Rinzen is a melodic techno artist who has had a meteoric career so far. Releasing with some of the biggest labels in the scene like Mau5trap , opening for legends like Eric Prydz and selling out headline shows all over the country, he recently dropped a full-length album called "Bend To The Light" that is a true masterpiece.
In this episode we talk about his decision to release an album rather than singles, how to craft your story and narrative as an artist, the importance of staying healthy and energized and a deep dive into the ego, creativity and more.
Follow Rinzen here:
https://www.instagram.com/rinzen
Follow Nik Cherwink here:
https://www.instagram.com/nikcherwink
And visit my site to join the mailing list, book a free coaching call or get in touch:
https://www.nikcherwink.com
Rinzen is a melodic techno artist who has had a meteoric career so far. Releasing with some of the biggest labels in the scene like Mau5trap , opening for legends like Eric Prydz and selling out headline shows all over the country, he recently dropped a full-length album called "Bend To The Light" that is a true masterpiece.
In this episode we talk about his decision to release an album rather than singles, how to craft your story and narrative as an artist, the importance of staying healthy and energized and a deep dive into the ego, creativity and more.
Follow Rinzen here:
https://www.instagram.com/rinzen
Follow Nik Cherwink here:
https://www.instagram.com/nikcherwink
And visit my site to join the mailing list, book a free coaching call or get in touch:
https://www.nikcherwink.com
when you're starting an artist project, it's almost like you're creating your own character for like a novel or film. And that's kind of fun and exciting and to me is creative in another exciting way, just like music is. So it's almost like, who is this character that you want to create? And oftentimes it's just taking certain parts of your persona and amplifying them, right? So it's like, what are some things already that make you a little unique or different? Can you just lean into those a little bit more and just amplify them a bit? And then boom, you kind of have your whole artist persona.
Nik (Detached audio):What's up, everybody. Welcome to the headliner mindset podcast. Today's guest is a truly prolific artist and visionary, someone who has mastered the ability to take fans on an emotional journey through his music. His cinematic approach to melodic techno has found him releasing on some of the biggest labels in the scene, headlining dates all across the US and playing alongside industry heavyweights like Deadmau5, Eric Pridz, and Rufus DeSole. This is Renzin.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Hello, what's up, Nick?
Nik (Detached audio):What's up, brother? So good to see you, man. I'm glad we could finally get you, on.
Rinzen (Detached audio):I know, likewise, you were just mentioning before we started some of your guests you've known for 10 years, and now I'm thinking actually I've known you for almost 10 years, I think 9 years. I think I was at Icon in like 2015.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah, yeah. Been about that long, man. And you certainly have come a long way in the last ten years.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, thank you. I mean, going to Icon, that was a whole pivotal moment, you know, just deciding to become an artist, and then, yeah, it's a long process, as you know.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah, and I wanted to get to that. I want to talk about your story and share some of that part of it. But right now I am just so excited to catch you in this moment because I've been talking to you for a while about getting on the podcast. You were one of the first guys I was like, bro, I got to get you on. But you're like, Nick, I'm in album mode. I got the blinders on. Don't talk to me for a couple of months and I'm going to come out of my cave and we'll do this and we'll do this later. And so now here we are. The album is out. I want to start off by celebrating and saying congratulations. You just dropped your album on what? Friday,
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, yeah,
Nik (Detached audio):couple of days ago. Congratulations.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Thank you, man. As you said, I'm, I'm out of the cave. Definitely most of last year was spent just finishing up the album and finalizing it. And yeah, saying no to a lot of things that I would have loved to do as well. But you know, there's a, there's something to be said about going monk mode and going all in on something, especially when it comes time to finalizing something.
Nik (Detached audio):Totally. Totally. Well, look, this is this is a big moment of celebration. Uh, any of my clients know and people that have been listening to the podcast know that I'm really big on creating a culture of celebration. I do believe in the law of attraction and manifestation and whatever you focus on. grows bigger. So when we focus on what's going well, and we, and we actually celebrate stuff, we attract more things into our life to celebrate. And this is also a very special moment for me, because this is episode 52 of the headliner mindset podcast. We have officially been doing this for a whole year.
Rinzen (Detached audio):No way!
Nik (Detached audio):extra, special. I get to have you on as you're dropping your album as I'm wrapping up a year. Uh, let's fucking go, baby.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Let's go! That's, that's awesome, man. First off, yeah, congrats. Doing anything consistently is difficult, and to do a podcast every week for 52 weeks straight, that's definitely something to celebrate, so I commend you on that. And I also think I'm not good at always celebrating or acknowledging the victories, you know? Like, I feel like A lot of things, good things happen, but my mind's always like, well, we got to start planning for the next thing already. And it's really hard for me just to, to stop and be like, take a breath. The album's out, celebrate it, you know?
Nik (Detached audio):this is one of the biggest things I call my clients out on because I think for all for for so many people, it's just so common. It's like, okay, I checked that off my list and automatically it's like, okay, what's next? And that's great. That's a great high performance, high achiever kind of a mindset. But also we can, we can kind of be on a on a endless hamster wheel that way, you know, and then we, we got to stop and smell the fucking roses sometimes. So, you know, Did you do anything to celebrate this album coming out? Did you go, you know, get a fucking steak dinner or drink a beer? Like, what'd you do to celebrate this?
Rinzen (Detached audio):So actually I did have some friends take me out the night before, uh, just for dinner. I just thought we were going, you know, to get dinner as friends. And then they ended up like just buying me dinner essentially. And we were celebrating it. And that was kind of unexpected. So that was nice. That was nothing I planned for and then You know, I I don't think I did a good job of celebrating it because to be honest even though the album came out like I was so wrapped up in like pushing the album on release day and sharing it and trying to tell the story of the album and You know, it's almost like your birthday or like a wedding. You're just getting like all these messages from friends and family members and you're getting this outpouring of love. So you want to reciprocate and like get back to everyone. So my headspace on the album day in the day after was honestly a little bit like frenetic. Like I was just bouncing around trying to be everywhere and respond to everyone and celebrate the album with everyone. But I don't know. I don't feel like I took that moment to like fully. do something for myself. And then I also had to, I didn't have to, I got to record a live set in the desert yesterday. And that was like, I had to prepare that the whole weekend after the album came out. So it's just, it's been nonstop. I don't feel like I've had that moment to reward myself yet. Yeah.
