We were lucky to catch up with Thomas Crowell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Thomas, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
When it comes to making music, sound design, and other areas of that nature, I am self taught. Meaning I did not go to school to learn music production, I watched hundreds of YouTube videos and various masterclasses to learn Ableton, mixing and mastering, and sound design. Another key aspect of all of this was that I put in my 10,000 hours into experimentation apart from educating myself by watching videos and reading. I would say I probably learned even more from experimentation; putting together different sound combinations, using different waveforms and filters, combining different effects and seeing what results they brought certainly taught me a lot. I suppose it connects to Learning by Doing, and I would certainly agree with that.
Knowing what I know now, I don’t think I would have changed much. Looking back in hindsight, I think teaching myself worked to my favor to a degree. Essentially I learned how to make music and do things the way I wanted to, because I did not have anyone telling me to do things a certain way. However I do recognize that having no specific guidance did lead to a lot of stress in the beginning because there came much uncertainty if I was doing things in an ideal way. But over time I realized that with all creative endeavors, there is no “right way” to do something. There are in fact multiple ways of doing the same thing, many different approaches. Do some yield more optimal results yes, but I feel it all comes down to what works best for you.
I think Sound Design was one of the most essential skills I picked up, as well as Mixing and Mastering. These are 2 very important skills which I think translate into the ultimate personalization for your craft in music. Sound Design is important because having a fundamental understanding of this allows you to truly create something unique, being able to create sounds and sculpt existing sounds to your liking. Mixing and Mastering is important because it builds on top of that. Essentially you can mix the song to sound exactly how you want, wether its leveling all the different song elements together like making the drums more pronounced or giving certain character to elements with different plugins. The song itself as a whole will have your unique flavor.
The only obstacle I can think of is not having a specific person I could go to for direction or questions. Since I am self taught, I relied initially off of the information I could find. In addition to inquiring knowledge, I had to also learn “What questions to ask”. When you’re learning about something with no previous knowledge or guidance, sure you can ask many different questions, but figuring out what is essential and deep diving into that I feel is most important. Going back to what makes sense and works for you, there are many different approaches, so figuring out the scope of how everything works then allows you to deep dive on what makes sense to you and learn more about.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a Dubstep Producer and DJ who enjoys creating music, performing, and DJing. I would describe my sound as: Dark, Grungy, Metallic, Aggressive and Atmospheric. The complexity of my song arrangements is what I take pride in, painting such a profound in depth structure which one can truly appreciate.
Ever since I was in High School, it has been a dream of mine to perform in Music Festivals, back in 2015 when my Dad took me to my first festival Electric Daisy Carnival – Las Vegas, I imagined myself on stage performing and showcasing my music, making people dance, feeling happy and alive. That is one of the greatest joys for me being an artist, seeing how my music can impact people, making them feel excited and dance.
My Branding and Story is what makes me unique as a Dubstep Artist:
“I Am Mystic Wonder, the Sorcerer of Heavy Bass Music. As a Mystic, my Superpower is Sound Design, and I express that within my music. I like to think of playing my music as “Casting Spells”.”
Some of the Imagery and Themes of my brand include Skulls, Candles, Darkness and Lightning. I will explain the significance of what these different things mean to me and my brand.
Skull: The Skull is the Home of your Mind, I like to associate this with Knowledge, Higher Consciousness, Creativity and Wisdom.
Candles: I think of Candles as a representation of life. It begins with a small spark, which gets brighter as it grows. Some candles give off wonderful fragrance, and come in all shapes and sizes. But they do not burn forever, eventually they reach the end of the wick and fade out. This is a reminder of mortality, but with that we can choose to enjoy our gift of life and make the most of our time doing what we love.
Darkness: While some may perceive Darkness as Evil, That is not the representation I have for myself. Mystics do not see Darkness as Evil, they realize that Darkness is simply a Void of Light. The significance of Darkness is that this void gives light the space to shine. It is within the Darkness that Light is able to glow. So I see Darkness as the Origin of Creation, and The Canvas of Expression.
Lightning: The significance of lightning is that it is electricity. We are all energetic beings, electrical currents flow through our body, nerves, and organs. It is the “spark of life” which pulsates through our very being. Incorporating this natural element into my brand is a reminder to us that we are all energy.
All of these Images and Themes are significant to my Brand, because this is what makes me stand out as an EDM Artist, the Deep Profound Story of my Brand, Character, and Being.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect about being an artist and creative is a collection of these different feelings: The Creative Flow, The Result, The Satisfaction of your Progress, The Meaning it Gives To Your Life.
