Raina Villareal is a Mexican and Puerto Rican American audio engineer and producer born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up surrounded by music through her grandfather, a singer and songwriter, and her father’s love for music, Raina developed a passion for music at an early age. After watching documentaries about music production, she realized she wanted to pursue a career in recording engineering and music production.

Raina began her education at Columbia College Chicago, earning a B.A. in Audio Arts & Acoustics in May 2023. During her time at Columbia, she gained experience in recording, mixing, editing, microphone placement, signal flow, and studio production while interning with organizations including Gravity Studios, Kingsize Soundlabs, and NASCAR/Point Source.

After graduating, Raina expanded her experience into live sound, working as an audio engineer across concerts, corporate events, weddings, and other live productions. Her live sound experience includes FOH and monitor mixing, stage managing, troubleshooting, and operating digital consoles such as Yamaha Rivage PM3, Midas M32, Midas Heritage HD96, Allen & Heath SQ-5, and Behringer X Air XR18. She has worked with House of Blues Chicago, the National Museum of Mexican Art, BeatMix Music, and Kobotech, and has also gained some touring experience as an FOH Engineer with Rural Progress on their Backroads Tour.

In the studio, Raina works as a Staff Engineer at Gravity Studios in Chicago, where she engineers recording and mixing sessions and produces original music, working with multiple artists in a variety of genres. Her musical inspirations include Latin, R&B, Indie Rock, and Alternative, with influences ranging from Billie Eilish and Finneas to RAYE/Mike Sabath, Carlos Santana, Childish Gambino, ¿Téo?, and Tainy, to name few.

With experience spanning studio recording, live sound, and audiovisual production, Raina brings a versatile and adaptable approach to every project. She continues to pursue opportunities to collaborate with artists and creative teams while working toward her goal of building a career that allows her to travel, create music, and grow throughout the audio industry.