Latest / The Scene Projects / Tyler from Art of Aries on Music Production, Mentorship, and Independent Artist Growth

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Tyler from Art of Aries on Music Production, Mentorship, and Independent Artist Growth · The Scene Projects

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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Well, welcome into a very exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is Tyler from Art of Aries studio.
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  Welcome to the show, Tyler.
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  Hello.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Hey.
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  It's a pleasure.
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  We connected because I was looking for some, top notch video production in Iowa, and that's
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  how I found you.
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  So why don't you tell us a little bit about the studio, and, we'll pick it up from there.
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  Yeah.
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  So, the studio started as an idea back in, 2019.
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  And in 2019, at that time, I was, just writing my own songs, recording songs.
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  I have a a band called Through the Darkness.
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  We've had some pretty decent success from 2013 to, you know, 02/2019.
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  And I started recording my own songs, and I was like, you know, I could I could do this
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  professionally.
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  And so prior to 2019, for the last three or four years, I was going to Forte Studios where
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  I met Brett Bojack, who's my audio engineer.
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  And I basically when we were recording at Forte Studios, I was just kind of paying attention to
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  what he was doing.
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  It was I would say it was like a kind of like an internship even though I was just watching
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  him.
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  It wasn't I was just asking questions.
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  I was very inversive with it.
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  And I realized that, you know, everything he's doing, I could do myself as well.
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  So while learning how to do the audio production side of things, I just bought a few
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  things for my my home studio, and I started from scratch there.
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  And within that period of '20 I think it was 2015 to 2019, we released I think it was, like,
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  four or five music videos.
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  And we had like, we've gotten numbers past 2,000,000 for streams and views.
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  And I knew the the guy that does our video production, and the studio just kinda fell into
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  place because my ultimate goal was to, like, pass like, skip all the mistakes I made while
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  growing up.
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  Because I was when I started, I didn't have a mentor.
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  And I want to help mentor young musicians and everything through the process of music
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  production, video production, and, like, how to have a success a successful release of music.
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  So when you have all of the things that you need, which is audio and video production, you
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  can have a really successful song and reach hundreds of thousands people like, we did.
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  Takeout recording studio insert podcast.
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  That is literally my story.
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  Awesome.
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  That was really cool.
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  Yeah.
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  I so I was, I was reiterating to you off camera a little bit here about, you know, my story and
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  how, you know, a year ago well, I probably had quit my job by now, but I had, I was releasing
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  music, songwriter myself, right, and did the media tour here in South Dakota, and it was
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  over so fast that it gave me whiplash.
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  Did the radio, did the TV news, and did a couple of podcasts, and one of them was in
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  studio with my good friend Dave Holly.
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  And I was like, hey, Dave.
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  I have that.
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  Hey.
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  I have that too.
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  And it was like, oh, I have a podcast studio at home, don't I?
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  He's like, yeah.
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  You definitely do.
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  And you have the personality to make this work.
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  And then it was just digging in.
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  I mean, I already knew a thousand musicians or more, and it was like, okay.
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  If this is what we're gonna do, I was a big podcast fan already.
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  I'm gonna pull on this thread and figure it out.
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  And through the summer, the band was playing a lot of shows still, and I was kinda busy
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  playing my own music still.
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  But, in the meantime, and especially these last six months where we've just been digging into
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  being content creators, we've, you know, try, supporting our community has turned into a
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  nomination for content creator of the year with our Midwest country music organization.
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  And, yeah, man.
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  So I I vibe with your your story a lot.
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  That's awesome.
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  It's amazing to hear.
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  Yeah.
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  So do you still do the band as well, or is that kind of faded as the studio continues to pick
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  up?
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  Yeah.
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  So great question.
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  The band thing is still, technically, like an online entity.
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  I can't I don't foresee us playing shows in the future unless we are lucky enough to, get all
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  members on board again because, everybody's a little bit older.
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  I mean, we started back when I mean, I was only, like, 19 or 18.
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  Yeah.
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  19.
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  And, I mean, it's been fifteen years.
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  A lot of them have families now, and we've always had full time jobs.
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  But as sometimes managing full time jobs, kids, extracurricular activities, and everything is
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  just a little too much for some people.
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  So the band is technically releasing music still.
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  We have an album coming out in October, which has been a long way to release, and that's
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  because of people not technically finishing their parts.
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  So I I've had to just take it into my own hands and finish the parts for them or pay somebody
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  else to do it.
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  So that's the online entity of Through the Darkness, and we're gonna be releasing
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  technically, it's a three part album.
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  There's gonna be a, a long form of it, a short form of it, and an instrumental form of it.
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  And so it'll be a pretty big, a pretty big, I don't know, concept album.
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  So, yeah, we're releasing a song tomorrow, actually.
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  That's amazing.
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  What what great timing.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  Exactly.
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  Well, and the reason that I had reached out to Artaberry Studio and connected through TJ and,
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  you know, the Kilroy's bar scene, and I I'm not very well versed in Iowa musicians or producers
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  or any of that.
