We were lucky to catch up with Nick Elliott recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nick, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

To me, the pursuit of knowledge is inseparable from the work as a creative. In an industry and a discipline that is ever-evolving and changing, to stop learning is to fall behind. I learned to do what I do (produce and record songs full-time), through endless experimentation and trial and error, through various educational ventures, and through life experience. I started out helping my friends record raps and random jams in the closet of the party house I lived in for a year. I would make beats and remixes on my laptop for years long before I ever sold a beat. But I think the thing that could have sped up my learning process would have been admitting that I needed guidance, and that just trial and error wouldn’t get me there as fast as direct mentorship would have. This is why after completing a year-long audio engineering program through Recording Connection, I was able to start recording artists through my own home studio. Swallowing my pride and finding the right situation to learn from someone with experience sped ip my growth exponentially. My motivation to mentor people in the field of both production and recording comes from this realization – that being around people who already do what you want to do will help you get there faster. And I want to be the kind of person who would have helped a younger me get there more quickly.

Nick, 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’m a music producer and an audio engineer. This essentially means that I create songs with artists, and help expand their artistic vision and facilitate a collaborative creative process. I do everything from playing the instrumental parts in the song, to recording the artists playing or singing, to arranging and mixing the song to make it sound the best it can. My strengths lie in my ability to understand and help expand an individual’s creative vision beyond just an idea, to a full concept and song or project. My philosophy is that every artist has a creative vision and that my role is to use every tool and method available to bring it to reality, as they see it in their mind. My role can also be to fill in and aid the creativity at any stage of the creation of music. I have a unique approach and experience in life and I have the privilege of my skills spanning different disciplines across music theory, production, composition and recording. Music is my passion, to be sure, but doing what I do feels bigger than that – more like a purpose. It’s where I feel I belong. I would like anyone who’s interested in working with me to know that music is everything to me and for me, it’s bigger than just a job or a career, it’s what I live for and I want to create something we can both be proud to look back on.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Nowadays, I think that many of us deal with a feeling of overstomulation or saturation. I don’t think that is by coincidence. Every time we open our phone, we are bombarded by a cascade of posts, videos, content, everything competing for our attention. With that being said, I think that artists and creatives are at a disadvantage given that so much of the longevity of our success is dependent on that space we carve out for ourselves in the static. Therefore, to me, I think that the best thing that society can do to support artists is to help them carve out their place. To help them promote their work and their mission and to connect with the people who truly need it, and can support them with work and collaboration. It’s been a steep learning curve finding ways to innovate and diversify both my income and my access to work in this modern time, and what that even looks like. If I had more structured support to help connect me with people that know that they need someone like me to work with, but don’t know I exist, both of us might feel a little less overwhelmed and both of our lives might be a little easier.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I never really saw myself as someone who could work a “regular” job. I know that every single artist or creative has uttered this sentence at least once, but it bears repeating. The closest I could ever see myself was being a music teacher, but even that doesn’t feel like much of a calling. For me, I always knew that music was my calling and that creativity would be that thing that lit my soul on fire, so to speak. So, every day I get to make a living, creating and pulling from my passion instead of just working and waiting to embody that passion for fun, I feel like my soul is in alignment. As over the top as that sounds, it feels like doing something I truly care about and believe in, and cor me, nothing in the world compares to it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thespacementstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/purplematterpdx
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@purplematterpdx
• Other: https://airbit.com/PurpleMatter

Image Credits
Javier David Photography Richy Leafs Photography