Franklin's Garage to Stage
All things starting a musical band. From garage to stage getting your band going and beyond.
Interviews with musician's, Producers, club owners, recording artist's and others in field of recording or performing.
Discussions on pitfalls to avoid and what works from personal and other's experiences.
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Franklin's Garage to Stage
Crafting Soundscapes in the City of Angels
Robin Brumfield, an up-and-coming musician from Los Angeles, discusses his journey and influences in the music industry, highlighting his dual role as an artist and producer. He emphasizes the importance of emotional connection through performance, networking, and the creative process behind producing music for others.
• Discusses the emotional impact of live performances
• Shares insights on navigating the LA music scene
• Explains the blend of digital and live instrumentation in his music
• Highlights the collaborative approach to music production
• Reflects on the paradox of artist preferences versus audience reception
• Offers advice for aspiring musicians on networking and putting their work out there
• Stresses the importance of authenticity in art and connection with listeners
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https://franklinsgaragetostage.buzzsprout.com
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Hi, welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage and Beyond podcast. My name is Rob Wardrums Franklin, my co-host is Dana Thunderbase Franklin, and today we have a very special guest. His name is Robin Brumfield. He's a Los Angeles, california-based professional musician and artist who also works at Grass-Fed Music based in Los Angeles as well.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, we had some internet issues at the very beginning of the podcast, so we joined Robin in the conversation when my co-host, dana, asked if there was a particular time that he was influenced to become an artist and musician. He was influenced to become an artist and musician. I encourage you to visit our website contributors page to also see information about Robin, including his social media links and a picture and his bio. He's a very, very interesting guy to talk to, very articulate, and he's got some great experience and suggestions for new artists. So now we're going to join robin, dana and myself, like I said in a, in a point where we start the conversation when asked if there was a particular time when influenced to become a musician yes, actually there was a moment, so, um, I can't I can't pinpoint it to one exact time, but I think it was the experience of seeing people on stage.
Speaker 2:So I loved watching tour footage and, if you remember, back in the day they did a lot more music videos where the video was more performance-based rather than narrative-based. Of the narrative based like somebody's mind is um, the beatles performing on the roof, for example, uh, or, or you two had a few videos like that at the time and I remember just thinking like this crowd reaction to the music was something that I just immediately got addicted to, because, at the end of the day, what music means to me is it's like an emotional connection. And so that emotional connection became way more literal when you get to see the audience reaction. You know like, like this is an extreme example, but elvis or prince or michael jackson, people would be crying and fainting and and right this is so bizarre.
Speaker 2:Like I don't even know how art can have this kind of effect on people, but immediately I'm hooked. You you know, yeah.
Speaker 3:How would you not? I mean to see an audience actually sitting there and crying and passing out because they're seeing you. I mean, drugs can't do that to you.
Speaker 1:No, that's a feeling you can't replicate. So what type of performances do you do?
Speaker 2:I haven't been doing as much as I've wanted to, but I've done quite a few indie artist showcases here in LA, so I'll perform at some of the smaller venues. Out here there's a place called Hotel Cafe. I love that spot. It's a great little hotel venue in Hollywood that is strictly for showcasing up-and-coming talent, but there's been a lot of uh, amazing artists that came out of there. I think. I think some legends, like I think lady gaga was there at one point oh wow, very cool, very cool yeah, so just kind of getting my feet wet in the scene.
Speaker 2:Um, I haven't been like a quote-unquote professional musician for too long. It's been about like two years of really putting my my sword to the grindstone, so to speak. So I'm finding that just like doing these small shows and playing piano for other artists at their shows is just like opening up this whole network for me.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Well, LA is obviously a very competitive area, so I'm sure it's got to be difficult to even get lined up at a venue to play at?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it definitely is.
Speaker 3:So in some of the other episodes that we've had we've talked about what it takes, the commitment and stuff for a band to not only just get together with all the different personalities and trying to get a full band together, but you as a solo artist do you have? I mean, do you use musicians or like studio musicians, or is it all a computer based?
