We recently connected with Israel Castillo and have shared our conversation below.
Israel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?
Idea:
During my college years, I had a final audio post production project. I chose a 90 second Dragon Ball Super Movie with the main antagonist, Beerus. The first step of directions was to strip all of the stereo effects, music, and dialogue from the video clip. The next step is to recreate the scene into a 5.1 surround sound clip.
The process was long yet it was fun and worth it! I pass the final project with flying colors. Audio post production was becoming a brand new avenue for my audio engineer career.
I use to work at FUNimation for almost a year until life became too much for me to keep the job.
Execution:
I’m creating scripts and inviting friends who never voice-act before and have them act out a scene. So far, everyone enjoys the experience of being able to dub. Now the mission is to expand my current audio engineering department into the ADR realms. It is a long tough process, because I see articles on online on how to start a voice-acting career, but almost nothing on how to start an ADR Production company. It’s research, patience, execution, research, and more patience!
Israel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
KURXMA LLC is an established audio engineering business that offers professional audio quality. The company started in November 8 2022 at a home-based office in Denton, Texas. The mission is to provide clarity on how home-based studio can provide professional audio production. It has now expanded its’ product lines to eLearning content, eBooks, and voice-over recordings.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Waking Up In A Dream, One hopeful Dream:
I was struggling to pay rent at the time around Fall of 2021. My wife fell ill with covid during her third week of pregnancy. Then after, we experienced our first miscarriage. Amazon Flex helped our small family pay the bills. My job was paying only $10 per hour with inflation on the rise and with my wife out of commission; I had to something more. Soon after, I accumulated enough points to be terminated from Amazon Flex. The only bill I could afford was groceries, gas, and phone bill. I felt hopeless, at times, but I was reinforced with hope from my wife when it counted.
After I did some errands, I parked my car and just sat there on the parking lot. An eviction was on its’ way. We had to figure out where our pet is going to stay. Where will our daughter relocate for school and how are we going to explain what is going on? After about half an hour of momentary peace and chaos, there was a phone call. In the caller ID it said “Funimation” on the screen. My eyes opened up and I answered. It was an HR from FUNimation offering me a job position as ADR engineer for a starting rate 0f $20 per hour. All hope came rushing back in. God never let me down. Amen.
I accepted that job so quickly!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My mission is to be the first Black-owned ADR production company to provide dubbing for this animation company located in China.
I hear and know plenty of colleagues and friends who can provide quality voice-acting to anime shows. What would history say, with the God’s holy grace, that I am able to bring an opportunity back to the community? That’s the vision I’ve been given. Although, it may LOOK like an impossible journey, but it doesn’t FEEL like an impossible journey when it’s one foot in front of the other.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kurxmallc.com/reviews
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/official.kurxma
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialKURXMA
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurxma/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialKURXMA
- Youtube: https://www.instagram.com/official.kurxma
- Other: GoFundMe Page: https://gofund.me/f899916c