Who I Am
I didn’t start out as a music producer. I didn’t even grow up involved with any kind of musical hobby. My background comes from creative writing. I started writing poems and short stories since early high school (14 years old). It felt like the only avenue I could creatively express myself. I spent the rest of my high school years pursuing this passion. I went to college with the intention of pursuing creative writing but I had to confront a wake up call after my first semester. I had been in a cold spell before college started and the first semester I barely wrote for my pleasure. I didn’t read like the others in my major. And I wasn’t fitting in with them either. Instead of feeling like an outlier, it felt like a threat to my lifestyle. I wasn’t living like a writer. I don’t think I wanted to live like one either. This wake up call had me re-think life, along with the dread that creative writing wasn’t a worthwhile degree to pursue. I either needed to change my lifestyle to a writer’s and drop out or I needed to change my major into something that I felt I could do for the rest of my life.
I had always wanted to be part of the music industry but it seemed like it was something closer to a daydream than an actual possibility. I didn’t play an instrument and wasn’t interested in doing it for a career. I didn’t want to be in the business side nor did I understand anything musical to really approach the field. I did think about writing about music but it’s a tough gig to get and the amount of voices that get heard have always been narrow. It was during my confusion and lack of direction that music production and technology was brought to my attention. It felt like a missing glove. I’m an avid music listener and am constantly listening to new music. I already make mental notes about changes I would make to the music I listen to or payed close attention to the production of a song. I loved adding effects to songs so they would have a different sound, sometimes even preferring the song with the effects I added. It felt like a calling I couldn’t ignore. I switched majors and schools and began my journey.
The road of learning a whole new skillset wasn’t easy. I quickly found out that it wasn’t a simple major to learn and there was a lot more to it than meets the eye (or umm… ear?). Aural skills, performing, and sense of musicality were not natural to me and were a focus within the program. The professors took the approach that the better of a musician the producer was, the better of a producer they can be; like finding a common language to speak or understanding the language the musician was trying to speak. It was about bridging the gap between the musicians and the studio. Those aspects had me like a fish out of water and made me question if I was even able to tackle the feat of taking on the challenges of this major. Yet, it wasn’t all hard. There were some aspects that were surprisingly easy for me, such as: critical listening, written theory, and learning piano. I think what was most validating is that there were things that I did just as well or better than my peers who have been doing production and/or music for longer than I have. I wasn’t very confident in these college years but I believe the handful of positive subconscious feedback is what kept my head up. I was learning and feeling behind was part of the process. Making music that I loved, putting my poems into songs, and obsessing over sound is fulfilling and I wouldn’t give my knowledge of how to for anything.
After college, I had to face another reality check. I didn’t have any of the tools that were available to me while in college. I didn’t have a computer to run a DAW, a keyboard, etc. All I had was a SM48 and a degree. I worked a grocery store job (haha still working at grocery stores) and saved up. I saved as much as I could so I could to move to Nashville, get a computer with a DAW, and a keyboard. Typing it makes it feel a lot easier than it was but this was also when COVID struck. While it was stressful, it ended up being a blessing in disguise in many ways. I kept my job since I was an essential worker and overtime was approved. They were long hours but it’s how I was able to afford everything and obtain all the things I wanted to. A wedding, a move, and set myself up to purchase the tools I didn’t have. It was my time in Nashville that I wrote and released my first album, “Bigger Than Me”. While I’m proud of my first album, I’ve learned a lot in that process and, since then, has got me eager to one-up myself. I haven’t been able to release music due to wanting to improve my approach to releasing music, financial struggles, and personal life. But I’m eager. I’m yearning. I’m wanting to make and release music and continue to give my all into making something special. My plan currently is to release a song a month and then consolidate those releases into an album with some additional songs. I hope you all can join me in this part
As mentioned, I am also a husband and married my lovely wife in 2020. We moved to Nashville, TN in 2020 and are now residing in Winston-Salem, NC as of 2023.
Gear: DAW - Logic, Interface - Scarlett 2i4, Headphones - Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro, Monitors - KRK Classic 5, Mics - Pearl CR57 / Shure SM48, Keyboard - Casio CT-X700, Guitar - Epiphone Songmaker DR-100
Some of my favorite bands/artists: Switchfoot, Coheed and Cambria, Glen Hansard, Oh Wonder, and Blue October
Favorite Games: Smash Bros, Zelda (especially Twilight Princess), Witcher 3, Mario Kart/party games, and story based games (TellTale and those like it).
Favorite Movies: Boyhood, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Incredibles, Princess Mononoke, and LotR Trilogy.
I am constantly listening to new music and finding new media to watch, play, or listen to. I consider them all art and would love to find a way to share thoughts and conversations with others on those topics. My intention is to create that dialogue in the blog section of my website and possibly expand upon other topics also.