Speaker 2:um, it's a little bit of both. So, uh, being, uh, being a producer, I think in the modern age, as you touched upon, is like super digital, like a lot, of, a lot of what I do is is either synthesizing instruments or I don't even know how to describe it Just just using sound. Oh, actually, there is a word I sample a lot. So, yeah, that's a general way of saying it, but I think, uh, that's probably my go-to when it comes to making something on the fly. So a lot of the time I'll have a client come in and say, hey, I want a song like this or I want a beat like this, and so I don't have the freedom to noodle around. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:like there's a little bit of confessionality.
Speaker 2:that goes into how quickly you can generate an idea, and so, because of that, I rely on a lot of sampling and digital production. I use Logic Pro, but I'm familiar with Ableton and Fruity Loops those are some other programs like that but when it comes to my own music, I try to be as open as possible. There's times where I'll be jamming live instrumentation with my friends and we're like, hey, this is cool, we should record this. Or it'll be even a combination, like a hybrid situation, where I'll be producing something and then we'll be like you know, this feels a little bit um, inorganic. We should introduce a guitar or a trumpet or something live to infuse that kind of humanity.
Speaker 1:And are your clients? Excuse me, but are your clients pretty? I mean, do they accept direction like that?
Speaker 3:He laughs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good question. I think each client is really unique. Everybody is a different person. I know that's a ridiculous statement, but but people approach music in different ways for different motivations, and so I think some people are more inclined to be more musical, whereas some people are more inclined to tell a story and the music is an afterthought okay, makes sense.
Speaker 1:Now, when you speak of clients, um, how do those clients reach you? I mean, what is the process for that?
Speaker 2:so I I lean on social media quite a bit okay I have built up my social media, at least I. I did a lot more when I was first starting out. I need to get back better at it. But uh, for a while there I was being really consistent with posting social media content, and so people started reaching out to me through that.
Speaker 1:Very good.
Speaker 2:Another great one has been GrassFed. Honestly, like I applied to them as a manager actually on LinkedIn and they ended up reaching out to me being like, hey, send us some of your music. And so I was like I thought I'd be a manager, but any way I could send my music over is a win for me.
Speaker 2:And so they ended up getting an online portfolio of all the stuff that I've produced and written, and so they ended up using that as a catalog for their clients to listen to and then, if they like it, then they can be like, hey, get me a session with this guy. So a lot of my new clients are through them.
Speaker 1:Oh, very cool, Very cool. On the production end of things, how does that work? Because we're just musicians. We've never really produced anything or worked with the producer. So on that side of things, how does that work?
Speaker 2:Sorry, can you repeat that one more?
Speaker 1:time. Yeah, as a producer, what kind of are your duties there?
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so as a producer, it's mostly just making the sounds, and so a lot of it will be tweaking sounds or creating, like generating new sounds that fit a vibe, and so, uh, to explain deeper what I like to do, my process is a little bit like a therapy session at first, so I'll have a a client come in, and, because I usually hold the role of both the songwriter and the producer, I realized that like I need to know what this song is about as as well as I can for me to even recreate their ideas, and so it'll start with just me shooting the shit, so to speak, with the client, and I'll be like, hey, what's going on in your life?
Speaker 2:Um, what's something that inspires you, what's something that frustrates you? Whatever it is that's on the, the forefront of their mind we talk about, and then we sit there and figure out how to turn it into a song. And then, from there, we figure out how to turn that into a sound, which could be a whole number of things, and I wish I could give you a better explanation.
Speaker 1:That's actually a great explanation.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. That's cool how you use that.
Speaker 1:Go ahead, Daniel.
Speaker 3:Say like a whole, like a band Me and Rob here are involved with the band Say, we wanted to come to a producer such as yourself and get something going. We're like, hey, we've got these ideas, we've got these originals wrote, we've got these songs. Do you look at it as if, like, I can change this and make it sound better? I mean, do you have final say or do you just make suggestions?
Speaker 2:yeah, no, um, the artist has a final say, so everything I do has to fit their standards. So there are times where I am screwing up and I I am not finding what I need to find per se, and so there'll be kind of like a back and forth where they're like I want it more like this, or I want it more like that, and then that's our fine tuning process, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yes, it does.
