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

Damon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’m a multi-instrumentalist, and each was a different learning experience. I am a self-taught drummer (started around 3 years old), and mostly learned from playing in church. As I got older, I started to find videos of professional drummers and watched some of those to get pointers from guys who had been in the business for a while. I would watch them and incorporate some of the concepts into my own playing to form my own style. I took piano lessons from elementary school through Jr. High, and then again my last year of high school. I played the sax in the middle school band, but the majority of my learning happened at church. I am currently teaching myself bass guitar. Much of what I learned, I found out on my own. Fortunately, at critical points in the music/technology evolution, I was introduced to people whose knowledge and advice often helped catapult me into my next phase of performance, recording, and/or production. For instance, I had been recording and making music on tapes for years before I ever went to the studio. My piano teacher found out that I wrote music, and showed me how to record my music using software back in the early 90’s – something people weren’t really doing back then. But she introduced me to recording and I fell in love with it. In the mid 90’s, I met a studio owner/engineer named Bishop Paul Grant. He saw something in me and decided to pour into me and played an integral role in cultivating my skill in production. And, honestly, I haven’t arrived at perfection. I never will. But I will always strive for excellence… which makes this a continual learning experience for me.

I don’t think I would change anything about my process. It makes me appreciate this gift and the opportunity to use it. I appreciate every recording engineer, musician, producer, listener and critic who has ever poured into me. I’m grateful for my experience and the era of my evolution. There was no YouTube to just click on and learn instantaneously. We had to sit with it, learn it, listen to others and shed with other musicians who were aspiring to be excellent at what they do as well. I enjoyed my journey. I’m still enjoying my journey.

Some of the most essential skills needed as far as my journey has been listening, people skills, communication skills, self-discipline, self-control, and humility (particularly when it comes to how I process and respond to other people’s “negative” feedback about my style, skillset and technique). None of these are specific to music, but they have helped me to grow and gain clients.

My biggest obstacle was my location. I live outside of Houston, so sometimes it was hard finding out information about next steps or how to do a particular thing in production – again, there was no YouTube. But tenacity and a genuine love for the process of discovery drove me to continue learning things on my own.

Damon, 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 played my first sax studio session as a junior in high school. That was all I needed to know that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. After that, it was a steady flow of music gigs, studio sessions and introductions to other musicians and artists in the studio and at concerts. Recording my own projects while also playing instruments for other artists led to a natural matriculation into the full-service music production company that I am now.

BaldEagle Productions provides a wide range of services for singers, musicians and song writers. Our service includes full music composition, live instrumentation, song arranging, music and vocal recording, mixing, and connecting artists to musicians and vocalists who can help complete their projects. BaldEagle Productions handles it all – even creating original scores for film. We also provide live entertainment for banquets, private parties and events, concerts, and weddings… operating at the same level of excellence so that the client is completely satisfied throughout the whole process and after the event.

Whether a client knows what they want, or if they have no idea how to get started, we make sure that what they envision is either matched or exceeded when they hear the final product on the radio.

As a producer, I believe that each song I produce should reflect the personality, character, and musical identity of the artist. Production should not have a cookie-cutter approach to it. An artist should feel like they are receiving personalized attention on the details of their music. That begins with understanding the mind of the artist. Their natural life rhythm, skillset, life philosophy and music philosophy should be considered. They should feel comfortable with who they are and should not feel like they are being forced to be someone else, or have to use a “generic” music track for their songs.

At BaldEagle Productions, I like to customize music tracks that make the artist want to listen to their own music. Nothing makes me more proud of what I do than when a client tells me that what I’ve done with their music is more than they ever imagined. That is always my goal… to enhance the music. I like to say, “I don’t make beats, I build tracks.”

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I love the “building” process. And there is no greater reward to me than playing back an artist’s original idea, then playing the final product and hearing what has happened. I love to see the end, remembering what the beginning was like.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I don’t know about my journey specifically, but I think non-creatives don’t necessarily always understand the individual creative process and the fact that not everyone thinks the same. Not everyone has the same workflow. Not everyone has the same response time to problems. Some people panic and get jumpy in crisis; others slow down and gather themselves to see how to best handle the crisis. Some people like to create by themselves; others like the experience of the group project. Neither is right or wrong. Sometimes it seems that creatives have a little more grace toward each other about those differences. We should be aware that sometimes people won’t understand how we operate, but that doesn’t mean we’re doing it wrong.

Creatives have to be comfortable with themselves enough to not give up who they are to make other people feel more comfortable. But we should also be wise enough to realize when a change in our approach is an improvement that benefits everyone involved. Ultimately, knowing when to change and when to stick to our gut and personality requires negotiation, self-awareness and honesty.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Damon Eagleton
• Youtube: baldeaglepro