Nik (Detached audio):right. All right. Well, I'm declaring that for this next hour. We get to be we get to celebrate you this the we're going to have that moment. Now, we're going to start the celebration with this podcast with this hour. I love that comparison to a wedding because you always hear. How people are like, kind of like don't enjoy their wedding. Sometimes they're like, they're like, you know, we just spent so much time and energy and money, and we're just planning. And like, most people are just like stress the fuck out and they get to the wedding and they're just kind of like happy that the wedding is over. So I could kind of see how, uh, how it would be similar with the album. There's a lot of work that goes into obviously not just making it, but it's like, okay, well now you gotta, you gotta promote it and kind of still be in work mode.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, and you have really high expectations for the day of, right? Just like a wedding. They're like, oh, everything has to be perfect, you know? You have to look perfect, and the things you say have to be perfect, and you want to receive all this nice, positive attention, especially when it's an album. So, it was a little bit No, I mean, I definitely still enjoyed it, and I'm definitely really enjoying it now. but, yeah, it is It's hard to be present in that moment, I guess, because you're just, you're feeling a little overwhelmed. Mm hmm.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah, yeah, so I want to know what Had you decide that it was time for an album? Because I hear there's different trains of thought, you know, obviously the EDM industry, especially is very much a, very much a singles driven business. And some artists are just like, it's not even worth doing an album, you know, because it's, it's just a different release model, as opposed to like, let's just keep putting out singles. And that will stretch out over a year or whatever. So what made you decide that you were going to do a full album and just drop all of these songs at once?
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, there are two things. I think my artist persona is divided between like my marketing brain and my creative brain, right? So if I were to think of it from my marketing brain, I've been releasing singles and EPs since 2017. You know, it's all been good. It's all been really helpful. I've got to work with like 15 or 20 different labels, like a ton of labels. But, I'm constantly asking myself, like, what are the things we can do as an artist that actually move the needle? And you know, there's only a handful of things you can like, you can have a hit, which is really hard to do. You can go on tour supporting like some gigantic artists, maybe you or maybe you can get like the dream booking agent. Or in my mind, you can like write an album and you can write like a good album. You know, that kind of thing can actually like move the needle on your career. So. I had just been playing the single EP game for a few years and I was like, I think I want to do a larger statement. It's like, it gives your whole team something to build around. You can build a tour around it. A label is going to invest in you more and maybe they're putting you on the road more. They're putting more dollars behind you as an artist. They're making you a bigger part of that label. So from a marketing perspective, it just made a lot of sense to me. And it just felt like time to try that. You know, but from the inception of having that thought, it took about two years for me to actually finish the thing and for it to come out. So it's, it's an investment of time, but then on the creative side, the artist side, And I've always been driven to works that have more of a concept or a theme or a larger story connecting the songs together. And an album is, you know, the best way to do that. I've done that in smaller scales of just like a concept EP and you get to build out this little world. But with an album, you really get to tell this longer story across three singles and then the album release and the album artwork and a single artwork and you know, you can really. like this larger vision for something. So that's very compelling to me. So from, for both those reasons, it made a lot of sense to do the album.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah. Yeah. And you've always had that literally from the very beginning. I think the first EP you ever did, it wasn't just music. There was a vision and there was a story and even just the artwork, you know, it's like, you've always had that, you know, I'm, I'm kind of curious about just your vision for this project in the beginning. Cause it kind of seems like you. Always had it figured out. Like, like there, it doesn't seem to me that you were like, Oh, I'm, I'm kind of figuring out who I am as an artist. It kind of seemed like you knew who you were from the very beginning. It's been so cohesive and you've always had that storytelling element, you've always had the, the visual stuff, like, like really there. So has that always been there? Like, take me back to when you actually launched this thing and your vision for it.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Sure. I actually think maybe my most creative point was right before I launched my career because in that kind of, you know, infantile stage as an artist. You're thinking about what you want to be, what you could be, and you're just dreaming as big as possible. So I was watching all these different, like, YouTube videos on, like, uh, you know, creativity and on, yeah, marketing ideas and how to, like, create, like, some cool, compelling vision. And it just inspired me to really spend a dedicated amount of time thinking about how crazy can my project be? How, conceptual or thematic can it be? What do I want it to look like? What do I want it to sound like? What do I want to dress like? How do I want to talk? I went as far as like writing all of that stuff out in great detail, like almost like a manifesto. And this is before I'd even put out any music or signed anything. This was just to really be clear about like, what am I actually trying to build? So when it did come time to actually release music, I just already had this game plan of You know, I want to write music that's tied to some conceptual world and build these stories and narratives around them. And it was just always baked into the DNA of it. But, you know, again, that was all due to just putting in that work before I'd even launched the career.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah. And it shows. It totally shows. And it's so cool to hear you say that because it all really, it really makes sense. Because like I said, from the very beginning, it just seemed like you, you knew who you were, you knew what you were creating, you knew what you were all about. And so I'm not surprised at all to hear that. That you really put the effort into that before. And I think this is such a missing link for a lot of artists. A lot of artists are just not doing that. You know, they're not sitting down to write out their 10 page manifesto about the vision. And even like, like you said, how you're going to appear, what you're going to wear, all of those details, I think they just, make it so much more potent, you know, when you really know, like, this is the target I'm aiming for and where I'm aligning my energy as opposed to just like, Oh, I'm kind of just trying shit out and figuring it out along the way. Like, you did a great job with that. So I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm not surprised to hear that you put
Rinzen (Detached audio):Uh, thanks, man. You know, I grew up studying English literature and studying these crazy characters and novels. And to me, when you're starting an artist project, it's almost like you're creating your own character for like a novel or film. And that's kind of fun and exciting and to me is creative in another exciting way, just like music is. So it's almost like, who is this character that you want to create? And oftentimes it's just taking certain parts of your persona and amplifying them, right? So it's like, what are some things already that make you a little unique or different? Can you just lean into those a little bit more and just amplify them a bit? And then boom, you kind of have your whole artist persona.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah. Yeah. And what was that for you? What do you think were the parts of you that you were like, Ooh, I'm going to, I'm going to turn the volume up on this and really bring this out into the brand.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Definitely, it was the love of like, film and literature. So it just became, the whole project became very cinematic. You know, like, borrowing stuff from kind of like movie scores and like Hans Zimmer type compositions and John Williams and whatnot. So there was that. And there's also like my fascination with like, yeah, science fiction and like the matrix type stuff and bringing some of that in. And then also I w I was a music journalist and writer kind of before I was making music. So integrating that and just whenever I feel inspired, actually taking the time to write out long form things, and it could be thoughts on the scene or thoughts on creativity. Also having this be just, yeah, a vehicle for me to, to put out some of my writing, I guess, as well.