Speaker 2:A lot of the time I rely on references, and so I love when my clients will send me songs of artists that are inspired by. Even if they don't want to make a song sounding like that, at least I know where their head is, you know yeah, gotcha, you know that was another question I was gonna ask.
Speaker 3:You is like what, what are your main influences? I mean, when you, when you first started out, was there a certain person or band or sound that you wanted to follow?
Speaker 2:um, not really actually. I think, um, I I love music and that's a. There might be a kind of a general answer, but there's so many things that inspire me. In fact, a lot of the ways I I find inspired these days are actually through artists of other mediums, and so I've been finding a lot of inspiration from specifically impressionist painters lately.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:I live right by. Lacma and they have this great deal where you can go there after 4 pm for free, and so I'll go there for like two hours of my day, from 4 to 6 pm, and just like catch some free inspiration.
Speaker 1:That's really interesting. That's really interesting, that's very interesting.
Speaker 2:But growing up I loved listening to a lot of like hip-hop, jazz and soul and stuff like that. I think a guy that really stood out to me, at least for piano, was Duke Ellington, because I grew up in Washington DC. And so he was a big figure in Washington DC, and so he's a big figure in Washington DC. And so I think seeing things named after him, or seeing murals, or going to music school and learning about these legends made me have that template that I felt like I could follow.
Speaker 1:Very cool, very cool, dana. Follow-up questions.
Speaker 3:So, dana, follow-up questions. Yeah, what's you know in your experiences so far? What you know, there's always that one moment that you have. You know whether it's a live, you know recording or playing or something that you're like, oh shit, I finally made it. Or you know, this is, you know, like the climax of where you've been so far. I mean, what, what's been that for you so far?
Speaker 1:Good question.
Speaker 2:So I can name. I can name two climaxes. Actually, um, one is happening right now. So I I uh went out a song a few years back called tell me what you want, and it was kind of like called Tell Me what you Want and it was kind of like a super stripped down pop song, like at its most basic level. I wanted to make something like bedroom pop. That's what they call it, and it's probably my least favorite song I've ever made. And it is blowing up right now.
Speaker 1:Is that right?
Speaker 2:Compared to my other songs. It's been getting a pretty heavy streaming these past few days, getting some numbers, so it's been getting streamed quite a bit lately and I think there's something funny about your least favorite song being your most popular, and so I think that that might be the experience of an artist.
Speaker 3:Well, you know you hear that from some of these big artists that you know, there's always that one song that's their commercial hit or whatever, and they can't stand the play, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the song to me was almost like a joke, like how simple it was, but I think maybe that's what's resonating with people.
Speaker 1:Right, right, you know know it's funny. We were speaking about that. Our last episode was, like some of our like my personally I worst shows. I received the most compliments and then the days we feel like we performed, you know, flawlessly, we get the least amount of compliments. So so I I kind of understand what you're saying here yeah, yeah, sure, sure.
Speaker 2:That's the paradox of being a musician, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Another huge climax for me was just working. Another climax of my experience as an artist has been writing for other people. That's what I wanted to say. Like I never thought I'd be in a place where I'd get paid to make music and so just that alone is a huge one.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's very cool. Now you're doing both ends, the music and the lyrics, or strictly music.
Speaker 2:Yes, I am doing both. Very cool I am mostly focusing on the songwriting these days, which is just the lyrics and everything like that the lyrics and the vocal melodies but other than that, I've been trying to get my hand in everything honestly.
Speaker 1:And do you have a process that you follow when you're writing new materials? Do you have a like a mindset that you go into or a particular like strategy? I, so to speak, um?
Speaker 2:I wish I did. Uh, it's more. It's more of a goal like a really loose goal. Okay, I think like I'll find inspiration and stuff like my friends are a huge source of my inspiration. Someone will say something that's like weirdly profound to me and I'll be like that could be a song you know, very cool and so that's something I come across. I also think that living in Los Angeles lends itself to uh, finding inspiration also. Like you, you live in a city this big. You're bound to see something crazy, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:speaking of which I, my heart goes out to the Pacific Palisades residents.
