Q&A With Austin Seltzer: Mix Engineering, Success, and the Power of Problem-Solving

Episode Transcript
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Austin Seltzer (00:01):
Welcome to the Grounds for Success podcast.
I'm your host, austin Siltzer.
Together we'll unveil the keysto success in the music industry
.
Join me as I explore my guest'slife stories and experiences to
uncover practical insights tohelp you align with your goals
more effectively.
Hey there, coffee drinkers.

(00:30):
Welcome to the Grounds forSuccess podcast.
This is the first time I'm doinga Q&A so I'm really stoked.
I have one of my best buddiesin the entire world, sai Huck,
here to ask me questions, do alittle interview, but I have a
feeling it's going to beridiculous and fun And who knows
what's going to happen.
I don't know the questions hewrote down.

(00:50):
So the whole thing is going tobe organic and hopefully we'll
learn some about my mixing andsome about success and
leadership and other things thatSai wants to hit me with.
But before we get started, ijust wanted to say that this is
a Sunday.
This episode comes out onTuesday And last minute we had a

(01:13):
pivot because one of my awesomeguests just has some great
notes that they would like tohit on the episode and I want to
respect that.
So you know we're doing alittle impromptu Q&A session And
yeah, if you see behind me onthe chalkboard I wrote Problem
Solver And honestly, i think tobe a creative, a person who

(01:40):
achieves, like to reach a highlevel of anything.
Problem Solving is like one ofthe most important things.
Like if you're thrown acurveball, how do you react.
And here we are.
Sai stepped up and said thathe's excited to interview me.
And the last point before Ibring in Sai is that this is a
really cool full circle moment.

(02:01):
First time I met Sai, he wasactually interviewing me on a
radio show.
Sai was an on air personalityand interviewed me and my
partner at the time who in music, jason Smith, and this is a
really cool full circle momentto be doing this.
And onesie is no less.
I'm Jack and I don't you knowI'm an unfortunate Gryffindor,

(02:24):
Like I know.

Sy Huq (02:25):
I'm a Gryffindor because it just matches.
But I wish I was a Slytherin,But I can never.
It's like I blame the swordinghat every day.

Yeah, that's my life.
Slytherin gang over here Andyeah, we don't want you.

Sy Huq (02:39):
Well, I'll still serve the Dark Lord.
That's the best part.
I would love to be like a darkAsian for the Dark Lord.
That'd be great.

Wait, I never said that I wanted to do that.
What You just looped me intoyour darkness.
I didn't say that I want toserve the Dark Lord.
You did, i know.

Sy Huq (02:56):
I am no shame joining Voldemort, It would be so much
more fun.
Like everyone else is, likethis is the system we got to
contain, And then they're likethis is we got to be remained
outside of like society.
No, dude, I want, like magicand reality to like combine and
like the people that don't knowmagic and can't do magic, like
feel the power of what magiccould be like And their society
could actually get better.

(03:17):
If you think about it like that, like you can, you can start
working with humans that focuson just like non magic problems
to help magic accelerate theirlives.

That's what you think Voldemort stands for.
I think.

Sy Huq (03:32):
I think I think I could get Voldemort.
I think I'd like to getVoldemort.
I'd give him a PowerPointpresentation and I'd be like,
okay, this is how you canaccelerate your business.

I can totally see that.

Sy Huq (03:45):
Yeah.

I could see that actually, after this, you might
, you know, really go into that,just to prove a point.

Sy Huq (03:50):
I think Voldemort has a business mindset.
I mean, look at the logisticsof his organization.
Like he got the hierarchy downHR.
Like he had a better HR thanlike Hogwarts.
For sure.
I think that's something thathe's very underappreciated for.
Okay, Yeah Well so in a way, iwill be.

(04:16):
I would love to tweak hisbusiness to optimum potential.
the same way Watch this Thesame way that you tweak people's
music to their optimalperformance.

It's incredibly smooth.
Thank you.
Well, the last point that Ishould bring up, before we like
really dive in here, is that Saiis an incredible writer,
producer, director, all acrossthe board, visionary storyteller
.
So I have a feeling that someof the dumb shit you're about to
say and you're going to put meinto some very fantastical

(04:53):
trouble.

Sy Huq (04:54):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's.
It's funny, like just to touchon the full circle moment
because it it?
I didn't it even.
You know it, i didn't it evenhit me until you said it earlier
today.
I was like, oh snap, the way wedid meet was through this radio
show I had called TechnologicRadio and we had so much fun on
that show It created afriendship, like it was.

(05:15):
It was like instead of aninterview, it was like a
conversation at a dinner tablekind of thing and actually just
like hitting it off.
I think by the end of it wewere, we had permanent markers
and we were drawing on Jason'shead.

That sounds right.

Sy Huq (05:30):
Like that's how the interview ended.
So I mean that's a cool way anda testament to how our
friendship kind of grew in thatlight, and then the fact that
we've just been supporting ourcareers and so early or in
collaborations have been justnatural and organic, i think
it's been kind of really cool totackle it that way.

Yeah, and it's been at least eight years, but
we tried to count it the otherday and I don't know why we had
issues.

Sy Huq (05:53):
Maybe we're not good at math, but I'm not going to math.

Yeah, same.
I think we're probably eightyears, but probably more eight.
If I say eight years and twoyears, we've got an issue
because that's like multipleyears.

Sy Huq (06:05):
I would definitely say that I would definitely.
I would say eight years,because I think when it comes to
terms of time, especially whenyou're just like in the hustle
and it's a blur, you lose trackof.
You lose track of that pace,like of how long something is
versus like how long somethingis taking in the moment You're

(06:26):
working on something Like it'shard to keep track of both.
I think it's maddening to keeptrack of both.

Yeah, i think that that's going to perfectly
lead into these questions,because the flow state that we
call it, or passion or whatever,just removes time.

Sy Huq (06:41):
Right.

Time is no longer a thing, you're just in
it.

Sy Huq (06:46):
Also.
Well, i get a lot of flak forlike just grabbing it like a
savage versus the handle.
No.

Okay, cool, i love that.
Okay If you guys don't knowthis, but size is very clumsy.

Sy Huq (06:59):
I have a horrible equilibrium, just naturally, and
then I actually can hear onthis ear as much.
So Austin's life is filled withmany moments of me running my
foot into like chairs and tablesand me falling off the stairs
or me crashing into things wheregenerally it would end somebody

(07:21):
or need to, that's so true,actually Need to.

I think you're broken toes and I think you're
broken 12.

Sy Huq (07:28):
Definitely.
And then there are times whereI think my shins are calloused
up, like straight up, they cantake some damage and I don't
feel any pain on my toes anymoreeither.
So it's kind of yeah for allthose who wanted to know about
feet today.
So yeah, we've covered that.
There you go, foot, game, footgame, foot game, all right, cool

(07:48):
.

So getting caffeinated.

Sy Huq (07:50):
Yeah, we are getting caffeinated and crazier And
caffeinated.
Let's dive right in.
Shall we?
Let's do it, let's do it.

Yeah, my little tagline is let's get caffeinated
.

Sy Huq (08:00):
Let's get caffeinated.
And for the coffee drinkers outthere, just know that you are
the best of us.
There you go, yeah, to kind ofvalidate all your fans.
Hell yeah, let's go Yeah.

All right.
Well, let's dive right in.

Sy Huq (08:17):
So what exactly is mixing and mastering And how you
take it that on?
What do you do?

Yeah, it's for those of you listening who don't
like, who are not so deep intomusic, that they understand what
I do.
It's a lot of people call likeblack magic.
You know something?
I'm basically in a dark roomdoing something in a track to
make it sound better and it'shard to understand.

(08:46):
So to break it down just likevery simple here, i take a track
that's already been recordedand produced, which means
somebody with an artist, kind ofthey either you know program
drums, play drums.
You know you got all yourelements in a track, you

(09:06):
formulate them in a way thatmakes it feel like a song, right
.
So you have songwriters writinglike the top line, the melody
or the lyrics.
You have the artist, thevocalist, whoever who generally
performs the song, but aproducer who lays out the
structure, creates theindividual elements that go into
a song, like kicks, snares,bass, guitar, all these elements

(09:31):
.
So after all of that, the songis sent to me and I take those
individual elements the vocals,the drums, the bass, the guitar,
the synths, the, whatever theindividual elements of a song
and I make them sound like thefinal product.

