Sound Thinking with Brandon Peralta

Join Hooktheory and NYC-based producer, songwriter, mixer, and studio owner Brandon Peralta for an inspiring conversation about songwriting, music production, creativity, and building a career in music.

Brandon has worked with artists at every level, from contributing atmospheric mixing work for Chappell Roan projects to collaborating with local NYC bands and independent artists. In this episode of Sound Thinking, we dive into Brandon's journey as a producer, his creative process, his relationship with music theory, and the tools he uses to bring songs to life.

Whether you're an aspiring songwriter, music producer, artist, or creative entrepreneur, this episode offers practical insights on getting started, developing your craft, and navigating a career in the music industry.

Topics covered:
- Songwriting techniques and creative workflow
- Music production and mixing advice
- How music theory can help (or hinder) creativity
- Building a career as an independent producer
- Working with artists at different stages of their careers
- Finding inspiration and overcoming creative blocks

Subscribe to Hooktheory's Sound Thinking Podcast for more conversations with songwriters, producers, and music industry professionals.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Hi, I'm Morgan, also known as Angel Zero Zero Four. I'm here today with Brandon Peralta, who has worked on artists such as Post Malone, Chapel Rowan, Khalilla, uh Zane. Zane. Uh Liam LaHavis. The list goes on and on. I mean, you've got a really impressive Rolodex of artists that you've worked on. I'm from Hook Theory, and this is a soundthinking episode where we talk about the minds behind music, the theory behind music, and everything in between. Thank you so much for joining me today, Brandon.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

So Brandon runs an amazing studio in New York City. Not only that, mixer, engineer, songwriter, creative, also has played piano and done a plethora of things. So I'd love to talk to you a little bit today about your experience and your background and what I would call music theory expertise in classical training.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

No, thank you. I don't know if it goes that far. Yeah, I've been a classical musician for the majority of my life, actually. I was very fortunate to attend public schools in New York that had music funding. And so from a very early age, just like really attached myself to like music as a hobby. I was taken under wing by the music teacher at uh Marine Park Junior High School. His name is Tony Mazaki, who he now runs the music program at the John J. Cali school in Jersey. But yeah, just like really instilled a love and passion for like music in me at a very young age.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

You mentioned going to school. Can you talk a little bit about your experience in school and what that was like?

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Yeah. So um I didn't study production until maybe 2017, 2016. I actually went to school for classical trombone performance. I wanted to play in operas and play in in you know symphonic settings. But that life is very it's very isolating life. I spend six to seven hours a day in the practice room, literally doing scales, long tones. I had to work two jobs to put myself through school. So I'd be in school, like there's a thing when you play trombone, you buzz your lips. That's how you make the sound. It's like a yeah. But I'd be like at restaurants or like making coffee and like buzzing and practicing while I'm at work. It was insane. But all day, every day you're thinking about like practice and making yourself the best version because it's a very competitive industry. Not to say that all music is competitive, right? But the pressure that you put on yourself to like be the best, it's a lot. It's a lot, a lot. It's not a very fulfilling uh area.

