We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Judah Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Judah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I first realized I wanted to be a full time creative when I was 18 years old. Before then I had considered being a psychologist, wanting to focus my energy into helping people any way that I could. After some consideration I realized that I could offer more widespread help to the world through music. Since then I’ve used my platform to push ideas such as mental health support, social justice, and building self confidence. I also thoroughly enjoy using my music as a means to express emotion, both with and without words. On some level I’ve always believed that music is one of the most powerful forms of self expression and protest, as well as being one of the easiest ways to connect with an audience.

Judah, 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?

I got into music production in mid 2019. Before then I was a session guitarist for small labels and recording houses, offering my services to artists of all genres, including hip hop, r&b, funk, edm, soul, rock n roll, etc. As I continued working in studios I began to notice that while the audio engineers were extremely talented in the fields of arrangement, mixing, and mastering, they almost universally lacked what I’ve always considered to be one of the most important aspects of making music; a deep and intuitive understanding of music theory. Ever since I first began to learn the basics of theory I knew that would be one of my greatest passions in life. I believe there’s a wide misconception about theory as a set of rules you have to abide by in order to sound good, which couldn’t possibly be further from the truth. I’ve always used theory as an avenue for emotional expression, and have found that almost any feeling can be expressed solely through harmony. So when I enter a studio I’m entering not just as an instrumentalist, but also as a collaborator and advisor of sorts, offering insight as to why a certain sound might make you feel a certain way and how to leverage that to your advantage. Through my experience as a session musician I slowly learned the fundamentals of music production, eventuality creating my own home studio where I focus on my own music, as well as recording songs for other artists. My proudest, and in my opinion most unique, talking point for my own music has always been that I play everything in my songs. And when I say everything I really do mean everything, from the drums to bass to guitar to the vocals to the keys, as well as writing the lyrics and the parts for the instruments myself. As of late I’ve also begun to mix and occasionally even master my own songs, in order to ensure that the final product comes solely from my personal artistic vision. When other artists come into my studio I work with a similar philosophy where every sound in the song comes from myself and the artist. If you’d like to hear some of my work, I just released my first short album, Moonlight. It’s an instrumental jazz hip hop album only about 13 minutes long, so if you’re into that sort of thing I’d highly recommend giving it a listen!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My main goal has always been to help others. Growing up, I had far too many people in my life that felt hopeless, dissatisfied, and beaten down and before I was a musician I believed my purpose in life to be helping these people in any way I could. In my teenage years I wanted to be a therapist and study human behavior, both out of general curiosity and a genuine want/ need to help those around me. As time went on I realized that what had helped me the most in times when I felt hopeless and unseen was music. This began a long process of finding myself through the art form and using the songs I wrote as a means for answering the difficult questions and situations I came across, and these songs became a large source of comfort for me and the people I care about. Since my discovery that my music could make such an impact on people I’ve become obsessed with finding ways to bring my message to a wider audience.

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

In my late teenage years, I had a passion for psychology and human behavior, going as far as studying them in college at 17. I wanted to find out more about what makes people happy, what makes us feel that life is worth living, and the concept of empathy. I had friends and family who were deeply depressed and unsure of how to find happiness, and I became a critical part of their support networks. In times of crisis, however, I felt like nothing I could do or say had a large enough impact on their mood or situation and that my words, no matter how well intentioned, fell on deaf ears. But I began to notice that when I played them a song related to their situation they’d begin to find reasons to be hopeful, sometimes only in small ways but oftentimes changing their outlook completely. This made me realize that as a musician armed with the knowledge of psychology and a deep empathy for humanity as a whole, I could be a genuine source of hope for more people than I could ever talk to at once. Not long after this realization I dropped out of college to pursue a musical career.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/thejudahnoble?igshid=MTk0NTkyODZkYg==
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7r4WHlKPcF2IXD2g4n7TRK?si=10mjIcvKTs-eth2woRhWzg

Image Credits
Erik Branom Celia Caplitz Harry Plymell