We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dylan Heidt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dylan below.
Alright, Dylan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
For me, personally, learning my craft(s) is what I could and would describe as somewhat of a never-ending journey. I was fortunate enough to have started playing guitar around the age of eight and from there my love for music and my drive, or need to learn more both as a songwriter and producer only grew stronger as I got older and started to pick up more instruments. By the time I graduated from high school, I was quite comfortable with my abilities as a guitar player, bassist and drummer, but I knew I still had more to learn as both a pianist and electronic music producer. Between the ages of nineteen and I would say maybe twenty-three, twenty-four…I really buckled down and learned all of the ins and outs that I could in respect to electronic music production and became what I would call, at the very least, a semi-proficient piano player. Nowadays, at twenty-seven, I’m beyond happy with where I’m at as both a multi-instrumentalist and music producer/songwriter, but my desire to learn more has never really begun to fade, or falter. I think in the music industry specifically, it’s important for people to realize that we’re really only as good as our last piece of work and none of us are indispensable. I’ll be the first to admit that there are guitar players, producers, etc… out there that are probably far more technically inclined than I am, but for whatever reason (my ability to network, show up on time, my want to deliver more than what’s expected of me when I’m working on a project) I’ve been able to make a good living creating music at various points throughout my life and I think that all comes back to my inability to sit still and allow myself to become complacent with my skill level, whether that be as a guitarist, drummer, music producer, songwriter, etc.
Dylan , 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?
I fell in love with music at an early age and I have to give credit for that to both my mother and father. As a young kid I would frequently hear artists such as The Temptations, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers Band, etc… playing around our house. Both mom and dad had and still do have an eclectic taste in music and without being exposed to what they were into as I was growing up, I don’t know that I would be even half the musician that I am today.
As I got older and began to explore music on my own, I fell in love with Hip-Hop and it wasn’t until I was in my late teens/early twenties that I realized that what I really had fallen in love as it pertains to Hip-Hop was the production element of the genre…the people behind the scenes that were chopping samples, the session musicians that would come in and lay down guitar parts, keys, bass lines, etc… , making all of these (what are now considered today) legendary instrumentals.
Around the same time that I had fallen in love with Hip-Hop, I had also become deeply enamored with the sounds of Reggae music and the experimental side of Electronic Dance Music. Oddly enough…EDM as a whole is really where I got my first, ‘looks’, as a producer/songwriter. Around the age of 18 I started to release music of my own that I would best describe as a mixture between the Trap, Dubstep and Future Bass genres of EDM. A lot of the music that I released throughout my late teens and early-mid twenties got picked up and covered by websites/blogs within that scene…outlets like ThatDrop.com, EDM.com, Tracks For Days and This Song Slaps and that coverage of my music led to me building relationships with artists, writers, etc… that I still communicate, or work with to this day. I think a lot of people might be surprised to learn that I did and still do deeply love Dance music and the scene around it as a whole; I listen to EDM regularly and I still write/produce a ton of electronic music to this day that, now that I think about it, I should probably consider releasing at some point in the near future.
I mention all of that to say that at this point in my life, there really isn’t a genre of music that I dislike, or refuse to listen to/work within, if given the opportunity of course. I think there’s something to be learned from almost everything that you hear, or are exposed to. For instance, as I’ve gotten older I’ve actually also fallen back in love with a lot of heavier music, which was at one point (probably when I was around nine, or ten years old) a big reason that I wanted to learn to, “shred”, on guitar haha…genres like Hardcore (Punk) and Death Metal, specifically are still in rotation on a lot of the playlists that I listen to throughout the course of my day.
Day-to-day, I provide a wide variety of services for the artists and bands that I work with, but the main contributions that I make as an artist in my own right are really on display as a music producer/songwriter and studio musician…essentially, I’m the guy that someone will call when they need a guitar solo, bass line, drum part, etc… played on their record, or if someone is looking for an instrumental to write/record over, nine out of ten times, I’m the guy that’s getting a call to work with said artist/band as they craft their next single, album, or EP.
If I’m not busy writing/playing/producing in a studio setting, there’s a good chance that I’m either playing shows locally, or am on tour as a guitarist with a few different artists that I’ve built great friendships with over the many years that I’ve been working within the music industry.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
When I was coming up as a musician in my local scene, I really did not enjoy what was going on in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul), whether it was me looking at things from a musical point of view, or from the experiences that I had had in the past with certain local musicians. Eventually, I reached a point where I wanted nothing to do with what was going on at home and that led to me basically leapfrogging the entire local music scene…something that I would recommend no artist coming up do now…but at the time I had thankfully built a large and strong enough community outside of Minnesota to where I was still able to get plenty of work as a session musician and tour with some of the bands/artists that I was working with at the time outside of the Twin Cities. I still don’t have the greatest relationships with a lot of the bands/artists that are out now in Minnesota, but I have made an effort to reach out and play shows, do studio work, etc… with the ones that I am on good terms with.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me personally, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative, and this may sound a little selfish at first pass, is simply the ability that I have to pick up a guitar, bass, etc… and play away my stress, my worries, anything that’s troubling me at that current moment in time. Writing a song, for me, is the best form of therapy that I’ve ever participated in…knowingly, or unknowingly.
On the flip side of that, what’s even better and makes the hours spent in studio, on the road, etc… all worth it to me is if in the process of me picking up my guitar, bass, etc.. not only am I able to play away my fear and my anxieties, but I’m also able to write/create something that upon it’s release to the world is also able to take away someone else’s anxiety, depression, etc… even if it’s just for the three to four minutes that they spend listening to that song that I had originally written to help level myself out a bit.
Music has an innate ability to heal and so many of the songwriters, producers, etc… that I admire so much have all helped me to heal in a variety of different ways.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/prodbylostgold_
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lostgold_music
- Other: A Collection Of The Records That I’ve Either Produced, Played On, Or Been A Part Of The Writing Process Of – https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3xRWhUb8EAvpHvstilwU6s?si=IMI0oMGVTDiR0OMv_sz0rw My Own Solo Project – https://lostgold.bandcamp.com/