Nik (Detached audio):yeah, I was, I was reflecting on that before we started. When I met you nine or ten years ago, you were writing for Dancing Astronaut and, and doing articles about the scene and the industry and, and releases and whatnot. I imagine that that helped you just kind of get your foot in the door and probably make certain connections in the beginning of your career as well. Cause you know, I remember just seeing how quickly you launched and you were doing big things. You got, you were very successful very quickly. So did being involved in the industry in a different capacity help you with that, fast success that you experienced?
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, it was huge. I mean, I'd been writing for six years before I launched my career. Maybe even seven. And, like, four or five of those years were just unpaid. It was just doing it pure out of love, right? I was just writing articles about festivals and all my favorite artists and interviewing them. So, yeah. And through the course of like, writing 2, 000, maybe even 3, 000 articles, Yeah, I met so many people, I met so many artists, I met like, managers and whatnot, and even some labels. And basically I just done this for free for a lot of people, and given them a lot of exposure. And not like I was looking for anything out of it, I just loved it so much, I just wanted to write about it. But when it came time to actually launch my own project, There were just a lot of people who genuinely wanted to support me because that kind of been there for them and other capacities with writing. So yeah, definitely right out the gates. It, it really helped. Even the first remix I ever signed was a remix of Giorgio Moroder. I had like interviewed him a few years earlier and stayed friends with his team and, you know, written a bunch of features about him. So that kind of, Got me the opportunity to attempt to remix one of his songs, you know, there wasn't like a guarantee they were going to sign it or anything, but that opened that door and then even getting on mousetrap in the beginning, I had written about a ton of mousetrap artists. And one of them in particular, this artist named black gummy, who actually went to icon as well.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah,
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, he and his team, I, I sent them my music initially, and they're the ones that passed it on the mousetrap. So, you know, a lot of it was from the network that I'd built over like five or six years. And yeah, I can't discredit that. It was hugely helpful.
Nik (Detached audio):Well, this is such a relationship driven business and that, that networking pillar, you know, I say, I always say there's five, there's five main pillars to like what it takes to be successful mindset, music, branding, marketing, and networking. You know, those are the five areas that we really have to focus on. Maybe there's more. Also, I think being a. Badass DJ is probably part of it too. Performing I think would be maybe number six, but you know, as they say, it's all about who, you know, and so to have that foundation laid, but also from a place of genuine passion and just like service, like you said, you were working for free, you were just helping people, right? Not because, oh, like I want to get something from these people someday, but you were, you know, Part of the scene and you were contributing to the scene. You were helping build the scene in the community and and that's a very common story. I see a lot and I've been hearing more in these interviews is like, you know, like Bijou, he was a promoter for us. He was, you know, out there handing out fucking flyers and like throwing shows and throwing parties and just like being involved in the scene, building relationships, you know, making those connections, but also just like, you know, Pouring that energy into it, and then being able to receive that energy back later down the road.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, it's huge. I give that advice to a lot of people. I was like, find a way to be involved in just your local scene, even like, even if it's just helping them out however they need help at the party or whatever. Working the door. Yeah, find a way to contribute to the scene, as you're saying, in another way than just being a DJ. And naturally, you'll get more DJ opportunities.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah. Yeah. Go, go, you know, set up some fucking speakers and plug in some cables and sweep the floors, like take some tickets, whatever, you know, there's plenty of opportunities to get involved. This is a community at the end of the day. Right. So be a part of the community. And I think there, you know, there's a balance where you also got to lock yourself in the studio and not be out too much. Like you got to put in the hours in the studio, but I think there's a lot of great producers out there. That are really good at making music, but they're so disconnected from the scene. And they don't know anybody in the scene, and they don't go out, they don't go to shows. And it's like, well, if you want to be playing shows, and you want to be part of the community, you you gotta get out of the fucking house sometimes too,
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, totally. It's picking your battles. There's like a time and place to like do, as I was saying earlier, like go into the cave, go monk mode, just make your best music possible. But then there's a time and a place where you, yeah, you have to be out there and kind of meeting the right people too. It's so much like, yeah, finding the people who want to believe in your vision and want to elevate you and support you. We were just shooting this thing in the desert yesterday, and I'm working with this very cool, like, music video director, and he's doing some film stuff, too. And, like, many years ago, he did my first music video for, like, no money, just cause he wanted to, like, help and support me. And I'd met him at some, you know, event just being out. But, like, the more you can find those people who are very talented, but really just believe in what you're doing and wanna help you, Like you need that and you're not going to get that if you're never leaving the house
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah, yeah. And then just, you know, just being a good person and being cool helps a lot to, you know, like, it goes a long way. Like, just make friends, you know, like so much. I think that's what so much of this is about. I think that's probably, you know, you and I both, I think, share that common characteristic where we're just Friendly people and we like meeting people and and you know, we enjoy developing those, you know relationships because I don't know man. It's like it should be fun You know, like working with your friends is fun and making new friends is fun. I think that's uh, you know, not everybody is Super extroverted, right? but I would, I would encourage people to, uh, you know, for those that maybe feel like they're not super extroverted, I think it's important to also understand that everybody in the scene are, they're passionate about the same things that you are, you know? So maybe if it's a little intimidating to like, like, Go out there and like meet people and maybe go to a show and shake some hands. It's like, remember, like these people all love the same shit that you do. You know, we all love dance music and we're all about the same thing. So I think most people are probably more approachable than, than you might think, you know, even though it can be intimidating sometimes.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah, i'd say actually like 90 of the people in the music industry are introverts, you know And just that's why everyone's kind of awkward in the club or backstage But for me, I I definitely place myself in that category as well but like a club is like actually the one place where I feel extroverted because I feel like oh i'm like i'm home like They're playing my type of music. I feel knowledgeable about it. You know, this is my area of expertise. Like I feel extra confident in those scenarios and everywhere else in life. That's when I feel like more introverted and like, Oh, maybe I'm out of place here. So it's almost like embracing that. No, that's kind of your domain. So it's okay to step in there with a bit more confidence, you know?
