Music and video producer Nicholas Byrne, a 2015 Clarke Central High School alumnus, sits in his studio in Colbert, Georgia on Jan. 20. Byrne enjoyed the technology side of music production, although he says it can be difficult. “It can be frustrating when you’re just starting to learn new software. I got really good at video editing, and there’s a lot of things that crossover to editing audio. I knew conceptually what was possible but then not actually how to do it on the program,” Byrne said. “That would just be very frustrating. It’s like, ‘I wish. I know it’s possible, but I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to do.’ It’s also interesting.” Photo by Luna Reichert
Video and music producer Nicholas Byrne, a 2015 Clarke Central High School graduate, discusses his process of producing and creating his own electronic music.
Social Media Coordinator Luna Reichert: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Video and music producer Nicholas Byrne: I’m from Athens. I was born in Durham (North Carolina) and moved here and grew up here and grew up playing music (and) went to Clarke County public schools all the way. (I) did ODYSSEY in high school and so that really was what got me into video actually, was starting up ODTV. That was kind of my baby when I was there. Then, I went to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and just graduated. It’s kind of a timeline of my life.
LR: Can you tell me a little bit about the music that you are releasing and the art that you’re doing with it?
NB: I’m working on an electronic music project, but I grew up playing guitar, too. I’m recording a lot of guitar and trying to record other samples using (the) microphones I have. I went to the state fair, and I recorded some sounds and then you chop them up and play them in. It’s really fun to learn how to do that. I’m working on two projects right now. One (with) my friend Scott Diekema, who’s living and working in Delhi, India right now and my other friend Hamza Yousef, who is in Amsterdam and is actually coming on Friday, here. We’re gonna stay in this barn for several days and not leave and make some music.
LR: What is the process been like for making this? What’s gone into it?
NB: I got interested in producing music after I did several music industry internships doing video editing and photography, so I got to meet a lot of artists and I kind of got to the point where I was like, my creative energy is going to be bought by these companies that are paying me to do the work, but then I don’t own any of it at the end of the day. I’m doing work for these artists, which is great, but like at the end of the day, they own it and not me. I got to the point where I was like, I want to own my creative work. What that means is that instead of working full time at a bigger company I decided, ‘Okay, I’m going to take my time and do things myself and then see where that goes.’ And you could always go work with a big company and sell your creative skills again if you want to, but I was definitely inspired by some of the artists that I met to do my own stuff.
“I’m doing work for these artists, which is great, but like at the end of the day, they own it and not me. I got to the point where I was like, I want to own my creative work.”
— Nicholas Byrne,
Video and music producer
LR: Why did you come back to Athens to do this?
NB: Because I have the space, which is really helpful. I was working in Los Angeles for two summers and also spent the summer working with musicians in Tanzania, which was really cool, but working in New York or LA or Nashville even is more expensive. I knew that I would have more distractions probably and would be spending less time each day working on my own creative stuff. Also, my family’s here. This is my grandparents’ place down there, and I get to see my grandparents all the time now. I did a lot of traveling when I was in school, and also (I) just wanted to come home and see my family, but it also works out really well because there’s a space to do the work. It’s less expensive. Athens is a cool music scene in its own right for sure. I feel good about it.
LR: What made you get into electronic music specifically?
NB: I went to a couple (of) music festivals that I really liked. I went to this festival called Lightning in a Bottle in California with some friends. I wasn’t super interested in it because there’s a lot of different genres (of) electronic music and I don’t like all of them, but I specifically like house and techno. It’s interesting because I think that the way that the beats are very consistent and driving, not so much like pop songs but just like long tracks, it kind of matches your heartbeat and makes it easy to stay awake. So it’s different (from) listening to other types of music which have like verse, chorus, verse, chorus. It kind of is great for dancing. I actually really liked dancing. That’s probably also the reason I like that kind of stuff.
LR: What are some of your favorite things that you’ve experienced creating your own music, but also what are some things that have been difficult or you’ve struggled with?
NB: There’s the extreme anxiety before the show and then you know you’ve practiced and you’re good and then you go up and do it and it feels really great. So I mean, those moments where you’re on stage with your friends and you look around, you look at each other. There’s a couple (of) moments where you make eye contact and are like, ‘This is pretty great. This is really fun.’ I love actually performing, but I also really like the experience of planning and promoting a show. I studied advertising at UNC. It feels really cool to put those skills and apply them to like creative projects. I think there are some things that are frustrating like this is kind of old equipment. So it’s from the 90s, TV station equipment that’s been modified. So (there are) some technical issues but also when you’re producing music, a lot of times you make stuff that just sucks. You make something and it sounds actually bad. If you work on it for a long time you might have to abandon it. It’s interesting because you learn that that’s okay and that you don’t have to be super emotionally invested in all of your ideas. It’s great to be working with friends on these (kinds) of creative projects because you can just really riff on it. I talk to Hamza and Scott every day and also my friend Eleanor almost every day, who I’m working on these projects with. You find people that you can work with really well, but sometimes it’s really hard to work with people.
