Finding Resonance
A college senior's bedroom-made album is more honest about doubt than most faith records dare to be.
There’s a version of this story where Grace Miranda is just a college student who makes music for fun. And technically, that’s true. She’s a fourth-year at Ohio State, studying nutrition and dietetics, heading into grad school in the fall. Music “isn’t the plan.”
But then you actually listen to Resonance, and that framing falls apart a little.
The album is breathtaking: layered vocal stacks that sweep you into a fog, lo-fi production with real emotional impact, and songs that don’t resolve so much as breathe. And Grace wrote all of it herself, in her bedroom, in Logic Pro.
Resonance is a faith album, but not one of blind faith and comfort zones. Grace writes about the specific experience of growing up inside a belief system and then, as an adult, having to figure out what’s yours versus what you were handed.
“I’ve kind of recognized what have I been taught versus what do I believe for myself?” she says. “I think there’s been a lot of growth because of that. Just trusting, letting go of control.”
She’s been making music since she was three. Cello through middle school and high school. Piano lessons from her grandma. A mom who is an amazing singer in her own right. Oh, and grandpa? Well, you can check out his gospel music here.
“I’ve always loved writing and just composing, and I played cello throughout my school career, but I never was fully proficient at any certain instrument, so I just kind of played around, and so I finally got my first Mac, and then I got Logic, and just kind of wanted to see if I could put a voice memo into an actual song.”
Her goal was never to make something polished or resolved. It was to be honest. “My overarching goal is mostly just to be fully transparent about the highs and the lows. Not perfecting faith.”
She almost talked herself out of releasing certain songs. Her favorite track, “Endure” was the one she was most nervous about. It’s the song where she went furthest into that honesty, where she let herself be complicated about something people expect you to be peaceful about. She wasn’t sure how it would land, but it has become a favorite of those close to her.
“You’re anxious to see how people will receive you and your honesty,” she says, “and that’s the thing where they’re like — no, this is it.”
Grace produced the whole thing herself. Which is worth sitting with for a second, because the album doesn’t sound like a first attempt, it sounds considered. There’s depth without too much density; she kept her track counts low and let the vocals carry most of the weight, layering harmonies and reverb until a song feels full without being crowded.
Her reference points are artists who do the same thing: Madison Ryan Ward, Lizzie McAlpine, the kind of songwriter who builds a world out of not very much. Grace studied them the same way she taught herself Logic — by listening closely and paying attention to how things were made.
“I definitely sit and just study the music,” she says. “Just picking apart what other people do. I feel like just playing around has really gotten me to where I’m at,” she admits. “I definitely don’t know all the tips and tricks yet, but it’s just so fun.”
Grace brought in a mixing and mastering engineer named Clay for the final stretch. Clay is a producer and audio engineer who lives in Central Arkansas and owns Apt. 62 Studios. Like any multi-hyphenate, he also plays in a worship band that tours regionally. He joined this interview from the back of a van somewhere outside Houston. He and the band had just wrapped a week of church camp and were heading home.
Clay had been on OpenMic for a while, using it the way it’s meant to be used: scrolling through profiles, finding artists whose taste seemed to match his, and practicing the art of cold outreach.
“I was just swiping through, looking for people that I thought could use my services,” he says. “I think a really cool thing about OpenMic is it gives you a really good idea of other people’s taste in music, so it’s easy to find like-minded people. I just kind of saw what Grace had put on her profile and I was like, oh, that’s cool — so I shot her a DM.”
The message was simple. “Hey, I’m Clay, I’m an engineer and producer in Arkansas, let me know if you ever need anything.”
Grace, for her part, had found OpenMic through an OSU class story. Someone posted about it, said they knew the creator, and Grace figured if someone on campus was posting it, there had to be people to work with on there. She downloaded it, started scrolling, and that’s when she met Clay.
Clay mixed two of the tracks and mastered the full album. But the collaboration was about more than polish. Grace wanted someone who would actually talk her through what they were doing, not just hand back a finished file.
“I feel like I could send it to someone else and they would just do everything,” she says. “You were very present in the process & really great with advice and teaching me how to do certain things.”
Clay’s take: that’s just how it should work. “I’m such a nerd about this stuff and I will always talk to anybody about it every opportunity I get,” he says.
What he found on the other end was an artist with genuinely strong instincts. Low track counts. Impactful vocal layering. And a lo-fi R&B sensibility that had people comparing her to a Christian Lizzie McAlpine — which, Grace confirms, is basically the best thing anyone can say to her. Clay witnessed her growth in real time as the project moved forward. “The stuff you kept sending me, I could definitely tell the difference in the songs and elements as it went on. She was in her bag on that EP, dude. It was good.”
Clay’s books are open if anyone needs a producer or engineer with a heart of gold and a true passion for growing with artists.
What’s next for Grace? Well, she just got a new mic (an AKG, chosen specifically for her voice) and has songs in progress. Grad school starts this fall, so the pace will be whatever it needs to be. There’s no label, no deadline, no plan beyond making things she means.
“One, just to get rid of perfectionism,” she says of why she keeps putting music out. “Because I know that if I over-analyzed and criticized myself, I would never put anything out.”
The other reason is simpler: music has helped her, and she wants to offer that back.
“Seeing other people’s creativity and how it’s influenced them, that’s what inspires me to keep putting things out there and just be real and honest.”
Resonance is out now. Go listen to it.
Grace connected with her engineer Clay through OpenMic: a music networking app for musicians.
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