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah. And I know that obviously being a part of the club scene, club culture, especially for people that, you know, aren't, aren't maybe naturally extroverted. It's very normal and very easy to go have some drinks and get some of that little, you know, social lubrication, that makes it way easier, right? As we also know, that can be a slippery slope to, uh, you know, just, I don't know, just, it can be, it can become unhealthy at some point, it can slow you down at some point. Uh, I know that you stopped drinking, I saw you post that you had stopped drinking, like, what, two years ago
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah. Yeah. Two years and some change now. Yeah,
Nik (Detached audio):what, inspired that decision? Was it starting to get in the way, or was it just, like, no longer serving you?
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah. I would say no longer serving me. It was just I wasn't even drinking that much by the point that I stopped, but it was enough that it was kind of hampering my life. I really try to just prioritize my energy, right? Like, I want as much energy as possible to pursue this career, to make this dream happen. And for me, drinking was just taking away from some of that energy. Any basically anything in my life that's taking away from that energy. I try to remove and just amplify the things that are giving me more energy to put into this career and doubly. So when you're an artist, that's traveling a good bit and you're getting on airplanes. Drinking is just a nightmare. It's just like, you play your set, maybe you're having a couple drinks during the set, totally fine. But then you finish, and now you're in this elevated spirit, and you know, you've got all this extra dopamine and endorphins. So you want to drink more, because you're celebrating, and you have friends, and they're like, That was so sick! So you're all together, and now it's 2am, and you're having a couple more drinks. And maybe so, maybe you only have four or five drinks, uh, but then like, let's, you have a flight at like 11am or even if it's not till like noon or 1pm, maybe you only get like six hours of sleep, but it's not good sleep because it's alcohol sleep, and then you've got to get on a plane and you're tired and hungover, and maybe you have another gig that night, and maybe, maybe you're just going home, but now like that whole day is shot, so it's just kind of an, uh, an ugly cycle, at least it was for me. So even though I didn't feel like I was drinking too much, it was enough that I just, it wasn't serving me and I wasn't happy with how I felt. And it's just easier to have a blanket policy of, of not drinking at all versus just like, Oh, I have a little bit here. I'll have a little bit there. Cause you know, sometimes it ends up being a little bit more so, so yeah, it's, it's yeah. I've been a little over two years now and um, yeah. Loving it.
Nik (Detached audio):yeah, yeah. I'm, I'm the same. It's like I gotta, it's just gotta be a no. There, there any of that, that little wiggle room is a, is a dangerous place, you know, Uh, but it's, it's, it's interesting, you know, obviously I've had so many artists talk about this as well because this is like the one. Career and I'm just thinking about this for the first time whereas most people are working like a nine to five and then you're done At five o'clock on friday and now it's like okay I got two days. I could just go fucking chill. I can go out on friday night and and and You know have a little mimosa brunch the next day and it doesn't matter you're off as opposed to like You start work Friday night at five o'clock, you know, like that's when, that's when you start, that's when you're on. And so it's such a backwards, way of, of operating, I think, compared to, you know, the, you know, normal sort of, you know, nine to fivers. And so I love what you said about maximizing your energy, cause that's something I talk about a lot with my clients is if you want to achieve your biggest dreams and goals, it's going to take so much time and so much energy. Right? Like, like an extra amount of time and energy. And so maximizing your energy and really prioritizing your energy to be able to show up, put in those hours, be focused, be disciplined, be creative, stay inspired, you know, it's like, this isn't a job that you can come in and just clock in and be like, all right, I'm going to show up, I'm going to show up today and just be like, whatever, do some fucking boring data entry and like not have to really think or be creative. It's like, no, you need to be in like a good energetic state, right? If your energy sucks. Your music is going to suck, you know, you're, you're not going to make anything really, really that great. So I love to hear you talk about, prioritizing your energy. And I will say, I've also seen that from a distance. My boy's been getting jacked out here, too I've you've been i've been seeing you like in the you know Seeing you just in the gym. You're doing something man Because like you've been you put on some some size you just like you look like you're in really really good shape So I can tell you've been Prioritizing your health tell me a little bit about your health journey because I just I just saw a fucking picture one day I was like my this my boy's got some fucking guns. Now, where did these come from?
Rinzen (Detached audio):It's funny. So much of my Instagram has been people commenting about that and stuff. But
Nik (Detached audio):Love
Rinzen (Detached audio):yeah, I I am obsessed with just kind of health and wellness culture in general. I just want to feel my best every day. Ultimately, so I can make my best music and you know eating well eating super clean. Yeah exercising a ton You know being outside in the sun a lot spending time reading trying to get good sleep and stuff and see friends All of it to me It leads to better creativity better music and just kind of better fulfillment in life So I feel like every year i'm just getting more and more like dialed into that stuff But yeah, the gym is is great because It just allows me to, like, release a lot of energy as well. I think when you're working on music for, whatever, five, six hours in a day, it's like so much mental energy and your brain's just going and going and going. And then you can just go to the gym and just, like, totally let that go and just, like, lift some heavy fuckin weights and it really just, like, Settles everything down for me and it's like the exact opposite of what I've been doing during the day. So Yeah, I just I genuinely I like it and gives me energy
Nik (Detached audio):What's your day to day, week to week kind of routine and schedule look like? I'd love to hear about how you actually approach your day and, and making music and, and how you fit in like your health and wellness and, uh, maximizing your energy in that.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah Well first off i've i've been thinking about this today. It's like life is so Seasonal it's like while I was making the album. I really didn't have much to do other than like make the album so I lived a very luxurious life of just like You know, I'd like get some good sleep You I'd go to the studio and like set up all my gear just so it's ready. I'd even have Ableton on ready to go. And then I would leave the studio. I'd go to a coffee shop and I like would read a book in the sun for like an hour and just really kind of relax and get my brain going, get really focused and spend some time away from my phone. Then I'd come back to the studio, make music for like four or five hours. And like that would be my whole day. And then you know, I would just kind of finish early, maybe go to the beach or something. So yeah, I Now life has been a lot busier and the albums come out and I'm doing so many other things around that that I haven't Been able to have that kind of nice just like very simplistic minimalist creative life But in my best times it's it's the former. It's what I was saying It's there's not much to do in the day As long as I just get honestly just even four good hours of working on music You If I can do that every day, I can move mountains, you know, that that's, that's enough to like, do some serious work. And I really prioritize making those hours as good as possible. So like, yeah, I could push through and work six or seven hours, but the quality is going to degrade. I'd much rather do everything I can in my day to make sure that like, four hour block in the middle is, is just fine. Incredible as possible. So that's why I kind of take my time in the morning, you know, have a good breakfast I spend that time at my coffee shop sitting in the Sun just like my mind is getting ready It's getting in a focused state. So like BAM when I come into the studio, it's it's just like lightning for four hours I'm just like hyper focused. I'm literally not thinking about anything else. And that's when I think I can do my best work. And then you know, after I've done that, then I can go to the gym, I can go see friends, I can cook a good dinner, basically set myself up just to do it again the next day.