(09:52):
And so we do that with EQ.
So equalization, maybe thiselement needs less mid range and
it needs more highs and lowsand maybe this element doesn't
need any highs, doesn't need anylows.
You know I make those decisionsto make elements in a song fit
together as great as possible.

(10:13):
And then I that's the mixingphase.
I mean there's so much morethat goes into it, right, but I
make these elements feel like acohesive song.
And then the mastering phasefor me.
Other mastering engineers havedifferent things if they're just
a mastering engineer, but forme that's making sure that this

(10:37):
song sounds good across all thesystems that people will listen
to headphones and a phone and acar and home speakers.
I make sure it's the sameloudness as other tracks.
So if you go from this track tothe track I worked on, it's the
same loudness.
A great example would be likewhenever you're watching a TV

(11:00):
show and a commercial comes onand it's way louder than a show.
I make sure that our tracksounds just like other popular
tracks in that genre And yeah,that's what the mixing and
mastering that's kind of likethe very like 30,000 foot view,
but that's what I do.
People trust me with theirsongs to make them sound like a

(11:22):
final product.
That's amazing.

Sy Huq (11:24):
I would say a lot of people throughout this podcast
versus the shows that have been,that are already out, versus
the shows that are to come willask and are asking who are you?
And I think you've introducedyourself quite a bit in your
light, in your way, in yourpodcast, but now you're in a

(11:47):
seat across the board, acrossthe seat that you usually sit on
and we get a little opportunityto learn more about you, and
you're especially in the mix andmastering engineering aspect of
it.
You've given classes about itbefore, you've talked to people
privately and elevated theirgame or you've brought them in

(12:08):
and you've collaborated andworkshopped and you've given
back a lot in that facet beforethis.
So in a way, i think it's coolto kind of dive back into giving
a taste of what that looks like, but also just understanding
your process and in your mix andmastering purview.

(12:28):
What is your process?
How do you start?
What's your page one?

Well, the honest answer is it depends on the
project It really does.
So I've currently startedasking for the actual project
from a producer, and what thatmeans is like the session where
final production is So recordedaudio with all of the effects,

(12:54):
all of the processing, all ofthe love and care that was put
in by the producer and theartist into the song.
They have what's called a roughmix.
That's what we call it, andthat just means like this is
what they've been living withand they put all the love and
care into this track to soundthis way.
And now it's time for a mixerto mix this thing, which just

(13:17):
means elevate what they have toa final product.
And what I'm getting to here isthat if I listen to the rough
and it is just so incrediblygood I know that they have
already lived and loved thistrack.
My job is just to put finaltouches on it some sugar, some a

(13:40):
5% lift.
But then there are sometimeswhere I listen to the production
and I can hear exactly wherethat track needs to be and I
know what it's saying.
I know what it wants to be, butit needs to be lifted quite a
bit And in those two scenariosthat it's a completely different

(14:00):
answer.
One if the rough is alreadygreat, then what I do is I play
the entire track and I justlisten to only what it needs and
nothing more, and I go in and Ifine tune those little things.
So I leave all of theirsettings, their plugins, their
everything.
On this track We have likewhat's called a mixed bus chain,

(14:23):
a master chain, whateversomebody calls it, the final
processing that's going on theoverall track.
I will make sure that that isstill there, the exact way that
they had it, and then after thatI'll add some of my own flavor.
That just elevates it, that 5%.
So I leave exactly what theyhave.
But maybe I go through and Imake things a little thicker, a

(14:46):
little more bassy, a little moreairy.
On the top, the vocals sit justa little better.
But then the one where I haveto really dig in and make a
track come to life I will tellthem to print what that means is
, like all the effects that theyhave on their audio.
I will tell them to put it intothe files that they send me.

(15:10):
So a multi-track, that's whatit's called.
Let me topo chico here.
Yeah, i mean it sounds decisive.
Yes, it is.
I think that that's what I'mpaid for Decisiveness and taste.

Sy Huq (15:25):
Would you say that that is an individual voice?
in your art, like I imagine, interms of branding, when it
comes to your name and yourmixes, there's a certain, like
you said flavor.
Is that considered a particularvoice that is honed in, or is
it something that is trying tobe uniform, to kind of be like

(15:46):
this?
It should be like this.
Is it that presumptuous, or isit more of just within your own
bubble?
This is what I can control.
This is my voice and that's whyyou should bring it to me.

That's a great question.
I do not try to fit in.
I'm going to be honest.
I just don't give a shit aboutthat.
Like, i've been listening tomusic my entire life and I love
certain things and I don't lovecertain things, and whenever I
listen to a song and I can hearexactly where it wants to go,

(16:19):
it's where my mind hears itgoing.
Of course, i ask for what theartist wants, what the producer
wants.
I listen to what they want andI take it to that place in a way
that I know how, not by atextbook or by rules or whatever
.
I just don't give a shit aboutthat.
I just get there with whateverI can grab, whatever I can do to

(16:44):
get to that point.
Those choices are made by mytaste and my ear.
I think that that's what peoplecome to me for.

Sy Huq (16:54):
Is that sort of where your joy is?
Is the joy coming from the factthat you get to put your own
flavor to it?
That is your individualism?
In terms of art, our expressionof individualism often creates
self-worth.
Is that what's creatingself-worth for you in this

(17:15):
endeavor, in the Mixing andMastering, or is it the reaction
of your art?

Yeah, it's completely the reaction,
Hilariously.
I think that I find ithilarious because I feel like a
true artist or whatever wouldsay the opposite, gerist kind of
thing.
Yeah, yeah, i don't care.
I want to see people out thereposting and talking about and
I'll just throw in my beautyschool dropout boys seeing the

(17:44):
crowd's reaction to their songsand I got to play a small part
in that way.
Cooler than having a highstreaming track for me Don't
mind, like a live show Oractually those two aren't really
like a high streaming trackwould make me very happy because
that means it's resonating witha lot of people.
The fact that I got to put 200hertz in this thing and a little

(18:05):
bit of sheen on this and I gotKoli's vocal to sit a little bit
better, i don't really care,because at the end of the day, i
want people to resonate withthe music and if I see them live
sharing on Instagram orwherever a song and people
freaking out about it, then Iknow I touched somebody's life.

Sy Huq (18:24):
And especially shout out to BSD, because those guys I
mean, i went to that one showwith you and I hadn't
experienced an old schoolHollywood rock star moment.
That was definitely my oldschool Hollywood rock star
moment, when they were playingon the rooftop they're jumping
off the stage rolling around,collapse and all over the place
and everyone was just hype andthen jumping into it with them

(18:47):
and jamming.

You don't see that It was on top of a diamond
store.

Sy Huq (18:51):
Yeah, that's right, it was a jeweler store.
I was just straighteningthrough a jeweler store and I'm
sure you could have boughtsomething if you wanted to walk
in all bow and stuff.
but it's almost like the wholeexperience was set up to live
what the old rock star worldlooked like.

Yeah, it was great To answer one of the
second part to one of yourquestions.
If I get a track, a multi-track, from like a track that I need
to dig into the tool chest alittle bit deeper, my first
thing that I do always is I setup my mastering or mix bus,
whatever people want to call it.

(19:31):
Again, i don't care, thesethings just don't matter.
I put it on my master bus, butI set up my mastering processing
before I even start the track,because every single little move
that I make in that mix has totranslate to the final product.
So if I mix the track, then youput these things on later to

(19:52):
change the overall EQ curve orloudness or low end, just like
thickness or whatnot.
If you put that on after you've,like, really started mixing a
track, it will completely change.
Why would you do that?
I put it on at the beginning.
Every little thing that I dotranslates through that and

(20:15):
that's how I start.
But not on a track thateverybody already loves and
already sounds good.
If I were to do that, it wouldcompletely sonically change that
track and it will no longer bethe track that they loved.
And so that's the two totallystark different mixing And that
kind of lands within your bestpractices, right?