Speaker 2:That hasn't affected you at all, has it? No, Thankfully I live in West Hollywood, so I've been really unaffected by the fires. It's been crazy to see how close they've gotten, but I'm one of the lucky ones, thank God.
Speaker 1:I'd like to ask you a little bit more about your like when you do a live performance. Yeah, and basically what?
Speaker 2:type of a show do you put on? So I think that's something that you work out the more you do it. Yeah, yeah, my biggest inspirations have been the people that engage with the audience, and so I, when I do a show, I try to mimic that by incorporating some kind of audience engagement. Um, it can be kind of corny if it's done wrong, but having people interact with the song, like singing it back to you or doing different refrains, is a great way for people to like feel some kind of connection, and so, at the end of the day, the biggest thing that I want to get across when I make my music is that I am a normal person just like you, and everything that I write about or talk about in my music is not held back by an intellectual barrier, because I felt that, like a lot of the time, songwriting can be so prosaic that sometimes it's not even accessible, and so I think having like kind of a attitude where I'm just like one of you makes my music more relatable.
Speaker 1:Okay, very good Cool.
Speaker 3:In our other episodes we've always thrown in a little segment where we ask each other what's the one moment that something's happened whether funny, sad while performing either live or rehearsing. Just a moment of comedy or tragedy. You know, it's just anything that's happened to you like why you perform live preferably, but anything you got for us.
Speaker 2:Let me think about that one.
Speaker 1:Hmm, let me think about that one.
Speaker 2:Oh, I have a great one.
Speaker 1:Cool, let's hear it.
Speaker 2:For the most part, my experiences have been really solid, which is something to be thankful for. Nothing has really gone wrong, which is crazy.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's great.
Speaker 2:I'm sure that'll change crazy. Wow, that's great. Yeah, I'm sure that'll change, uh. But I there's a guy I knew in college that was kind of a wild card, like he'd he'd left our friend group kind of, because he was a little bit like just too wild and uh, I made the mistake of inviting him to a show I played in Portland and we had to stop the show right after my set because, uh, the police got called because he was out there repainting parks. I have no clue what he was doing, but the venue had to stop the show is that right?
Speaker 1:oh my god. It wasn't really performance based, but it definitely left a lasting impression.
Speaker 2:That's funny yeah, and of course it's my fault.
Speaker 1:An artist it always comes back on you, of course. So, speaking of performing in different cities, how often do you tour, or is that just an occasional thing for you?
Speaker 2:Pretty occasional. I think if I do tour, it'll be on the West Coast these days, so Portland was pretty easy to get to. I went to school in Oregon, and so I think I had a little bit of a fan base there already. So it was a little bit easier, but I'm not there yet. To be honest with you, I think I'm still trying to to sell my seed here in Los Angeles and hope that those roots expand more.
Speaker 1:Okay, and a long-term goal for you, what would that be? I mean, obviously we all want to be like rich and famous, but do you? I mean, what's your realistic, long-term goal as a musician artist?
Speaker 2:I'd like to keep writing music for people. I think doing a soundtrack for a movie would be really cool. That would be cool. Yeah right, I know Trent Reznor is a guy who used to do a lot of metal and hard rock and now he's completely shifted into the sound design I guess they call it space and he's been doing some really awesome synth stuff for a bunch of different, really artistic movies that you would never have expected. This guy who used to be like the heavy metal.
Speaker 1:Right, right. Oh, that's cool.
Speaker 2:So that'd be cool yeah.
Speaker 1:All right Dana.
Speaker 3:If you had to make a recommendation to new artists or, you know, some kind of tip to them for them to get going, what would it be?
Speaker 1:Good question.
Speaker 2:I have two tips. I'm allowed to, of course, oh, absolutely Three. Now you're pushing it, but the first one would be to get out and meet people.
