I spent the first 23 years of my life within the same 25 mile radius. The same people, same roads, same routine. The more I started travelling, the more I started realizing that Phoenix, Arizona wasn’t the place for me anymore. Although I can appreciate it and do miss some aspects (parking lots, not losing a race with a pedestrian, paying more for rent on a closet sized apartment than most pay for a mortgage on a 4 bedroom house, parking lots…did I mention parking lots? ), I grew out of it. I’m hyper, fast-paced, impatient and like to push myself to the limits. Arizona is slow, calm, and HOT.
One of my frequent weekend trips was to the LA area. My brother and former roommate were living there at the time, and I had a few friends who were equally as attracted to the city as I was. It made finding road trip buddies easy. Eventually it started to feel like home to me. As I’d make my way on to the last leg of the I-10 and start seeing the downtown buildings, a calm would come over me. Everything about this place just felt right. With that, I made the decision to move as soon as I was finished with school.
Hollywood in particular has always been a vortex for me. Music is what drives me and this town radiates that. The history is astonishing when you think about it. Yes, it’s changed drastically, but so many of the greatest bands in the world started here, including many that inspired me to get into music. The plan was to finish school, find a job out there that would pay my bills, and begin interning at a recording studio.
I finished school on May 12th and was on my way to Cali with a U-Haul behind my truck, driving 45 mph in 65 mph winds on May 15th. My dad was in front of me in his Escalade drinking a cappuccino and coasting at 80 mph. Thank you for the independence lesson here Gregg. 🙂
Anyways, a few months prior to moving, I had reached out to several recording studios in the Hollywood area. I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to find a gig considering that there are thousands of other people with the same goal in mind. I probably sent out 20 e-mails and got 3-4 responses. Most of the replies stated that I should contact them as the time got closer. I did just that, and heard back from almost none of them. Apparently a lot of people say they’re moving to LA to live their dream. Apparently a lot of people never go. That wasn’t me.
A few weeks before I moved, I got a response from a studio in the heart of Hollywood. I talked to the guy on the phone and he told me what everyone else told me: call me when you get here. I assumed this would be another studio that I never heard from again, but miraculously, I had talked someone into giving me a job……that didn’t pay me anything. Honestly, I couldn’t have been more excited!
I assume most of you are aware that living in LA is…..how shall I put it……expensive as shit! All of my bills were about to double and I didn’t have a job. I had a few leads and a little bit of money saved up, but I knew it wouldn’t last long.
About 3 days before I was to leave, I got a call from the manager at Iron Gym in Santa Monica. She asked me what day I was moving. I told her I’d be there on Saturday, May 15th. On Sunday, May 16th, I found myself waking up to an alarm at 6:15am. I hopped in my truck and headed to my first day of work.
That following Monday, I met with the owner of the recording studio I was going to be interning at. We talked about his goals for the studio and my personal goals, which were to further develop my skills and eventually be running my own sessions. We agreed that I could work with him as much as I wanted and that when the studio was free, I could use it to experiment. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my new life.
I began working at the studio several times a week. I was surprised by a few things. First off, my education had definitely paid off. I admit, I was nervous walking into a real studio in Hollywood. I remember thinking that maybe I really didn’t know enough to be doing this. Maybe I should go back to school. What if I make a fool out of myself? Then I remembered that I have been making a fool of myself since I was a toddler and I should probably just go for it anyways.
In fact, what I found was that every problem I ran into was something I knew how to fix. The foundation I had built at school had given me the tools I needed to do this for real. It gave me the confidence I needed to keep moving forward.
The second eye-opener was just how different the real studio setting was compared to the school setting. Of course, I had been to real recording sessions prior to this, but never as a first engineer. It was extremely different and continues to be an education in and of itself. It made me realize the importance of both a good education and real life experience. They go hand and hand and are useless without each other. Where the education comes from isn’t important, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a school, but the quality of it is. I was lucky enough to have gone to a school that was run by someone who gave a shit. Thanks Andy!
As time went on, I started really honing in on my skills. Being at the studio almost every day and night allowed me to learn more than I could have ever imagined and in a relatively short time. The more I experimented, the more I started figuring out what I did or didn’t like. I listened to others, watched what they did and why they did it, and then tested it out on my own to see my own personal reaction. Yes I’m a nerd and no I don’t need non-prescription nerd glasses to prove it like every other person in LA County. Especially because they wouldn’t do my blind eyes any good. Good thing I work with sound and not sight….
Eventually, I started to pick up my own recording sessions and could actually start to call my internship a job (although my “job” happens to be one of my passions). It always feels good to get paid, but when you get paid to do something that you’d otherwise do just for fun, it feels really good.Â
So here I am, coming up on one year in LA. The time has literally flown by. Time goes exponentially fast in Los Angeles. I’ve been privileged enough to work with some extremely talented musicians such as Gary Mallaber (Steve Miller Band) , Marlo Henderson (Michael Jackson), Bonnie Pointer (Pointer Sisters) and Bernie Dresel (Family Guy, American Dad) to name a few. I’m building my own clientele, have repeat clients and creating a career for myself. I’m continuing to experiment and learning as much as I can along the way. It’s fun to feel myself growing as an engineer and to actually notice that I’m getting better. I still have far less experience and knowledge as some of the greats, still have my moments of “what the hell am I doing?” , but overall I’m working towards my goals and will never stop.
While many people sit on Facebook thinking my life is all peaches and creme, the music business doesn’t come without problems (understatement much?). This business is full of ups and downs, ebb and flow. As an engineer, you can be booked solid for weeks straight, and then the phone stops ringing. People make a lot of empty promises, they’re selfish, and they just don’t give a shit most of the time.  It is frustrating, scary, and completely unsettling.  I’ve hit several road blocks both with people, and myself. The important thing to remember is that there is always a way around the road block, you just have to figure out what method it’s going to take.
Even with those uncertainties, I can honestly say that each day I walk into the studio, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I often feel like I should pinch myself because I must be stuck in a dream. In fact, this is my life. I get to be creative, I get to work with different people, different music, and different instruments. If I don’t like something, I have the ability to change it. I feel that I’m surrounded by several like-minded people and although most know me as a pretty outgoing person who gets along with everyone, I finally feel like I fit in here (which is kind of scary if you think about it).
In my next post, I’ll fill you in on the changes I’m about to embark on. I’m about to take one of the biggest risks of my life….
Here’s to hoping I get the cheese…..
itjustsoundsgood 