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  So TJ, kinda turned me on to a big list of names.
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  It seems like when she throws out the APB, people listen.
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  So That's awesome.
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  Yeah.
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  Somebody threw your name in the hat and your vision for everything couldn't align more.
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  So the reason I reached out is because we have a songwriter showcase.
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  It's one of our podcast programs, but it's a live event.
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  And for me, these showcases are so much more valuable to the artist if you have them filmed.
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  Right?
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  Like, everyone is getting this footage that is there, and we're trying to figure out how it
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  all pays for itself so I'm not going bankrupt kind of paying for everyone else's content, but
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  trying to do the same thing to mentor musicians that like, yes, going to open mics and doing
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  showcases and things for small crowds and making fans one at a time is great.
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  But how awesome if you could then repurpose that and have it recorded and then to show to
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  the world over and over and over and over again.
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  And Yep.
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  I'm so glad that you said it and not me this time so that I can steal this and go listen to
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  this smart guy with millions of views on YouTube and how content is done.
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  This is the age we live in, and I just don't have the time to sell people on that idea.
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  Right?
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  Like, I can't get on the phone with every single artist and be like, this is why you need
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  this and why this has value to you.
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  Exactly.
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  Let Tyler tell you.
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  Yeah.
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  And just to reiterate it too, like, the only reason we had a lot of success was due to our
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  music videos.
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  Like, our video production, we take I mean, we won four awards with three different music
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  videos.
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  We we take our our work very seriously because we're we're passionate artists and
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  professionals.
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  You know?
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  And when it comes down to what you're talking about, try to get the bang for your buck as
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  well as everything else, like those live sessions, like a recording of you performing
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  your songs.
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  I had that idea, almost two years ago, and we did a bunch of live sessions.
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  A few of them were actually, all of them were free because I just wanted to prove that we
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  could get quality audio, quality video all in one take.
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  And so we had, I think it was four artists come in, and they did, it might have been five
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  artists.
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  It was five artists come in and do three or four songs.
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  And so I think majority of those live sessions are all on our YouTube now.
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  So I mean, it's that stuff is big on especially if you're just gonna be a performing artist,
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  you could just, hey.
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  Here's me performing my live songs, and this is what they sound like.
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  You know?
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  And and then when it comes down to music videos and just audio production, like, if you want to
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  invest in yourself, you want to have high quality, like, partners.
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  Right?
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  And so that's the whole thing with if you want to succeed, you can have a viral hit that isn't
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  mixed perfectly, but the songwriting has to be really, really good.
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  And I I I do believe with my history of many genres and my music history that I help people
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  bring out the best product.
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  And so whenever I I try to get people to partner with me in all of this, it's always
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  because I believe that I can get the best out of them.
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  It's not like I'm better than you.
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  It's like, I'm gonna push you and also help, like, educate you with the recording process
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  while doing it and understanding why I'm having you do multiple takes.
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  And, you know, when it comes down to just quality audio video, that's that's what I care
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  about and also, like, artist integrity.
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  I mean, it's it's all around.
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  Like, I care for the product, and I want it to sound as best as possible.
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  And I want people to invest in themselves because in the long run, it will pay off.
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  Are you a clone?
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  Am I a clone?
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  I have so many questions right now.
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  Like, you you're just hitting on all of these things that, you know, granted you had the idea
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  before I did, but I wonder if, in some way I didn't see, you know, some of your stuff, and
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  that's what kinda gave me this idea to run because I was do I've always done weeklies.
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  Like, I've been in the music industry for my entire life.
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  I mean, I stepped on stage for the first time at 13 years old.
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  That was twenty five years ago.
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  Right?
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  I have a quarter century into this thing, and I've always done these weeklies.
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  I've always had an open mic or something going on, and I was actually on my way up to
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  Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and and we played at the Midway Saloon up there, and I had organized
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  them.
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  My band played there on Saturday, and I was like, hey.
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  Do you guys mind if on Sunday, invite some of my other friends to come up here and play?
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  And we're just gonna do a little, you know, Midwest CMO showcase.
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  And, literally, I was driving up to the venue, right, on on Friday, and I was like, I think we
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  should film this.
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  You know?
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  And so I made some calls, and it all came together so so seamlessly that it was like,
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  well, yeah, it doesn't matter what the money is.
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  Like, we need to show this to the world that, like, hey.
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  This is what we're gonna do now.
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  Right?
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  Yep.
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  And my whole thing has just kind of been the value proposition to either artists or
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  sponsors.
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  I would like to give the artist the the footage.
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  Right?
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  But I I can't afford to do that right now when you're talking, you know, 1,500 just to get
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  someone to kinda show up and shoot it and give you a simple edit, and now you have seven
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  twenty minute episodes.
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  Like, I don't expect anyone else to give their time away.
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  And and and I shouldn't.
