legs and the Rock Steady Crew. At the age of 15, his family relocated to live in Orlando, Florida. During High-School he continued his music studies taking keyboard classes and started Dj’ing in the community playing Latin Freestyle music. He frequently mixed on 3 turntables at a time and began making mixtapes. Later He became part of a local Freestyle male group formed with his closest buddies and started writing/recording original songs.

He graduated from Dr. Phillips High School, home of Alumni’s such as Luis Fonsi (Despacito), Joey Fatone (NSync), DJ Magic Mike (He Dj’d his record release party of ”Magic Mike Cuts the Record” at the offices of Cheetah Records) & DJ Nasty of Nasty BeatMakers Producers of DJ Khaled’s  “All I Do is Win”* to name a few. Shortly after, he briefly attended Valencia Community College* with studies in Vocal and Keyboard before he enlisted in the US ARMY.

Musical Career: 1990’s
During the Military, he lived in Hosenfels, Germany for 2 years and continued his musical craft by purchasing musical equipment and programmed music via MIDI. His first purchase was the Yamaha RX11 Drum Machine, Yamaha SY55 keyboard, an Akai 4 track and an Alesis Midiverb. He was part of an Instrumental Group in the Army which later won 1st Place in the “All Army Europe Entertainment Contest” which was held every year.

When discharged in 1993, he returned to New York City and attended The Institute of Audio Research, NYC for Recording Engineering and Production, home of Notable Alumni’s such as Music Producer/Songwriter Benny Blanco. During that time, Rafael landed an internship at House of Sound Studios (designed by Francis Manzella ) owned by the legendary production duo C&C Music Factory known for the hit “Gonna Make you Sweat” through fellow classmate/studio manager, Carlos Clivilles brother to Robert Clivilles. After gaining hands on experience in engineering and production in the studio, he produced his first Pop Dance release “Put Down the Body” featuring Thierry. The single was co-written by “Angel” Mercado Clivilles (Formerly of the Freestyle Pop Group The Cover Girls). The single circulated throughout NYC DJ’s and caught the attention of Billboard Magazine writer Larry Flick, who wrote "The track has a formidable bassline and a chorus that sticks to the brain".

As a result of the single, he met with NYC DJ Ray Abraxas, known for DJ’ing in some of best nightclubs. Together as a production duo they produced some of today’s Latin House classics of the 90’s. They produced songs such as “Dance with Me”, “La Rumba” & “Fuego” to name a few which hit the top of the Dance Charts. Labels like Digital Dungeon, Cutting Records, Afterdark Records (Owner Carlos Berrios producer of Lisette Melendez, Gossip Records, Steady Beat Records and BMG records gave home to their sound. After some differences and termination of their partnership, Rafael expanded his work to other Artist like Sanchocho/Norty Cotto, Davidson Ospina,  Duran Ramos (Trilogy), Angel Clivilles Mercado (The Cover Girls), Cynthia and Inner Life: House of Faith

1999: Urban Box Office Network
Rafael was introduced to the world of TV/Film/Animation by You-Lee Rodriguez (DJ/Producer/Personal Trainer/former classmate at I.A.R) and was introduced to the late George Jackson, (former CEO of Motown Records) & Frank Cooper III (Former SVP of Business Affairs – Def Jam Records) whom later signed him as Music Producer/Engineer/Sound Designer to their newly formed company, Urban Box Office Network (UBO). One of the largest startup internet Multi-Media companies focused on Urban lifestyle and Minorities in NYC at that time. His work landed on many new celebrity websites, short films and animations. From Serena & Venus Williams to the Late Bernie Mac. His original theme music and sound design work on the digital animation “Jiggy Bug” helped win 1st Place in the Shockwave. Worldwide Animation Contest beating out Pixar Studios. Judges included the late Stan Lee - creator of Spiderman, Iron Man, Rob Minkoff - director of The Lion King, and Brad Bird - director of The Incredibles and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. During the company’s rising success it quickly came to a halt as a sudden result of the death of the late George Jackson ended up closing its doors and releasing all its hired talent due to lack of continued investor funding.

Musical Career: 2000’s to Present
After Urban Box Office dissolved, Rafael met today’s current music partner Edgard Jaudé through a mutual friend. Edgard was co-writing a new Solo Debut Single “Power” for Zelma Davis (Formerly of C&C Music Factory) along with songwriter Curtis Richardson (songwriter for Rihanna & Jennifer Lopez- “All I Have”**). Rafael produced the Amp Latin Dance Mixes versions alongside with other mixes by Legendary DJ Junior Vasquez & Eddie Baez. The single launched to #1 on the Billboard Dance Sales charts. With the shift in the record industry and growing rise for original Sync music for TV/Film, Rafael began to focus composing Original Production Music for TV/Film with Edgard Jaudé. Since 2001, Rafael has composed music for many Major Multi-Award Winning Music Production companies. Companies such as Universal Production Music (World’s Largest Music Library Company owned by Universal Music Group), Ole Music (Majorly Indie) - Music Rights Management company for Steven Tyler, Timbaland and Rush) & Vanacore Music Inc. known for their theme music on hit TV Shows such as TV Series Survivor, Big Brother and Jingle Punks Music known for the theme on the TV Series The Voice.

Today, his musical collaborations can now be heard on over a 150+ TV Shows/Films and over 3500+ Games/Episodes on the FoxSports Network.