Speaker 2:I think people get overwhelmed by how big a city can be, especially in Los Angeles or New York, these huge hubs. But the city gets a lot smaller once you start meeting people, um, and, and an extension of that tip would be once you get in the room with people. Sometimes it's not about being talented, you know. Talent will get you a really long way, no doubt, but at the end of the day you have to be someone that people want to work with.
Speaker 1:Good tip, good tip.
Speaker 2:And then second piece of advice would be to put your stuff out. People are scared to put stuff out, and that's a risk you've got to take.
Speaker 3:Nobody's going to hear you unless you put it out there and along those lines.
Speaker 1:What do you suggest as far as social medias? What are the go-to's for you?
Speaker 2:sorry I was wrangling my dog there, um, but for social media, again the same thing. With with the music streaming and everything, I would say never hesitate to put stuff out. I think for the longest time I personally wanted like this curated image. You know, like you see, professional social media look really, really good and that's just an unrealistic standard to set for yourself Like. At the end of the day, we're all human. People have shitty music or shitty content and that's just part of life, you know.
Speaker 2:And so I think, eliminating that fear of putting yourself out there makes it easier to find the good stuff in the first place.
Speaker 1:Okay, good advice. Good advice, dana, do you have anything else?
Speaker 3:I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Well, Robin, it's really been a pleasure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Again my apologies about those phone calls. Well, Robin, it's really been a pleasure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, again, my apologies about those phone calls. Oh, no problem whatsoever. What I would like to ask of you, though, do you have any MP3s that we can throw on our website, so people listening to us can actually hear what you're all about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Do you want the literal MP33 or do you want like a link that you could embed, maybe?
Speaker 1:either way would be fine, and you have my contact information. I'd be, and we will put that on our all our uh, our website and our social medias yeah, I'd be happy to.
Speaker 2:I'd be happy to okay we love people.
Speaker 3:They care what you got out there. Don't spreading the word. It's the key for all musicians.
Speaker 2:Right, right. Yeah, I really appreciate you guys doing this. This podcast is probably something I wish I had as a resource when I was starting out.
Speaker 1:It's still new for us, but we're enjoying it and we're getting a lot of good information from other artists like yourself.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Are you two musicians yourselves?
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm a drummer and Dana's a bass player. We're rock musicians. We've been performing since the late 80s. We've been out there and about, but we're still working at it too.
Speaker 3:We've definitely done our time, like everybody else. We took a little bit of a lapse getting families together and work and all that. We're just not getting back into it. It's funny to see the different scenes out there now. How much has changed over the last 40 years.
Speaker 2:Well, it's never too late to get back in the game, I think, especially with social media. These days we're seeing that everybody's getting a platform of some kind, and before, when it was hard to find your audience, you'll find that now there's an audience for everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there really is, and our motivation is really getting information out there to new and struggling musicians and artists. So we really appreciate your input and your discussion and, once again, thank you very much and sorry, for I hope I did all right. Oh, you did perfect. Oh, you did great. And sorry, I said your name wrong at the beginning.
Speaker 2:Don't worry about it, dude. Seriously, that happens all the time. You should see my Starbucks order. We'll get right on there.
Speaker 1:All right, robin, well, well, thank you very much and, uh, if you could get that information to me and we'll, uh, we'll, include anything you sent to me on our website yeah, of course, I'll switch you an email right after this sounds great.
Speaker 1:thank you, robin. Thank you, sir, appreciate it. Have a good one. All right, bye.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1:Please do contribute if you'd like to help us produce these podcasts. There is a link on all of our episodes if you're willing and able to do that, and I want to encourage you to listen to the next few episodes because we have some great guests lined up. We have a CEO of a music company in Los Angeles, california, called Grass Fed Music. We have a producer engineer we're going to speak to about recording processes, and we have a professional band and artist from India who performs Western-style music. So please do listen to our next few episodes. I think you're going to have some really great information, and I want to thank you all again for joining us. We're now in 10 countries and over 60 cities, so it's growing steadily and we really appreciate it. Please do email us or text us. There's a link for that as well in our episodes If you have any questions you'd like us to ask guests, or if you just have any general feedback you'd like to give us. On behalf of myself and Dana, thank you very much and you have a great day.