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Right. So can you talk a little bit about the transition? So now you know you own your own studio, you're your own boss, and you have a rich history of working in other studio environments too. But can you talk a little bit about that transition of realizing maybe that wasn't the exact path for you?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Yeah, it kind of hit me like square in the face, like a like a ton of bricks. I was taking very seriously, I was majoring in performance and then minoring in composition. And my older brother was a DJ at this old club in New York called Pasha. He was like the resident basem DJ. And he would like tell me all the time, like, man, if you take what you know about music and you started making like popular music or like electronic music, that you could dominate the scene. And I was like, I'm just gonna stick to Bach. I like Bach, I like the Borjog, I'm cool, like almost like in a I'm gonna above that kind of thing, you know, because it kind of puts you in that headspace of like, I gotta be the best, and you know, whatever. And then I was seeing this person who put me on to club music. And I went to my first club, it wasn't even a club, it was it was this bar. It was a bar with a dance floor. Something clicked. I was like, oh, the DJ is like a conductor, and they're in charge of like the dance floor and the way that the their curation allows for people to move and connect with this music in a way that I don't see people connect with classical music. Like, there's not there's never been a time that I've been in concert and people are like, I love this. Oh my god, this is awesome. It just doesn't happen. And I tried. So even when I was at conservatory, like the recitals are very stiff. We're all playing the same songs that have been written for hundreds of years, and we're trying to perfect this thing, right? Of course, the people that are gonna be on the receiving end are gonna be very stiff because they're expecting the best or or whatever. I didn't like that. And so I tried to turn all of my recitals into art pieces. My last recital was I was playing this song written by Bota. It's a French composer writing a caricature of American jazz. So he wrote a trombone solo that like it's really weird and atonal, and like he's kind of poking fun at jazz.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna dress up as an American, as a caricature of a Frenchman. So I'm a care I'm an American dressed as a caricature of a Frenchman playing a Frenchman's caricature of American jazz. So I wore the red stripes shirt, a beret, I smoked a cigarette on stage. No one cared. Not a single person cared. Like they were just like, Well, like, okay, that was a great performance. That's all I got. Like there was no the depth was lost, and you know, no one was willing to have fun things.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

They didn't get the bit.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

They didn't, even if they did, they weren't leaning in.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah, even if they got it, they weren't like they weren't there for it. Yeah. You know, they were also all thinking about their next recital and their next performance. They went right back to a practice room afterwards.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

And like that got to me. Like not being able to celebrate and have fun with music. Why are we doing this? Yeah. You know, we should be connecting with each other and having fun. Like, no one wanted to get a beer after a concert. Ever. Not that we should. I was 19.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Right. But we were. Don't drink underage.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Right. That's true. Um, no one wanted to hang out after a thing. They were always focused on the next practice session. So it just it wore me out.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Yeah. And it sounds like a lot of pieces of your artistry and otherwise an environment, environment that theoretically is supposed to foster artistry and, you know, companionship of collaborating with other people and creating things together, and that was maybe just like lost for you. And you felt like, oh, these aren't really my people.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah. I mean, it it did do a really good job of like fostering a lot of good musical habits, like learning how to practice is super important. Not getting fixated on it is kind of one thing, but learning how to sit in a room and like understanding the discipline required to do this, super important. But yeah, it kind of does take a little bit away at the same time. I think I even told you that story about um because I worked this job, I was practicing in between school and my job, and and I had to fit in more practice time. So I would drive to school an hour early to get a good parking spot. But the alternate side, like I'd be stuck there for an hour. So I would practice in the backseat of my GMC Envoy. And I remember like just one day sitting there in the backseat of my envoy, like doing long tones. And I'm just like, what are you doing? It's 5 30 in the morning. Why, why am I awake? Why am I playing trombone in a car? Like, this is not this is not it. This is not it. And so I started to dabble with production. I bought a hundred dollar laptop from Walmart and got a free doll called Nano Studio. Shout out Nano Studio. I don't, I don't work with your brand, but I don't even know if it exists anymore. It was like an app, it was like an app I could get. Like worst instruments ever, but it just got me clicking around, you know. And from there I just took it really, really seriously.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Wow. That's kind of a striking visual, just thinking about you sitting in the back of the cart with a tuba, which is big. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Uh trombone. Trombone is it's long, very, very long.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Oh, so you're like in the backseat of the cart, you're sitting.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

I had to be in the backseat and play through the through the front seat.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

So you touched on a few points of, you know, there are those fundamental things you did learn when you were in those music theory environments that help you with your processes today and helping these artists get their ideas into the world and helping yourself, you know, get your ideas into the world. Can you talk a little bit about the cross between what you bring to the table uniquely as an engineer? Because I personally I've worked with a lot of producers, engineers, musicians that don't know music theory. And I'm still learning music theory myself. And so there clearly is an intersection there of value. So can you talk a little bit about what those intersections are and when you find those fundamental things you learned from school to be useful in those environments?