Nik (Detached audio):Yeah, yeah. I love that. I mean, that's the whole concept of deep work,
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yes, Cal Newport.
Nik:yeah, right. To have, like, really, uh, it could be a shorter amount of time, but it's the quality of the time that you're putting in, right? Four hours of being 100 percent focused versus eight hours of, like, Kind of half ass distracted on social media, you know, you know, low energy kind of work is going to get very, very different results, you know, because I love that. Like, you can also shut it down and be done and be like, okay, now I'm going to go live my life and I'm going to go. Yeah, see my friends and have a relationship and go to the beach and go to the gym and that's where you get to refill your cup, right, so that you can come back the next day. And I think a lot of people are stretching themselves so thin and they're like, Oh, I got to put in all these hours. And, you know, the quantity of hours versus the quality of hours, you know, the quality of your, your energy is going to make such a difference, man. So I love that. I think you've really cracked the code there, really dialing that in.
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah. But again, I acknowledge like that is a privilege to be able to do that on a daily basis. And, you know, if you have a job that requires you to, to be online for like seven, eight hours, you know, probably not possible to do that kind of thing. So, I, I know how lucky that is. And again, that's, that's in like my, my best state. I feel like there's other days where, yeah, we're doing meetings with the label or calls with my manager and my team and, And maybe I only get a good two or three hours in, and maybe it's, hopefully it's deep work, but maybe my brain's also thinking about these other things. So, so I'm, I'm human as well, and I have other responsibilities. But definitely my favorite times are when, if I can just do a whole week or two or three weeks of just that, I am happy as a clam. I, my brain is buzzing. I'm like walking every day thinking like, Oh man, life is beautiful. I just get to make music. So like I said, it's seasonal.
Nik:Well it sounds like you just need to make another album then.
Rinzen (Detached audio):I mean, yeah, I, that's, that's the thing I've realized too, is I really do enjoy the process of making an album and I want to be an album artist. And that's definitely the plan. I'm not ready to start the next one yet. Cause I'm still doing a lot of other stuff,
Nik:haven't celebrated enough yet. We're
Rinzen (Detached audio):I have it
Nik:gotta celebrate more. But I mean, that is, that is, it's a totally different approach. This is how, you know, a major label album cycle like bands would work, right? You go in the studio for six months and work on your album. And then you go tour for six months, right? And then you come back and it's a different model than the DJ world, which is like, Put out a track every single month and like, push this boulder up the hill and keep going and stay relevant and go DJ every weekend, right? It's uh, it's a little different and I think it's good to see like, that it's possible to create your lifestyle and your system in a way that serves you best. You know, do you have to play the game the same way that everybody else is doing, you know? I don't think so. I think it's possible to do it a different way.
Rinzen (Detached audio):That's what I like about the author, Cal Newport. We've kind of been talking about with deep work. He is so much more a proponent of like, it's okay. If you disappear for a bit to like make your best work, because ultimately like putting out the highest quality of your work, like the work you can only do in a non distracted flow state. That's gonna move the needle more than just like that, like we're saying, that like, hyper wanting to just do as much as possible, put out a single every week, every month. That's just gonna add to the noise a bit. But like, taking the time to like, really do something different or remarkable, even though it can seem like a longer path, will actually be a shorter path, because it's gonna get you, it's gonna actually like, move the needle more, you know.
Nik:Yeah. Yeah. Great point. so I want to come back to. Talking about this amazing album that I just had the privilege of sitting down and listening to From beginning to end which is so cool. You know, this is something that I think as fans we maybe sometimes lose sight of is the experience of listening to an album right like actually carving out an hour To be like, I'm going to experience this journey. You know, we don't do it that that often anymore. Cause again, we are kind of living more in this singles driven business. So even as fans, we're consuming content in that way and consuming music in that way. I mean, content is like, shit, you get 30 seconds on an Instagram scroll, you know, like we're so, it's so short form and so ADD now. But yesterday, I listened to your album just beginning to end and. It's so good. It's so, it's so good. First off, let me just, let me just say that. Um, something that I noticed about it is, you know, I'm, I'm here in Austin, Texas, and we just had the eclipse pass through on Monday and I got to watch this total eclipse. And I wasn't really that hyped about it at first. I was like, Oh, whatever. Like it's an eclipse. Like I didn't really know. How fucking cool it was going to be. And I watched this thing happen and it just stopped me in my tracks and it literally, it made me feel emotional. It like, it made me feel something deep inside my soul and it was very hard to explain. It's hard to describe, but it was powerful and it was felt at this like core level. And I find it kind of ironic and I don't know if you plan this, but your album cover is an eclipse.
