We were lucky to catch up with Max Mondini recently and have shared our conversation below.

Max, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

So I am from a small town in Texas called Athens and I grew up on Lake Athens. I was extremely inspired by my friends that started a little wakeboard video blog/channel called Shredtown. I was in highschool at the time and they were in college but I remember their video blog started to get really popular and they ended up dropping out of school to pursue a career in wakeboarding. I thought that was so cool but their career only lasted them about 10 years because a sport like that can take a toll on your body pretty early on in your life. I always knew I could do music for the rest of my life so I loved the aesthetic they used for themselves and I would like to pursue that vibe with my music career.

I still don’t feel like I’m “in the industry” but when I look back on all the work I have done I am proud to say that I am a professional when it comes to creating songs, mixing and mastering. I knew from early on if I tell people I am a musician overtime people will know me as a musician. Friends I haven’t seen in a while always ask about my music and it feels good to know that I am an artist in Austin Texas through my friend group and acquaintances. I have worked with artists such as The Lewd Dudes, Daddy NAT, Harrowes, Wonderbitch (now known as Yatte) and friends with many other artists.

My niche I am trying to pursue is indie music. Anything from indie pop, indie rock, bedroom pop and every genre that falls into that category. The reason I love this genre of music so much is because so many of these artists create all the music themselves with no studio, no label, no producer or anyone. They just know how to do everything themselves and I feel like I fit right in with that. I love bedroom studios and that you can make music in your room nowadays and have a chance to be heard all around the world.

What sets me apart from most artists is that I feel I am really diving deep into who I am as a person. I have taken so much time to self reflect and I believe you become a better artists even if you don’t practice your instruments for months. I am always listening to music and creating playlists and I also DJ weddings on the side and it is amazing to see how pop music works with certain crowds and what songs don’t work as well. I feel I might be more of a producer at heart because when I have friends that get stuck on songs and they don’t know what to do, I can listen to their songs and I always come up with productions ideas for them to be able to finish their songs.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One big lesson I had to unlearn was music gear isn’t everything. You don’t need crazy amounts of studio gear to be a great artist. I always thought you needed amazing gear for your music to sound better but in reality, it really is the song that matters at the end of the day. Sure there are some tools and “rules” you need to know about mixing and producing songs but if you can learn a little bit about those topics, you can pick up cheap gear and honestly the less gear you have to work with the better off your songs will be. I think the less you have the more creative you can be with what you have. I went through a rabbit hole of getting overwhelmed by needing that next piece of gear to make my music sound better.

So I ended up backtracking overtime and I sold a lot of gear and I feel I am at a very good place right now just using plugins and a decent interface.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I’m not really sure how I feel about NFT’S. I have some ideas and a buddy of mine really wants to work with me on my ideas and he is really deep into the NFT world.

My opinion about NFT’s is that if you make an NFT project for the soul purpose of just making money, you will fail. You have to have incentive for the consumer and you have to have a reason behind the NFT project other than making money. I won’t spoil my idea but I would like to make an NFT project to help the music community as a whole.

The most interesting thing about NFT’s is that you can keep making money on an NFT even after you sell it for the rest of time if the NFT is successful. I believe NFT’s might die out though and the technology behind them will turn into something else that the future has yet to reveal.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mxmondini/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maxmondinimusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mxmondini

Image Credits
Suril Patel