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, I have a love-hate relationship right now with music theory. I started learning it from a very young age, like I don't know, 2000, I was in ninth grade. Wow. Maybe freshman high school.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

And by then I had already started taking music theory classes. Jeez, how old are you in? How old are you in ninth grade? 13, maybe? I'm getting we're getting a yes. I think I think I think 12 or 13 is when I started. Public poll.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

How older?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Yeah, right. Uh 12 or 13, I started taking music uh music theory lessons. And I just learned music from a theory point of view. Yeah. I learned the proper way to do harmony, the proper techniques and the proper voice leading techniques. And there's things you learn, like I'm sure anyone that has ever taken a music theory class will know parallel fifths are the enemy of whatever. You never write parallel fifths, but it's an outdated thing that Bach wrote in 1700s. Whatever the case may be, you're learning kind of an outdated system of harmony. And so when I'm trying to sit and write chords, I feel like I always approach it from, oh, well, I'm starting on the one and then that's gonna go to a four, and or I can oh, I can go to a two and then a five. But when I listen to music, I don't really listen that way. And people don't listen that way. And the musicians that I love don't write that way. They're playing what they feel and it feels good, so they're gonna play it. Whether there's parallel fits or the voices don't go the right way, or they're playing a chord or a note that's out of key, it's it feels great, you know. What I'm able to bring to the table from that is that knowledge and kind of being able to help guide people in uh maybe a more uh digestible direction, you know. Oh, I hear what you're what you're trying to do here. Yeah, okay, well, we can do this, or um, you know, I can find a key in like 30 seconds. You've seen me find the keys for things.

SPEAKER_03 10:43

It's real. Brandon finds a key. Hashtag 20 seconds.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Yeah, about 20 seconds. You know, I I think that is a lot of engineers that don't study music theory. And so having that tool in my tool belt is is super useful. But it's been it's love hate because sometimes when I'm breaking out of the engineer role and going into the producer role, it's like, oh, okay, now I have to think outside of the box. And I have to think outside of the box in this artist's shoes, you know, and figure out, you know, what harmonies they want to use and how I can make this feel less theoretical and more emotional, you know.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Yeah, which in my opinion, being an artist that is just starting to get introduced to music theory and having created with no music theory knowledge at all, I feel like the best case scenario as a songwriter, as a creative, is to be able to do both. Oh, yeah. You know, to be able to tap into the theory, call in that when you need it, say what key are we in? Okay, musicians in the studio, this is what key you're playing in, or like this note is out of key artists. This could be a creative choice or it could be wrong, depending on how we look at it.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, it's all context.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Yeah, which I think is really important and really valuable that you do teeter both of those perspectives in a in a creative environment, whereas a lot of people maybe are too far on the theoretical side where they're like, I would never go to a three and then up to versus the musicians like, I don't know, I'm just like playing, man.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yeah, you know. Well, you know, I I have this this saying that I like to teach, especially engineers. I think in any industry, there's always like those, everyone's gonna have those hard lines, like, oh, you never do this, you never do that, you always do this. I think it's important to know the rules so that you know when to break them, you know? And I think knowing knowing what notes might not fit in the key, but fit this chord for that moment, like, yeah, okay, it doesn't work on paper, but it works right now. It works in this song, it works in that moment. That's more important than being able to justify it to some music theorist, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Yeah, yeah, it's so true. Yeah. Are there any like whenever you are listening to music? Does that side of your brain ever call in? Like, what's the music theory behind this? Oh, do you start to hear, like, oh, that's a one, that's a four? Like, can does that start to happen? And when it does, does it become like a passive thing for you, or do or does that kind of turn on in you?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

I did a lot of like score analysis actually. Um, I would spend like my lunch periods all the time. Like literally, I would have like these mini, you can go to the library and get like mini scores. Oh, and I would sit and like analyze Mahler five. Yeah, you know, it's a loser. But I couldn't help myself by like once I started hearing and and once I understood how it worked, I would just hear, oh, I can understand how this song works and how this structure works.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

And it kind of instilled uh this like innate ability to structure things really well and structure harmony really well. But like I said, it it fights against me sometimes when I'm working with more experimental people. It's like, oh, well, uh, there should be a pre-course. But you want to do that before the bridge? And it's like, well, yeah. Yeah. We can do that because it's my music. It's like, oh yeah, duh, it's your music. We can do whatever we want. You know?