Sy Huq (20:36):
So I think that's a perfect way to kind of dive into
more of what are some thingsthat you consider that you would
tell somebody are your bestpractices, and do you think that
people should take away from itversus they just should only be
for you?

Number one, best practice humanly possible that
everybody should listen to.
This particular piece of adviceis communication is key,
literally number one.
Talk to your producers, talk toyour songwriters, talk to your
artists, talk to the managerwhoever you need to to
understand what the vision forthe track is, what they want,

(21:13):
different from the rough thatthey're sending you.
Is this going to be a radiotrack?
Is this going to be aSoundCloud kind of track?
Is this going to be you knowwhere?
what's the end goal of thissong?
What's the turnaround time?
The deal sorry, the deal points.
You need to know thatimmediately, don't negotiate

(21:35):
afterwards.
That makes no sense.
Communication is number one.
That's non-negotiable.
It's not like I need to find myown way to do this.
Communication is key, numberone.
And then I could go down a listof, like, best mixing practices
.
But, like again, who gives ashit?
It's taste, it doesn't matter,rules do not matter.

(21:59):
I could give so many pointersabout mixing, but the thing is
is all the things that I do arewrong in so many ways.

Sy Huq (22:07):
Right.
I mean, it's kind of anallegory of life in a way, too
Like you prepare as much as youcan and throw it away in terms
of execution, because ultimately, there is a part of you that
you couldn't even deny from theart itself, when everything is
stripped away, And I thinkthat's where you try to get it

(22:29):
as well.
That's pretty fascinating.
When you implement those bestpractices.
It's very hard to tell somebodythat it always turns out all
right Yeah.
So, incredibly difficult, rightLeaning into the imperfection
I'm sure is pretty normal orconsistent in your everyday.

(22:50):
What kind of takeaways do youget from that?
What kind of lessons do youhave you learn from that, and
how do you continue movingforward, knowing that you're
going to run into these bumps?
What do those bumps look like?

in that sense, too, Can you give me an example
of a bump?

Sy Huq (23:06):
Yeah, so when you have a mix that you've done and you've
administered the notes andyou've taken it in, and there's
a curveball brought in on thereception back to you where you
have a short, where it's, youthought you did exactly what was
needed, but it was perceiveddifferently.
I'm sure that creates amiscommunication in a world

(23:28):
where you're trying tocommunicate as much as possible.

How do you deal?

Sy Huq (23:32):
with that.

Yeah.
So that's a great point And Ihave fine tuned over the years
exactly what to do in that place.
If somebody gives me notes andthey seem very black and white,
like I know exactly what to do,i do those exact notes.
And then I'm given a note likehey, this, this, this and this

(23:54):
weren't hit.
These were notes that werequested, type thing And
immediately I'll either hop on aphone call and talk about it
verbally There's just even atexting notes.
I think is the best way becauseI can read them, i can scroll
down them, i can see exactlywhat they say, like, especially
if there's time markers.

Sy Huq (24:14):
All right, it's like fit in.

Yeah, it should be that way, but maybe a verbal
conversation.
But now, typically what I'll dois we'll do a live mix session
where I either bring them in theroom it's going to be so easy,
they're going to be able topoint to the exact harmony, the
exact spot, the exact whateverin the room And then, if that's

(24:37):
not possible, we have this thingaudio movers.
It's a little plug in that youactually saw me do it with Devon
Oliver the other day Where Iwill send the audio straight
from my computer to somebodyelse's computer, where they can
listen through their headphones,their speakers or whatever, and
we'll hop on like a FaceTimecall, so I'm face to face, we

(24:59):
can talk about the notes face toface through that, and then I
can also play the music at thesame time.
Oh, right there, right there,you're like okay, perfect, i got
it.

Sy Huq (25:09):
Let me hit that.
I was wondering how you weredoing that too, because that's
like for me.
I just thought you were justaccepting listening to like a
rougher version, that's throughZoom or something like that.

Yeah, no, I can send a perfectly high quality
version to whoever in real time.
I mean like a.2 second delay.

Sy Huq (25:32):
Right, but would that also work in terms of like, say,
you sent a voice note tosomebody and it's okay when
you're like you're taking themout or whatever.
So, yeah, that's the way I doit?
it started a whole argument andfight because they
misunderstood it, So you'vetaken it to the lengths where
you're like, okay, hold on, openyour laptop.
I'm going to play exactly thepart that you did not listen to.

I mean, dude, i've taken my phone and sent a
video of like hey, these are theparts that are playing there.
Yeah, like, if somebody's likehey, will you turn the piano
down in this section?
I'm like shit, there is nopiano in this song.
There's not even a synth thatsounds like a piano, right?
I'm just going to send a videoand I'll go down and I'll play

(26:16):
all the individual parts, right,and I'll say here are the parts
that are playing.
Which part do you mean, right?

Sy Huq (26:24):
Oh, that's a cool way to kind of jitto that whole
conversation.
You don't want to tell them,hey, there's no piano in the
song, and then it's.
Then it kind of looks awkwardon their side too.

Exactly right.
I don't want to make them feeldumb.
Yeah right, I want to avoid allthat.
It's like hey, these are theparts that are playing.
Which one do you mean?
Oh, oh, number three.

Sy Huq (26:42):
Okay, perfect, oh, that's cool.
That's cool, i mean, in a wayyou can kind of do that via
email too.
Yeah, i don't fuck with email,it's too slow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're in a world of like.
We need instant feedback, right, and that's the way I like to
work, like, if I'm a scalpel,i'm in there, i'm making laser
clean edits.
I'm trying to be as efficientas possible because generally
our deadlines are like the sameday, right, i don't have time.

Sy Huq (27:13):
Right, your turnaround is fast.
Yeah, i think faster thanpeople think too.

I can turn around tracks incredibly fast.
Right, that's just the way Iwas.
I.
I all the projects that I'veworked on have really been
incredibly quick turnarounds,and so you just become very
efficient.
Right, i'm giving it just asmuch love as somebody over three
days, i promise.
Right, i really care about this.

(27:37):
I'm listening across all thesedifferent devices.
I'm doing everything.
I'm just very efficient withknowing where to do something,
where not to do something.

Sy Huq (27:47):
Right, Like you've honed in on, not just, it's like
chess, like when people playspeed chess and they're and
you're, and you're thinkingabout like playing a 14 minute
game.
That means you have 14 minuteshumanively to figure out your
moves to defeat the opponent andall that kind of stuff.
And then those that play atthree minute matches or one
minute matches, they have tomake decisions immediately But

(28:10):
that doesn't mean that they'reworse players, Right.
I mean sometimes it means thatthey're almost always.
It means that they're betterplayers actually, Cause there's
decides to move still have towin the game, Right?

And they didn't start out playing at that speed,
right?
See, that's.
The thing that people probablydon't see is that I can mix the
track very quickly, but I havemixed tracks incredibly slow and
a little bit faster and alittle bit faster, just because
I'm honing in how sharp mylittle scalpel is.

Sy Huq (28:39):
Right, right, that's it.
And your moves are.
You've done it so many times,too, that your moves have also
been calculated in terms of the,the number of options.
You've already considered thembefore and you know how they
sound before too, so I'm surethat it gives you an advantage
just from the experience itself.
Totally, yeah, in that way, itsounds like you've you've gotten

(29:00):
the scalpel and you're you'velearned quite a lot through this
whole process.
What are you still learning,then?
Like, like, what are thingsthat you're continually working
on and excited for to learnabout in the future?
Like, moving forward?

I think that's a great question.
I think, sonically, i reallythink that I'm playing at the
top level, like the very top.
I listen to the best mixers inthe world and I think that I can
do the same exact thing Ireally do like sonically, but

(29:36):
that is so little part of thebattle.
That's like the given I'm amixer, i need to sonically be
great.
Right, the things that I'mconstantly learning are how to
work with people, other people,better.
That is the that.
Whenever you asked what are thekey takeaway type things and I
said communication.
That's it.

