About Pop City
The story
Since 2008, Rock Nation was home to UAE musicians, and Karama's rehearsal room where Dubai's bands came to get loud. The same room now carries on as Pop City Music, with a refreshed studio floor, a control room, a new podcast room and a music school, run by the team behind Vocal Studio Orpheus. Thank you, Nikhil Uzgare and Rock Nation DXB.
Jonathan Ramgopal, Studio Owner
Jonathan owns and runs Pop City Music. A pianist, guitarist, composer, music director and arranger, he has performed for Sheikh Al Nahyan, President Bill Clinton and A. R. Rahman, scored films and ads (most recently the sonic branding for Toblerone), and directed the choir that won Choirfest Middle East 2019. He is Managing Director of Vocal Studio Orpheus, the Trinity College London exams service provider in the Middle East, and a Director at North Star Middle East.
Part of the Orpheus family
Pop City Music is the sister studio of Vocal Studio Orpheus, Dubai's boutique performing arts school and official service provider for Trinity College London in the UAE. Same passion for music, now with a home for bands and creators.
Artem Romasev, Producer & Engineer
Producer, recording and mix engineer with years behind artists in Russia's rap and pop scene. Artem founded Yuno studio in St Petersburg, worked as an A&R at RockFam Label, and since 2021 has run his own studio and label, ARKA Secret Records. Credits include MITCHEL, SODA LUV, Masha Hima and ЛИЛА. Specialities: rap, hip-hop and pop production, vocal recording, mixing and release preparation, including Russian-speaking artists.
The team at Pop City
Vijoy Varghese, Sound Engineer: SAE Institute audio graduate and former front-of-house engineer and venue sound manager at Gatekeepers, Dubai. Vijoy leads recording sessions and mix & master work.
Amanda Sneyd, General Manager: runs admin and operations and looks after the music school. Contact Amanda for lessons, enrolment, Trinity exam questions and accounts.
Ilham Shaikh, Studio Operations: your first contact for bookings, rescheduling, rehearsal packages, podcast sessions and Reels content.
Our teachers: Dharvish (drums), Nithin (guitar) and Yazan (classical guitar and vocals).