SPEAKER_03 13:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Um, yeah, just trying to break free of those, those like limitations is super helpful.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Yeah, that's awesome. So, theory aside, I'd love to dig in a little bit more to like your experience and your portfolio as an artist. Like I said, credits with like post Malone, Chapel Ron. I think I saw on your socials that you had an artist that was featured on a Times a Times Square billboard recently that you'd worked on. So I want to give you space today to give yourself your flowers and just talk about some of the cool stuff that you've done and like how that's felt for you. And maybe if you ever saw yourself having these experiences now when you were the tromboneist sitting in the back of the car.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Dear God, no. No way. No, I think that if if Brandon sitting in the back of his car playing trombone saw what I was doing now, he'd be baffled. Would not believe. First off, he'd be like, Where's my hair? What did you do to my head? Um But yeah, this is this is very far from what I imagined myself doing. But also at the same time, not. The reason I got into music is because of the connection. Like playing in an orchestra, if you haven't done it, like which not many people have, but being in the same room as like 50 other people, all making the same gigantic piece of music, there's there's no connection like it. Like I had this memory of of sitting in playing an opera Falstaff, and uh one of the bassists to my left like hit a wrong note, and we were all able to laugh about it during performance. It was beautiful, like it made me really excited and happy to be a musician, you know. Uh so if you haven't had that experience, like it's that's why I got into it. It's a beautiful experience. The the Times Square moment was a super validating moment. The reason I started this studio, I used to work for a major label. That's where I got a lot of my my major label credits. That's where I worked with Post Malone on the Austin album, that's where I worked with Chapel Roan on the Diary of a Midwestern Princess album. Um but being there, I realized how many resources are afforded to these larger artists that just aren't afforded to independent artists. Yeah, you know, I saw how like rates are inflated because there's a lot more money in that in that league. And you know, in good conscience, in good conscience, I can't really ask an independent artist to give me $3,000 for a single song mix. I just couldn't do it. So I left that world to kind of start this space, which is terrifying because like I have these big credits, but I kind of got them working for the major label. I have a lot of like indie credits, but like they're kind of more like subdued credits. And so when I met the hats, this group, the hats, uh, I just knew that they were something special. The story behind them, they are three strangers. One's from Nevada, one's from California, and one's from Florida. They met here in New York on the street as street performers.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

They were out one day street performing, and uh Ari, this streamer, is walking down, sees him with a guitar. So Ari's a streamer who like is like, oh, you have a guitar? Like, play me something and I'll make a beat. They start making the song together, and a friend of mine and one of my clients is men, uh Ethan Matt, is walking by and freestyles a verse on this song. They walk away, you know, there's a good live stream. Ari gets put in the New York Times. They do like an op-ed. Hey, here's this cool musician doing this cool stuff in New York.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Their video was the first thing on Ari's page. And so people start going to his page and their song starts getting traction.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

There is no track. There's no song. The song was freestyle. It was all made up on the spot.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

And so Ethan calls me and he's like, We need to work, we need to go in tonight. We have to get in the studio tonight and write this song because people like are in love with this song. I was like, okay, great. Uh my session tonight canceled. So like come through. You're perfect. Perfect. Fake. Thank you, rappers, for always canceling your sessions.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

