We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joey DiTullio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joey below.

Joey, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

When I was 14, I stopped going to public schooling to focus on music full time as my life path. I knew from very early on that no matter where I was or what t I was doing, music and sound were going to be an integral part of it. For two years straight, every single day, I asked my parents to stop going to school. Eventually, at the end of my freshman year of high school, my parents did in fact sign me out. The intention was for me to study and complete my GED while I worked on music. However, I became so enveloped by the world of songwriting, performing, recording, and producing/engineering for other creatives that I never got around to it. Most people would say it was a risk “dropping out of school” to begin with, let alone not getting a high school equivalency. How are you ever going to get a job?! To me, every single second spent NOT learning every facet of sound and music was a waste of time. I took a risk in giving up everything I knew and everything that was expected of me, as well as the potential for a normal young person’s life. What I do for myself is entirely predicated on my own effort, on a daily basis. In a way, it’s a freedom I’m glad to have sought out and can’t imagine living in a different way.

Joey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Joey DiTullio, and I’ve spent time in the world of music and sound for a majority of every single day since I was 14 years old. I’ve always thrown myself head first into things that interested me… I used to compete in martial arts, I skateboarded heavily in my childhood (as far as having a half pipe in my backyard), and I had the same fire going into music. It was in sound that I found my home, my life purpose. It’s hard to explain exactly… but there is an ethereal pull that has kept me inside this world and always will. It is because I love music and sound so much that I thought I would provide value to those around me using the things I love. So, for the last decade I have been cowriting, producing, recording, session tracking, and engineering music for aural creatives of all styles. I play a variety of instruments, including the voice, and use those skills to record parts to my clients’ songs. I will also provide creative guidance during the creation of the music, and afterwards I’ll engineer the songs so that they are polished up and ready for streaming services. A skill that I am very proud of when it comes to the work I do is being able to understand what is in the client’s imagination, even if they are not conveying it properly in communication to me or others. I have a knack for listening to what you say, how you feel, and interpreting your descriptors to distill from your imagination a piece of music that matches your mind’s ear to the highest degree. I strive for open and creative communication that centers around conveying the proper energy and emotion through sound waves. One of my favorite parts of working with other people is capturing the spur of moment “goodness” that comes from creating, and redoing those sections with INTENTION. Let the creative, emotional side of us run free, but use the logical, organized side of us to take notes and replicate that intuitiveness to create an awesome recording.

I also write, record, and release my own music. It’s something I can’t NOT do. I never try to sit down and write intentionally; It just comes out of me and I have to capture it whenever the urge arises, like bottling lightning. I hope that being a conduit of sorts for unfiltered emotion resonates with other people and inspires them to be the same way in their day to day life. The goal for me is togetherness, and to share a moment of energy – be that positive, somber, aggressive, or peaceful.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Music is something I have always deeply loved. Being able to contribute enough to society in order to live the life I want to live by means of doing something I am strongly connected to is by far the most rewarding aspect of doing this. It’s something I love to do, and if people are getting value from me doing or sharing, and I in turn receive value for that… there’s not much else you could want.

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

The story I will share is one most of us know all too well. 2020. This affected my business, career, AND life.

At the time, I had several studio clients that all had a full length record’s worth of songs each they were doing with me. I was in a position to be able to enter the housing market by fall 2020. However, the pandemic/shut down hit and everyone that used to be in the control room with you is locked in their houses with disinfectant. My income immediately dropped to $0/mo, for a long time. This was a really rough time for me. I didn’t see light at the end of the tunnel for doing the work I was doing as long as people were getting sick. I pivoted hard into the backend side of the music business, live sound engineering. I figured if I can’t perform, and I can’t get clients in person, I might as well try create something that a lot of people will need once this is all over. It ended up being a great move for me, as business were the first entities to try to go back to normal, and bring crowds out again. I was able to partner with some great venues in my greater area and be more on the corporate, predictable schedule.

This did not happen overnight; It was a long, drawn out process. During that time, I re met the love of my life. At a time where I had quite literally 0 income, and the only thing I had was a plan to get it back, I opened my heart up to connecting with my now fiancee, and she had my back during this scary, unknown stretch of time. I had to completely rethink the way I was doing everything, and get my foot back in a door that was shut for all of us, causing more people than we’d like to admit to just go back to having “a real job”.

As I’m sure it did with everyone, every facet of my life changed. I decided to pivot and go where the current was taking me, even though I couldn’t see the path ahead.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joeyditullio.com | https://www.thearme.com
• Instagram: @joey_ditullio
• Facebook: facebook.com/joey.ditullio.7/
• Youtube: Joey DiTullio