We were lucky to catch up with Chris Justice recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chris , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I knew at a pretty young age that I wanted to pursue a career in music. It all started when my grandfather pulled an electric guitar and a small amplifier out of his attic. He plugged it all in and let me have at it. I was hooked instantly. I was also interested in drums, and my mom said, “Absolutely not, they are too loud!” She did, however, agree to buy me an electric guitar since I had so much fun with that at my grandfather’s. It was the early ’80s, and crazy guitars were in, so a red Flying V was my first guitar and a Peavey Backstage Plus amplifier. I wish I still had that guitar! I thought I was going to be a rockstar! So that is what fueled the musician side of my ambitions.

As for the writing, recording and producing side that started a few years later at age 16 when I bought a Tascam 4 track cassette recorder. I had a few other things like a Roland R-8 drum machine and a Roland D-50 keyboard which I still own. I started writing and recording demos in my bedroom. Of course 4 tracks was not enough so I quickly learned the mixing and bouncing of tracks just like the techniques developed in the early days of tape machines in the professional studio due to track limitations.

As for my professional career that was kickstarted from playing in church starting at age 20. That experience of learning songs quickly, reading and following charts, reacting to other band members miscues or mistakes and working as a group to cover and make things seamless was invaluable in every way. Fast forward a few years and the church band was playing a singles retreat and another band named “Age Of Faith”, that was signed to Benson Records in Nashville, was also playing this retreat. Well as technology would have it, their tracks on minidisk would not play back. They had not brought the full band with them on this trip. This was a huge professional opportunity that I had no idea would happen, but thanks to putting myself out there, and those years honing my chops in many areas playing in church, I was now prepared for. We learned their whole set that afternoon and played with them that evening. At the end of the retreat they offered me a job as a guitar player in the band. For the next year I toured with them, and recorded an album in the studio. From that big studio experience I was hooked on the production side as well from watching the whole process. Upon returning I knew I wanted to pursue the technical recording side as well. I enrolled in college and then was accepted in to the USC School of Music Recording Arts program in Southern California. I received a B.S. in Recording Arts in 1999.

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

I am a multi hat wearing creative in the music industry. I am a multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, producer and engineer in Nashville, Tennessee. I have over 25 years professional experience recording, mixing and mastering work for many high profile songwriters, artists, musicians as well as small independents I have worked in more capacities than I ever planned on and more than is traditional in the industry but that is how it is evolving. I offer music production, engineering, mixing, mastering, producing and co writing services. It is a lot but the industry has evolved to this.

The musician side started as most being interested in and learning an instrument in my early teens and that fueled the interest in writing, recording and eventually producing as I mention in the question about how it all started.

The studio side started with that first big studio experience and continued while at USC. While at USC I started working in one of the professors, Chris Taylor’s, studio. Crossroad Studios, was owned by Chris and his wife Terry. Chris was a very important mentor for me, not only in recording but also in life. His professionalism, knowledge and creatively inspiring personality were always on display for me to learn from. The way he encouraged and handled artists, and all of the vibe and tension that can be present in a session, taught me a ton. It was a huge blessing. What I learned further prepared me for the most pivotal opportunity I would receive as the house engineer for Rondor Music International which was the publishing side of the legendary A&M Records. I beat out two other far more experienced engineers for the job which still baffles me. I credit Chris with preparing me for that and how to balance all of the skills needed to succeed. While at Rondor I learned to be quick, relaxed, confident as songwriting sessions were often fast paced with important clients.

That is why I strive to always inspire the artist, writer or musician to be free to create in the lowest pressure environment possible. It is a huge factor in the studio for success! The studio needs to be an easy road to navigate for the artist to create. The technology and process should never get in the way and slow it down. That is the goal! That is what I strive to bring in every session in whatever capacity I am involved. When things do go wrong, and they do, it is important to me to be a balance of apologetic at the right time if required but also calm and collected in finding a work around and keeping things moving as much as possible. These are the things I am most proud of. It is a skill that successful professionals at many levels should have. These are the things I obsess about bringing my client, artist or employer on any given session.

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

The most exciting and rewarding part of being both an artist and a creative professional is the reaction to the finished work. Music is important to so many aspects of our lives. It can be inspiring, motivating, emotionally healing, and physically healing. We tie music of the time to our memories. We use music to support film and TV—action, drama, suspense, etc. I love seeing the reaction on the artist’s face, the audience listening, or the audience watching, knowing the music is either directly evoking that response or helping to support the scene that does. That is priceless!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Wow, there are so many things that society can do better.

For artists in music, in my opinion, society really needs to place a higher value on all of the arts. Streaming has been an amazing technology for many aspects of the music industry, specifically in terms of the ease and availability to put your music out and get it directly to fans. The downside of this is the horrible streaming rates and the disappearance of music on physical media like CDs or vinyl. Thankfully, the vinyl resurgence is exposing listeners to the feeling of physical media and paying a more fair price to the artist for it. I think we need a ton of revision of how the royalty network is structured for artists to get paid fairly and appropriately for their work. This is also the case for music on TV. Cable streaming rates can be great or horrible depending on the network and their negotiated rate. Streaming rates for other services like Netflix, Hulu, etc. can be even worse. It is not right! I have firsthand experience with the disparities from all of the TV and streaming music I write and perform. I have been on one advocacy campaign with The Recording Academy and would gladly do it again to fight for better rates and regulations governing payment for artists’ work.

As for creating a thriving creative ecosystem, I also find it a real shame that all of the arts have disappeared in many schools. I took music lessons, wood shop, metal shop, and ceramics. I feel they all play an important role in inspiring creativity in artists of all types.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chrisjusticemusic.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/chrisjusticemusic
• Facebook: facebook.com/chris.justice.9085
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chris-justice-7697356/
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@ChrisJustice