You should maybe cut them in, but maybe on the next one.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Maybe the next one. Maybe the next one. If you show up, if you show up to the session. Um, so they came through, and within three hours, I basically set up a microphone. I had never heard the song, you know. I set up one microphone in the middle of all three of them in this mode called Omni. It makes you it records in 360. And I just said, play the song so I can just figure out what it sounds like. We'll work out a structure. Because it was just a chorus and a verse, you know. So I said, play what you have. And I chopped it up and we arranged it. Within three hours, we recorded all the guitars, all the vocals. The bass is four different people improvising bass lines. And I forgot to ever comp it. I just like whoever played wherever you played, that's what it is. Uh, because we were working that fast. Yeah. We had maybe like one second session to touch some things up, but within like four or five hours, the song was done. They put it on SoundCloud. It kind of blows up, like 20,000 plays or something in the first day. Someone at SoundCloud reaches out to them and was like, hey, people love this song. They get put number one on the uh RB and Soul playlist on Spotify on SoundCloud. And SoundCloud's like, we want to promote this song on our Billboard in Times Square. And just by happenstance, they had one of their friends is a videographer who had their camera that day while we were making the song. And so they used footage from us making the song on the billboard in Times Square. So, like, to see uh this place and these beautiful artists making music in Times Square, like my face and my business in Times Square with these dope artists, I was like, whoa. Oh, I can do this. You know what I mean? And uh and you and I am doing it, you know. It was a really beautiful, uh, wholesome moment.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Wow. So it sounds like from that account, a big big ups to you for taking the opportunity. You know, sometimes whenever us crazy, crazy artists call people like you that have big big schedules and things to do, and we're like, hey, this is really crazy, but like, can you? And when you say yes, like sometimes that is met with a beautiful opportunity. I always say, um, luck is where opportunity meets preparation.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Oh, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

And because you've always had, you know, you've always stayed attuned to having a space, making the space for yourself, making a structure for yourself to where you're like, oh, you just get in here, I'm gonna set a mic down and we're gonna do it. Like that's really cool. I'm also hearing like another little golden nugget I hear of this story is like, yes, you've worked with the best of the best, and we've named a few already. But to you, the thing that stands out the most is outside of what we think as the industry standard of all of these top 10 billboard artists and it's major label money. Yep. And the gold is really in these three artists that just happen to meet each other in the New York Street and make something amazing and then needed to have a song done yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Quite literally, quite literally. That to me is what makes music special. It's not the gear, it's not anything like that. It's not the space you're in, it's the people. If if there aren't, if there isn't any any artistry there, you know, the music won't follow. Another reason that I love that project is where is this microphone? Show and tell. The entire record is made on this one $200 microphone.

SPEAKER_03 21:03

Trust you dusty. Shameless plug.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Uh Shore SM7B. Get yourself one.

SPEAKER_03 21:08

We've all got one. They're just great.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

The whole record was made with one microphone. The guitars, the vocals, the percussion, literally everything, one microphone. The laptop I'm using, I got for free at SAE when I went to school there. Oh no, sorry, the interface. The interface that I got.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Uh I got for free when I went to SAE. It's like a $600 interface. It's one of the lower tier options. But yeah, it just proved that like you don't need a console and like $30,000 speakers. Like, you just need a microphone and some vibes.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

And that also speaks to another project that I worked on, the uh Kalella record. Kalella's Raven. The entire album was produced at her kitchen table. Wow. At her kitchen table, same microphone, same interface, the entire thing. When that got named uh Pitchfork's Best New Music, it was like Whoa, you don't need anything but a laptop in a dream to do this. And anyone that tells you like you need more probably hasn't made a record.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 22:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

Wow. Well, thank you for sharing that. That is some really great experience. And I think like something really important for audiences to hear that might not be able to afford the super expensive guitars or the super expensive microphones and just using the tools around you and the things that you have around you and the people that love you enough to say, okay, come to the studio in two hours. I'll meet you there, you know? Um, to say yes. So that's that's really cool. At this time, I want to talk a little bit about go a little bit back to like music theory tools. And while we know you don't need the expensive guitars, there are some things that you can call into the creative process that can help you. And so I know um I had walked you a little bit through hook theories when we first met, and I gave you access to some of the tools. So I'm curious, and you can be really candid here. We see whatever. Based on what you saw, we offer for free. Most of everything on the site is for free, really. The key cheat sheets, the theory tab database, hook pads.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Hookpad is free. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