Rinzen (Detached audio):right. right. Yeah,
Nik:you plan it, like, to release on the same week as this? Because, also, it's like, what I'm getting at also is, when I was listening to your album, I had the same feeling. Where it was like, I'm not just listening to music with my mind, but it's touching a fuckin deep part of my heart and of my soul, you know? On, like, just such a deeper level. And so first off, was that intentional? Did you release this around the eclipse time? and, and second, I want to, I want to hear, I want to learn about how you access those parts of yourself in your music. Cause it's a, it's a different level of depth than what most people are
Rinzen (Detached audio):Oh. Well, first off, thank you. And I'm flattered that you took the time to carve out this. listening time and give it, you know, your attention. I I'm getting all these messages again from like friends and fans and stuff about the album and that people are really enjoying it and like took the time to listen. And that to me, that's, that's all you can really ask for is like, like you're saying, it's, it's, we're so busy. And for someone to give you. Their time like an hour to really listen to something that's asking a lot, and I I genuinely appreciate that from you and everyone else For your questions. No, I did not plan that with the Eclipse. That was just beautiful serendipitous timing That yeah, I could that could not have worked out better to be honest
Nik:that's perfect.
Rinzen (Detached audio):And then the the album art I always knew I wanted to have it be like space themed and like some cosmic art. And we were just playing around with a bunch of different things. I was showing, um, the, the album artists, uh, a guy named Adam Marshall, who did the cover, just a bunch of cool space imagery from like NASA and like the James Webb telescope and stuff, just a lot of like nebula shots and like just cool galaxy shots and some black hole stuff. And then he kind of fused to this thing. That's like combining a lot of that. And yeah, it's a very cool mix where it's got like a solar eclipse kind of ring, but then it's kind of like a black hole in the middle, but then has like some nebula tendrils and gases. So it's just, it's a mix of all that stuff. And yeah, it was just kind of divine timing. And then the second part of your question, how it kind of accessed, I guess, those kinds of feelings or emotions. The longer I make music, the more I realize The importance of the raw emotion of a song. And that's for me, just become the focal point of like most songs that I'm writing and specifically album tracks. And I was just thinking about all the songs that I returned to the most are ones that make me really feel something emotionally. Like it could be like a Rye X song, like his song Berlin, which is just him singing over like an acoustic guitar. And it's like, It's not even a good recording, but it just has so much raw emotion to it that I can listen to that song, you know, anytime, uh, or it could be an, you know, an electronic song like strobe or something where just the melody always makes me feel something. So it's just, it's just
Nik:of my favorite songs ever. I still rinse that dude. That's
Rinzen (Detached audio):Of course. Right. Because the musicality is so good and just makes us feel something. So my focus on this album was like, how can I elicit? more emotion. And for me, that's like really focusing on chords, really focusing on melodies, starting to work with vocals a ton more. And then also just giving myself the freedom just to make electronic music, not to have to make club music. So, yeah. Maybe the song doesn't need some one minute kick drum intro and kick drum outro. It can just start from cool chords and maybe it has a ambient breakdown in the middle or maybe the whole intro is like a minute and a half and not much is happening. Just it could be anything and that is so liberating because you're not confined by Having to make club music, you know, and a lot of the music I play in my sets and can work in those environments and that's in my DNA, but I just wanted to make compelling electronic music and stuff that I could return to, you know, years down the line and still appreciate. So it was just a totally different approach for me.
Nik:What advice would you give to somebody who wants to bring more emotion into their music?
Rinzen (Detached audio):I would say really focus on the musicality, like, you know, I tend to start all my songs with chords now. And just because you have chords or a melody doesn't mean the song has to come across as like cheesier commercial or overly musical. Like you can sound design the shit out of those chords and melody and make it. So it doesn't even sound like chords, but it can still have this kind of emotional energy attached to it. So. I'd say it's, it's really about, you know, finding the seed of the track or the essence of the track. What is the song actually? Like there has to be some core of it. That's making you feel something. And yet maybe it doesn't have to be a chord. Maybe it's just a vocal phrase or shout, or maybe it is just a crazy beat, but it just makes you really feel some way, but it's like focusing on the intensity of the emotion just in the beginning, like spend like the majority of the time at the beginning. Just finding like the emotion of that track and what it wants to be. And then you can arrange it a thousand different ways. You can swap in different drums. You can do different sound design. It has to be saying something from the beginning, you know?
Nik:Yeah. Yeah. I was literally just recording a video for my group coaching program this morning, uh, pulling some art of flow influence the class from icon collective that I, that I used to teach, you know, where we talk about duality with like the feminine energy being the more heart and soul, like, like feeling, as opposed to the masculine energy. Being more of like the structure and the intellectual
Rinzen (Detached audio):Yeah. Analytical.
Nik:right. And it's like, okay, the, the, the core, the beginning, you've got to start with that feminine. You got to start with like the flow and the inspiration and just like, where's that? Where's that? Ooh, we do. We fucking magic, right? Like harness, that little lightning from the sky and, and, and, and bring it down and then, add some structure to it, right? The structure is like, how do you actually see. Yeah. Kind of package this and turn this into a song and, and, market it and put it out, you know, to the world. Okay. But a lot of people are, are only doing that sort of intellectual side of it. You know, I always look at like, the intellectual masculine energy side of music production is, is being a producer. It's the math and science, right? But The feminine side is the heart and the soul and the flow and the energy, right? Uh, and that's, I think that's being an artist, you know, there's a difference between being a producer and being an artist, being an artist is when you can really tap into, tap into that energy and find that. And like you said, like that's, that's gotta be the seed. That's the, that's the core. That's gotta be the starting point. And, and then you can build it from there. All right.
