Mid-Fi Music - Why It Exists.

September 18 2023

When I first started school in the Spring term of 2015, I was lost and confused in life. Heartbroken that I had succumbed to an institutionalized education and feeling I had failed at music completely. I weighed out my options and was about 70% sure of what I was going to school for and my plan, from enrollment all the way up to graduation/completion. I had started in the transfer degree program, and was set to earn a two year Associates of Science degree from PCC, and then transfer to a 4 year University to earn my Bachelors in Business/Marketing. I’m not gonna lie, I’m an idiot. I’ve always learned from my mistakes (still do), but had no fucking CLUE what to do with school, or even how to enroll. I think the first time I walked into PSU I just went to some information booth and said I wanted to go to school. Not knowing all the transcripts I’d need and all the pre-req courses I’d have to take. It blew my mind to be honest. Here I was, 30 years old, surrounded by all these “kids” who looked so fresh and clean and had their lives so figured out. I felt they were all looking at me, judging me and laughing at me. And some did. Doesn’t bother me one bit now.

My ultimate goal/plan was to land a job somewhere in the music business. If I wasn’t “making it” as a musician, then at least I could try for somewhere to work with others to help them. At the time I enrolled in school, I’d spent almost 15 years in nearly every aspect of the world of music in a very DIY/independent manner, so how hard could it be to properly learn the business side of things and land on that side of music? Well….. For someone like myself, a thirty-something year old with zero official experience on paper, no internships, nothing, it was really hard. Anyone looking to get in the music biz starts at a young age and gets their foot in the door proper. It was (and still is) difficult to land an internship as a thirty-six year old straight/white male. But in all honesty,I get it. Why should I get to be at the front of the line for those opportunities anymore? I would much rather them go to less privileged and/or marginalized folks, women, the LGBTQ community or anyone who has not had the opportunities as someone privileged such as myself…. Down with the patriarchy, I say!

While it has been an emotional rollercoaster honing in on what I want to do and how I want to do it, in one form or another the fire has always been there. Even if it was just a smoldering orange glow from time to time. While jumping from “I’m going to be a rock n roll singer til I die” to “I want to be in the music business!” to “I want to be an audio engineer and music producer!”, I slowly started to come to the realization that I was becoming all of those things (And yes I’ll still be a rock n roll singer til the day I die. Even if it lays dormant for a season or two)… Maybe school was helping in some way after all? Maybe it helped my scattered brain get a little more focused and organized? Maybe. Nothing happens overnight, and it is still freshly formed in my brain, in my perspective. But in all of my time spent in studios, in bands and in school, it has started to click more and more; I don’t need to find an internship. Sure, it would help, but there comes a time when you knock on enough unopened doors you start to realize, why not just build my own house? Then I’ll have my own door to open whenever I damn well please. Out of all of the TedTalks I’ve seen, learning about all of the successful creative people I look up to through interviews, books, articles and anything I could find, I realized something: A lot of these folks came from the ground up into what they wanted to do, on their own terms. There is no list of rules telling me I can’t start my own business in music. Will it be difficult? Sure. Overwhelming? Extremely. Do I have many connections? Not yet, no. But am I allowed to do it? Yes! People do it all the time! As I’ve grown more confident in myself and the fire/passion grows more to achieve this goal, it only perpetuates.

To get back on track with where I was, it was around 2018 I had started to lose steam with school, second guessing if I made the right choice. I was going through a breakup, was neck deep in a legal battle after a nasty car accident, and struggling to stay afloat mentally, emotionally and financially . So I decided to put school on the shelf and focus back on music. Two and a half years went by and during that time I was heavily learning about music publishing, while also attempting to land any entry level job or internship I could find with a publishing company. By January of 2021, I had grown tired of my job and felt I was getting nowhere in life, so I made a six month plan to finish school, save money and quit my job by summer. I was in a rush to figure out a plan after quitting my job, and during the next six months is where the idea of Mid-Fi really started to take shape. As I enrolled back into school, I decided that I did not want to do the transfer program because I did not want to be that much in debt after graduating. So I began talking with a counselor and figuring out the best course of action. I changed course, deciding to earn an Associates of General Studies, and a one year marketing certificate. I enrolled in business-directed classes, and used them as the opportunity to apply what I needed to do and know for Mid-Fi. The Small Business Management class helped me to shape my business plan, Principles of Marketing and Social Media Marketing both helped tremendously in how to create an image and online reputation for Mid-Fi, and one very inspiring instructor of an Entrepreneurship class helped me to gain more knowledge/insight to the basic principles of being both a creative and logistical hat-wearer in order to build a life for myself out of something I love to do.

During this six-month plan, I had an unexpected opportunity where I was offered a spot as an audio engineer at Singing Sands Recording Studio. Initially I was hesitant and wrought with imposter syndrome, unsure if I was good enough and knew enough to say ‘yes’. I had been studying and practicing engineering for quite a few years at this point, and doing a lot of recording at home and assisting friends on bigger sessions. To strike out on my own was a bit terrifying. But it sure as hell beat bagging coffee, and what did I have to lose? So I went for it.

I left my job on July 15th, 2021, finished my Associates of General Studies degree and as I was set to take the last course in the Fall of ‘21, my father unexpectedly passed away. Life has not been easy since then, it threw me off course completely. And I’ll never completely bounce back from such a massive loss. I wish more than anything that he were here to see where I’m at and how much I’ve grown since just last summer alone. But I think it was losing him that really pushed me even harder to continue on this journey for myself and for him. He was my biggest supporter in life, ever. He was at every show he could possibly be at, bought every piece of merch, kept every news/media clipping, bragged to his friends. All the things I was embarrassed about, but would give anything to have back.

There is still so much more to learn and do, and it is a lot to juggle. But in the last two years, I’ve registered as an LLC, opened a business account, have built this website, have been working with an overwhelming amount of incredible musicians/bands/artists at both Singing Sands and my own home studio, all the while creating music of my own, and someday I hope to be in a place that I can sign artists to Mid-Fi and begin building a roster to shop out to music supervisors. Someday, That’s still a far off dream. But I guess dreaming is where it all begins. I’d love to enroll in the Specialization in Music Supervision online course from UCLA. It’s not cheap, and I don’t plan to become a music supervisor after, but it’s an opportunity to further understand that world, and hopefully make some connections. As of today, Mid-Fi Music is strictly focused on audio engineering and music production, with no immediate plans to grow into a greater dream. Not yet, anyways, but one day.