There are some paid features, but most of it is completely free. You can create in there and you know, do what you want to have that as your sketchpad. So knowing that that is a free thing that people can take advantage of. Just want to hear your opinion about the products and how they might help someone's creative process that maybe doesn't have a ton of money, but is wanting to kind of call in that music theory knowledge if they don't have it and also like their creative process.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Yeah. What I liked about HookPad is that there's a lot of options, but there's not too many options. Like you can get a basic chord progression down with piano, drums, and bass and like just get to songwriting. One of the problems that I have as a producer is I have, I think I have like 2,000 different pieces of software that I use, 2,000 different plugins, three different DAWs, and all this stuff. You know what I mean? I have too many options. And so sometimes like I'll just go digging for like the right sound for too long. And it's like, well, now the idea's gone. I've actually worked out a new template for my home setup. It's just three instruments. I have like a really dopey Casio drum machine, uh, dopey Casio keyboard, and like a basin, and that's it. I get those three things to write. And I kind of like that about hookpad that like you can set a cool beat, you can get a cool couple instruments, but like write your song. Making something is better than making nothing, and like having access to a couple instruments is is more than you need.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

But uh Theory Tab. Theory Tab was dope. Theory tab was really dope.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

Theory Tab is our queen. Yeah. Let's say it for the people in the back. Theory tab is our queen.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

It was awesome. We've been talking about this a lot, actually, the theory thing, like how it plays into my production and stuff. And I've been really trying to break out of like my classical training, you know. And so I uh RIP, I looked up some some D'Angelo stuff. I saw that there was a lot of D'Angelo on that. And I was like, okay, let's see what these are about. And I forget what song it is. Maybe it was how does it feel? Straight up just walks chordally, five, four, three, two, one. Parallels and everything. And I was just like, What?

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Huh?

SPEAKER_00 25:19

It doesn't sound like that, it doesn't feel like that, but also like you could do that. It's just something that I would never think to have done unless I would have seen it. And like someone told me, like, it's okay. Yeah. You can break that rule, and it's cool, you know. Just being able to like see and understand the way that that song works, like it was it was really helpful. It was freeing, honestly. Like, oh, okay, let's get weird.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Yeah, that's a perspective I've not really thought about yet for theory tabs, is it's like it teaches you the rules, but it also gives you the freedom to break them. Yeah. Because you know, because you can look up other artists that have. And someone, it just goes to show that calling in as much theory as you want is is wonderful. And you can break the rules whenever you want.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

And some of the most touching songs are often the most simple songs. Songs like like Gravity by John Mayer. Oh, yeah. It's like two chords, G and C. The whole maybe it goes to A minor in the pre. Well, twice as much. That's A minor. Maybe a time minor. Yeah. So three, three chords. No, four. Okay, so you're not. Sorry, I can't help it. I can't help it. I can't help it. But yeah, like just being able to see, oh, it's it's not uh it's not impactful because of the chords. It's impactful because of what he's saying and how he says it. Okay, that takes the pressure off of my songwriting. Or, oh yeah, this guy's just walking down from five to one. I can do that. Okay. I have more options than I think I have. I don't have to do the standard two, five, one, you know, thing.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

That even unlocked a little thing in my mind. I'm like, okay, maybe I'll look up my the weird artists that you know are I'm inspired by and look at their broken rules and then make those the rules. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, oh, in that D'Angelo song, it goes five, four, three, two, one, flat seven, I remember. And I was like, what are you talking about, dude? It was awesome. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Not a flat seven.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

You know what? The flat seven.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Yeah. It's it's just it was really cool, inspiring to see how it worked, you know.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Yeah, that's really cool. Thanks for sharing that. I'm gonna ask one more broad question because I feel like having experienced everything you've experienced and being in the environments that you have. What kind of advice do you have for somebody who maybe doesn't exactly know music theory or doesn't even really know that much about music or songwriting, but has aspirations of being a songwriter, being a producer, like wants to get themselves started?