(29:57):
Like I really think that ifyour communication becomes
better and better and better,you can deal with difficult
situations better.
You can work with timelymanners more efficiently.
You can deal with egos better.
I'm trying to work withegotistical motherfuckers.
I'm trying to work with thebest artists in the world, right

(30:18):
, they have to have thatelevated sense of self that like
how else can you be a star?
Right?
I?
to work with people like that,i need to have great
communication.
I need to deal with, how yousay, judo, if somebody comes in
real hot, i need to be able tojust like, just just move things
very nice and efficiently sothat they feel respected and

(30:43):
heard And I get what they needdone.
But the way that I do things Soit's it's all communication.
I don't know.
I'm listening and using newplugins all the time.
That's cool.
I really enjoy the technologyand using the latest, greatest
cool things, but I really findmyself being more the person

(31:03):
that I just want to make theproduct feel as good as possible
Sonically.
Maybe there's some otherplugins that can do things more
cleanly or in a different way,but how does it feel?
Right, that's what matters.
I want to move people.

(31:23):
Right.
People aren't watching a showlive or just ridiculously
posting things on TikTok likethese incredibly viral tracks.
If they sonically sound good,right, it's how it makes you
feel We're listening through afreaking phone.
Right, a phone speaker.
How does it feel through thatphone speaker?
that really matters.

Sy Huq (31:44):
True, i don't think a lot of people know that either.
That like you test via I mean,i've seen it firsthand The test
of your phone speaker, test ofyour car, how it plays in the
car, like that is such a smartmove in my eyes because that's
how it's going to be receivedoften too.

Yeah, i'm making final mix.
passes through my iPhonespeaker.

Sy Huq (32:03):
Yeah.

So I do it with my monitors, i do it with
AirPods, i do it in my car.
Right, i have a couple ofvarious speakers in the studio,
like an Echo 8 down here It'slike a bigger speaker, and then
upstairs that little cylinderone another Echo.
But then the very final things.
I'm listening through my phonespeaker Right.

(32:25):
Can I hear every single littleelement of that track?
Right, then you know we're good, because that's how people
share music.
Now They, oh, do check this outand they hold up their phone
Right, and you need to be ableto understand what's going on.

Sy Huq (32:41):
It's really the tip of the iceberg too.
It's really fascinating tothink about the fact that, in
the moment that it all comesdown to like iPhone speakers,
that or any phone speakers thatmusic gets played out of to show
display, enjoy all this work ina finely tuned studio, all this
work in back and forth betweenmultiple camps of people
listening on high end likestudios and speakers and

(33:03):
headphones All that work goesinto returning back to the
semblance of the optimallistening listening out of an
iPhone speaker.

Yeah, and me, i'm personally so fucking cool
with that.
Yeah, i know so many peoplethat complain about that.
But, dude, how cool is it thatwe can instantly share music
anywhere?
Right, right.
And if you listen to a hit,something that universally makes
people move, like randomly inmy mind just peaches by Justin

(33:32):
Bieber, right, if you play thatout of an iPhone speaker, it
moves people.
Yeah, it makes you feelsomething.
Right, like, how could I talkdown on that?
So cool.

Sy Huq (33:42):
And I think we touch on this all the time, like.
One of my favorite analogiesthat I've experienced over and
over again is the fact that,like you're going through a
museum And if you ask peoplelike what their favorite
painting is, if you go to, like,the Louvre in Paris, and people
go and they choose the MonaLisa.
Not everyone's choosing theMona Lisa, you know.

(34:04):
Mona Lisa may be the one that'sknown the most, it may be the
one that looks the best for alot of people, maybe, but
ultimately the favorite piecefor everybody, which is
different often, is neveruniformly, always one is what
makes people feel the most, whatthey relate to, and one person
relates to a piece of art andone corridor may resonate with

(34:26):
them, with the entire world ontheir shoulders, versus the one
that everyone is talking aboutdown the aisle that's crowding.
You can barely get a glimpse ofit because it's so popular.
Yeah, yeah I think in the sameway sonically.
That's got to be it too.
For sure, Yeah Like unlesseveryone's favorite song is
peaches, then I'm wrong.
A lot of people like peaches.

(34:47):
A lot of people do like peaches.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's a lot that you do inyour life in terms of chasing
and achieving success, and itrequires, i think, apparently
comes off, and in a beautifulfashion, a passionate way.
What is passion to you?
How do you find passion?

(35:09):
How would you recommend othersfind their passion if they don't
have one Or are searching forit and are yearning for a
direction, swimming lanes,something that helps them along
their path?

Yeah, this is one of my very, very, very
favorite topics, and the reasonis I don't really believe in
luck, but I will say that Ithink that I found music so
early in life, like as a kid.
I already became obsessed withit which will come up in a

(35:42):
second here obsession But Ithink that I got lucky to find
music, and what I didn't getlucky about is I always focused
on it.
But I did get lucky that froman early age I found music.
So why I'm bringing that up iswhenever I meet people who

(36:07):
either I can tell that theydon't have a passion they're
like working a nine to five thatthey really hate and they're
like, ah, but I wish that I weredoing something I loved, but
they don't know what that is Orsomebody that just asked me like
how did you find that you're?
how did you find your passion?
I was in the shower just theother day and that's where I do

(36:28):
all my thinking, as you know, myshower thoughts And I thought
about this and I think that Iactually, like, came up with a
formula for how to find yourpassion, or how to find a
passion, because I don't thinkthat we have one passion and I
think it can totally change,like I could change my passion
for music to be something else.

(36:49):
Right, and here's the formula.
It's only two things.
It only takes two things.
One, something that makes youvery happy and that you love.
So this could be cars, likemodifying cars.
This could be, obviously, music.

(37:10):
This could be drawing orpainting.
This could be designing clothes, something that you just do.
This could be gardeningSomething during the pandemic.
This could be baking.
You know I'm trying to think oflike, whatever it may be that
brings you joy and happiness.
So let's take us, during thepandemic, like baking.

(37:31):
We started baking bread andjust like everybody else like
pizzas.
So we found something that makesus really happy.
Like whenever we're doing it,we're like time stands still,
like you're kneading this dough,you're hand-making pasta, so
you're putting the eggs and theegg yolks and this your the

(37:56):
flour, and you're kneading thisthing with your hands and time
is just standing still.
You got some music playing.
Oh yeah, you're here and you'relike holy shit, it's been like
an hour.
Right, you really liked thatprocess.
Okay, so that's one thing.
Maybe you have a list of like10 things that this happens to

(38:17):
you.
Those are things that bring youhappiness.
The other main part, like thetwo-part equation here, is
becoming obsessed with thatthing.
So now we have this bread thatwe're baking, or I'm going to go
with pasta, because I reallyenjoyed making pasta.

Sy Huq (38:39):
You made some cool pastas in the pandemic too.
We did Spinach, spinach pastaone day.

Yeah, which we grew, the spinach.
We made ravioli.
But so, okay, the obsessionpart, how you become obsessed
with something is just like thisI'm going to take, let's go
with, let's go with.
I guess we could do pasta, butI would rather do something like

(39:07):
gardening.
Okay, let's do that.
We did a lot of too, we did,yeah.
So what if you spend?
you have a nine to five, i'mgoing to do it.
And whenever you come home, orlet's say, whenever you wake up
at like 730 in the morning, yougo outside and you spend 30

(39:28):
minutes in the garden.
This could be planting orpruning or whatever, pulling
weeds, repotting, whatever,whatever it is for 30 minutes
And you do that for a while eachmorning.
Now, your mind knows, at 730 inthe morning, i'm going to do
this, and then you start at 730or maybe 630.

(39:52):
Now you wake up even earlier.
Now you can do an hour of thatactivity.
Now your body needs that, itneeds that part of your routine.
If you don't do it, you missyour plants.
Now you can do it for an hourand 30 minutes Maybe.
Whenever you come home, now yougo outside and you water the
plants and you do X, y and Z,and as you continually add a

(40:16):
little bit more time into thatthing, you become more and more
obsessed with whatever thatcraft is.
So we can pivot to anythinglike music now.
I worked for my dad whenever Iwas like 18 through like 25.
And I would add more and moreand more and more time onto the

(40:39):
craft of music, whether that belike going out to shows and
networking, or being in abedroom producing whatever it is
.
You'd put a little bit more andmore time into this thing until
you are obsessed.
And you know that you'reobsessed when people start
inviting you out to places thatyou would normally say yes to,
but you're like I can't, i gottado this thing When you don't.

