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

Nokami, appreciate you joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

While I was building my studio business, I was working full-time as a server at Sakura Japanese Restaurant. My bosses were both Japanese, and had a very different outlook and value system than I was used to, but everyday I get reminded of them as I run my business.

My first day working there they taught me that as a server, I was a representation of the food, and part of the experience of eating there. I was used to looking at it as simple as good service equals good tip, but they made me open my eyes a little to see it how they do. I needed to look clean, so the food would be clean. I couldn’t just roll out of bed 15 minutes before work and throw on some clothes to get there fast. They made a big point to keep every inch of the restaurant clean, and inviting. If the restaurant felt good to be in, then the food would taste better. It wasn’t just preparing good food for them, they carefully made a good experience all around. Just like how if you celebrate Christmas, and as a kid if all the decorations were set and the vibes were there, it made the presents you got even better.

That entire approach is how I run my studio now. It can’t just be you come and record and I mix your song. I like to take in however the artist is feeling that day, and let them show me what music they’ve been connecting with recently. I wipe the floors by hand, because sometimes mopping just doesn’t do the job. I’ll deep clean the carpets, or the furniture they sit on. I go and make sure everyone has water, or a cough drop/medicine if they need it. Its not just making sure they’re not thirsty, their voice has to be ready to perform. Even though I work from home, I still make an effort to look like I’m going out sometimes, and clean myself up. The same expression still applies, if I look dirty, how is their song going to sound? On the other hand, if I put on a nice outfit, and set a good vibe with how the room looks and smells, I feel like the artist is more comfortable and in the zone to just focus on the music. They know I got my side of the song together, because I look put together.

It’s the same thought process they taught me to serve at their restaurant. In the end, it leads to artists making their best work with me. You can’t just focus on the end goal of the experience, it’s all the little details that add up to get you to that goal, that end up giving you better results.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I run my own music studio, but because I do so many different things like being an artist, engineer, producer, song writer, creative director, I just like to look at it like I’m the person you go to that will bring your musical ideas to life. However much I need to be involved is really up to the artist. It can be as simple as me recording your song and mixing it, maybe telling you to redo some things, or it could be more involved like how some artists will come to me with just a song idea. Maybe they barely have any lyrics, and no beat at all, and I’ll construct the song with them, building the beat, helping with melody ideas, lyrics, and then going through the recording and mixing process. Sometimes that even extends to me helping them planing on how they’ll release it, and with what type of visuals. At the end of the day I want them to leave the studio with something we’re both proud of.

I was always passionate about music, but a lot of people tell you growing up that it’s not a realistic goal. I started producing music my senior year of high school, but everyone was pushing me to do the “realistic” thing, and go to college so I can “actually make money”. I took 4 years of computer classes in high school, and built computers for friends and was always the person people went to when they had computer problems, so I thought I should go to college to pursue computer science. In the back of my mind I knew I wanted to really pursue music, but our school systems and beliefs teach you to do the safe and reliable thing of going to a university and accumulating hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, so that’s what I did. Towards the end of my first year I just had a realization like, “is this really it? THIS is what I’m going to do my whole life?” The thought of that was pretty depressing. I told my parents I wasn’t feeling it anymore and that I wanted to give my dream a shot. They were supportive, but I didn’t have it all figured out yet. I spent the first year just having fun and making music, going to local shows, and meeting people. Eventually people wanted to record with me and have me produce for them. I thought that was cool, but really I was learning these skills for myself because I wanted my own music to be my focus. It grew to the point where I couldn’t work with everyone at once without sacrificing other things in life like going out with friends, playing games, or even my job. Over time I kept my head down and starting charging money for my services, raising my prices until I could quit my serving job and support myself.

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

The best feeling is having an idea come to me, or when another person comes to me with their idea, and then bringing it to life. A lot of the time it will happen not exactly the way you thought it would, but it connects with you in ways you didn’t initially expect. It feels good seeing it realized as a tangible thing.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

This is one area where I feel like the internet can be a detriment. There’s a lot of bad information and advice since anyone can put on a mask to seem reputable and say anything. What helped me the most was going out and talking to actual people in my field and learning from them. My bosses and teachers had the biggest impact on how I run my business.

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