We recently connected with David Teel and have shared our conversation below.

David , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Yes! It took a while and I still have a long way to go, but being able to earn a living as a creative is a blessing.

I first started exploring music the summer of 3rd grade going into 4th grade. The school I attended at the time had a band that you could audition for once you became a 4th grader so I started playing trumpet! My older cousins were already in band so they helped to inspire me to get my start and gave me my first trumpet!

Shortly after, I was introduced to making beats and engineering by my neighbor who lived across the street. We used to make beats on a Yamaha motif with a floppy disk! From there I learned how to use some basic gear and record in early versions of pro tools.

A few years later in middle school, my mom bought me my first laptop and it came with a new program called garage band that I dove into and enjoyed making beats on.

I ended up making beats all the way through high school while also being in band as a trumpet player.

I ended up playing trumpet and producing all the way through college until I moved back home and rented a room to start my own studio.

From there I began recording friends and local artists for a very low rate, and even for free for artists that I really liked.

Eventually it led me to forming a collective with one of my childhood best friends, benji and we called it “Perfect Your Craft” at the time I felt the name was perfect as all I was ever trying to do was perfect my craft! We ended up adding other artists and producers to our group and began releasing music of our own! None of us were making any money but it was fun and some of the best times I ever had in my career.

One big turning point for me was when I met an artist named “Nef The Pharoah” from Vallejo, CA. I began recording him
and artists he worked with and began forming more and more relationships throughout the bay. Nef introduced me to a lot of the people I am now locked in with.
From there, it led me to meeting another Bay Area artist named Jay Anthony from one of the biggest collectives in the Bay Area, “HBK”
Jay took me under his wing as he did with so many others and eventually brought me to a session with an artist named “G-Eazy”

At the time, G was one of the biggest artists in the world and it was a big opportunity for me to show what I could do. That day, I ended up cutting 4 records with G and one of them ended up making it to his Album, which would eventually go Platinum and grant me my first Platinum Plaque as a producer!

I eventually moved to La to pursue music as a career now that I was started to get paid for beats!

The biggest moment however, that changed my career forever, was when I met an artist named ALLBLACK. About s year before I moved to La, I began hearing a song “Sloppy Hunnid’s in my pocket dancin like I’m Diddy, thought I popped a thizzle, it was just that dog in me!” I asked my homies who is this!? And they replied ALLBLACK from Oakland, he boutta be next watch! As soon as I heard the song “Salute Me” a few months later I was sold!!

Black would later come down to la to my studio where he and I would make our first project together called “Outcalls” Black was already on fire and this just added to the flame. He would scream on every beat, DTB thank you for fuckin wit me! I had heard him say his famous phrase “thank you for fuckin wit me” but to hear it with my name, it felt different!

As a producer and engineer, it is unfortunately, a commonality in the music industry to not always get credited for our work. A simple tag or shoutout like what black did for me or Nef The Pharoah who would give me my first tag “DTB on the beat that’s bro” can be all the difference for a producer to be found and noticed for their work. That’s when I can say I began my journey as a professional, when I finally had embedded myself in the culture with an Artist from the home turf.

Those simple shout outs from Nef and Black would eventually pave the way for my career to open. Now, when my manager was pitching me to new artists, he could refer to my tags and reference the song they were in and most times the artists would say, “oh yeah I know that tag!

The reputation that came with that tag, would eventually lead me into some of the biggest rooms I had ever been in!
Now being paid as a producer and engineer, began to seem more realistic as I was working with artists from all over the world!

About a year after Outcalls with ALLBLACK, the last thing that catapulted me into where I am now, is when my brother LB introduced me to an artist named Moneybagg Yo. LB was a long time friend and music collaborator with me and also, owned one of the biggest cannabis companies in the world, RUNTZ. LB eventually ended up in the studio with Moneybagg and began to show Bagg some of his music to which Bagg replied, who produced your music? LB replied, “man my brother DTB”
They would later fly me out to New York where I worked on a few records that made it to his album, which would eventually go gold! Now having a platinum and a gold under my belt, with the tags becoming known by people and other artists, I was finally in a position to make some real money!

David , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is David Teel, I go by DTB (David Teel beats) and I am a Japanese music producer and engineer.

I got into the industry with my brother benji in 2015 and we started a collective called perfect your craft shorty after.
The industry is all about networking, the given is that you are talented.

I believe what makes me different in the industry, at least from what the artist that work with me tell me, is that aside from being good at the job, I am more understanding of the artist’s energy. You cannot force any artist to make anything, music is a feeling and you just have to let it happen.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Sometimes, as a producer and engineer, we are the last the last to be paid, despite being at the helm of the creation of records.

One of the stories I have without naming any artist in particular, I began working with an artist who at the time was not signed, and we agreed to do a project together. When I first sat down with the artist, I told them my rates for beats and engineering. At the time, the artist was independent and didn’t have much of a budget, but we both believed in each other so we decided to split the project 50/50.

Then a year or so later, we doubled back to do our next project, and when we turned it in, now the artist was on a label.

The label replied to me saying that the artist would never recoup on their deal if they gave me 50/50 (even though we both were working on it with the assumption that our terms would be the same as the last project)

So they offered to pay me for beats and engineering.

This is where it got tricky. When I told them my rates, they replied saying that there wasn’t much budget less and offered me close to nothing for the beats, recording, mixing , and mastering. I felt backed into a corner because at the time, I wanted the project to come out but the label was blaming me for why it would not come out if I didn’t sign and turn in the agreements within a certain time period. They rushed me and pressured me, and tried to get me to sign it without legal representation.
I was told that I didn’t do very much and that I was asking for too much. It almost ended my relationship with this artist! But I knew that this artist was not at the helm of these decisions so I did not even inform them of what was going on. The project came out and it took the label about a year and a half to pay me for my services at a rate that wasn’t even half of what I wanted.

I could have quit right there and said screw the industry, but I didn’t. I believed that it was part of my path and regardless, I loved the artist and I could never turn my back on them, so ultimately, I kept working and decided to find other work in addition to be able to pay the bills.

Today, I work with a wide variety of different artists, being able to stay consistent and never quit is why I believe I am where I am today!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Yes! I do think that non-creatives struggle at times to understand a creative’s journey, but at the same time, I do not blame them. They are not meant to necessarily dive into why drives creative people to create, so there are a lot of things they will not understand.

Many of my friends were that way until they came into the studio with me and watched me work to actually see what an audio engineer and a producer do. So you can’t blame non creatives for not understanding us.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @musicbydtb
• Twitter: @musicbydtb

Image Credits
@danieleaquino @officialbilliondreams @splashthakidd