(41:00):
Really that music wasn't makingme money, those plants are
definitely not making us money,but you would rather do this
thing than this other thing thatbrought you joy before.
And so now, as you lean moreinto that obsession, now that's
a passion.
You are passionate, because Idamn well know that if you're
spending this much time withthis thing, whenever you do hang

(41:22):
out with those friends, you'reprobably talking relentlessly
about music or spaghetti orplants.
Now it's a passion.

Sy Huq (41:32):
So it's this.
Love plus obsession.
Yes, equals a passion.
Yes, wow it's amazing.

That's all you had to do to find your passion
Find things that you love andslowly start to implement them
into your day And over time,like more and more of your free
time, go into that thing, andnow it becomes a passion,
because in everyday conversationyou're talking about this thing
that before wasn't even aconversation point, and now

(41:59):
you're probably ticking peopleoff because that's what you
wanna talk about and they don'tgive a shit about that.
And that's how you start tofind the people that you align
with, who want to talk about thething that you're passionate
about.

Sy Huq (42:09):
In a way, you're having a healthy relationship with your
art.

I think it's healthy.
It's gotta start out as a hobby.

Sy Huq (42:18):
Yeah.

And it slowly could turn into something that
you devote your life to, whichmeans monetarily making or
living off of.
But even if it just stayed ahobby, that can be a passion.
But for people who want to turntheir passion here's the final
piece that I'll say on this Forpeople that wanna turn their
passion into their main job,this is what I think people get

(42:43):
so wrong is having, and you area perfect example of this.

Sy Huq (42:48):
Of how to not do it, no, of how to do it, of how to do
it.
I agree, yes, totally.

Is you have to have, like we're in LA, it's
expensive.
You have to have that main jobthat's providing the income so
that you can live to do yourpassion until it can overtake
your job.
That is not having a plan B,right, everybody thinks that's
having a plan B Right, but thatmain job is what's supporting

(43:15):
plan A, right, right, right,right.
Having a plan B would be alsogoing to fucking school for a
degree.
That is not aligned with yourpassion, right?
So now you're having a main jobto pay for life.
That's also paying for school,that's paying for a degree.
That's doing something otherthan your passion.

(43:36):
But if you're having this mainjob that's providing income that
allows you to do this passionand you're reinvesting that
money into your passion, right.
And now maybe you start to geta catering gig where you're
making pasta, or you're startinga farm so that you can do a
little farmers market type thingwith vegetables, or you're

(43:59):
starting to mix freelance youknow cheaper track for people
Right.
And then you're like that's howyou start to move into your
passion as your main incomeRight, but that job is not plan
B, right?
Hopefully this really helpssomebody, because I think that
that, right there, that's howyou do it Right.

Sy Huq (44:19):
No for sure, I mean.
And then oftentimes, when itdoes align where your main form
of income goes into your passionand you want to take it to a
professional level of that beingyour main source of income,
your passion being it, thethings in that other job, role,
whatever you're doing, there arethings you can take from that

(44:40):
that strengthen that passion andoften give a flavor that nobody
else can put on Like.
That's the part where they'relike oh where did that
efficiency and consulting comefrom?
Like where you know that's whatyou can put into the business
side of making an art happen andit just being like downpacked
and you're a step rung abovepeople in the industry.
Just that started without thatYep, and you see that many times

(45:04):
over, even in the sense of likeprofessional.
If we were to take it like onestep further, i know of people
that went like in that military,for example, like Navy SEALs,
and now they're back in society.
They're in med school And weknow how bad med schools.
You know you got to work sohard to get through that, but

(45:25):
for people that are Navy SEALsat least from personal
experience from my friends it'snot a lot of, it's not as much
work as what they had to do inlike life-daring situations.
Oh, of course, yeah, so theyget to have that privilege of
mental security and that steelmindset to bring toward

(45:47):
something that it's already hardand tackle that forward and
something that people will spendtheir entire lives on,
something like the medical field.
I think that translates to whatwe do too.
Yeah, you're so right, whichkind of goes into a question
that I wanted to bring up interms of like the big hammer,

(46:09):
and I think it gets brought upall the time in experienced
rooms of veterans and roomswhere people don't really know
what they don't know and they'rejust getting into the industry,
getting into music in generalas well, and that's in an age
where today, of the emergence ofAI And I know you love talking
about this too So the questionthat a lot of people talk about

(46:32):
and I get a lot in my professionas well is like, aren't you
worried that AIs can just viewout for me, being a screenwriter
, scripts within five minutesand that's gonna be the next age
era of movies, because they'regonna be just as good in the
same transference for you.
Do you ever hear the questionthat aren't you worried that AI

(46:56):
is gonna challenge your role inthe industry And how do you deal
with that?
What's your way of saying that?
it's gonna be a tool or not?
what's your take on that?

Yeah, I hear people talk about this all the
time And generally I'm part ofthe discussion.
I really really love AI, allthings AI.
So it's a really easy answerfor me.
If you are doing I'm just gonnabe brutally honest if you are
doing low to mid, low tier workas a mixer or a mastering

(47:34):
engineer, I think your job'sgone straight up.
I think it's gonna be gone, AndI'm talking about like the 50,
100, 150, $200 mixes.
No man, they're gonna havesoftware that they can pay 600,
maybe probably gonna be way less.

(47:55):
They'll have software that theycan just put their track into.
If I'm talking about the client, they'll be able to put it in
the software and it's gonna mixit, it's gonna master it, it's
gonna do all of that for next tono money And it's gonna sound
pretty good.
I mean, it's gonna sound.
I bet it will sound just asgood as the person doing those
mixes.
Honestly, but for the top tiermixers, masterers or like the

(48:22):
mid to upper to the top tier, Ithink that two things one, that
labels in general and probablylike indie artists that are like
for the craft they will alwayswant to pay to have a human
touch There's just like there'sthings that are there's, just

(48:42):
like there's things in ourindustry that move so incredibly
slow they're like glacial paceof moving, And I don't think
that this thing will change forthe top dogs but for, like those
mid to upper tier people.
I think that, especially theyounger mixers or masters, they

(49:04):
would be really intelligent andI'm talking to myself here to
utilize AI tech that will do twothings One, hopefully, prep our
sessions for us veryintelligently.
Oh, my God, I would use thatright now Because it takes so
much time.
It takes so much time And Ihave a great assistant, Niko,
who is doing all my prepping and, my God, it's made my world so

(49:25):
much better.
Thank you, Niko, And that wouldbe great.
Everybody should utilize that.
But then, on the going on fromthat, I think that all mixers
and masterers would beintelligent to use the AI mixing
software and get a track wherewe're talking in the future,

(49:46):
where it can understand the mix,moves and the sonic palette and
positioning of things that younormally use, And you could
utilize that to get you close towhere you'd wanna go.
And then it takes the humanelement to elevate it to like
that professional, like top, top, top level, Just like we see

(50:11):
with Mid Journey, where it's sofucking incredible It makes
images that are insane.
Right Right, Love Mid Journey?
yeah, But neither of us arepros in that field.
Right Like, I mean, you do tonsof drawing and painting and all
sorts of storyboarding and thisand that And it's great, But I
know that you would say that aprofessional in that field is

(50:32):
leaps and bounds more likebetter than you in that craft.
Right, especially like?

Sy Huq (50:37):
the artistry of like storyboarding and like animation
.
it's unbelievable howunderrated those artists are.

Right, They're so good, but what you can do is
you could utilize Mid Journey tostoryboard and it looks pretty
damn good, right, but then itwould take a real pro, somebody
who's spent 10 plus years inthis field, to take that image
and they can elevate it to liketop tier status Using whatever

(51:05):
their tools are Photoshop orblah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Same thing with mixing.
I think that it would take thehuman element to take it.
That AI level up just a littlebit.

