We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dhruv Mittal. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dhruv below.

Dhruv, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Please allow me to present not one, but a few short stories in a chronological order.
Early on in my career, I had the wonderful opportunity of performing with my contemporaries at some very prestigious venues in India between 2016-2020. One of our projects won accolades at the national level, and was very instrumental in introducing me to musicians across India who I am still in touch with!
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, I extensively took to remotely composing short tracks with my friends for the purpose of social media branding and content creation. The reception to that was great, giving me a much needed surge of confidence and even helping me get through long and rather depressing ruts. It was also a defining moment in my journey because I now had a better idea of developing my sound, moving forward.
Earlier this year, I was called in by Lineage Performing Arts Center (LPAC), Pasadena, California to help with a production of “Cabaret”. It was my first time observing AND participating in theater, and the experience was extremely rewarding and humbling. I am very excited to return for Cabaret towards the end of May.
More recently, I had the great honor of sharing the stage with maestros and virtuosos Rahul Sharma (Santoor), Ojas Adhiya (Tabla), George Brooks (Saxophone) and Barkha Sharma (Tanpura), who are some of the finest and most accomplished musicians, for an event organized by WestBridge Capital in San Francisco. My musical journey started out in Hindustani classical music as a tabla player. To be able to come back to it as a drummer was very insightful and educational. More than that, being treated by them with the utmost trust, compassion and respect was a lesson in humility. I had the time of my life, both on and off the stage, hanging out with these legends.
Lastly, I am currently in the process of writing the debut EP for a new project I have with two very dear friends from India – Bharat and Unni. We first connected through music, supported each other through the pandemic and have been friends since. They are phenomenal musicians, and to be able to write original material with them without any constraints means so much to me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hailing from the city of Kanpur, India, I am a drummer currently based in Hollywood, Los Angeles and specializing in playing instrumental jazz-fusion music. As a musician-for-hire, I do a bunch of session work, play regularly with Michael Sims (Dr. Dre, N.W.A) and Atharva Phadke, and also work as faculty at Musicians Institute (MI), where I went to school myself. Growing up, my formal introduction to music came through my guru, Dr. Devanand Pathak, with whom I trained on the tabla in Hindustani classical music. Alongside, thanks to my music-enthusiast dad and YouTube, I was self-taught on the drums. I started pursuing my love for drums and music seriously during my undergraduate days, playing in university ensembles and participating in national level competitions. With the support and love of my family, I was able to move to Los Angeles in late 2021 to pursue my Associate’s degree in Drum Performance at MI, where I was fortunate enough to be able to study different styles of music with a number of acclaimed teachers. Playing a variety of gigs with different artists in the city helped me further hone my skills. Something I take a lot of pride in, and always strive to attain is serving the artist as well as the music strongly and appropriately, since my role is a supporting one in any musical context. Drawing inspirations from a variety of genres, I have a focused sound and pay close attention to detail. I also love nerding out over gear, and am always obsessed with getting the best drum sounds possible with the given resources and equipment.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Great question, and ironically something that I am still figuring out for myself. If I had to summarize this very briefly – Create something of substance, and hopefully leave behind a very small contribution to the instrument. However, what I have realized about myself is that I function the best provided I have a feeling of content and self-satisfaction with whatever I am pursuing. There are a number of things that contribute to this. Studying music and getting inspired by artists is one that comes to mind instantly. I love composing and performing with other musicians, and want to be associated with that process meaningfully for the rest of my life. A few decades down the line, I hope to be able to reflect on my career and find solace in whatever I accomplish in this life.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Positive audience/listener perception is a big one, specially when someone tells me personally that they like how I sound. And from a business standpoint, you obviously value leaving behind a quality product that your client loves and is satisfied with. Of course, performing arts can be equally brutal at times with the critique. I try to keep the good bits, and learn from the not-so-good ones. Apart from that, moments which make me realize I have improved at my craft are very wholesome. On stage in San Francisco recently, I had a slight hiccup, but managed to recover in a snap: something I have struggled with previously. Just being self-aware in that instant was a great feeling, and definitely a fond memory now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dhruvmittal1311.wixsite.com/dhrumming
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dhruv.mi
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dhruv.mi.fb
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhruvmi
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DhruvMittalOnTheDrums

Image Credits

Belle Shen, Gazzal Bishnoi, Wayhome