Track 1:I also think there's a lot of benefit in divorcing those processes, like you're saying, like in the beginning, I'm not thinking analytically at all. I'm just trying to capture lightning in a bottle, kind of, as you were saying as well, like, just capture that feeling in that moment. That's the most exciting part of writing a song because in that beginning phase, it can be anything. And your mind is running with fantasy about like, Ooh, I could do this and this and this. And you're just capturing all these different ideas and getting them down. And it doesn't have to have a form yet. And then, you know, eventually, once you've gotten all that, and there's nothing more to get down from your subconscious or from wherever, then yeah, you can switch into that more analytical, structural part of your brain. And then That, for me, is a hard part, because it's like, now you're taking something that's infinite. And you have to make it finite and material and limited. And that's why I think a lot of artists struggle to finish tracks because they're trying to, to branch the infinite to the finite. And, and it's like, it can be a harsh reality because this fantasy you constructed of this song is now becoming this four minute house and techno track that is no longer infinite, but. Can only have a certain amount of songs and has to have a good mix down and has to have a playable intro and outro So I think a lot of artists get disenchanted right at that phase and that's why they're not able to finish things So I try to explain that kind of that duality between that beginning point and the end and that everyone has to like bridge that gap If you ever want the song to actually come out and for people to hear it
Nik:Yeah. Yeah. Beautifully said, you know? And I think it's when you step into that stage of The intellectual side of it, which is also the the the ego, right? That's when the mind and the ego becomes involved. There's also this attachment to making the right decision and making the best decision. And, you know, now, as we approach that decision, later half of it, we start thinking about how is this going to be received? What are people going to think of it? Right? It's like once we start getting into the head, all that stuff exists inside the head, you know, the good, the bad and the ugly, all that, that necessary intellectual math and science of how do we get this across the finish line, but also like all of the fear and all of the doubt and all the mental muckiness that's in there as well.
Track 1:right Yeah, I and even me I've been producing for like 12 years now It's it's I still have those thoughts I'll write a song and I'm really excited by the chord progression and immediately my brain's like ooh I could send this to this label and this label and I have to turn that part of my brain off and be like no No, no, there's no song yet. We've just written a chord progression like calm down. Let me write the song. We'll finish it
Nik:how do you turn that part of your brain off though? Like what do you do in those moments?
Track 1:I acknowledge that this is not a song yet. It's just a chord progression. When it's actually finished or like mostly finished, then I can start to entertain those ideas. But until then, me getting that excited could actually hamper the process because it can make me put in less effort. I can be like, Ooh, it's already really good. I've already got the melody and chord progression. I don't have to work that hard to finish it because I got the good thing, you know? So if I want it to be as good as possible, I have to like, No, no, no, I don't have a song yet. I have a good component. Let me get more good components. And can I make this even better? You know, because I'm sure a lot of artists have also had the experience. You think you've struck gold. And then you go to arrange it and you just can't crack it. Or it's just not as good as you thought. And then you're like, now you're disappointed. So it's, it's trying to put the brakes on that voice. And just be like, just wait till it's done. Then we'll see how good it is and where it can go.
Nik:yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, I label that voice as being the ego, just that little inner dialogue. Right. And I always say that the ego is like a puppy where you're never going to kill the ego. People talk about like, oh, kill the ego. It's like, no, that voice is always going to be there. You're not going to kill your puppy. What you need to do is you need to train it, right? You need to train it. If you don't train it, it's going to run around and piss and shit all over the house. It's going to mess you up, right? And when it comes time to entering the studio, I think it's a good practice just to say, hey, Hey, I'm gonna leave you at the door. You don't get to come in here like little puppy. You stay in the other room. Daddy will be back when he's done with his work that he has to do. But like, you don't get to come in here, you know, and easier said than done. But to be able to kind of like distinguish that and separate that a little bit, like just noticing like, okay, that that voice is there. The voice that wants me to get signed to a label and succeed and be accepted and all of that. Okay, it's there. Can I recognize it? And also, you know, Be the master of it rather than the slave and say, Hey, I've, I've trained this thing well enough to know like, okay, I hear you barking, but you're going to go wait outside. Right. I'll be back later.
Track 1:Yeah. That's funny. It really reminds me of Elizabeth Gilbert, another one of my favorite authors, and she wrote a book called Big Magic, which you've probably read. She has a similar analogy where she's like, If you're an artist, it's like you're going on a road trip and you know, you've got creativity in the front seat, but no matter what, like fear is coming along on the road trip too. And fear is going to be in the backseat no matter what, like you can't leave fear out. Fear is always going to come with you. But like you can set some ground rules, like fear doesn't get to like set the radio or, you know, tell you where you're going. They're going to come along, but they don't get to make the decisions. So it's very similar to what you're saying with ego. Like just acknowledge, acknowledge. That's still gonna be there, but it's like, how can we manage that, or be aware of it?
Nik:Totally. Totally. Yeah, that's a great point that the, the fear is always going to be there. Self doubt is always going to be there. Like imposter syndrome is always going to be there. And you hear big artists talk about it all the time. They're like, I'm the biggest artist in the world. They're like, yeah, I still, I still doubt myself. I still get scared. I still have fear. I still go on stage and been fucking freaked out, even though I've done this tons of times. You know, it's like, it's just, that's part of the human experience. I think the more we accept it, you know, cause we want to fight it. We want it to go away. Like, Oh, I just, I don't ever want to feel bad. I don't ever want to have doubt. I don't ever want to have feared. And then that almost makes it worse. It's like what you resist persists when we just accept like, Hey, this is part of being human. love it. Can we even laugh at it? I always like to look at myself. I'm like, when these thoughts go off, I'm like, look at you fucking silly human. Just being a, you know, like just being so silly with your fear and your doubt. And like, can you laugh at yourself in those moments? That's, that's, that's my favorite thing to do is like, yeah, I'm just being a little fucking human with my fear and all my bullshit. It's part of the process. It's part of being human.
Track 1:100 percent the best way. There's so many moments where I'm like, finding myself complaining or worried about something, and then I'm like, wait a minute, if I just look objectively about what I get to do in this life that I get to live, and even just standing outside in the sun and it's 72 degrees and I feel great. It doesn't matter what's going on. Like in this moment, everything is perfect. Like it's, it's all mindset. There's always something we can be grateful for. There's always just like people who have it much worse off than us. And yeah, it's such a tricky thing. Cause like, uh, we're, you feel like you're on this artist ladder when you're on this career and like, you start from nothing and you're, you know, you're slowly going up and getting slightly higher on the festival lineups and like, you just feel like there's always another level. So you always feel like you're aspiring and still climbing. So. I feel like you get so in your head of just like, you know, the comparison stuff, but then if you look down, like we're saying like, wow, we, we've come a long way from where we started. And like, I have friends who they're just now launching their career and they're looking up being like, Oh my God, look at all these things you get to do. But in that moment, we're worried about like, Oh, but how do we get to that next tier next echelon? You know, it's endless.
