We caught up with the brilliant and insightful TJ Dumser a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi TJ, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

For the most part I always made life choices that were slightly off-center, yet somehow things always turn out for the best. Here’s a little story about one in particular that made my stomach drop but now looking back on it was the best decision I ever made.

I had been working a full time job in NYC as Senior Sound Designer of a fairly prominent post-production studio back in the mid-2000’s. I had gotten an early jump into the industry as I went to Full Sail University straight out of high school and got my teeth kicked in by its rigorous schedule. And when I say rigorous, I mean, brutal – 6-7 days a week we had classes and labs at all hours of the day: 1am Lab, 4am Lab, 9pm Lecture, etc. – that’s what you get when you have a 24-hour program. For over a year I battled my way through and when I came out the other end I was ready to find a spot at a studio. Being fairly determined, I had landed a job as an intern and fast forward a few years, having a couple different jobs, I finally landed the role I had been wanting: Senior Sound Designer.

I was working a lot and gaining recognition and success, I had all the things I wanted – stability, health insurance, savings…yet, I was growing more and more unhappy with answering to a “boss.” I was frustrated that despite the clients coming to see *me*, I was giving a portion of that session fee to the studio. But, why?
And then one day, I had it. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, missed my train, didn’t drink a coffee, and was just downright grumpy. I don’t know what came over me but I walked straight into the owners office and put in my notice. He was completely blindsided, his top billing engineer just quit.
I walked out to go get a coffee and called my partner to tell her what I just did. Riding the waves of adrenaline, I started coming down and realized I had just given up…everything.

So I allowed myself the day to panic.

And then after that I set my sights on just making it work. There was no safety net so, it had to work. I started emailing everyone I had ever met and worked with to tell them I was going solo. I made a website. I started taking people out to lunch on my own dime. I cold called and cold emailed dream clients. I went into debt buying gear I needed to start working from home.
And little by little, it started to gain momentum.

My couch was my “studio” and I took any project I got offered. Soon the couch became the computer desk from Ikea. Then the desk became a longer table. Then the table became an actual studio desk. Then the studio got sound treatment, then fader, then …. you get the picture. Each project helped fund my investment into my own self and equipment.
Now, looking back six years later, that was the clearest I had ever been thinking – but I just didn’t have the hindsight to realize it. I made the best decision of my life to invest in myself. I am my own boss. I make my own rules. I set my own boundaries. And I get to work with the people *I* want to work with on the projects *I* feel good about.
Being about twenty years into my career now, I can’t ever see myself working any other way. I only get better every day and I continue to grow my reach, my gear, and my knowledge.

Sometimes, making a decision while being a little grumpy actually pays off. Or at least, it did this time. I got out of my own way enough to do something I knew I wanted to do but had my rational mind doing too much of the driving to actually do it. Stepping out of the way I was able to tap into my truer self. And I’m so grateful I did.

Make the scary leap, you won’t regret it.

TJ, 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 TJ, I’m an award-winning sound designer, mix engineer, and composer – I write and compose music as Six Missing. My day job however is working in post-production, mainly advertising, television, and film. I work on everything from Super Bowl ads to sponsored content films to streaming television shows and films – both documentary and narrative. Outside of that, I like to experiment with electronic music and synthesizers to blend my first love of guitar into new sonic spaces to create ambient, meditative, soundscapes geared towards film, tv, and inner journeying.

On the work side: I’ve been a sound designer for nearly two decades and for the last six years I’ve been running my own shop working for myself and my clients remotely from Austin, TX. Originally I’m from NY and spent about 12 years in NYC running around from post-studio to post-studio cutting my teeth in the industry. After leaving Full Sail University I ended up landing an internship at a jingle-house in NYC, learning the ins and outs of radio production, broadcast advertising, and everything it took to run a smooth session with a room full of clients and celebrity talent. It was high stress and I soon found my groove. I actually ended up loving the feeling of having a mountain of stress to climb only to come out on the other side stronger and more confident.

Soon after, I decided to go out on my own and become my own boss, my own manager, my own…everything. I started to get to work on bigger and better projects with very talented people. I quickly became my clients favorite engineer because I not only knew how to do the job, I could help them do *their* jobs better too. Win-win.

My day to day work usually consists of recording some voice-over artists, cleaning up dialogue, creating sound effects + foley, editing music, laying in ambiences, and overall mixing advertisements, branded films, and TV shows. All from the comfort of my home studio.

For the music side of my life: I’ve always been a music lover, for as long as I can remember actually. And when I first picked up a guitar at age 12, it was all over from there, I was hooked. I was in bands and playing shows immediately. Then I discovered effects and synthesizers and eurorack gear. It’s a never ending well of experimentation and fun. Now I get write and compose for film + tv in a way that makes me happy. As an avid meditator and inner journeyer, I center myself in the present moment to create deeply textured, lush, and emotional sonic landscapes that allow the listener to drift away or close their eyes and exist within the theater of the mind.
These cinematic soundscapes lend themselves to film, tv, and activities in which words fail to capture meaning.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Early on in my career, my first boss drilled into the staff that the customer is always right – and if they claim something is wrong, it’s our fault. That never sat well with me. Ever.
I spent many many hard hours honing my craft to become the professional and *expert* I am in my field. And though I’m never ever going to tell a client “no,” I have had to unlearn the knee-jerk reaction of feeling like I made a mistake along the line.
Now, that’s not to say I never make mistakes, though, they are extremely rare.
But I’ve begun to learn how to be more confident in my skill. And in fact, I’ve learned to settle into the role of being an expert, trusting in myself that I am doing things correctly.
Creatively speaking, there are times when a client may have a different vision or perhaps their vision changes along the way. But technically speaking, I have more knowledge than them on how to execute it *for* them.
My first boss was ultimately coming from a place of customer service, and I’ve adopted that mentality too for obvious reasons, but I’ve had to teach myself to take a beat and remember that I actually know what I’m doing.

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

The most rewarding part of being an artist is when I get to hear stories from people telling me how my music has connected with them. For instance, a family friend just recently lost her husband to a lifelong health fight. And through their many overnight hospital visits they wrote me to tell me how comforting my music is for them. And how when she listens to it now, it reminds her of when they’d sit together listening to it.
There are no words for how that makes me feel. Undeserving, is actually one of the words I come up with. But it is entirely for these moments that I create and write and share my music. I want it to help people relax, find comfort during difficult times, or be the safe hand bringing them back ashore.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tjdumser.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sixmissing
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjdumsersound/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SixMissing
• Other: www.sixmissing.com

Image Credits
Photo credit: Hannah Edelman