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  And, also, artists should expect to have to invest in their in their careers as well.
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  Yep.
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  Absolutely.
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  So, Tyler, I know you got new music coming out with the band.
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  Yep.
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  What's what's kinda next for the studio?
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  I can already envision us working together on some other things.
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  I don't know if March 9 is going to work out for us yet.
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  I'm gonna have to turn this episode around today, Tyler.
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  Gosh darn it.
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  No worries.
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  No worries.
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  Yeah.
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  For the studio, so, at the studio, not only do I do audio and video production, I do I teach
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  piano and drums, and I do it in, a a playing based format rather than reading because I do
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  believe I mean, my dad taught me drums when I was, like, four years old, so I've been playing
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  for, I don't know, twenty eight years, I guess.
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  Nope.
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  Twenty twenty nine.
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  I'm I'm a year older, I guess.
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  And I was, like, a self taught drummer up until I was in, you know, the whole jazz band thing
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  and everything.
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  And so now, I found my passion for teaching music, which helped me become a a self employed
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  person, which helped me actually propel the studio into what it is today.
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  So it's been a a pretty busy almost two years of, self employment for myself.
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  And with the the next year so this year, we're gonna be releasing music as the studio, and
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  that's the exciting part for for this album is because it's gonna be a really big production
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  with a lot of huge sounds in it, and it's gonna propel our audio, like, our, I guess, our
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  discography at the studio because there's gonna be so many different songs of different genres,
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  and they're gonna be produced really well.
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  Because whenever I can't handle something, I send it to my audio engineer, Brett Bojack, and
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  he's out of Ankeny, Iowa.
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  And he does a phenomenal job of mixing and mastering and making sure that things are up to
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  par with, you know, industry standards.
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  And so that's the biggest thing for the studio is this year, we're gonna be releasing a lot of
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  music that shows our professionalism.
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  And then next year is when I'm gonna be releasing my my, like, my my teaching course,
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  which is gonna be for piano and actually, just piano where there's four levels of, like, an
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  online course that you could purchase or as well as just, like, since I teach in person,
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  like, I just teach people the four levels throughout the the year and all that.
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  And so it's just a lot of audio production, and we have a music video that we did for a guy
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  from Colorado that's coming out this year.
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  Well, I'm looking at your portfolio on my computer right now, and you got one of my
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  favorite artists in the world, mister Jordan Beam.
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  Yeah.
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  He, we're I'm trying to get him to do a music video.
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  I keep telling there's so many country artists and just artists in general that that need to
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  do music videos to help propel them to, like, that Nashville level.
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  You know?
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  Well, hey, brother.
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  I think that we're gonna make that happen.
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  I'm obviously well connected in our music scene and in the Midwest CMO of which Jordan was our,
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  new artist of the year last year.
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  Yeah.
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  And, that organization has completely changed my life, and maybe we'll get you in as a member
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  of the org as well and, have you start helping some of these other people too, man.
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  It's incredible what you're doing.
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  You have a not only do you have, you know, a a great skill set, but you have a servant's
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  heart, and you're really trying to I love the teaching, and that's really where I've come to.
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  You know, I'll be 39 in a few months now.
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  And, you know, in my podcasting world, it's the same thing where I'm like, okay.
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  I kinda if I can learn how to do this in a year and seven years ago, I was in a prison cell,
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  then literally anyone on the planet can learn how to do this stuff.
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  So Yep.
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  Let me go out, and I've seen how podcasts have healed me.
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  Some of our other shows are a lot more in-depth on just personal trauma and and issues,
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  addiction, and all that stuff.
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  Right?
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  Mhmm.
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  But it also can be a vessel for entertainment and just meeting new people and having
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  interesting conversations, like we did today.
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  I know this wasn't on your agenda.
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  Yep.
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  Tyler, why don't you go ahead and tell everybody where they can find you before I let
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  you go?
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  Absolutely.
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  Thanks for having me, by the way.
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  So right now, Art of Very Studios is taking any video projects or audio projects.
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  We have time for that.
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  We you can go to artofverystudios.com on Facebook.
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  It's just facebook.com/artofverystudios.
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  If you're interested in listening to my passion project, Through the Darkness, it is through
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  the darkness.band to go to the home page, and it has our whole story there.
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  It has our whole discography that's, I think recently been put out.
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  I probably would have to update that website, but it's it's basically updated.
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  And then, we're on Spotify.
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  Our entire discography is there too.
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  So, yeah, Through the Darkness Band and Art of Very Studios, and, I'm Tyler Gathercole.
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  And, thanks for having me.
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  So is your name Bubba?
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  Yes, sir.
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  Awesome.
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  Alright.
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  Well, it was yeah.
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  Thanks for having me on this, unexpected morning.
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  Tyler, thanks for being part of the scene.
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  Absolutely.
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  Wouldn't have it any other way.
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  Thanks for tuning in to the Scene Projects Podcast Network.
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  We appreciate you listening.
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