Early gym sessions, making beats, partying, networking, and then back to the studio
Sept. 7th, 2014 5:00AM
I’m so excited about my new content idea of documenting my life through pictures on instagram that I wake up before my alarm. I grab my gym bag, pre-workout, a towel and head down to the 24 hour fitness. It’s already hot and muggy so I know I’m going to have a great workout. I start sweating inside my truck with all the windows down while I’m blasting Dizzy Wright at 5:30 in the morning. I arrive and crank out the hardest bicep/tricep workout I could muster. *Snap* I post a picture on IG with a motivating caption and then head out.
8:00AM
I’m on a conference call with a local cigar magazine as I’ve been hired to create music for their next advert. I’ve been making some decent money making background music for YouTube creators and I had been wanting to diving into sync licensing. Since I didn’t have the brand yet, nor network, this was the next best thing. The call ended with the editor-in-chief telling me about an event he’s hosting next month and wants as much content as possible. “No problem” I tell him as I mark up my whiteboard with more ideas. My beats were selling okay that month but I know that I needed to be prepared in case things slowed down. I spent the next two hours calling around looking for more live sound gigs or spots I could DJ at. Gotta keep multiple sources of income in this business.
11:15AM
I open up Logic Pro and started cranking out as many beats as I could in preparation of next month. One of the ways I’ve been able to sell beats is posting snippets of them online. To make sure that I have enough videos ready I started batching content so that I could always have something on deck to present. At this time I’m really starting to get into sound design as I just discovered a group called Trifonic. The sound scapes these guys create is amazing yet I have no idea how to even emulate one of the effects that they are pulling off. I go down a YouTube rabbit hole trying to figure it out but eventually just do my own thing. It’ll take some time I guess.
5:00PM [Sharp]
My friend Cleveland invited me to this church in Rice Village that needed an extra sound guy for an album release party/event they were hosting. He wanted me on the team and to be available for rehearsals so that I could practice and learn a few things. Apparently, the event was for a very well known Christian artist in the south and my boy Cleveland thought it’d great if I got some more time on the soundboard under my belt. We had a few days before the event to get this right so we might as get to it. At first, it was grueling as we practiced situations where the sound went out and what I should do. Luckily, Cleveland was patient with me and I learned a new workflow and some work arounds.
*Snap*
“Good looking out” I said as I exited to church a few hours later to catch up with an artist who was looking to hire me to produce his next project.
9:30PM
I arrived at the spot early hoping that I would see the artist as soon as I walked in. Of course not. I grabbed a Red Stripe at the bar and chopped it up with the owner. He’s a former DJ from Brooklyn and was telling me old war stories about being involved with the emerging house scene in the 90’s. An hour later the artist, along with another artist I wanted to produce for, walk in. We greet each other, buy a round, and talk about plans on a summer release. *Snap* I love spending this time with an artist because I get to go inside their heads and understand what it is they are trying to create. It makes the whole production process simple and easy for me.
12:AM Midnight
I get a text message from a friend of mine that he’s at another spot that I love to go to and we should catch up. I tell the guys I’m going to head out but let’s schedule a call. We agree on a time and I jump in my truck. As I approach the lounge I could hear a Sade remix blaring through the doors. I walk in hearing a combination of house music, Caribbean classics, smelling high dollar perfume, and sage burning in the corner. This is my vibe. I see my friend on the couch across the venue and walk over to him. I give him a small recap of my day and he starts telling me about this branding service idea he thinks I should be apart of. *Snap*
1:30AM
I head home with the windows down except this time there’s a little bit of a breeze. Because I’ve heard so much loud music all day I actually don’t have the radio on. It’s just me, the wind, and the euphoric feeling of ‘this is what it’s like being a full-time producer.’
Nothing like it.
