We recently connected with Donny Hammonds and have shared our conversation below.

Donny, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’ll try to condense this topic and be as brief as possible to cover the journey. I’ve been playing music since I was 12 yrs old ( I am now 46) I played in bands all thru my high school years and even after Graduation. I always had the dream of being a full time musician but never really thought that it’d be possible. I graduated high school and got a job like a young man should do and starting saving money to buy my first home. I knew I wanted my own house and not rent and throw away money. I ended up buying my first home at the young age of 19. I was excited and had a good job and was a normal successful guy working a day job and playing music on the weekends. I thought ok, this is cool, I still get to play music and can be able to work and maintain a living. A couple of years went by and I got interested in The Recording Aspect of music. So I began to pursue how to build and operate a recording studio. I ended up building a studio in my home in the basement. I’d invite friends over and work on projects to learn the craft and how things work etc. I did this for a year or so and the. Started getting calls from other musicians / bands that wanted to record a song or a demo. Then it occurred to me, hey you could make a little money at this recording thing. So I started bringing people in and charging for studio time. It grew pretty fast and I realized At this point that I needed a bigger place than my basement to have a Full Production Recording Studio. So I ventured out and rented my first building to open a Fully Operating Recording Studio. So here I was In my 20’s, working a full time job, running a recording studio and playing gigs on most weekends. But still always dreamed of doing Music for a living. I never had the courage to just up and walk away from the comfort and security of my Day job to pursue music. As the years went on, the studio got busier and I started playing gigs thru the week as well in addition to the weekend gigs, on top of recording other Artist in the midst of all this fun! I was paying my dues and investing lots of hours to keep up with all this. After several years of doing this, I realized that I didn’t have “time” for my day job. I was playing 3 – 4 nights a week and my recording studio was steady with clients. So at that point I realized, hey I can do this. I just have to work hard to book shows, promote the recording studio and make it stay consistent. That has been over 15 years and I haven’t worked a day job since! I’m thankful everyday for being able to Live my dream. The Afterdark Studio has been in business now for 25 yrs. And I play anywhere from 200 – 250 shows a year. I have Released 12 Albums and have written and Recorded over 300 songs of my own and have produced hundreds of bands and artist since opening the Afterdark Studio in 1994. I’ve been fortunate to work with Artist from The Voice & America Idol. I’ve had clients that have won awards from Songs we’ve Recorded & Produced. It’s an absolute honor and blessing to be able to live my dream of doing music and I never take it for granted. It just fell in my lap and evolved itself and I’m excited to have this opportunity in my life to be a full time musician / producer.. It takes a lot of work and dedication but it’s a fun ride!

Donny, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a musician, producer and studio engineer. I get to help other Artist purse their dreams of making music thru my Recording Studio (The Afterdark Studio). I play Live shows with my Band (The Donny Hammonds Band) With Bassist Steve Botsford & Drummer Adam Smalley. Being a musician and playing live shows is an absolute blast but being a Recording Engineer and Producer is super fun as well! It’s two different animals. I enjoy both and don’t really have a preference over one or the other. I enjoy music in general. Helping other artist and bands build their songs and bring them to life is very rewarding and exciting.. We work with Artist from all walks of life and different genres. We don’t drain peoples bank account to make a record. We like to sow into their journey and make rates affordable for all folks. This is rewarding to be able to see people smile when they realize that we can help them record their songs and they don’t have to go spend thousands of dollars on Nashville and spend their life savings. The Good Lord rewards us and takes cares of us for these good deeds. It all works out and the studio stays booked constantly. People can check out my band and music on social media and at :

www:thedonnyhammondsband.com

And check out the studio at:
www..theafterdarkstudio.com

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

In my music career as an Artist, I strive to bring 100% each time I perform. Whether it’s 10 people or 500 people in the crowd, I pour my heart and soul into each performance. As far as the Recording Studio, We sow into other artists music and lives by making things affordable first of all. For Instance of you go to Nashville, you’re gonna pay anywhere from $750 – $1000 a song. For an everyday ordinary musician, that’s not feasible to do. So we’ve have built up a huge clientele in the 25 yrs we’ve been in business, that allows us to stay busy and make a living but still be able to offer unbeatable rates. People are surprised by what we offer as far as services, quality and customer service for the rates that we are able to do. It makes us feel good to be able to help others and see them smile when we tell them, “yes we can help you”..our mission is to help and be there for any one at any budget. Musicians can find us at : www.theafterdarkstudio.com or call us at 770-608-5819

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media has been great for both sides of what I do, being a full time touring musician and owing a Recording Studio. As much as we hate it but still spend so much time on it, Facebook has been a great asset to reach folks. You can post things and thousands of people see it whether they want to or not. It just comes across everyone’s feeds and it’s there. It has allowed folks to find our business by searching for topics and we come up in the searches. People that share our links and info on social media is a plus it reaches out to so many people. I say stay consistent and steady with posts, marketing and promotions. If you wait weeks In between posts or advertisements, people are gonna forget who you are and not remember what your last post was about. You have to keep it fresh in peoples minds, keep the post consistent but at the same time, don’t blow peoples pages up with things. Just be steady and have content that will Interest people. Advertising special promotions, giveaways and things to engage customers into your business has been a good draw for us. Be positive when posting on social media, stay out of drama and conflict. Make people feel that when they come into your business or around you to do business, that it will be a pleasant and smooth and great atmosphere. They will always want to return if its a great experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thedonnyhammondsband.com / www.theafterdarkstudio.com
• Facebook: www.thedonnyhammondsband.com/Facebook or www.theafterdarkstudio.com/facebook
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/TheDonnyHammondsBand