Sy Huq (51:17):
That's amazing, i mean, for you.
Do you see AI to well, in asense of just automated
processing, with AI to beaccelerating your business in a
way?
Is it in a way where, yeah,ASPREP is gonna reduce time, but
what's gonna be your newbottleneck?
Do you think about that Likewhat's the new bottleneck?

(51:40):
after that?
that process gets kind ofeliminated.

Yeah, i've thought about it.
I think for me, just looking atthat question right now, the
bottleneck is, i think, that Iwould be too quick and too
efficient and I wouldn't haveenough projects coming in.
I mean, i have a lot ofprojects coming in right now,
but I think it feels like a lotbecause I'm doing everything

(52:05):
Right right.
I mean, just now I have anassistant to help prep, but
right now the bottleneck is likeexporting.
I could have a second rig and Icould do exporting on that
second rig, which I will set up,but currently the bottleneck
would actually be the influx ofor non-influx of work.

(52:28):
If I had 10 tracks coming in aday, there would be a difference
If I could utilize AI to prepsessions.
No human should mix 10 tracksin a day at a pro level.
At that point, i think you arenot putting enough love into a
track, or yourself.

Sy Huq (52:48):
Or that.
You know you're working all thetime.

Yeah, that's.
I think that that would be it.
really, i'm very hopeful foreverything AI in the future.
I think that it will just takeout the mundane tasks in our
life and, for those of us whoare on a quest to be as
proficient in our craft aspossible, it will take out the

(53:11):
mundane things that take awayfrom the time that we could be
putting into the hard part ofour craft And, i think, in a way
.

Sy Huq (53:18):
You know, whether we like it or not, it's our opinion
of what we have in terms oflike why is going to be in our
lives, in their roles, but it'snot going to slow down.
I don't know in what worldpeople think like oh well, maybe
it should take its time, maybewe should take this relationship
that we have with AI slow.
We don't get a say in thismatter.

(53:39):
This is happening way above orin the clouds.
Yeah, literally in the cloud.
Yeah, it's already started.
It won't stop.

Yeah.

Sy Huq (53:49):
We're going to have to take a little bit of benefit
because, yes, it's going to takea little bit more energy and
there's a learning curve.
as we kind of transfer intothis new era of artificial
intelligence, from instantintelligence to artificial
intelligence which isinteresting We find out that
there is a learning curve to it.

(54:10):
It's not going to happen asnaturally as we went from net
zero to dial up internet to likefaster internet, instant
internet, cheaper internet onour phones.
We're going to have to learn anew craft.
Yeah, exactly, it's a big leap,but also really cool that in
our generation, in our time, inour lifespan, that we get to

(54:30):
experience that.
we've experienced a lot in ourtime.
Yes we have In our fewgenerations.
But, speaking of that, it kindof allows us to think about that
time span.
The time that we have here, itis limited.
We are going to experience thistransference in AI We're just
talking about we're reaching ageneration where there's going

(54:53):
to be a new generation of peoplethat haven't seen the matrix
Right, that really bugs me,right And then eventually, like
people that haven't seen, likeinterstellar you know, but
they're going to be referencingit and not even know where it
comes from.

Hilariously, though.
You already know, my favoritemovie is interstellar.
The matrix is so much moreimportant.

Sy Huq (55:11):
Yeah Well, matrix is my favorite movie.

Yeah, and the idea of that is so much more
important than interstellar.
I fucking love that movie,right, but dude, the matrix is
so great.

Sy Huq (55:22):
I mean they both have different commentaries.
One is the longevity and likewhy we should care for our earth
, like what happened.
It's kind of dystopian, if youthink about it, like the world's
kind of.

And love.

Sy Huq (55:31):
And love right, and what does love look like in terms of
the answer between time andspace, like how does that
traverse The matrix?
talks about our reality and ourperceptions of reality and a
lot of people don't realize thatit comes from Plato's Algority
of the Cave And it's about likewe only see what we've been

(55:53):
erased around and what we'vebeen surrounded by, and our
limitations are that That kindof broke a little bit when the
internet came out and likeinstant information was
accessible to us, because now wecan see the world without even
leaving our closet.
You know what the bedroom couldbe in a different world, what
the house could be in adifferent world, what the roads

(56:14):
could be in a different world.
You could change that now, yeah.

But I mean, but then the cave, the actual
allegory becomes even morerelevant, because now we hide
behind social media, behind acomputer indoors, not
socializing.
So now the world is scaryoutside of behind a screen.

Sy Huq (56:36):
And that's the conundrum there.
I think, in that perspective oftime, whether that limits our
time or gives us more time, Ithink that's just what people
would want, Like it's up totheir desire.
Do you want to feel limited bytime?
Do you not want to feel limitedby time To you?
how do you?
what's your perspective of timein that sense And in that time,

(56:58):
what are you trying toaccomplish?

In the time of my life?
Damn the big question.
So my goal, my real goal inlife is I want to be the one of
the biggest mixers in the world,and I've said that on here
before.
But what that means to me isnot I am the highest streaming,

(57:26):
the highest ranked, the blahblah blah mixer.
I want to touch as many livesas humanly possible with the
music that I mix.
That's, that's that, and I knowfor damn certain that I'm going
to do that.
I'm just like I'm putting toomuch love and care into this
craft.
I'm developing greatrelationships with people that I

(57:48):
really love, who are doingawesome work and also have that
same desire.
So I know, i know it willhappen.
It's just a matter of time.
So I'm not really worried abouttime in that aspect.
But I guess the one thing thatsounds crazy to a lot of people,
but I think that one of thethings that I want through music

(58:10):
is this immortality.
I do, i want forever, till theend of time.
I want people to listen to thestuff that I got to work on and
I want them to still move.
I want them to still havethoughts like maybe
introspective ones or or happytimes, or sad times, like a

(58:33):
breakup song or, you know, asong that makes you want to lift
heavy weight, or a song thatmakes you fall in love, like I
want, hundreds of years from now, to have music that I worked on
still affecting people, Right.
I don't know, maybe it'sbecause I've taken psychedelics

(58:54):
and shit with you know, but Ijust don't really care about the
time aspect.
I know that it's all coming.
I'm doing everything that I canwith as much love as I can.

Sy Huq (59:05):
Yeah.

And I just think that, no matter what it's going
to, it's going to take me towhere I want to go.
I believe in it.

Sy Huq (59:14):
That's amazing, Like see , because sometimes people feel
the motivation from thelimitation of time, right, Like
sticking on music, likeAlexander Hamilton.
Like in the Hamilton musical,one of the lines that sticks is
like writing like he's runningout of time And that made him
achieve a platform where heaccomplished what he had.

(59:37):
Because of that, And for youyou're saying that that you're
not limited by time, but youknow and trust the process so
much to the point that you havea desire of what you want to
accomplish in the time that youhave, whether it's limited,
whether it's short or long.

Yeah, yeah, i think that I am going to reach
whatever point I'm going to,with what time I have, and I
know that it's going to be avery high point.
There's no way it won't be.
But I don't know how big or howvast, how many people I'm going
to affect, right, i just knowthat I'm going to do it with all

(01:00:15):
the greatest intentions, withas much love and effort and hard
work and great relationshipsthat I can.
Right, i'm not.
I don't, yeah, i don't feelpressed by time.
Of course, i want to be workingon all these huge, influential
records that are happening rightnow, but I also know that I'm
probably just not, i'm not inthe point in my life where those

(01:00:37):
opportunities are ready for me.
Right, i just need to keep onmoving and just doing my best
work And those, those will comewhen they come.

Sy Huq (01:00:48):
And a lot of people may say that that's a very
self-aware mentality.
Would you say that that's thatis something that's self-aware
or more in terms of likemindfulness of the entire
situation as a whole, becauseself-awareness is I know what I
am and I can only control what Icontrol which is true.

(01:01:08):
That's the truth that everyoneshould come to eventually is
that you can only control whatyou can control, and everything
else is the river that you'reflowing with.
But for you, is that mentalityof how you are treating what you
need to accomplish in life partof an entire equation, or is it
just the one puzzle piece thatyou just want to place yourself

(01:01:30):
on this planet?