Nik:it's endless. Exactly. It never ends. And I think it's just whatever you focus on is real, right? Whatever you focus on is what you're going to feel. And if you focus on what you don't have and how other people are further along than you and how, you know, we don't have X, Y and Z, like, okay, well, that's, that's, going to be what's real. That's what we are, what we are making real and ultimately what we are feeling. And then you can look in the other direction and look at like, wow, look at everything I have, look at everything I've done, look how far I've come, look how beautiful this flower is that I'm walking, walking by right now. Look how beautiful the sun is, you know, and, and whatever we focus on, we're going to feel. And I think like, that's, that's our superpower, man. Like outside of being an artist, you know, just being like a human, right? Like there's obviously so many. Just challenges and struggles that every person is is dealing with and even just talking about you know It's like just mental health like how do we help our brains be more healthy? So much of it boils down to what are we focusing on? You know, a lot of us are just, we're just very programmed and addicted to focusing on the wrong things and the work really begins on, okay, can we start to, you know, I, I, I think it is ultimately, it's like exercising a muscle, exercising our ability to focus on. The things we want to be focusing on. practicing gratitude, I think is my favorite thing. Cause I can, I train myself to have my mind look at these things that are good and that I can be thankful for. And the more I practice that and train myself for that, it's like, okay, I actually generally just think more positively now. but it can very quickly and easily go in the opposite direction, you know, and just, we can just always be focusing on the negative shit. And unfortunately there's so much. External programming that's just kind of blaring that in our face all the time too, you know So this is our essence of just self mastery. It's like mastering where your focus goes
Track 1:Hmm. Yeah, I love the question of like, what's going well in the moment? Like, you can always kind of ask yourself that and you can be like, actually, there's a lot of things that are going well, even though I'm stressed out about this thing. Actually, you know, we just did this and you know, I've got this beautiful relationship with this person or, you know, just talked to my parents and we're in a really good place. I've got a lot of friends in my life or. Or I just love my daily existence. There's, there's always things going well, as you said, we can focus on that. And then the other thing, I feel like we're like dancing around the. Like Robert Greene and a lot of his ideas as well, especially when it comes to like mastery But he talks about like and envy is gonna be like inevitable in this kind of hierarchical society that we're in But if you can turn envy into admiration like almost like alchemize it That's a much more positive emotion because instead of saying oh, I'm jealous of that thing it's saying oh I really admire that that person was able to do that and that they kind of put in the work to get that and And Maybe I want that for myself too, but it doesn't mean like, it has to be a negative thing. It's like, wow, I admire the path that they took to get there. Maybe I can like go on a similar path and also get there, you know?
Nik:I'm so glad you said that because it reminds me of one of the most powerful perspective shifts that I've ever been offered. One of my coaches pointed this out to me one time where when we look at someone that has something that we want and we get envious and we get jealous from like an energetic law of attraction level, we're seeing somebody that has something that we want, And then we're feeling negative. We're feeling resentful. We're feeling jealous. We're feeling a low vibrational frequency. And so we're looking at this thing that we want, but with this negative feeling. So basically the universe is like, well, obviously you don't want that if you feel so bad about it, right? As opposed to when we see somebody that is doing something that we want to do, or they have what we want to have. And back to this idea of celebration, like celebrate that shit. Like, hell yeah. Good for you. Look at you getting after it. Cool. I'm now bringing myself into a higher vibrational frequency and the universe is like, Oh, okay, cool. Well, you, you obviously want some of that too. So let me go give some of it to you.
Track 1:Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. we always talk about the, the word schadenfreude, which is like, you're like taking pleasure in other people's misfortune, but then we never talk about the opposite, which is called like mitfreude. We actually get like joy in people's fortune, like you're saying, can you actually like celebrate when your friends are doing well? And, you know, especially as like an artist or DJ, there's so many artists that are on the same level. And maybe one of them like gets that sick DJ set at a festival. And your initial reaction is like, dang, why isn't that me? But can you flip it to like, wow, I'm stoked for my friend. They're getting to do this crazy cool thing like that. They must really want to do that and like I'm sure they they're stoked So it's like can you remove that negative thing and just generally be happy for your friend? And then it makes you feel better about it. You can actually like talk to them about it So definitely been trying to adopt that.
Nik:and I fucking guarantee you on like a universal woo woo level. When you start practicing celebrating other people's success, genuinely, you will start to have more success in your life. Like, maybe it's just some weird, crazy, universal, hippie, woo woo shit. So, try it out for 30 days. Celebrate the fuck out of every single person that you see. Every single person that is doing something cool and great. Like, just live in the energy of celebration and see how your life changes. I guarantee you, really cool shit will start to happen.
Track 1:I Love that
Nik:You know that this is one of my favorite things about being a coach is because I, I'm just celebrating clients all the time. So I'm living like 24 7 in this state of celebration. Not only, you know, they all get to celebrate their own successes, but I'm like, I'm celebrating 20 people successes. Now I'm just like, like like overflowing. And ultimately what it is, is what's the energy that I'm living in, right? I'm living in the energy of excitement. And I'm living in the energy of celebration. And so I just attract more things into my life to be excited about and to celebrate. And with all of that being said, I'm going to, I'm going to hammer this home one more time to celebrate the fuck out of you. And this album launch that is, it's so good. Everybody go out and listen to it. It is, it is so rad. It's called bend to the light. Take the hour to just sit down and listen to an album from beginning to end. I guarantee you, you will love it. But, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm so excited for you. And also I really want to celebrate. One year of the headliner mindset and celebrate and thank all of the people that have been listening. Like, this is a pretty cool moment right now. I am just in so much gratitude for everybody that has listened, everybody that has shared, everybody that has sent me a DM to all of my guests that have been on. Like, this is pretty fucking cool. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this thing. I didn't even really have any game plan whatsoever. I just. And what it has become has been so rad and it wouldn't be possible without everybody listening. And with all my, without all my guests joining as well. So, thank you for hopping on brother. You're the fucking man. I'm glad we could finally make this happen. And, uh, very excited for what's to come for you now that this album is out. I think a lot of great things are about to happen for you.
Track 1:got to do this and I'm stoked for you and your podcast journey. And it's been amazing just to watch your growth and transformation as well. And looking forward to tuning into future episodes as well.
Nik:Thanks brother.