Ryan Dowling ’24, Image taken by Miles Asher Photography
Ryan Dowling ’24, also known professionally as “ry flora,” is an electronic music producer and audio engineer. Interested in the music industry, he majors in management and business and minors in arts administration here at Skidmore College. His remixed version of “Eyes Wide Open,” single by American rock-hip-hop-pop hybrid band Emblem3, has been released. Dowling has independently gained a collective of 1.6 million Spotify streams shared between over half a million individual listeners. He has been able to reach this audience by receiving placement on the world's largest and most competitive Spotify editorial playlists such as “New Music Friday'' and “Pop Right Now.” Dowling has made impressive progress, only having released his first song on the streaming platform back in 2018.
Before he discovered his knack for music production, Dowling grew up playing the guitar in Massachusetts’ greater Boston area. It wasn’t until his freshman year of high school that Dowling started experimenting with music production. Audio-engineering, programming virtual instruments, sound design, and studying typical song structures are among the many elements he began perfecting as he dove into the new skill. Dowling mainly produces using Apple’s Logic Pro software along with other third-party plug-ins to ensure the quality of the sound is up to par with his contemporaries.
Dowling’s musical inspirations include American rapper, singer, and record producer, SAINt JHN, American electronic duo ODESZA, and Canadian electronic music producer Ekali. Amongst many other influences, Dowling has also been a fan and listener of Emblem3 since he was just twelve years old; thus his collaborations with the group came full circle.
Emblem3, with members Wesley Stromberg, Drew Chadwick, and Keaton Stromberg, formed in Sequim, Washington in 2007. The band’s admission to stardom came in 2012 when they auditioned for the US version of the XFactor music competition TV show in which they were semi-finalists, finishing in fourth place. A year later, Emblem3 was signed to Syco Records and Columbia Records by Simon Cowell, record executive popularly known for signing big names such as One Direction, Fifth Harmony, and Little Mix. They formed a loyal fanbase and released hits such as “Chloe (You’re the One I Want)” and “3000 Miles.” Due to the band members wanting to pursue individual projects, Emblem3 has historically been in and out of the limelight over the last decade. During this period, Dowling got into contact with members Wesley and Drew and worked on projects such as the song “Breathe,” released with Wesley in 2020. However, the group has now reunited and released over four songs in 2021, including “Eyes Wide Open,” which Dowling had the honor of remixing.
I had the honor of interviewing Ryan Dowling about his process as a producer, especially on this collaboration, his perspective of the music industry, and what he hopes to pursue in the new year.
Jacob Smith: What is your signature sound?
Ryan Dowling: My music is starting to head into the direction of what I would call… melodic electro-pop, with some indie dance in there. For remixes [such as “Eyes Wide Open”], I’m definitely gonna be approaching them more with a tropical house pop sound because it tends to carry over better to the audience. I think when people ask for remixes, they’re generally looking for something more upbeat [than] the original song, so I think I’m generally going to lean more into that for this year.
Smith: The era of streaming and promotion through social media apps such as Tik Tok has greatly impacted the music scene. How do you feel about that?
Dowling: The music industry has become really fast-paced and music has almost become kind of disposable at this point. It has become easily compared to fast fashion, something that is hot for a week, and then it’ll just fall off and you’ll never hear about the artist again. So I think it goes back to trying to build longevity outside of just short-form content. I think finding a balance between really sticking to your artistry while also appealing to that fast-paced world of Tik Tok and how the music industry is currently propped up by that right now, is important.
Smith: How do you feel about the fast-paced quality of the music industry and how it can interfere with your artistry?
Dowling: Anything you want to last a long time is going to take a long time to establish. I think it’s important to establish a rich and diverse catalog or discography. Even though the music industry is trying to promote quantity over quality, I am still trying to lean into more quality over quantity and make releases more special when they come out. Finding a balance of suspense with consistency is where I am at in this process.
Smith: Where do you think you fit in today’s musical landscape?
Dowling: I’ve definitely made a lot of progress over the last year to make sure my mixing and mastering skills are on the same level as some of the artists I mentioned before. And it really hasn’t been an easy process, but I feel I’ve been getting closer with every release… being a producer [and] artist in the modern landscape of the music industry is tricky because a lot of it is based on singers promoting their songs on Tik Tok with open verse challenges and singing demos. Being someone who doesn’t sing, but still is considered an artist… I have to be a bit more creative. I’ve been doing different types of mashups and remixes, stuff that relates to my music as well, but has some sort of deviation. I think I’m definitely going to appeal to some of that short form content. It is difficult to neglect it in this current stage of the music industry, and [it’s] still pretty fun.
Smith: How did you connect with Emblem3?
Dowling: I connected with them when I was a sophomore in high school over Instagram DM. I had been producing music for a year at that point and wanted to kind of just shoot my shot. I connected with two of the members, Drew and Wesley. That period of producing music with Drew was important in understanding song structure. I learned a lot of lessons from that time period. It was kind of like the training wheels before I dove into my own artist project.
Smith: You released the song “Breathe” with Wesley from the band back in 2020. How was that experience for you?
Dowling: I sent him [Wesley] the initial demo of that song [“Breathe”] when I was a sophomore in high school and we eventually turned it into a finished product a few years later once I developed my skills a little bit more. It showed me the importance of sticking to long-term projects, even when the results seem far away.
Smith: Which direction did you take for this remix in terms of sound?
Dowling: In terms of my sonic direction, I designed the remix to exist in a variety of settings. I wanted to find the balance between remixing the song for a crowded music festival and also something that can be listened to alone while walking on the beach. I don’t think genre boundaries should limit the consumption methods of music.
Smith: Would you explain more about what you mean by genre boundaries and consumption methods of music and its limitations, or perhaps the lack thereof?
Dowling: I feel like when people make dance remixes sometimes, they’re very limited to a certain type of space, meaning that they’re only supposed to be played in a club and [aren’t] something that you could listen to on a deeper level. I aimed for this remix to have the appeal of both. The sounds that I use give off a special feeling in both settings because a lot of them are gentle sounding, but there’s a lot of percussive elements that are contrasting and they hit hard… the kick and some of the other snare elements in the song kind of bring it to a different field and listening space. Increasing the tempo by 10 BPM [beats per minute] and re-engineering the arrangement allowed for more room to implement my tropical house-infused vision. I also think using a lot of organic texture mixed with some of the more synthetic elements is where you get the appeal of listening to the remix in both places.
When asked about the possibility of releasing an album or EP of some sort this year, Dowling stated that, while it is quite challenging for an artist his size to put out a well-received project, he plans to follow the format of releasing a single at a time and eventually compile it into a collective EP, or ten song album. “It’ll take some time,” he states, as “songs take hundreds of hours” and, further, it can be difficult to focus solely on the song writing itself, considering the short-form promotional content he makes for social media and the fact that he is a full-time college student.
Although it is difficult juggling his music career with an academic one, Dowling emphasizes how rewarding the results of his hard work has become. “I’m just really excited for this next release. It definitely feels like the most special so far. I can say that with confidence.”
Dowling’s new remix with Emblem3, “Eyes Wide Open” is out now on all official streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and Deezer. You can check out the rest of his discography on those streaming services under his artist name “ry flora,” as well as his work and remixes on TikTok, SoundCloud and Youtube.