We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brady Firenze a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Brady thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
I think that simply being supportive is the first and most important step a parent can take in raising their child into an independent adult, but beyond that my parents have gone so far above and beyond. They both always wanted me to take whatever I was doing seriously and to do it with purpose, regardless of what it was. In the moment it would sometimes feel like they were forcing me to do things that I didn’t want to do but as time moves on I have begun to realize that it was more about teaching me to remain committed to something I had decided that I had wanted to do.
There were some things that they pushed me into doing that I was against in the moment, such as playing violin in the orchestra throughout middle school. No part of me wanted to do it because I didn’t like how it made me look, but my parents knew that somewhere in me there was a boy who had a love and talent for music, and they knew how beneficial being around it in that capacity could prove to be in the future. Looking back now, they were certainly on to something.
When it came time to move on to college, I didn’t really have a clue what exactly I wanted to do or study so I figured I would major in business at a big state school because that was just what kids where I grew up did. Since I had recently become enthralled with producing and making music on my laptop, during a visit to the University of Alabama, my dad insisted that we at least stop by the music school and look around. When we sat down with the chair of the program, he outlined the opportunities and paths that involved music production and how many of his former students were now out in the industry making a solid living in music production. I never imagined myself studying that kind of thing for my four year degree, or that I would ever even be able to do so. My father on the other hand, saw something in me. He saw a spark, a drive towards something that was stronger than the odds that were stacked against me.
Not only did he give me a chance to choose that path, but he even pushed me towards it, urging me to take myself and my abilities seriously. That is the only reason I ended up applying to, visiting, and choosing Belmont University as my school and Audio Engineering as my major.
Along the way, both he and my mom have been right by my side helping my navigate my way through these four years of school, supporting me financially, mentally, and personally, in all of the right ways. Never once telling me to “get real” and start looking for a “safe job” with financial security. Though they have pushed me and urged me to take advantage of my opportunities and never be complacent with my skills and talents, they have never once made me feel like I am in over my head. I believe that having your parents, the most important support system a young adult has, be in your corner and believe in you and your ability to make smart choices, is 100% necessary for a child to succeed and feel like they can truly accomplish anything.
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
Well, I am a 22 year old student at Belmont University in Nashville,Tennessee earning my degree in Audio Engineering Technology with a minor in Music Business. On top of the time I spend in school, I am a recording artist and I produce all of my own music, write my lyrics, engineer my records, create my album art, make my own content, and market myself and my brand. As a mix engineer, I do a lot of freelance mix work for friend and artists around my town and have take part in lots of writing sessions with all sorts of artists in different genres and styles.
I spend a lot of my time working on my own projects but also do some management and PR consulting for other artists including my close friend and artist, Chasyn. I am an expert on all things technology and entertainment and am fully hands on with all sorts of different ventures including: organizing and managing house shows, creating release strategies, filming and editing content, consulting for artists and creatives alike.
The difference between me and a lot of the engineers, artists, or producers around me is that I do all of those things simultaneously, and very well. I am also an entrepreneur at heart and have my aim set very high in terms of things I am working to accomplish in the coming months and years. Beyond the music career I am building for myself, I am also working on developing and launching a mobile application for iOS and Android devices. This process involves me gathering people and resources and delegate work and responsibility in an efficient and inspiring fashion, which has required each and every aspect of my skillsets to be used and tested fully.
Recently, I am most proud of making the Belmont Hip-Hop/R&B Showcase that takes place on March 18th in the Belmont basketball arena. Performing in front of the school on a large stage in a stadium setting was something I had wanted to do since freshman year when I started out on campus. It is really a full circle moment to see the culmination of all my hard work and dedication to my craft come together in my last year and last chance to make it to the competition. I think that this will finally give me an opportunity to really show the world around me what I have been working on these past 5 years and how far I have come in that time. Everyone who knows me will tell you I am one of the hardest working people they know, and it has always been difficult to hear that while seeing minimal tangible results to show for it.
The best thing about making this competition is that for me, music has recently been put on somewhat of a back-burner because of how intense school has become during my senior year and with me putting together a team of programmers to help me build an app, as well as trying to launch a ‘Late Night Show’ for my web series. To me, it shows that working hard at one thing is good, but working hard to balance multiple things is even better since it allows you to be more intentional with each moment you spend working on either endeavor.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
To me, this was an easy question to pick because the most rewarding part of making music for me is by far the feeling I get after I make something that moves me the same way some of the records that inspired me to start music did. Being able to export a song when it is finished, after all of the struggles of creating it, all of the updated versions, all of the hours spent getting it just right, is one of the most rewarding things I have ever felt. Especially because music is the one thing on this earth that continues to morph and yet still relies fully on subjectivity on various levels. There is no one specific sound or song that is the best for everyone, and there is no one style or correct way to do any part of the process, which, in my opinion, leaves so much up for personal preference. Knowing that I have that file and it is now mine forever and I can listen back to it whenever I want and know for a fact that everything I am feeling while listening to it is my own doing, is one of the coolest and most intense ‘highs’ I have, and will ever, experience.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Most definitely. The two books that have changed and shaped the way I think about and approach everything I do are: The Inner Game of Tennis, and The 7 Habits For Highly Effective People. The Inner Game of Tennis is all about the relationship between the conscious and subconscious minds and how to separate them from each other as well as bring them together in harmony, all written through the medium of tennis. That book taught me so much about mental strength and how to compose myself and deal with the things that go on inside of my head at all times, reminding me to remember how much my subconscious is capable of and to force my conscious mind to release control and let my natural self do what I knows how to do best.
The 7 Habits book was a longer and more hand on read that required me to sit down with my notebook and really be intentional with my reading. The crux of the book is about centering yourself as a ‘Principle Centered Person’, meaning that everything you do and every decision that you make, can be guided by your personal views on your own core principles and goals. Allowing yourself not to be pressured or swayed by menial things and scenarios that do not add to, or that veer away from, your own personal principles. I learned a lot about delegating my own time and energy into a system that allows me to be proactive and more intentional about how I make decisions and the reasons I make them. That skill, which I am still proactively developing each day, has already repaid me tenfold in terms of how I use my time, how I view rejection or compassion, what I delegate my energy towards, and how I approach each conversation and interaction; both with myself and others.
The two of these books combined, in the order that I read them, has been more eye opening and awakening for me than any combination of lessons I have learned through school or sports. Mainly because it required me to recall many of the things that I learned throughout my past and reflect on them through a different and more grounded perspective, a perspective that allowed me to better understand my past experiences and what they meant and why they happened the way they did. Most importantly, it opened my eyes to the power that I had in causing the outcome of those experiences, what I was responsible for and how that led to the inherent ‘end’ that was effect of the cause.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bradyfirenze.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brady.firenze/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brady.firenze/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brady-firenze-18aa3118a/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bradyfirenze
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-frTlGxRCdXeukPL3eEg0Q
- Other: Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/brady-firenze Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6TWvkZ1Gni1RVEGpv1VlXW?si=fa9ce901379f49d8