Sports as a Metaphor for Life

0:00 Music Appreciation. What's good guys, it's Scoobert Doobert. I want to talk about sports, so sports, it's a NBA playoffs right nowand I'm actually getting a lot out of it as a you know artistas somebody that's chasing a bigger dreambecause you're seeing these people and you knowthey have the money, they have the successbut now they're playing for something greater, they're playing for

0:39 reaching their peaks, fulfilling their talentand building a legacyand I find that that's just a certain kind of inspirational mindset to be inand to watch and see everybody trying their absolute hardest in these NBA playoffsand there's a lot of these storylines, these narratives thatare highly applicable to the artist's journey as wellbecause I really don't think that athletes and artists are all that different

1:09 we each want to be each otherif you notice like NBA players they all want to be rappers and musiciansand they want to play guitar and drums and stuff and then all of the musiciansall wish that we could you know dunk a basketballsome people can do both lucky peopleI am not one of those peoplebut regardless I like admiring kind of their journeyand the pressure that they deal with and try and apply that

1:39 to the journeys ahead for myself and for my friendsthat are all kind of trying to do the same thingso I was reading The New York Times and I saw a nice little headlineand it was talking about young stars you know people that are coming upand it was saying it takes heat to make a starso it's kind of a fun take on the you know it takes pressure to make diamonds

2:02 takes heat to make a star and so you need to be able to take some level of heatsome level of pressure some level of going through the fireto get out the other side and level upand to take that jump in tierand so that's that's what I'm kind of thinking aboutfor my personal career too is like I'm feeling some of that heatI felt it you know periodically throughout my career so far

2:31 I mean even just working with Chai that was a moment of heatbecause like okay I am going to be producingplaying on and mixing a song that will be in movie theatersand I'm going to be doing that in my bedroom in headphonesif I screw up the mix it's going to be brutally obviouswhen you're sitting in a movie theater with great sound systemand it took me having to go to Japan to hear it in the sound system

2:58 to finally exhale and say I did itand then hear it again on an airplaneand crappy airplane sound conditionsand it's still saying and it was almost even better because I mixed it aheadon sear listening headphones and it was it was rocking so it was like okay

3:16 but that was a nervous moment it's like you're taking that you're taking that shotis the you know the quarters about to expireand whether or not that thing goes in helps determine whether or not you get thatcontract next year it was one of those kind of feelings

3:31 and so that that's that's one and I really think that that was an impactful timefor my mixing abilitiesif you listen to my stuff before I worked with Chai and the stuff that I madeafter I worked with Chai I think I'm a lot more of a professional mixing engineerthan I was back then because of the pressurebecause I had to meet that moment and that's what this really all is about is meeting moments

3:57 getting a getting a gig getting an opportunity not running away from it being ready for itand even if you're not ready for it rising to itso then the next thing that comes is a lot easier because you rose to the last thingand that's that heat to make a star kind of concept

4:13 and then there's the other stuff that is is going around in these playoffs that are these narratives

4:19 and one of my favorites is Anthony Davis so he's he's gotten a lot of hate because he's been injured

4:29 and he's gotten this narrative of being soft and not being able to play not being available

4:37 and a lot of that stuff doesn't actually get bared out that much by reality if you look at otherstar players that don't have that tag they've missed similar amounts of time

4:47 and the other thing that he's doing is he's contributing to winning in less obvious ways

4:54 so that's one of the things I like to think about too as a producer as a mixer likeAD is playing world class defense and he's he's mucking up the other teams offensehe's doing all the stuff that doesn't necessarily get reflected on his points or his reboundsthe big loud things but he's arguably the best player in the playoffs because of his impact

5:20 in other areas of the game in addition to being a great offensive player too you canme but like that that's that kind of mindset is really fun to try and adapt musically as wellit's like okay yeah I could belt and try and do some complicated vocal run I could take a reallyintricate guitar solo I can impress you by my sound design and all of the own sounds that I can

