An Interview with Vijay Raju From ‘Resonate Productions’

On the 17th of September we were joined by an experienced designer for the 136th session of the Instagram Live Series and who has been in the experiential event industry for a good 20 years now. Vijay Raju is a certified sound engineer from Audio Academy and is today the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of ‘Resonate Productions.’

Having started his career as a DJ, Vijay then moved on to work with sound rentals before finally establishing his space in the event industry. Today he is in charge of handling the company’s entire technical support team and is exceptionally good at what he does. 

Humble, grounded and level headed, Vijay leaves no stone unturned when it comes to expressing his gratitude and appreciation for all those who have played a vital role in influencing his career in the industry. It was an absolute pleasure conversing with him and we look forward to working with him in the future.

His story

“We are the stories that we tell, we are the stories that we believe and we are equally the stories that we choose to ignore” is how Vijay begins to tell us HIS story. Having completed his schooling in Frank Anthony Public School in the year 1995, he went on to pursue his PUC in Aloysius college while also starting to work as a part time promoter. 

He was then introduced to DJ Ivan and thus began his entry into the world of events. From the sound and lighting to the people he met and the experiences that he shared with them, Vijay was soon enthralled by the event space.

Soon after joining college, Vijay became an active member when it came to organising fests and taking part in inter-collegiate events. As someone who was brought up under the strong influence of western music, Vijay always had an affinity towards singing and getting involved in the area of music and not long after landed his first corporate gig in 1999 and started realising his dream come true. 

A few years later, along with a friend, they decided to start a company and invested in sound and light equipment to kick-start their entrepreneurial dream. That was the start of Matrix and while they did not do as well as they hoped, it was still an incredible learning experience that influenced his career. 

Vijay then came in contact with Mahendra from ‘Neferrtiti Weddings’ that proved to be the focal point in his career that changed his life for the better. The overall experience of starting out in college to working with several clients was a wonderful rollercoaster ride and one that Vijay is extremely grateful for. 

As he wanted to completely focus on working in the space of events, Vijay then went on to meet Khushboo, a fellow event professional and together they started ‘Resonate Productions’ where he managed on the technical side of it.

To improve his knowledge and understanding of the industry, Vijay decided to complete a course in event management and is grateful for the learning he acquired and uses even to this day.

Over the course of his long and successful career in the event space, Vijay has been a part of several events with The 100 Pipers event being his most memorable event till date. 

What Vijay’s been up to during the lockdown

From working out, relaxing and taking time to unwind, Vijay has been using this time to reinvent and reflect on his time in the industry. He has worked on a few virtual events but is yet to set up a studio since the market is slowly opening up and he prefers to wait it out. 

While it is a financially low period, Vijay is doing his best to retain his staff as he says that it is a difficult time for everyone and the uncertainty is suffered by all. 

Clubs and corporates being his biggest clients, Vijay is confident that things will begin to slowly open up in a month’s time. Given that the IPL season is in session, Vijay hopes that his lighting and sound equipment will be in demand across the bars and pubs screening the matches. 

Parting thoughts

“Back in the day, we didn’t have a formal event management school to go to. Now, with institutes such as team.i, I urge you to make the most of it while also using technology to explore the avenues that are growing today at an incredible pace. Do not let the pandemic damper your spirits and remember that if there is a low there will always be a high that follows soon after.

Persistence, innovation and conceptualization are the key elements that will help you, so hang in there, keep learning and you will come out the other side triumphant.”

In case you missed out on attending the live session, do head on over to our Instagram page to catch the recording.