https://substack.com/@jvonworld?r=1oevi8&utm_medium=ios
Mar 18, 2025
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Throughout my whole life, I had awful music teachers. I had a piano teacher that made me sit on my hands because he was frustrated with the way I played scales and a music teacher in primary/middle school that gave me so many anxiety attacks that my doctor finally gave me a note so I didn’t have to go anymore.
I was told so many times throughout my life that I had no music talent, discouraged from going further than scales but all of those people (teachers!!!!) were wrong. They just couldnt fathom that I had a different musical brain than them.
When I was 23, I ended up having to move back home from LA after my job rescinded their promise to sponsor me for a visa. I was depressed and heartbroken and lonely. I went to school for writing but didn’t want to write anymore so I ended up opening GarageBand on my iPad.
I was inspired by all the things I could do on it. I suddenly felt like I was entering a new world. After making a couple beats, I started moving everything over to the laptop version of GarageBand. I bought big headphones, a cheap usb mic and a keyboard off of a guy from Craigslist and continued to tinker. One of my favorite things to do at the time was to download karaoke midi tracks of popular songs I loved, import them into GarageBand and change the instrument until I felt like I was making something new. I would then use my shitty mic to wail on top of it.
I used GarageBand for years after that to make tons of songs that I just uploaded to SoundCloud without thinking about it much. Eventually I got a controller/sampler and access to Ableton and thats when the fun really started.
My love for music making snowballed after that, I amassed more gear and skill and eventually made an album after a couple years. I was obsessed with making it and while I feel really whatever about it now, I don’t feel whatever about the experience.
Music has allowed me space to express parts of me that there are no words for. The best thing I can impart is to take advantage of this. There are some things that you can only explain with a kick drum or a sine wave or a really hard bassline.
Music is still a huge part of me! I made another album after that first and now I’m working on my next project. I recently reincarnated myself (everyone in the ~industry~ advised against this but I’m a different person now) and I’m excited to see what’s in store for me. I don’t expect to make money or become famous but music feeds my soul in a way nothing else can.
Have fun!!
May 4, 2024
🔌
For as long as I can remember I’ve been taking electronics apart to see how they function . I have no real Ideas way ? Maybe it’s in the family blood. As time moved forward I got better and it didn’t take long before i was fixing more complicated problems . I focused on fixing guitar amps ,synthesizers and radios because I could buy them broken for repair and use them for trading or recording .Great thing is when equipment fails, which seems to be a lot when using vintage, I can simply do all the repair work myself. I’ve spent many years building variations of studios in my home and have utilized these skills in wiring and electronics to build my dream studio. I don’t think any of these rare, and some times expensive, recording equipment are necessary, but on my song production it’s the sound quality these pieces add that my ears hear which makes all the difference. To be honest though, I’ve done really great work using bare bones setups too. I always look at things as art- if you have all the paint colors, you don’t need to mix them up but sometimes you find something great in the minimal. It’s all about perspective.
May 30, 2023
🙅
I’ve grown so fucking sick of DAWs and computers— yes I know what’s great about them. After 20 years of sitting in front of a computer to record music, I’ve decided to go back to my roots. Making music without the rancid glow of a massive screen, without Safari lurking in the dock, without the gnarly centerpiece energy of a huge Apple product, has been liberating. I’m done with Tetrissing ideas, done frame fucking waveforms, done dragging 1s and 0s with a mouse. So now I’m focused on making sequences on the MPC one, building my own kits, and sampling audio from an array of synths or records or life— and it all goes stereo-out into the Tascam 446 that Beardo gave me. The vulnerability & humanity I’m interested in experiencing through music gets watered down by the digital horseshit we readily accept as software convenience.
May 30, 2023
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https://open.substack.com/pub/jvonworld
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It's becoming a favorite space online for me. Writing about my experiences is rewarding outlet, it helps me convey emotions in an engaging way while sharing useful tips for others.
Mar 19, 2025