5:44 make using my computer or I can make it all work together in a really nice tight package thatcan translate on any sound system so you could hear it in earbuds you can hear on a sound bar youcould hear it in a world class studio and each of those is going to be a slightly different but alsofulfilling experience that's not as like sexy but it's more important than the cool guitar solo

6:08 in the same way that some of my mentors with engineering have said it's never been about the gear

6:17 and I have had to sit and think about that for a long time like what do they mean by thatlike clearly you need some level of decent gear to be able to create but what they're trying tosay is you don't need that hundred million dollar recording studio or even a hundred thousanddollar recording studio you know my whole rig everything together is probably a few thousand

6:36 dollars even if you include the computer and it's basically saying what you do with these toolsis what makes those tools so yeah me having more toys is probably going to sound a little bit better

6:50 but fundamentally it's all about the way that all of the sounds interact it's that teamwork betweenall of the sounds and so that that's one of the fun things too is like how can you be a star in yourrole and how can you bring something to any environment that you're placed into and that's what I

7:10 think like NBA super super stars the top of the top we're talking LeBron talking Kobe Michael Jordanthose tears what my criteria is for it is you can drop them in any situation they can shape shiftinto that situation you know I saw games or Kobe was basically just a point guard and he was thebest point guard in the game you know I've seen games where LeBron is the center and he's arguably

7:38 one of the best centers in the game it's that kind of magic Johnson you know like these kind ofthese kind of players they can shapeshift because they they have such a well-rounded ability that'sone of the things I want to bring to music too is like I'm I hope to be able to have a well-roundedability so you can plug me into almost any situation and I can make it better I'm not saying that I

7:59 need to be you know Kobe Bryant level guitarist or something you know there's there could be betterguitarist that's fine but I don't want there to be better total package people that's that'swhat I want to be is I like well-rounded so that if you need a recording engineer for a classicalsymphony I can step up if you need mixing for a hip hop record I can step up if you want a

8:26 facatarsal I got you you know that kind of stuff that's those are my goals I'm not saying that I'veachieved all that but that's that's that's why I'm pointing my ship is I want to be that two-waysuperstar you know the the guy that can go that can they can do this stuff behind the glass orin front of the glass that's a recording studio term where it's like you know you get the person at

8:45 the mixing board and then you get the person on the mic I want to be able to do both in in mutuallycompetent ways and so the whatever the situation is you can race to it and I want to challengelisteners to that that's that's a great goal to have when you're having to diversify which isjust like what music is now we have to play multiple roles and where multiple hats just because

9:05 it's so expensive and you know we're all kind of like trying to make it work like I've talked tosome of these multi-instrumentalists on the pod it's like using that not as a I have to do thisbut as a okay let's deepen the bag let's get a new trick that can contribute to the other oneso that when you're in a session you can have that moment where say that you're just called to be

9:29 a mandolin player you'd be like oh this you know it would be cool a little bit like of ukulele andI've got a ukulele in my truck do you want me to pull that out that's the thing that elevates peopleup to that next year it's not necessarily being the world's best mandolin player that could helpcertainly but there are limitations when you are so specialized the other thing too is like being

9:56 ready when your number is called so one of my favorite things in the whole playoffs just happenedand is Lonnie Walker the fourth who is on the lakers and you might not have heard of him because he

10:08 barely played since the trade deadline like the dude has been out of the rotation and

10:16 credit to the coaching staff and credit to him he stayed ready and he stayed bought in

10:23 so it's not always going to be your time I know this painfully well as I've been makingmusic since I've recorded music you know like EPs and stuff since I was 15 yeah so I was 15like put out my first CD on CD baby you know and so yeah over a decade of kind of riding the bench

10:47 you know have been grinding learning stuff and recording stuff and shooting my shot

10:57 but sometimes the moment takes 10 years to come but when your number is called best be ready

11:05 that's what I'm trying to do you know it's like I have a 190 some thousand multi-listeners right nowand you know I don't want that to go back down you know I just even what a year ago

11:19 is less than half of that so meeting that moment staying bought in having a good team

