We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeremy Steckel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jeremy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Like a lot of engineers and producers, I came into the profession from the musician side of things. I played in, and toured, with a band for several years and honestly for me, the most fun part was creating the records in a studio. I felt that was the most creative and fulfilling time for me personally. I learned so much from the producers we worked with….that was definitely a huge leg up for me, just being able to watch them work and ask them questions about their decision making process. When I stepped down from the band I was in, it was specifically in order to create bandwidth in my life to start engineering and producing records with other bands. I slaved over the craft for years until I ever had a “legit” band trust me with their work. Those early years of working in complete obscurity really allowed me to make TONS of mistakes and try things without having enormous pressure to succeed right away. It also allowed me time to explore and find out what kind of music I actually wanted to be working on, and what my particular “voice” would be with my own style of production. There are so many things I was terrible at, and still am! But one thing I can point to that helped me, was just having confidence that I DID, in fact, have something to offer the creative community, and that the interpersonal side of making music with other people would eventually be a huge part of my work. That skill of working with people has really helped me throughout my career so far, just as much (if not more) than my technical and musical abilities.
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 main work has become co-writing, producing/building songs for solo artists, and engineering full band recordings. Like I mentioned in the previous section, I came into this profession from touring full time with a band that I started when I was in college. We wrote some songs that ended up gaining some national attention, and we signed with a large indie record label and started playing shows all over the country. I really grew to love the craft of arrangement, how we as musicians can really manipulate (in a good way!) people into feeling the same things we’re feeling when we write songs. Music is SUCH a powerful medium that translates across race, gender, location, nationality, etc. I’m most proud of my ability to bring the absolute best out of the artists I work with, which often involved me forcing them to confront the very edges of their own artistic voice. It would be a complete waste of time and money for me to work with someone and NOT push them creatively. That’s one of the main reasons that artists/bands actually take the energy and risk to hire a producer like myself. These days, anyone can (and sometimes, SHOULD) just make records on their own; it’s incredibly easy to do that for very little money. The reason someone would hire a producer is that they know, intrinsically, that doing so will bring out the absolute best in themselves. It’s the exact same reason people hire personal trainers….the trainer knows how to really push them in the best direction for their goals. The technical bar for making records these days has never been easier to attain, but the interpersonal skills and creative energy needed for this type of work has never been more in demand.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding part of doing creative work is having the ability to create something out of nothing. It’s such a spiritual experience, and one that most people don’t get to experience in a meaningful way in their own life. But EVERYONE appreciates art, even if they don’t realize it. It’s part of what makes us human, and being able to foster that work in myself and others, is truly a special form of work.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Here in Columbus, OH where I’m located, we have a growing community of creators, as well as an Arts Council that gives out grants to help young artists in their creative journeys. There are SO many talented people in your direct circle of influence….use them! I honestly think most people have no idea of the incredible wealth of talent that they walk in every single day. Hiring, working with and using those skills that are in your community is such a benefit to those around you, and it really encourages those of us working in the arts to just keep going.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jeremysteckel.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jeremy_steckel