Episode 11
Show Notes
Live With Matt Rad #11
July 28, 2020
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 10
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Jon:
Never apologize for taking time for yourself and taking the breaks that you need.
Deadlines:
If you can be consistently excellent and on time that puts you way ahead of the pack. But if you’re consistent and deliver a B+ then it won’t take you as far. Nobody cares
Jon has never missed a deadline.
Breaks and phone calls throughout the day are what keep the creativity flowing.
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The narrative we’re told is that you have to struggle to make art.
Young songwriters run out of stuff to write about because they’re writing two songs a day and don’t have a life to live. That’s a narrative of the LA songwriting scene; there are only so many things that people are singing about.
Matt: Ubermod on a Juno 6 w/ chorus. It puts you into space.
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Every artist needs a band. It’s not the drummer/guitarist. It’s the branding person, marketer, lawyer, and manager. They need to be believers.
Jon’s a pessimist when it comes to releasing music. Because of the huge hill to climb. It’s super dense with competition and there are lots of ways to go wrong.
You have to show your work to lots of other people while also being used to getting lots of “no’s”.
Double down on your story. Stories are important.
There’s no point in trying to sound like someone else. Everyone is already the best at what they do. The only way to kill it is to do what you do. Jon always points out the bits that he thinks are the weird parts that someone does uniquely.
Everyone thinks up-tempo means happy. But there are so many upsetting or dark songs at high tempos. It used to mean 128+, but it could be more like 110+ today. Born in the USA feels like a “rah rah” anthem, but it’s really about how hard it is to be a working class person in the USA.
Expanding Your Network:
Find yourself in a situation where you can press play.
Matt: If you can’t be in person with someone, try to find a way. Find a way to offer value. That’s how he got in with Eric Valentine. Eric told him to stay in touch and Matt touched base every two weeks for six months.
Gary Vaynerchuk: Send 1000 DMs to people. Hustle.
If you’re a young mixer, what do you do? Jons advice is to DM people you like and offer your services, even if you will get lots of “no’s” and non-responses. Jon doesn’t know how to respond because he can’t offer a position right now. Jon doesn’t want to be sent beats to pass on to his artists. That’s something you should only send if you’re trying to work as a publisher.
Make shit and put it out then be relentless in reaching out to people.
Matt didn’t get hired to produce a band with real money until he was 26.
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Jon has an assistant and he is so happy to be able to offer him a salary. Jon talks about leveling him up and getting him mixes so that he can set certain financial goals for himself.
In the mix game you almost need to start offering your services for free.
It’s time to start learning how to do more things. If you’re a tracking engineer, there probably won’t be work for another year or two. People are moving towards working from home.
Jon is 34 years old, but he’s only been able to save money for 2 years now. Matt is similar.
Use this opportunity to practice and get really good, for when the world gets back on track.
This is a time to practice if you can.
Send out those DM’s. Show them what’s up. Reach out to your friends and keep in touch.