11:29 having a good coach having your mind right and then when your number does get called lighten on firejust kick ass and that's what Lonnie did he showed up he won a playoff game there aren't many therearen't many people that can say they want a laker playoff game let alone against the defending champswith Steph Curry guarding him that's poetic that's next level rising and meeting the moment

11:56 and that's inspirational to me so how do you how do I actually like translate this and turn this intomusic it's leveling up across the board better mixing you know better interface with clientsbetter timelines and more you know that I mean I don't know if you've seen the Kobe Kanye Westcommercial but Kanye was like what do you expect from me Kobe Bryant like I have the best records

12:23 I had the most whatever and then Kobe just says more and it's it's a joke but it's kind of notwhich is part of what I loved so much about Kobe's you know persona because I don't actually knowif it was just a persona it was this near sociopathic commitment to greatness and competing against yourself

12:46 and practicing the tough shots you know like Kobe gets hate because he wasn't as efficient

12:52 but it's because he didn't he wasn't playing for necessarily the regular season a game in Februaryhe was taking the shots that you would have to take when it was game seven of the finalsthat you'd have to make the hard shots the stuff that was not available to you when the defense getscranked up and there's there's something we can take from that to his musicians where it's like

13:17 what what is this stuff that when you reach the highest levels of music you have to pull offlike melody writing synth design crafting really nuanced parts minimal parts and being able toshape shift because a lot of these top top top echelon stuff they'll pull somebody and be like you'rethe vocal producer that's all you do is produce vocals or hey you're gonna do drums for this song

13:44 but all inclusive like you're we're gonna use your sample library you're gonna you're gonnaproduce the drums and like export beats that's it and a lot of that that happens in the in the realtop top sessions so how how do you prepare for that it's like you practice you take those toughshots in practice you take those you take that mentality and trying to apply that to your other

14:10 productions to your other things so that when the moment comes and you are in one of those bigsessions you meet it because you practiced it and it's it's kind of like stop stop caring too muchabout that regular season like focus point your ship where you want to go and so while Kobe got

14:31 hate for being inefficient because he took tough shots guess who they were looking to to bail himbail out the entire team when they had to win a game it was Kobe being you know he was the one

14:45 that would put the team on the back and hit the tough shot when it mattered and that's why he's myfavorite basketball player that's saying he's necessarily the greatest basketball player of all timebut in some respects I do I do believe that because of that mentality and thus believe LeBron is notLeBron with how Kobe Bryant so it's it's that it's that funny thing how sports and musicians we

15:11 you know we admire each other because I think we're connected in a very non-linear way we're bothtrying to achieve something very ephemeral we're both trying to look within ourselves to pullsomething deeper out and develop our acumen and our abilities and with music it's like there's nolike necessarily direct competition it's all this indirect competition there's not like hey you're

15:37 gonna put me up against another guitarist we're gonna have a shred off I'm done it really worklike that it's like that's like a movie thing battle the bands battle the bands are all like riggedand yeah if you've ever done that it's weird very political and how do you judge these crossgenre bands very well you don't it's usually just popularity contest or whoever like paid off

16:00 the judges are well you know it's not it's not an efficient form of competition in the same waythat you know a seven game series would be with different refs and different locations all it'skind of think to balance out any of the aberrations but we do have a different kind of competition andthe competition for music is far more internal how good can you get how deep into your bag can

16:24 you reach how consistent can you be how many songs can you put out how many songs can you work onwhat kind of network can you build and like really build not just sliding into the DMs and saying whatup like making stuff with other people and finishing it and making it cool and putting it out in theworld and getting it heard and then doing it again and doing it with people from all over the world

16:46 different countries and just being tenacious it's that tenacity that is the real competitionlike a lot of times we're competing with our own inner demons of you can't do this you're not goodenough you should stop it's too much pressure it's too many songs and really what you need to do isjust like what Phil Jackson says let's bring a right back to basketball

17:16 chaploid carry water don't focus too much on the big big stuff of course keep the keep theships pointed understand it the fundamentally what you have to do in the moment right now is simplewhat I need to do today need to write vocals for a new song that's it don't have to think aboutbecoming a superstar or the 50 songs that I need to make between now and this time next year

