We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adam Klein a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Adam, 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?

[Stubborn Determination]

After graduating from the Florida State Univ. College of Music, I had decided to stay in town with my then-girlfriend (now wife), rather than run off to Los Angeles to attempt my career out there. Even if I had moved out west, my job-situation would have been similar.

I took the ‘side-hustle’ mentality to a bit of an extreme. But in the end where two goals: Build my career opportunities, and pay my bills. By the time I left Tallahassee, Fl. I had seven different employers that I choreographed my schedules with. Here’s the ringer, they where all music or music production related, and I wouldn’t settle for anything else.

These jobs included:
-Assistant Engineer, Gasoline Alley Studios
-Pro Audio Sales Associate, MusicMasters
-A2 and Stagehand, Ruby Diamond Auditorium (FSU)
-Recording Team Lead, FSU Recital Halls
-Front-of-house / Livestream audio mixer, Celebration Baptist Church
-Front-of-house audio mixer at local music venues, bars, Tasicon Productions
-My own freelance music production, 1451Music

I had to be super-vigilant of my time management, and somedays I was moving all over town. Keeping a healthy relationship with my employers was also super important. Burning bridges was not an option, and although I made mistakes along the way – I made sure to take responsibility to fix the issue and not repeat those same mistakes.

For months at a time, I could be working 6-7 days a week and then repeat with a different schedule. Maybe the weekend shift would be an easy one but nonetheless you still have to report to work. Weekend recording sessions though, where always fun – that was me in my element.

What also made this possible; was having a significant other who understood my career aspirations and whole-heartedly supported my vision. She is also an artistic mind – at the time she was finishing her masters & then PHD, in Instrumental Conducting from FSU. For both of us, our a life was deeply intertwined with our career. We both could understand each others career goals and struggles.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an audio engineer and music producer! The first part of that entails working in a recording studio, or out at a live event – here I’m setting up microphones and equipment, recording audio or mixing and balancing all the sources (pre-recorded or live in person). As a music producer I work along side musicians to help create their project and bring it too life. The audio engineering work is more technical, while the producer work can become more artistic.

I’ve managed to make a shallow niche for myself, in this industry. My previous musical ambitions led me to be a classically trained French Horn player for almost 20 years. Having stepped off of stage, to work behind the curtain, I had a much different perspective when working with musicians (of any kind). I didn’t want to be ‘That Sound Guy’, that knows how to run everything but has no clue our care about what the band needs to do, to perform for their waiting fans. I’ve seen other sound engineers that clearly have no idea how to work with a trumpet or trombone player, let alone any other musical instrument.

I understand the mindset and struggles of musicians. Having that relate-ability, I can connect with artists and musicians on another level and make a stronger connection. I do this, not to keep a ‘returning-customer’, but because I will put my all into the project at hand, regardless of size or expected audience.

Feel free to check out my website with media from previous projects! www.1451music.com

Have you ever had to pivot?

I had to do it twice in an 8 month span! I had moved from Florida to Kansas City in July 2019, and was actively pursuing jobs in recording studios. Much to my disadvantage, all the local KC recording studios where owner-operated. Meaning that the owner was also the main producer and audio engineer. They may have a life-long friend work with them, but it’s their spot.

That left me without any studio gigs like I had hoped for. From here I had to pivot my job searching from recording studio to live event production. Quicker than I thought, I picked up part time work with 2 different local production companies and hit the ground running. I was assigned roles from loading trucks, to leading the audio teams for large scale corporate events. This was a great learning experience, with only a slight learning curve.

This was great until March 2020, where the entire live event industry came to a collective screeching-halt. My next pivot ( after several months of uncertainty), was to work as an audio producer for virtual ensemble performances. Having already setup a small production studio in my apartment (for other projects I was working on), I was able to jump into this new role right away. The shock of having a similar job in two different capacities, in a short period of time was a lot to process.
Having only a few months prior been in banquet halls, ballrooms, convention centers and arenas- to then being confined to my own home studio to hammer out meticulous editing and audio production was a little jarring. But I had a job to do, and in the end it was exponentially more beneficial to other people around the country.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

You don’t have to donate thousands or hundreds of dollars to artists to keep the scenes alive.

Go to local music shows. Show up, listen, watch and cheer. Show the club owners that they made the right choice in bringing those acts to the venue – then they’ll be more inclined to book them again. Find the local bands on their streaming platform and listen down to their album. Maybe if you like it enough, you want to get it on vinyl for your up-and-coming record collection…

If you can, talk with the band after the show. See where they’re playing next, follow their social media info!

Go to local art shows. Even if it’s a street fair or a craft fair – visit the booths and talk with the artists. If you really like something, consider purchasing it for yourself or someone else (get some really authentic and different holiday gifts – or just treat yourself).

Local colleges and educational institutions will hold film festivals! Going to those festivals is a great way to meet creative minds from the local area or your region. Being able to meet and talk with directors and producers directly is something you might not get to experience at Cannes et. al.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.1451music.com
• Instagram: @1451music
• Linkedin: Adam Klein (Rutgers University)
• Other: Soundcloud: 1451Music Rutgers U Music Tech IG: musictechmg_rutgersu

Image Credits
Photos of Adam at the recording studio desk – Adam Taylor, Tallahassee Fl 2019