The Creative Flow: The Creative Flow is when you are in this zone of creation, where ideas are coming to you as you are creating something, and there are no questions in your mind, only answers. Everything makes sense in this state, as you see your vision coming together and have no second guesses about what may work better because you see the most ideal solution or approach. Being in this state is such a great feeling because like I stated, this is such an intense feeling of “Knowing” “Understanding” and “Intuition”. You feel highly empowered when you are in this state, and it only gets better with the more knowledge and experience you have, because you see what improvements you can make to surpass your previous efforts.
The Result: The Result is fantastic. The feeling of satisfaction after you create something feels phenomenal. The sense of accomplishment you have is unmatched. Not only feeling like it was a productive use of your time, but knowing that you have furthered yourself in all aspects, you have raised the bar for yourself, or opened a new chapter.
The Satisfaction of your Progress: The Satisfaction of your Progress is a result of “The Result”. But stepping back from a larger perspective, the satisfaction of your progress grows the longer your journey is. For example, with my music journey I now have a greater satisfaction of my progress because I see just how far I’ve come. From knowing absolutely nothing about music theory, music production, sound design, mixing and mastering, to now being exactly that, brings me such joy. I also view the different songs I make like “Chapters” in my life, this brings great meaning because aside from making great music that I could listen to on repeat forever, I can go back and remember all of the memories of where exactly I was at when I made that song. Where was I at the time in life? What was I going through? What was I thinking about? I enjoy this because it allows me to go back and reminisce.
The Meaning it Gives To Your Life: Being an Artist or Creative gives such great meaning to life. I believe what makes us unique as Human Beings is the fact that we have the conscious ability to create. While other animals can create, what separates us is the intensity and grand capacity that we have to do so. I would highly encourage EVERYONE to take up something creative. It doesn’t need to be your profession, it could be a hobby for fun, and it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you are utilizing your creativity. I also believe it is significant that everyone exercises their creative potential because we are all unique, have different gifts, and bring different perspectives. So ultimately, I would say using your creativity brings great meaning to life.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
In regards to my Social Media following, I still believe I am starting out to a degree. But just within the last few months I have started to finally see the organic growth I have been waiting for a long time. I would share to anyone who is starting out that there are a few key things that will help you: Creating/Developing your Brand, Learning Basic Marketing or Digital Marketing, and Consistency.
Creating/Developing your Brand: Creating/Developing your Brand is essential because this is the foundation of it all. Creating a solid foundation and ultimately giving yourself direction will put you on course for success. When you clearly define who you are and what you do, it is much easier to create content and develop ideas around that. It may be different for different industries but also figuring out what makes you unique, this will separate you from everyone else and you will easily stand out. Being yourself is honestly the best thing to do to accomplish this. We are all unique individuals, so naturally if you stay true to yourself and who you are, you and your brand will inevitably be unique.
Learning Basic Marketing or Digital Marketing: I’m not saying that everyone needs to go out and get an education in Marketing or Digital Marketing, but having a basic understanding of Marketing in general will give you an edge. Ultimately Marketing is the science of Creating Messages and effectively conveying them to obtain a desired result. If you can figure out how to effectively portray yourself and in an easily digestible way, then surely you will see success. Aside from how you Portray yourself, you need to understand how others see you. That is the other side of marketing which may even be most important. Keeping all this in mind you can develop ways to present yourself, identify people who resonate with what you do, and effectively market yourself. I will also say understanding the platform you are using to market yourself, such as Social Media in this case. Understanding the functionality and features of the platform you’re using will get you very far, as this all goes into optimizing yourself.
Consistency: Consistency is Key. This phrase may sound cliché or overused but it is the truth. The day you plant the seed, is not the same day you pick the fruit. Everything takes time, but most importantly consistency to yield results. The more you do something, along with refining it, the more it will grow and inevitably it will catch attention. Being patient is another important aspect of this, and ignoring comparison. I myself am not perfect at this, but I do my best to keep focused on myself and ultimately it is because of this simple truth: “Everyone has a Different Story”. Everyone has a different timeline. Just because someone may gain traction slower does not mean there is anything wrong and they are no less of a person who gains traction much faster. Even then, the person who gains traction faster, does not mean they are any greater of a person either. The truth is, everyone and everything grows at different rates. And everyone and everything blooms in their own unique times.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/mysticwonderofficial
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mysticwonderofficial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MysticWonderOfficial
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MysticWOfficial
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mysticwonderofficial
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7tXcu6DFHdafdkDh8CWTx7?si=_lujS30PRcmfUpVz0NPeMA Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mystic-wonder/1490057689 SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/mysticwonder TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mysticwonderofficial