17:42 that's irrelevant that's gonna like I'm not the superstar for the 50 songs part will happen if Ijust chaploid and carry water and focus on what I have to do right now which is record and writea vocal for one song then after that I'll focus on mixing but right now figure out that vocal

18:02 that's it chaploid carry water it's that it's that concept of like if I love backpacking becauseit helps me get there we're backpacking people don't really realize is a bunch of chores you walkwalk over there for 13 miles and then do a bunch of chores and then you maybe relax for an hour ortwo and then do some more chores and then go to sleep because those those chores are just like

18:26 fundamental like okay we've arrived at the campsite now we need to pick a campsite clear a campsiteput up our tent set up our camp put on bug spray change maybe shower got by taking dip in the lakeor whatever and then you got a cook and then you got a clean and then you know it's it's allthese things now it's dusk and it's time to go to bed and then you're gonna wake up pack up your

18:46 stuff do chores cook clean and then walk another 13 miles put down your tent cook clean do all of dochores and you know but there's a there's a fundamental like zen of just doing the crap you haveto do and embracing it and being like this is all life is is just like not not looking at thedrudgery as drudgery instead looking at at it as life itself where it's like I am not just

19:12 washing a dish I am mindfully washing the dish it's the same thing is like I am not justtuning vocals or editing vocals I'm I'm mindfully going through and taking away any breath that I feelis not musical you know like that's drudgery and that feels sometimes it can get in your headit feels like I'm just trapped in this loop forever of just cutting out vocals and and cleaning

19:39 them up and taking away the little lip smacks and whatever and but that's that's the actual stuffitself that's the chopping the wood that's the carrying the water that adds up and bringing thatintensity having that team being ready when you're called coping with the pressure letting theheat make you into a star and leveling up when it's time to level up meeting those moments

20:04 that's that's this stage I never got to really hear from people at this funny stage ofmusic where I'm not making enough money to do this full time but you know there are people inhundreds of countries that are listening to my work I'm working on you know major label stuff

20:28 and not made it doesn't really matter but like you know just like the scale and it feels likeit's teetering like it could go to that next year but it's not going to go there unless I push itthere because there are there's a certain inertia they don't they don't want you to necessarilylevel up you have to force the industry to accept you and that's the stage and most of the people

20:55 that I hear from are either you know just starting out coming up with a new project or already megasuccessful or successful in a you know bygone era this is now this is streaming this is figuring it out

21:07 and yeah just encouragement for other people that are going through this the path through is byjust doing the work by putting it out by finishing this stuff and by getting better every song you do

21:21 every single day I believe in that and it's working so far we'll see if it ultimately all ends upworking but even if it doesn't if you put in the work you can feel good about whether the shotsfall or they don't because you know like hey I put in my thousand free throws and hey if you misseda bad free throw go out there and put in another thousand if you missed the next bad three

21:48 that free throw keep doing it but know you put in the work you put in the time that's the secretthat's how you can live with success or failure because some of this stuff is luck some of thisstuff is out of your control but a lot of it's in your control just like basketball anyway goLakers Lakers in five I'm yeah I don't know yeah I'm gonna go Lakers in five we're gonna win it we're

22:14 gonna win it tonight close this up and I actually believe the Lakers could be the the champions thisyear because because of the vibe around the team the way they play for each other they're animperfect team but that's part of what makes me love them so much so anyway that's it that'sall I got if you want to hear my music go to Scoobert Doobert dot pizza www Scoobert Doobert dot pizza you

22:37 can find my links or search me on Spotify or whatever I hope you enjoyed this please feel free tosubscribe to the podcast give it a five star so other people can find it share it with yourfriends all super super helpful and some amazing guests coming up so you don't have to just hearme do my my solo rants every single week I'm still gonna get plenty of those dude but we got some

23:01 really fun guests so definitely stick around for that and I look forward to helping you love musica little bit more