We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David Sustaita. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David below.
David, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
Visibility mixed with over saturation.
In todays age where anyone can pick up an audio interface, mic and laptop and start creating music… or pick up a camera and some editing software; there becomes an incredible surplus of people creating. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when people who are still learning the ropes are at the beginning of the “Dunning-Kruger effect” and start charging for their services at astronomically low rates, you get this combination of devaluing that area of work with those low rates, at such a high volume because of the abundance of accessibility to creation. If you’re working with artists/bands or other creatives on both audio and video, you’re dealing mostly with people who are struggling with funding as well so it really becomes quite a challenge to be profitable. I’m full time doing this and I still wouldn’t consider myself “profitable” yet.
You really need to be able to stand out from everyone else in some way or fashion that differentiates you. This is key in every industry but much much more in the audio and video world. I’d say in the audio world it’s the worst, because if you’re comparing how someone perceives value in quality audio vs how someone perceives value in quality video…it’s easier for people to perceive what “quality video” is. With audio it’s more ambiguous and harder to convince people that quality audio is important and the majority of people don’t value high quality audio production vs something halfway decent, where that gap between quality and halfway decent is more readily apparent with video. You definitely don’t get into these industries for the money haha, you end up having to work on a lot of things that aren’t as creatively fulfilling so you can continue doing what you’re doing as a byproduct of the profitability difficulties.
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
My name is David Sustaita and I’m a full-time audio engineer and cinematographer. I specialize in mixing, mastering and producing on the audio side, and director of photography, editing and color grading on the video side,
I got into everything through music, I play 7 different instruments and in high school was desperately trying to rectify how I could be creative in music and make a living…but not get a music degree and become a music teacher. I was introduced to audio production and was uninformed on how it’s equally if not more, a harder part of the industry to break into… but I fell in love with it. Too late haha. From there in my audio journey I was taking some media courses in college and was introduced to the film world…once I started shooting and editing it was such an easy transition with the discipline and ideologies I learned from audio production. I have a degree in media production and marketing and I’ve never used it once to get a job ironically, but the people I have met opened many doors for me to be able to a full time audio engineer and cinematographer today.
I record and engineer bands and artists, take their musical ideas whether rudimentary or complex and turn them into fully realized radio-ready songs with them, creating long lasting friendships with them. I take that song and mix and master it, unlocking the songs fullest potential to emotionally move the listener where everything about the sonic integrity is enjoyable to listen to with an experience that can be replicated on a plethora of sound systems!
On the video side, I will work with brands, businesses, production companies and couples (for weddings) and deliver competitive visuals for marketing content, brand awareness, testimonials/documentaries, short films and wedding films, with top notch color grades!
I would say what sets me apart from others, is that I not only wear multiple hats, but I’ve achieved extreme proficiency in those areas and understand how all of those things effect the other areas. For instance, it’s a monumental edge to be a high performing music producer who is proficient in editing music videos, especially if I produced the song. Or when I edit even something like an interview, I treat the cuts and cadences like a rhythmic instrument, there’s just so many cool ways you can intersect audio and video that isn’t readily obvious. It’s very hard to find people who can really offer a full package like that where each area and discipline is truly top tier and uncompromised. Also saves my clients money cause I can offer unique packages and navigate larger overarching projects beyond the scope of just one discipline.
What I would like people to know most about me, is that I care. Like I said, you don’t get into this industry for the money, but for the love of the craft, and with that I love making new friends and connections with people, getting to see how super excited and inspired they are when they get back a song, mix, video or what have you. I care about the projects I take on, and I will often take a hit on my end financially and provide over what I have agreed to do. I like to underpromise and overdeliver, people who know me know that I’m extra in everything that I do, and it comes out THE MOST in the work I do. because I like creating awesome things with awesome people.
That being said, my favorite thing to do is audio mixing. Don’t get me wrong I love video, but mixing and mastering is where I thrive…so if you need a guy for that let’s definitely connect!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
I’ve accrued a BUNCH of gear over the years, in such. relatively small time. I started with just a crappy 2013 MacBook that would crash Logic Pro x and Pro Tools every day just by looking at it the wrong way, haha! Now my audio equipment is some of the best stuff thats on the market and I have a beast of a video editing computer.
I have saved and spent every spare dollar on my gear that wasn’t being saved for a house or Uncle Sam and his 20%. I’m not rich, and my parents never bought me a single compressor, camera, microphone, or what have you. Every thing I made starting out working on audio and then soon video would get reinvested back into the business. I was working at a grocery store came HEB here in Texas and would work only 2 days a week in college, and I was constantly saving for the next piece I would buy.
On the video side, once I got to a place where I had a solid setup for audio, I went all in on video stuff. Same story there, every gig I had I would reinvest reinvest reinvest.
Where many people would buy designer clothes, a nice car and other “treat yo self” things, I was buying the infrastructure for my business, even down to the unglamorous stuff like CRM expenses, Artlist subscriptions, website hosting subscriptions, acoustic treatment, SD cards, SSD hard drives and cables and so on.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
God, Jesus Christ is my goal driving my creative journey. He gave me these gifts and abilities and I can see looking back through the people and experiences I’ve had that it isn’t by accident, but rather Him being methodical in showing me who I am. Ultimately I want to be able to be in a place where I’m working on great things for for His glory, lately I’ve been able to mix sound at churches on Sundays and work on videos with other churches and create content bolstering non profits which can be more fulfilling than the work itself.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_djent/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004775235543
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-sustaita/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY38O5SNhv-viYCvVnnEaYw
- Other: www.dspweddingfilms.com
Image Credits
Jonny Amaya David Sustaita Alec McCommon Alan Zamarron