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

Alright, Ken thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I formed a band as a teenager. We decided to book a studio and record a handful of songs. Once I got into the studio I was hooked. I loved the studio environment. We repeated the process 6 months later. I knew this was for me. A little more than a decade later I had written an album and assembled a band. This time I was going to be the producer and part engineer. I wanted that challenge and took on the responsibilities that entailed. Big milestone. I immediately wrote another album and another. At this point the home studio revolution was slowly setting in and I jumped on the train and never looked back. Along the way I have been scoring movies, games and TV. These proved meaningful as well.

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?

Like I mentioned before, my teenage band experience plunged me into this job. It was love at first sight when I first experiences the studio and making music.

There is a difference between the many different hats I wear. If I’m scoring, the key is the vision of the directors/producers. I have to adapt and find how they want the project to sound and feel. If I’m producing music for production companies, I try to find a niche where they can utilize the music. If I’m producing other musicians, I try to find the musicians voice or style and emphasize that. Once I figured that out I try to complement or show a little of me in there. Sometimes the process is technical and sometimes the process is creative, sometimes it’s a treasure hunt. I like it all. But I have a fully operational studio where most of the action is taking place. From voice-over recording, music recording, scoring, writing, mixing, mastering, editing and even filming.

At some point in all of this. I realized that I needed some conservatoire training and I went back to school to get a classical composition/theory degree to compliment my studio training (I had a mentor that took me under his wings). These experiences greatly improved my communication ability with clients and above all else is elevated my skill set. Since my earliest days of heavy metal to now, I’m still learning and that’s one of the things I love about my job. I even created a YouTube channel so I could share my experiences. There has been many challenges along the way and some lessons were tough. There were times where the money was very tight. There were lessons about marketing, technology, people and business.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

One time I was in a studio in New York. I had a guitar session that would take 2 days. So I asked the studio owner if it was ok to leave the gear in the closet over night. I would be back the next morning to continue working. He said that was fine. I came back the next day to finish my tracks. Upon unpacking my gear I noticed the guitar cases were damaged. 2 of the guitars looked bad. So I took them out of the cases and the head stock of the guitars fell off. The neck had been broken. I was mortified and glanced over to my side and saw a big speaker with scuffs on it and realized someone had dropped this huge heavy thing on my guitars. I went to confront the owner and he told me to wait outside. I was livid. Next thing I knew there were to big bouncer looking guys that looked like they belonged in the Sopranos show. They aggressively asked me if I had a problem and I said yes. They pulled back the trench coat to show me their pistols. One guy repeated the question and I just turned around and walked back into the studio and decided I was going to show them that I could still finish the session which I did. Probably wasn’t the most inspiring of circumstances. But I pulled it off. Footnote: The studio owner died a year later from an overdose.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Simple. Pay the creatives! Art has value.    

Contact Info:

• Website: http://kenjacobsen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kenjacobsenmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ken.jacobsen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenjacobsen/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kenjacobsenmusic