Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jesus Martinez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jesus, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Great question! Yes, that’s a recurring thought in my mind, at moments very common, and other moments very scarce. Usually when things don’t go in the way that I expected or when I have to face what seem impossible challenges, but you know what? I think that’s also the beauty of being in arts because artists question everything and look beyond first sight to obtain a deep appreciation of life, and it is impossible not to question “what if” or “maybe I should’ve done something different, easier”, but no, I believe that working in arts its so rewarding that, for the people that choose this career path, it means everything. We can question if we should’ve picked a regular job, but at the end of the day, we thrive in the challenges and toughness of life as creatives.

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.

Sure! I’m a mixing engineer, studio manager, and educator. I ran a studio that founded a few years ago with my wife, Alfonsina Torrealba, which is an amazing orchestral conductor. We mostly work together mixing music of every genre, but we have focused more on orchestral pieces, where her ability as conductor fits perfectly with our work, making it very special and quite interesting for people. We currently make a few albums a year with a business that keeps growing and bringing us joy.

In addition to that, I got into education as a way to help and give back to students from Latin America. When I was studying in Chile, I felt very discouraged about my future career in the music industry because I was so far away from cities such as London, New York, or LA, so it always felt like an impossible task unless I moved to somewhere else (LA in my case), so now, remotely, I try to inspire students to take leaps toward their prospect careers. Just like a side note, my story it’s before the advent of music streaming, Spotify, and all this content creation era. Luckily now it’s easier to get yourself known and have a creative career.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My story is completely about resilience. I was born in Chile in the early 90s, post-dictatorship, with a brand new but hurt society that is still now recovering. Growing up in Latin America is never as easy compared to being raised in the States or Europe, where there are more resources to thrive as a person and a professional. When I began into music I really didn’t know what to do with my life, just playing guitar around and that’s it. However, in Chile, there is this conception that you HAVE to study in a University, doesn’t matter what or where, but study, and if it’s in a public university, the better. So I ended up studying Sound Engineering at the University of Chile. That was a career that I didn’t know existed or even what was a sound engineer, but since I had to study something, I did it. That meant everything to me, I got completely lost in the engineering world and I loved it so much, that I had found what to do with my life. But now I’m in Chile, a place where there weren’t many opportunities, so I moved to LA, twice. The first one didn’t go as planned. The second time was better, I got into big studios and met huge professionals in the industry who are still helping me and guiding me every time. However, I had to go back to Chile and make my own workplace over there. Given that I still wanted to find more worldwide opportunities, I made another move, in this case to Europe, where I managed to get accepted into Berklee to keep polishing my technical skills along with my soft skills that were missing to grow professionally. That meant a complete shift in my life where now I can do what I want in a rewarding way while preparing for the next challenge.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had known before the importance of being present in the moments. My job is very technical, but the important part is not that. It’s how you can deal with people, with the situations in general, how you face music creation and frustration, and how to canalize the beauty of music. I feel every engineer wants to be technically perfect, with the best gear, the best plugin, or whatever, even trashing others’ processes because of their equipment, however, the key to being a good engineer is far from that. It is being capable of dealing with artists and their emotions, moving the ego aside, and supporting the art no matter what. Don’t get me wrong although, I love gear, and I love nice preamps, but the art goes well beyond that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.torremarstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audiojesusmr/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audiojesusmr/
• Other: https://www.audiojesusm.com/

Image Credits

Alfonsina Torrealba
Shabnam J. Kermani
Pablo Ramirez