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

Alright, Taylor thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

I remember the first paid studio session I ran as an Audio Engineer and how surreal it felt. Being from a very small town in upstate NY, the idea of working in a music studio was almost laughable. People would say “You’d have to move to LA to do something like that.” I always believed that I could make money doing music, but there were definitely times that it felt like my imagination. It wasn’t until I landed and internship at Subcat Studios in Syracuse that it started to feel like a real possibility. After being a runner and assisting sessions for free for about 5 months, I got booked with my first real paid session as an audio engineer. It was terrible. I remember it took me 20 minutes to just copy and paste a chorus in Pro Tools. Luckily, the artist really liked me and decided to be patient with me and continued to book sessions. From there, my client list grew and I ended up running hundreds of sessions at that studio. That first session will always stick with me though. I feel like it taught me so much just 4 hours.

Taylor, 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?

I don’t remember a time that I didn’t want to become a professional musician. When I was a kid, all I wanted was to be in a band. This lead me to learn keys, bass, and drums and how to sing badly. I always tried to start bands, played at church, made beats, and recorded my friends that made music. Eventually, I got an internship at a really nice recording studio called Subcat Studios in my hometown of Syracuse, NY, worked my way up and became a full time Audio Engineer/Producer/Musician.

Even though I work in multiple facets of music creation, I have always just considered myself a musician. I think that enables me to provide something extra to the songs I work on because whether I’m mixing, recording, producing or playing, I approach it all as a musician and, to me, a musicians goal should always be to evoke emotion in their listeners. So, even if I’m working on something very technical, like EQ or compression, I always ask myself “how is this going to make me feel?” That really guides me to take whatever an artists vision is and make it translate to their audience.

I’m extremely proud to have worked with some incredible artists and musician in my career. Being trusted with someones music is a real honor because it normally comes from a very vulnerable place. So to be able to help people take their music to the next level is something I’ll always be very grateful for.

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

Honestly, it probably sounds obvious or cliche, but just support it. Go to shows, buy stuff from local creators, engage with them on social media and real life. And if you have friends that are pursuing a creative profession, don’t ask them to give you discounts. It’s really hard to make a full living in a creative field as it is and we need the support of our community.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, it’s the feeling when you create something that you and everybody involved are truly proud of. Obviously, we all want success and stability out of our careers but on the creative side of things there isn’t anything better than that feeling. That and when you see something you created have a real impact on someone. I think that’s the mission at the end of the day.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @taylorjwhitney