We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Yilong Zhang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Yilong, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I started music by playing bands and and learning beat-making by myself during my undergrad where I studied visual arts. Then I went to a two-year master program at Frost School of Music to pursue music production further.
If I knew what I know now, I would have put more time and effort into finding the right community and collaborating with more people. There’s always something to learn from everybody, and you learn faster when you are actually working on something.
It is hard to make progress when you got stuck in your own perspective.
Collaborating with people has really helped me improve my skills and opened my eyes to the possibilities.
Being easy to work with and being able to get projects done on time is usually more valued than talent!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hey there! My name is Yilong and I go by the artist name Yilon.
I am a music producer, singer-songwriter and visual artist based in Miami.
I play the guitar and produce tracks with in various genres such as pop, hip-hop, Lo-fi, R&B, and EDM.
I also do graphic design, photography and videography.
I am passionate about creating cohesive branding for artists with music, visuals and fashion. I am looking forward to work with creatives that have similar goals aesthetics.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
There are a lot of local musician networking events being hosted in Miami by studios and curators. You can meet a lot of really cool people and make genuine connections. I went to one hosted by SENSATIONS EVENTS and meet a one of my closest music partner there.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
the most rewarding part for me is get to see my vision realized.
It’s a great feeling when something in your head turns into a real product through your effort. Your projects become your babies.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://yilonmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yilooong/
