We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cole Brunson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cole below.
Alright, Cole thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us 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’ve been extremely blessed to be able to pursue my career in music and actually have it pay my bills. When I finished school at C.R.A.S (The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences), in December of 2019, I was able to secure a position as an intern at The Saltmine Studios in January of 2020. As we’re all well aware the pandemic set in not long after and everything came to a stop. I lost my day job and had to get on unemployment but I decided to use the opportunity to throw myself into the mix at the studio as much as I possibly could. I spent almost everyday of the next 6 months just trying to find an opportunity to prove myself. My first session was nerve wracking but my client left happy and it was the start of a great relationship at a fantastic place. Since then I’ve had over 800 sessions and my list of long term clients has continued to grow. Honestly I never expected to gain such a large amount of traction in my career so quickly. As we were finishing school we were told to expect it to take us 2-5 years to be paying our bills from music. I’m honestly in shock that I was able to make it happen so quickly.
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 was always interested in music from a young age, me and my friends used to freestyle rap together and see who had the best beatboxing skills, but it wasn’t until after I graduated high school that I discovered my real passion for it. I was living with my brother in Colorado Springs when I started seeing ads for Ableton Live and other music creation tools and at the time I was getting really interested in EDM. So I looked up the closest guitar center and bought myself a keyboard that had Ableton Live included and fell in love with the process. I spent hours upon hours on YouTube just trying to learn to make the best music I possibly could. That’s when ads for C.R.A.S. started showing up and after very little research I told myself that I HAD to get there and nothing was going to stop me from chasing this dream any longer. I got myself out to Phoenix as quickly as I could and got to work. 40 hours a week plus full time school for a year where I graduated with a 4.0. A year later I secured myself a permanent position at The Saltmine Studios where I provide mainstream/radio quality recording, mixing, mastering and production services for my clients as well as providing technical services for the studio and I even built one of its rooms from the ground up. I’ve been able to work with some amazing artists over the last couple years including All Time Low, Futuristic, Blaq n Mild (Master P’s Producer) and many others. I’m always trying to find new ways to switch things up and keep the music interesting, and push myself to better my craft daily. If you’re a music artist and you’ve been wanting to take your sound to the next level, you don’t even need to be on the same side of the world to work with me just hit me up on instagram @hi_im_owsley.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me I think it’s making people feel good about their art. Nothing beats finishing the final touches on a mix for a client and playing the whole song through for one of the first times and just jamming out with them to the song we just created. I don’t think many people who aren’t music creators themselves know just how hard and time consuming it can be to make a song you love. You will always be your own worst critic and when things fall into place its like nothing in the universe can bring you down from that moment.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
SUPPORT YOUR HOMIES!!! When your friend who does music makes some merchandise, BUY IT, don’t ask for a free one they had to pay to get those made. Pay attention to when their music is dropping and SHARE SHARE SHARE in todays world going viral or getting into the algorithms is a game changer and we need our friends support in order to do it. Next time your friend is having a show, tell all your coworkers and maybe even buy a couple tickets if you can make it. I guarantee they won’t be more than $15-$30 for you but for your friend it could mean the world. Then be sure to pay attention to the politics and to VOTE the industry giants have created an extremely parasitic industry and the artists tend to be the ones who suffer. Between low royalty payouts for streaming and the fact that CDs don’t sell anymore the only ways for us to make money is merchandise and shows.
Contact Info:
- Website: thesaltminestudios.com
- Instagram: @hi_im_owsley
- Facebook: Cole Brunson
- Other: Spotify/Apple music – Owsley Acid