2015 Clarke Central High School alumnus and music producer Nicholas Byrne sits at his desk in Colbert, Georgia mixing music on Jan. 20. Byrne is currently working on two collaborative musical projects, one is an unnamed project with Hamza Yousuf, whom he met while a student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “(Yousuf) walked into my room literally as I was getting ready to play the show. He was really good at the software that I was trying to get better at. So we started hanging out and practicing making songs and stuff,” Byrne said. Photo by Luna Reichert
LR: You talked about not being emotionally invested in all your music. Emotionally, how has it been for this specific project?
NB: The project with Scott is called the Reality Recycling Center. The project with Hamza is unnamed. This project, the Reality Recycling Center one, is really kind of a critique on modern media. Not to say that we understand it deeply or greater than anyone else, but I think that we’re just trying to talk about the media that we use and how it influences our social practices.
Like how we’ve seen it influence other people, and then just like, make music about that. It’s really fun because it feels personal, but also like we’re trying to just figure out ourselves what our relationship to technology is. It’s cool to do that with electronic music. It’s I think what I meant to say like, I do feel like emotionally invested in pretty much all the music that I make, but like it’s possible to, when you’re deciding between the good ones and the bad ones, you got to learn how to let the bad ones go and not get your feelings hurt. Or, when you get real feedback from people and they’re like, ‘This one is really simple in a non-elegant way. Throw that one away.’
LR: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from making your own music and being in this sort of business?
NB: There’s a lot of egos in music. Artists always, not always, but often have really large egos that aren’t very considerate or kind. That’s something that I really want to avoid. I don’t think that it has to be that way, but there are so many people that I think abuse the situation they’re in to just pad their ego and to want to feel powerful. People do it all the time and it’s I think that’s something that I don’t want to do. I also don’t want to be owned by social media platforms and the way that they push you to change your life to give them what they want. Trying to think about my creative projects, like recognizing that like using those platforms is necessary and can be fun and can be useful, but not to only restrict myself to the ways that they want me to use the platforms. I think that like your relationships with people are always like the most important thing. You can get really caught up in the show, the performing, the making, but I’m trying to prioritize my interpersonal relationships through all that. Especially as you’re learning to collaborate with people.
“I also don’t want to be owned by social media platforms and the way that they push you to change your life to give them what they want.”
— Nicholas Byrne,
Video and music producer
LR: What advice would you give someone, or a high schooler, especially who wants to achieve something like this or enter this business, what would you tell them?
NB: I always got into the habit of being like, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this next month, like once it’s the summertime and I have more time,’ or like, ‘I’m going to save up and get this thing. That’s going to sound much better.’ I think the key is to just do it now and whatever situation you’re in that could be restricting you or your creative process, like just use that as the framework for your creative process and make what you can and be confident about it. I think that’s the biggest barrier is just actually doing it. But also, I think it’s important to have a balance. The way I kind of did it was I studied advertising rather than studying video production. For me, I wanted to balance this academic, money-making potential degree with my creative projects. I think that that’s a really practical way to go about this kind of stuff. I think it’s also always good to figure out ways to if you need to abandon ship from your art projects (and) land on your feet with like a good job and that kind of stuff. I think you got to figure out what the balance is.
LR: Do you have any plans or goals for the future after you have finished up these projects that you’re currently working on?
NB: This Reality Recycling Center project has the potential to be like a business. We’re planning on selling merchandise. That’s something that we’re really excited about. I think we both talked about wanting to be like a gallery space at some point or to have a space that may be functioning (as) a gallery, but it is more of like a business-type experience, but I don’t know. I would like to continue working with artists, but (I) first want to believe in myself as somebody who is capable of being a successful artist. I think that often it’s easy to be like, ‘Oh, in order to be good, we’re gonna have to reach out with these people and like work with them. We’re only going to be good if we’re with this guy cause he’s like the rising, he or she, is the rising person.’ Same thing happens with gear. It’s like, ‘Oh, we need to buy this extra thing and then we’re going to be great.’ I’m trying to just do it with what we already have, and without bringing other collaborators. I think it’s possible for us to make something good by ourselves if we decided to do it. But also in the future, I have a lot of random (goals). I would like to travel with work, that’d be really fun. I would love to go on a tour, but I’m not trying to have too solid of a plan cause it’s good to be flexible with this kind of stuff especially.
