Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Felipe Guerrero. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Felipe, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

The Audio/Music industry is a constantly growing business. I would say that I’ve experienced rapid change not only in how music is created or even taught but in the technology side of sending and receiving audio. Let’s talk about the creative side first. When I first began composing my own music, there was an element of trial and error involved, at least for me there was. I did learn music theory and songwriting structure in school but I would tinker around with guitar sounds, synth patches, and different drum loops for inspiration. Fast forward to today, we have this incredible tool known as AI that’s been making its way into many industries. I’ve seem AI been used to generate an entire song based on certain topics and criteria that you input. For example, I could use the “Donna” app to generate a song and to be honest, it does a pretty darn good job. As wonderful as this technology is, I often wonder what might soon become of traditional songwriters, artists, and song writing teams within record labels. On the tech side of things, and what I mean by that is the hardware used to record and reproduce audio, I’ve also seen great leaps forward. I feel like gone are the days where you would need a nice studio to track an album or even just a song. There are such great recording devices available today and on top of that it’s quite affordable. We’ve got computers with recording software that allows almost unlimited tracks to be recorded. You can also use virtual instruments that are so close to the real thing. Back in the day you might need to rent a studio and spend a pretty penny to track drums, but now we have really convincing virtual drums with a huge variety of beats and fills that you can drag and drop to create your drum track. All this to say, that the trend I’ve seen is incredible grammy winning music coming from bedroom studios! I would say that out of the two sides of technology, I’m slightly more excited to see hardware evolving than the capabilities of AI. Both of these outcomes are inevitable, and I hope to see and hear where this takes artists, musicians, and music business people.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Felipe Guerrero, I’m a guitarist and music producer from the Dallas area. I’ve always had a passion for music since I was little. My dad and uncle were in a Mexican Norteño band and I would watch them practice all the time. In my teenage years I fell in love with American Rock music and the rest is history. We didn’t have much money growing up so I would buy Guitar World magazines at the grocery store and learn some songs that way. I eventually studied music at Collin College in Plano, TX. I learned so much about music theory and composition but it was my recording classes that I absolutely loved. I’m still friends with my teacher, James Wallace, to this day! I use my knowledge of recording to help my current clients learn to write, compose, and record their very own music. With teaching, I figured that it’s better to teach someone to fish rather than simply giving them a fish if you know what I mean. I love being able to teach my guitar/recording clients to do things for themselves. I suppose this is what might set me apart in that I have a passion for supporting and guiding my students to flourish on their own music path. One example is a family that I’ve been working with. I started teaching their sons guitar, then one of the boys went to drums. Soon after their dad took up bass guitar and then the mom started singing with them. They’re a killer family rock band! I really do love music and how it brings people together. I’d say that’s what I’m most proud of.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I remember that at one point in my early college days, I began studying business administration and began to slowly walk away from music. At the time, I didn’t have much support from my immediate family when it came to pursuing music as a career choice. I guess, to apease my folks, I began studying something more practical. Soon after, I began working at a bank. I looked at different safe career paths within the finance industry and eventually after giving it my best for 5 years, I found myself in a rut. It was soul crushing for me. I started picking up my guitar again and slowly began to feel like my old self. To make a long story shorter, I decided to quit the finance world and give music an honest try. I’m glad I did, because I’ve had a great ride so far!

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Teaching guitar and recording was a side hustle for me at the beginning. When I started working on my music career, I also did some part time work to support myself. When I wasn’t at my day job I would busk in Deep Ellum with my friends, I’d play shows, and teach guitar lessons. During the pandemic, some of my friends asked me to teach their kids guitar so they could have something to do while we were all stuck home. I began studying different instruction books and resources and eventually found a teaching method that I liked. Slowly after, word of mouth got around and I began to get more students as well as recording clients. A big help was the Allen moms Facebook group among other amazing clients who told others about me. I’m very grateful to all of my clients for their support.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Rockoutloudstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockoutloudstudio?igsh=MWpjbjI3ejY1MzU2ag==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18HAaHhuzD/
• Other: TikTok @rockoutloudstudio

Image Credits

MC6 Creative Media