Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joey Diehl. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Joey, thanks for joining us 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.
Learning how to become an audio engineer is a bit like learning how to bottle air. You have no idea how you’re doing and the entire process is totally subjective. So the best way I’ve found is to just jump in head first and surround yourself with the best people you can find doing exactly what you want to do. Going to school that specializes in your interest can definitely help but even then, the most usable product from that environment is the social connections you make in the field you truly want to stay in. With audio, I started as a musician and then eventually moved into the engineering side. Once I saw both sides of the glass, I knew that I was meant to be the more particular type, rather than the artistic creative. The biggest learning experiences for me personally have been from peers or veterans that I look up to, and rarely is it ever a discussion about one distinct button to push or knob to turn. The best teachers are the ones who open your minds to concepts and theories and give them importance. The ones who change your outlook, who give you a new side of the glass you didn’t know was there. Everyone in the end can push a button, it’s WHEN to push and for how long that gives you the professional edge. Knowing what I know now, being more open to discussion and advice would have definitely sped up my learning process. I’ve been the young guy who knew it all and had a hard ego about it all for most of my life. Only recently did I start to realize that not only did I indeed not know it all, but I was the biggest obstacle in my own way of getting better. The most essential skills in audio (as well as any field I would guess) is the ability to listen. But listening is more than just doing sound or engineering a record, its about listening to the ones around you as well. Listening to your own emotions and feelings about what you’re doing, while also listening to how it affects everyone outside of you. Listening is key.
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
Im a producer and audio engineer living in Nashville TN. Like many many others living in Nash, I dabble in writing music as well as a way to be creative and explore not only myself but what’s going on around me in song and thought. I started touring when I was in high school, moving around so much that leaning on music was the quickest way to make friends. So once I found a group of people old enough to travel and play with, I was all in. After a few years of playing bars and skipping all the important high school social events, I went off to college at App State in North Carolina. The audio program there is top notch and I highly encourage anyone interested in a proper school to check it out. It was there that I learned to love the science behind music and all the possibilities of audio in between. It sparked an obsession that has so far lasted a little over a decade and is still burning just as bright as it did from day one. Now, I mostly mix live sound for multiple genres in larger format venues such as arenas, stadiums, amphitheaters, etc. Learning how to manipulate sound and mix music in larger spaces has definitely been a long journey, but I believe its definitely what I’m most proud of currently. My brand is that of the 5th Beatles member for anyone who will hire me. I love bringing the same vision that was created in the studio onto the stage in front of a live audience. The harder the tricks, the harder I work. The Front of House engineer has a task that equals in both artistic performance and technical know how. It’s the best of both worlds in my opinion, and I’ve found that the best engineers are the ones who are one console failure away from getting another gig as a rhythm guitar player. The are an extension of the artist and the ones who rant afraid to shape anything to their will.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Society should always find a way to support and enable artist and creatives to be themselves and freely imagine. Quite simply, the world would be just down right boring without them. But seriously, anyone who doesn’t believe in supporting art in society docent understand how much it already contributes. Art is therapeutic, and has been used in a variety of ways in therapy to help a multiple of mental-illness patients in proven methods of success. Art promotes culture and provides one of the best ways of preserving national history and heritage through song, dance, drama, poetry, writing, and everything else in between. Economically, art also promotes tourism. Having creative and outside ways of thinking and doing things typically is used to draw outside people into a community bringing tourist money with it. And very importantly, art promotes social work. Most of the campaigns and advocacy messages have not been passed across in a better way than through films. Many movies have attempted to showcase the social issues of minorities. Major key social issues against violence, bullying, and environmental protection. Human rights, and education have been powered through artistic posters, songs designed for the purpose, special graphic designs, and films. That is why art is not only created for commercial good but also social good.
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?
I think the biggest struggle for a non-creative to understand is the untouchable feeling of seeing a tangible piece of work that you’ve completed be interpreted and applied by someone else who you have no connection with. To be understood without words, to be known with meeting, to be recognized without presentation. There is a definitive feeling that every creative has had that is instantly addictive. The instant satisfaction of validation. I think it something everyone craves in every aspect of life, but for a creative this is something that can be achieved through their work – through their art.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @audio_diehl
Image Credits
Noah Needleman, Aaron Dimatulac