Austin Seltzer (01:01:33):
I think that it's wisdom.
I know that's not one of theanswers you gave there.

Sy Huq (01:01:38):
Yeah, I know I told it.

I think that throughout the years of me
trying to move quicker than theworld was ready for each time, I
think that I moved forward astep and back to.
I really do.
There are so many times where Isaw an opportunity and I just I

(01:02:03):
reached for it and it was outof my grasp and I tried to bend
the world to what I wanted it tobe.
And I wouldn't say that it bitme.
I just ended up two stepsbackwards because maybe I lost
out on that opportunity orsomehow I got burned because I

(01:02:24):
was overreaching.
And so now, at this point, I'mjust like I'm going to do the
best work that I can with thepeople that I love, people that
I respect.
I'm going to do my best work.
I'm going to make them feelgreat about having worked with
me or being my friend, Like I'madding to their life.
And I think that it's prettyevident by how many tracks I

(01:02:52):
post a week that I work on andall the cool people I have
around me that not like coolbecause they got followers, but
just good people is working.

Sy Huq (01:03:02):
And that requires you to step out of, like, your comfort
zone?
Absolutely Yeah.
How do you take that on?

I just don't think that's the way to do it.
Be present, yeah, just like, ifsomething.
Okay, it was me the other dayand Devin's cold plunge.
Like I hate cold water.
Holy hell, i hate cold water.
I really do And I just likethat.
I was like I think I smackedmyself in the face And I was

(01:03:37):
like, don't think about it.

Sy Huq (01:03:40):
Just do it.

And just did it, which I mean you've been like
you, of all people that I knowwant to be first to do some dumb
shit.
Like it does not seem like thisis something you should be
doing, oh, i'll do it.
And so you, you really like, ilove I, i love being risky,

(01:04:03):
because I really believe inmyself.

Sy Huq (01:04:05):
Yeah, yeah.

Same And I know you're that way but there, but
you're just down to do whatever.
And I think it's the same wayIf it's somebody in a room that
you want to talk to, just do thething, and as soon as you start
thinking about it, you're notgoing to do it.
So just act on impulse, like,be impulsive, but not to a

(01:04:27):
detriment.
That's the fine line, butthat's really the answer For me.

Sy Huq (01:04:31):
I mean and thank you for that, like I'm not even going
to deny it.
There's a truth to it, i think,because my one of my desires is
my life, for my life to be anadventure Right.
I would love for, for thatfeeling of like being on a
pirate ship with a bunch ofreally cool folks and you're
just sailing trying to just findthings.

What a perspective to think that
they're cool folks.
I love that.

Sy Huq (01:04:53):
I mean they could, it could be mutiny.

It certainly has been many times over on this
pirate ship of life that they'recool people because you're
hanging with pirates.

Sy Huq (01:05:01):
They're pirates of pirates, man.
Like you know, there's a youknow no honor amongst thieves,
right, But in a sense there isjust a really cool mentality
that I landed on when I wastraveling and I travel all the
time now and I have my entirelife But when I do travel, that
feeling of a plane, feeling likea pirate ship, you know the

(01:05:24):
feeling of like just jumpinginto an opportunity and
adventure or something.
There's so many unknowns andand using that to challenge your
security, challenge your mental, mental security as well, And
I'm not saying that I'mimpervious, Like it's not
invulnerable.
I mess up and screw up all thetime, but I learned so much from

(01:05:46):
it And I think that's kind ofwhat you're saying too, Like in
terms of experience, like themore you do it, the more
mistakes you make, the more itcreates who you actually are
versus who you've continued toperceive yourself to be, because
that is a solid foundation thatyou can always return back to,
And I think that's that's.
Being present is the best way todo it, because then you're not

(01:06:08):
distracted by the things that,again, you have no control over.
In that sense, travel hasinfluenced your life quite a bit
too, And how you know, say, forexample, like 2017 was a big,
pivotal moment for you in termsof we traveled the world and

(01:06:30):
you've traveled solo quite a bityourself.
How is going out of yourcomfort zone not just in a room,
but leaving your country,leaving the bounds of your
cultural rules and dynamics andembracing other cultures and
dynamics, just seeing thatwhat's beyond the horizon?
how has that influenced you,not only in your life, but in
your art too?

It's going to come back to communication again
, where, whenever you'reoverseas, in a country where you
can't communicate throughlanguage, you're really, really
great at learning differentlanguages.
I know that that's that comesfrom your childhood.

(01:07:15):
I think that you you earlyadopted or had to several
languages, so you have anability to learn other languages
quite well.
I don't have that ability andI'm going to be honest, i don't
really have the.
I don't have the time andyearning to learn other
languages, although I want tocommunicate, i do, but I also

(01:07:39):
have to be real with myself.
I don't have the time, witheverything else I have going on
in my world, to learn theselanguages.
So whenever you're in adifferent environment, one
that's completely novel, youdon't know their food, their
language, their daily lives, anyof that.
you have to find ways tocommunicate And I think that

(01:08:03):
that's again problem solving.
It's gestures in the body, thejust how can I connect to
somebody else?
And how can I deal with thesewild curve balls, like being in
a country where there's like notaxis, no Ubers, no, nothing
like how do I communicate that Ineed to go somewhere and how do
I get a ride there?

(01:08:23):
I really I'm allergic.
Like I'm not allergic to anyfood, but if you were in Japan
and you're allergic to shrimp orsomething like that and you
cannot speak their language,like how do you figure out that?
to tell them that you'reallergic to this thing?
Like these novelties that wedon't have over here make you

(01:08:45):
instantly problem solve and youhave to find comfort in jumping
off that cliff.
I think that that's what it islike.
The this world is so differentfrom my world.
How do you feel comfortable inthat?
And then bringing it back to myworld now every day is a new

(01:09:08):
uncomfortability.
Like I'm trying to grow mycareer in such a way that I'm
continuously dealing with novelthings, so I have to be like
this podcast.
I don't know shit about video,but now we're taping this thing
and I've never sat down and hadan on-mic conversation with

(01:09:31):
somebody.
I mean we did, but likeroutinely setting this room up
to look this way.
It was just an idea in my headand I found Ashley to help me
bring it together.
All of that is like swimming inrisk and the unknown and chaos,
and finding comfort in that isso usable in the entertainment
world.
So travel, the novelty of it,the risk of it, the unknown of

(01:09:58):
it, bringing it back to what wedo, where we're creating, is
like I think it's one of themost important things that I
could ever list.
Be comfortable in theuncomfortable and you get that
from traveling.

Sy Huq (01:10:14):
Absolutely, and there is an approach in terms of
overcoming obstacles as well.
In that sense, when you haveobstacles, that again you don't
see it coming, because those arethe ones that are the heaviest
and they hit the hardest, how doyou overcome them and how do
you continue moving forward toachieve success?

(01:10:35):
in that sense?

I think that the best way to overcome obstacles
depending on what they are, butI just like anyone that comes up
in my mind is don't beimpulsive.
Let whatever the thing is,whatever the bump is, whatever
your instant reaction is anger,sadness, maybe even happiness

(01:11:03):
let all that come back to anequilibrium point where you're
not acting on impulse, and thenmake a logical decision.
I think that that's the way todeal with bumps, because
whatever comes up in your mindimmediately is the wrong answer.
Don't fucking act on thatimpulse.

(01:11:24):
And then how do you keep onmoving forward?
Well, a bump is nothing.
Just think about.
I think this is the easiest way.
Think of 10 bumps that you'verun into in the past couple
years and look where you are now.
I'm guessing most of all thosebumps.
I bet it's hard to think about10 bumps that you hit, but at

(01:11:47):
the time they seem likemountains.
So just know that this bumpwill pass and don't act on
impulse, because that impulsemay become a mountain and that
mountain may last for a longtime and you will remember that
time Make it much worse.