SPEAKER_00 27:48

One would be learn the rules so that you can then follow rule number two, which is break the rules. Um, but get some friends that also play music and are interested in developing maybe they're a guitarist that also wants to work on their songwriting. Great. They can play guitar while you songwrite and you can write a song together. Doing this in isolation, and I've done it in isolation for a long time. Yeah, you become your worst enemy. You become your worst enemy. You start having good ideas and you get so so lost in the is this good enough? Is this creative enough? Am I breaking enough rules? Has someone done this before? Oh, I've heard this, but you get so wrapped up in the way that you're you're trying to be your own thing, yeah, that you stop yourself from doing the thing. Yeah, you know, and I found that out just recently. I write my own songs, but sometimes I just write them to write them. And I never plan on putting them out or even showing anybody. It's just like practice almost.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

But in the last couple of weeks, people have been like, Oh, show me your songs. I'm like, Oh, I don't know. No one's ever really heard just for me. You're not gonna like it, you know. The classic, like, I'm gonna show you a demo, but like it's really badly recorded and whatever. But when I play them to them, in my head, it sounds bad, but they're always like, This is really, this is good. Like, this is good music. And you really just need someone next to you to kind of say it's okay, you know. And even if you're not like making you maybe the first song you write with your friend is not gonna be the it's not gonna be a Grammy winning single, but that's okay. And you two are gonna learn a lot in that process.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Yeah. Shout out JD, shout out J D. One of uh Brandon's really great creative partners that I've even worked with too here while while working with Brandon.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

He's he's he's special. He is he's he's my uh he's my I'm Robin and he's Batman or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

They're like I remit I remiss on not having both of you because they're just both. Maybe we can get him in here to do something at some point.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

We're two sides of the same coin. I think that we we both know the same set of rules and we have such wide taste. I'm much more of a rule follower than he is, and so I kind of need him over my shoulder to be like, no, it's okay. We're gonna do the flat seven.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

And it's gonna feel good because it feels good, you know. And I'm like, uh, and then I he kind of like pulls me off the desk for a little bit. It's like, just go go over there. I'm gonna do it, and then it works. And then same thing, I'm there to be like, you know, can we get I'll get him to play bass? Like, all right, yeah, cool. Like, well, it's not that, it's more of like a thing. Like, okay, we like rein each other in as well. But I I will say it's much easier to make music with him than without him.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

A thousand percent. Yeah, like sharing. I think that I feel the same way, you know. I can write songs in my bedroom all day, but until the vision isn't ever gonna end with just me, likely. I mean, there might be a time where I write something really solo, something really personal, very organica that I can do on my own. But at the end of the day, I know like the vision of my music personally takes the energy and love and creativity of other other people. It's kind of like the sum of the parts saying.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

I I forget what it is, but it's uh the sum of its parts is greater than the whole. Yeah. Something like that. The greater, yeah. One of those sayings. One of the things.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

You know the saying. And so, yeah, I I truly do feel that way. And so I love your advice about finding community, leaning into that, letting them help, you know, guide each other to like creating and enjoying that process.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Yeah, I mean, music, music is inherently communal. Like the making music alone, especially recorded music, is very recent. Only in the last hundred years or so. Good point. Like recording became a thing in like the tens, I think.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Like, and then commercial recording didn't really become a thing until like the 30s.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Um, and that's when people started getting very like, oh, I have to be the best singer and I can do this again as many times as I want to until I get like perfect recording that I can release so that I can show other people. And it's gonna be permanent. But before then, you had to go and see people make music, or you would make music with your family, or you make music with your friends, you go to the tavern, and like there's the people that are there playing music, you know. It it was a long time until it was like, oh, put something on the jukebox, you know, or like put something on Spotify. Now everywhere we go, you can't go anywhere without hearing music. Yeah, that's very new.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

It's very new.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

So find a little community, find your own little tavern bars to make music with.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Yeah, the OG jam band.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

You'll I think you'll learn a lot more tangible concepts of music, making music with other people.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

Hmm, that's a really good perspective. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for asking. Is there anything else you quickly want to say? How can people keep up with you andor book a session with you and just be a part of your creative community?

SPEAKER_00 32:47

You can follow me on everything at Brandon Peralta. The studio's Instagram is at enamored sound. Kind of hard to spell. You might have to put that in in the thing down there or wherever. Do like one of these. Um, yeah, I'm at Brandon Peralta on all the things, enamored sound on all the things.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Awesome. Thank you so much, Brandon. And thank you all for taking the time to listen to Brandon's amazing story. And thank you so much for letting us come and share your amazing studio space and funny. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. And thank you all for listening. Thanks, you all.