We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bryan Hayes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bryan below.

Alright, Bryan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights 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.

Like most musicians, producers and songwriters, I was self-taught at first. I was very blessed to have some amazing mentors and friends who taught me the basics of the industry. Later on, I earned my Master of Arts in Music Production from Berklee College of Music. This was a tremendous learning experience and definitely increased my knowledge and skill set.

Looking back, I think the best way I could have learned more sooner would be to intern and/or work with a mentor earlier in my career. That hands-on knowledge from someone who is already doing it truly is priceless information. I also would have spent more time on the music theory and performance side. These are aspects that are utilized in every session.

Some of the obstacles I encountered early on can be mitigated via the internet. I began my career in the early 1990s, so instructional information wasn’t readily available online. In addition, home studios were still very expensive to start at that time (e.g. a Pro Tools set-up was around $20,000!). Today, technology is better and cheaper and there are a wealth of online resources and communities to assist beginning producers and engineers.

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 began my career as a songwriter. Like many, I played the area open mics, etc. I began recording my own home demos and fell in love with the recording, and later, the producing part. Eventually some of my fellow songwriters came to me to record their demos, which eventually led to me being able to charge people for these services. At this time, I was a full-time public school teacher, so I was doing the music career on the side. For those first 10 years, 100% of everything I made from music went back into music: my studio, the gear, my albums, etc. This eventually allowed me to go full-time into the music industry. For me, it was a combination of being a touring songwriter, producer, engineer and instructor. Having the music degree allowed me to teach at the college level as well as private instruction. I would highly recommend having multiple revenue streams. This allows some alternatives when business is slow in one of the areas. Today, my company, Farmhouse Recording Studio, offers: recording, mixing, mastering, live sound, lessons, workshops and facility rental. On an average year, I will utilize 6-12 independent engineers/producers for projects and services.

For me, the thing I am most proud of is being able to teach and share the gift and knowledge of music production. As mentioned earlier, this is both teaching at the college level as well as individual instruction. Music production is a craft. And sharing that craft with others is extremely rewarding. Farmhouse usually offers 1 free workshop every quarter. This allows us to give back to the music community. As I get older (I am 51 at the time of this writing), the sharing of the knowledge and craft becomes more and more rewarding. I can still remember my mentors teaching me recording techniques and the excitement I felt in the studio as a young engineer. Teaching others gives me that same excitement.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The music industry is a fun and exciting industry. It can also be a cold and hard business. There will be no shortage of people who doubt you along the way. Don’t listen to these people. Work hard, learn your craft and chase your dreams. I truly believe that if you are willing to work hard enough, you can build a career in this industry.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part is the creation process itself. Whether it’s my own music or someone else’s music, creating and bringing the vision to life is the reward. Watching and hearing an idea grow into a finished song and then into a final recording is thrilling. I still get chills…every time. My job is to help maximize the emotion of the song. When we succeed, it is an emotional and inspiring moment.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.farmhouserecordingstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmhouse_rec_studio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farmhouserecordingstudio
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FH_Rec_Studio
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@farmhousestudio159

Image Credits
Bryan Hayes Tad Jewett