Sy Huq (01:12:04):
Yes, yeah, absolutely, and in that sense, though, you
have to right now.
When you say bumps, the onlybumps I'm thinking about are
speed bumps that have ruined mycar.
So in a way that I'm thankfulthat that's kind of the
situation here.
Then, in approachinguncomfortability, when you talk
about what we learned on ourtravels, there was a specific

(01:12:26):
moment when I was getting myhair cut in the Philippines.
I did not know how tocommunicate what kind of haircut
I wanted.
Like a picture is like you givepictures like a dice roll, Like
here's a picture, and thenthey're like okay, we got you
And then you just trust becausethey're just going to either
mess up your haircut or not?

Yeah, I will say that haircut was in a parking
garage.

Sy Huq (01:12:49):
Oh yeah, we had to walk through a parking garage and
into a haircutting spot.

Bro, our hair looked good.
He was nasty.

Sy Huq (01:12:58):
Scissors only too.
It was crazy, he was so good.
And then, like, the other thingis, while I was getting my
haircut, one of the things Ilearned there was like hair will
grow back right.
So in a way that if you were totake anything out of that I mean
I certainly do is, like in aspeed bump in life, say, if you
just like, oh, you wanted aMohawk and you gave me a Mohawk,

(01:13:21):
well then it won't be a Mohawkforever, you know, yeah, and I
think that's a cool little wayto kind of look at life.
You know that kind of thing.
So, with all those bumps andups and downs and things that
you learned, i always come downto like, if we were to say life

(01:13:41):
in a wavelength the top mostmoments in the lowest of the
lows We've all hit those, weknow a lot of people can
identify with those.
A lot of people may try to find, or are trying to find, those
lowest moments and highestmoments In your highest moment,
and we'll take one at a time.
In your highest moment, whatwas your takeaway?

(01:14:03):
What was a good takeaway thatyou got?
I'm trying to think because Orwe'll try lowest moment first.
I think it's good to come outwith catharsis.
So in your lowest moment, whatis a takeaway?

Man.
Why this is a difficultquestion is because these
moments don't last.
In the moment it's verydifficult or very great, but the
very next moment it's gone.

(01:14:51):
But in my lowest moment I don'tthink there was any takeaway
Straight up.
It took me moving past it toreflect on it.
So what I know from my lowestmoment, when my ability to move

(01:15:13):
past it was the moment that Iknew that I was ultimately so
passionate about music and thiscraft and being able to mix
music every single day for aliving, is my ultimate calling,

(01:15:38):
because my lowest moment was sobad and I had to go through such
a stable, non-music part of mylife that I got back to this.
That just shows that this is it.
This is everything that Ialways wanted since I was a
little kid, and I'm glad thatsomebody did not ruin forever

(01:16:02):
this for me, which ultimatelywould have been me ruining it
for me, because it's all me,it's nobody else 100%.
And then the highest moment.
I think the takeaway is that itdoes not last, and that's sad
to say, because I think one ofthe points of this podcast is we

(01:16:23):
talk about what does successmean?
And I think that a lot ofsuccess is being in this moment
and being present with it and abalance between chasing the
carrot and smelling the roses.
But at this point in my lifeI'm chasing the carrot.

(01:16:48):
I love that.
It really does fuel me and Ifind so much love in trying to
move forward.
So the key takeaway from thegreatest moments is that they
don't last, and there's always ahigher peak that you're trying
to climb to.
So, reflecting on it, i wouldlove to say that I smelled the

(01:17:12):
roses and I go out to eat andhave a celebration meal for
these things, but just as youeat the food and shit it out,
it's here and gone, right.

Sy Huq (01:17:25):
On a t-shirt, yeah.
I know, dude on the front, shiton the back.
It's not a shitty line, but itis Yeah, yeah, but it stinks.
In a way, it's also a greatanalogy of saying not to take

(01:17:45):
things for granted whether it'sgood or bad.
And I love that because I thinkit, if things had a permanence
to it, it would be as bad as wethink it is, like it would
actually be as bad as we thinkit is, because then it's like
the permanence of it, it'sunshakable, and there are events

(01:18:06):
in life I think that do have apermanence to it.
I think death is the mostpermanent thing, Right?
So it's a thing that'sguaranteed.
It's like you can't tellsomebody well, don't take death
for granted, it might not happento you.
You might be one of the luckyones The one time where you just
the guy won't go down.
You know, right, it was a name.

(01:18:27):
Rasputin got pretty close tothat one.
I think they kept hanging himand kept breaking and stuff like
that.
Wow, did you know that?
Uh-uh, he was like it was justa weird anomaly.
As the story goes, orhistorically is actually known
that he, they try to hang himand every time they turn to hang
him, it like it would break onetime, or like they try to kill
him multiple times.

How did they not say like this was God saying
that he shouldn't die?

Sy Huq (01:18:51):
Well, he was saying that he's like I'm a special human
being, like I have the power,and then he, and then there were
things that happened thatshowed that he had something
outside of just normalunderstanding of power.
And I think it's I don't knowenough to say, but I from what?
I what?
I think it is like kind ofmagic, like in the sense of in a
performance space, like if Iwere to prove to somebody that I

(01:19:13):
had a certain amount of poweroutside of the realm of reality
and I didn't care about beingcaught or being fraud because my
ability was so good my abilityto perform in a magic sense is
so good that I could be like Icould speak with the dead, and
then you actually could.
It's just a magic trick Andthen getting getting the results
of it.
The same way that there wasthis big moment in magic that

(01:19:38):
happened in the magic world ofthings, where I forgot the,
there's a magician that wasclaiming that he can speak to
the dead and he can reach out tosomebody who's like relative
and gather, like an answer towhatever they're looking for in
life, and he turned into a bigact like it turned into like a
nationally televised act and itwas getting.
You know, it was amazing, itwas a huge, huge performance.

(01:20:01):
I think one of the judges forone of the competitions was like
Chris Angel and Chris Angel,knowing that world, he's like
the performer and performers inthe magic world because he just
has the flair to it and a lot ofthings that a lot of people
don't even like him.
And when you're not liked inthe magic world, that's a
positive.
Like people don't realize, andso some people do love him, a
lot of people love him.

(01:20:22):
He did a thing where he didn'tlike the idea that that magician
was claiming that the magic wasreal, that his performance was
a real ability, that he had tospeak with the dead.
So he put like a card with amessage inside an envelope and
he didn't and he went on anational television and he's

(01:20:42):
like if anyone not even him, butif anyone could tell me what's
in this envelope, i willpersonally give them.
I think it was like a milliondollars And I don't think it was
, i don't think everyone done.
So it's kind of cool to.
I think that's what Rasputinwas doing, along with the dancer
.
But anyway, if we're to takesomething away from that, it is
to kind of show that theperformance does matter in your

(01:21:05):
art, like in the art how it'sreceived, because there's a
responsibility to it as well Andit just just to do it for
yourself.
There is a mentality for thattoo.
But that also has consequencesoutside as well.
The ripples does reach peoplein that other day, yeah Now.

Alright.
so now that you have listenedto this cool little Q&A that I
did with Sai, hopefully youlearned some about me, some of
like my thoughts on success inmusic and life in general.
I hope to keep on doing theselittle Q&As because hopefully
over time you guys will havesome questions for me that I can
answer, But this was a fun wayto get some of the thoughts in

(01:21:54):
my head out through a perfectconduit inside.
He's a great person to host aninterview because he's done it
for several years and we knoweach other so well.
So stay tuned for more.

Sy Huq (01:22:09):
Could I put last words into Sure?
I would say something like theold technologic style would be
and make sure to ground yourself, because your parents stopped
doing that long ago.
Wow, grounds for success.

That's fire.
Thanks for listening to theGrounds for Success podcast.
I want to thank all of thepeople who work on this podcast
and help me out.
My team is everything to me andwithout them I couldn't bring
these to you every single week.
I want to also thank all of myclients on the Mixing and
Mastering side, because withoutyou I could not have grounds for

(01:22:51):
success.
So thank you so much.
If you're enjoying the Groundsfor Success podcast, please
follow, like and subscribe onwhichever platform you're
listening or watching on.
It helps us out a ton and Iwant to keep getting this
content to you in whichever wayyou listen or watch.

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