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

Antonio , appreciate you joining us today. What’s one of the most important lessons you learned in school?

I’m very much a dark horse in this industry and this hasn’t always worked out in my favor. This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I’ve long accepted this as a strength and I’ve wholeheartedly leaned into it. At the beginning of my professional career, during my college years, it wasn’t always the easiest thing to accept that I was considered “out of the norm.” It really took those 4-5 college years of consistent trial and error, and deeply humbling experiences, to get to a point where I now get calls to collaborate with artists because I’m the dark horse on the scene and I can bring something different to the table. I’ve been told I’m the guy that can’t be put in a box. I’ve been described as “dramatic, clear, raw, sensitive, the Latin guy, the jazz guy, the funk guy, the blues guy,” etc. Believe me, I used to hate not knowing where I fit in, but I am so enjoying the journey now! I mean, “gratitude” gets thrown around a lot these days, as if it were going of out of style these days, but I am truly grateful I I’ve been able to bounce around from city to city, school to school, and teacher to teacher. A lot of times, my biggest teacher has been life taking a bat to my knees, but I know this is a part of my story and it all seeps through the music anyways. After a few years of moving around and working as a musician/producer-engineer, I received a diploma from the Center for Recording Arts and Technology, and a certificate in Jazz Studies from NYU Steinhardt. It’s funny to me now that at either school, I didn’t fit in right away – probably never did, actually. At CRAT, I was pigeonholed as the drummer that was only taking a few production classes to further my drumming career; not as the kid that grew up listening to a vast array of music and had developed a deep love for sound/production first. I wanted nothing more than to create some that magic behind the studio glass myself. Sound manipulation is such a powerful art form and I find the pace of that environment so addicting, too. At NYU, I was the Cali homeboy that had a very late start to listening & playing jazz and I didn’t know the difference between bebop, hard bop, and post bop. Either way, I still got to experience the distinct pleasure of having my ass handed to me at both schools, by my professors and peers, and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. This was all I needed as a wake-up call to put in the work and embrace the journey of my development. In the case of the CRAT studio, I ended becoming the lead engineer and studio manager for quite some time before leaving on the best of terms with the studio director. I made lifelong clients and friends there that I still collaborate with to this day. During my short, but very formative time in “jazz school,” I learned that active listening, imitation, determination (read: sheer stubbornness), and patience is everything. This is what eventually leads to innovation – that’s a hard “eventually,” ‘cause that shit’s not created in a vacuum. The innovation timeline varies from artist to artist, if they can even get out of their own way to catch a glimpse of the summit, whatever that is. See, I’m a “concepts” guy and concepts take longer to grasp. They involve critical thinking and they immensely elevate your ceiling (your RAM, if you will) in so many ways that regular, quickly applicable regurgitation of info wouldn’t. I don’t say this to offend anybody, of course. I’m just not interested in going down the predetermined path. I’m interested in receiving calls to work with people because they’re looking for my tool kit, my touch, my personality, my experience, etc.. Of course, I’m still very much a work in progress. Nobody’s perfect, except maybe Hilary Duff. Jk! (Not really). Haha! So, I guess the quickest way to put it is that I’ve been playing the long game in my music career, as a dark horse. I’m on that lifelong track of self-discovery through artistry and I enjoy sharing what I learn. It’s been a wild journey that’s been unfolding since my early days in school and every new day brings with it a new opportunity to work harder towards a version of myself I’d be most content sharing with the world in the future.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a Music Industry Professional that specializes in Drumming, Audio Engineering, Production, and Private Instruction. The industry these days demands artists to wear as many hats as possible to make things happen and ultimately make ends meet. Apart from the various jobs I’ve listed above, I’ve managed tours, I’ve been a booking agent, I’ve been a roadie/drum tech, I’ve been a college music lab instructor, I’ve been a studio manager, etc.

Currently, I’m in the process of redesigning my website, tonydrums.com, and I invite the readers to go there to check out my discography/credits, photos, tour dates, and to book some lessons.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Staying true to myself, despite the noisy, trendy distractions that could’ve led me down a more generic path. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m very much a dark horse in this industry and what’s worked for me is that after years of accepting this, and plying my craft accordingly, I can now deliver my voice in a more consistent, mature, and confident manner. I like to think that the people I work with really appreciate this. There’s more value added this way, for everybody involved, and I for experience that clients are 10x more prone to share this with other people – and that’s the kind of marketing that sticks.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Word of mouth is king, live performances and sessions, cold opens, cold calls, cold emails, networking; just putting myself out there. There’s no other way, no shortcut, in my opinion. People/opportunities don’t just walk through your front door or show up in your inbox. You have to get out there and talk to people, and you have to do so as a fellow human first – not as somebody that needs something. Do things FOR them, introduce them to other people/other opportunities, make it easy for them to get to know you. In time, they’ll reciprocate the gesture because they genuinely like you as a person first and they’ll want to be around you. Keep this phrase in mind, too: “out of sight, out of mind.” Man, that’s so true! Just keep showing up and follow your intuition.

Contact Info:

• Website: Tonydrums.com
• Instagram: Tony.econom
• Facebook: Antonio.Econom
• Youtube: Antonio Econom
• Other: Catch me live/artists I work with on a regular basis (2023): Lauren Leigh Martin, Astra Kelly, King Taylor Project, Joshua Taylor, Jo James, Whitney Shay, Farm Truck, Maracuyá, Jody Bagley, Pocket Candy, Jessie Lark