Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Stetina.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Most of my earliest memories of music can be traced back to my parents. I can remember Smashing Pumpkins ‘Siamese Dream’ blasting through the house while we cleaned, catching Led Zeppelin on the radio while driving to soccer practice, and listening to Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ on family trips. In 4th grade I was gifted a drum set for Christmas. Between that and the electric guitar and keyboard my mom had in the house, that was really the beginning of everything for me.
My first brush with recording was dragging a computer mic into the hallway, pressing record, running to my room to play drums, and then running back to listen. I couldn’t have been more than 10 years old at the time, and I think the general idea of sound and performance capture fascinated me. My interest in recording continued to grow as I practiced tracking my own original music and cover songs. In high school, I played drums in a punk-rock band and was involved in the school’s music program playing trumpet, French horn and drums. It was also in high school that I had my first paid recording gig. I think that kind of opened eyes that getting paid to do something you loved was a possibility.
College presented a crossroads for me. Audio engineering was what I loved to do, and aimed for as a career path, but I had heard such mixed things about people’s experiences who went to school for audio. I decided to get a degree in something “safe”, which ended up being a bachelor in computer science. All the while, I was going home on the weekends for recording sessions, running sound at venues in my college town, and playing in bands. The degree in computer science lead to a 5-year stint in financial tech, which helped lay the groundwork for my wife and I to buy a home and build out my current studio, Invigorate Recording. Similar to my time in college, while I was doing the 9 to 5, I continued recording and mixing during nights, weekends, and began getting more serious into video and photography as well. A little over a year ago, it finally made sense for me to depart from my day job, and I’ve been doing recording, video and photography full-time since. It’s been a great transition, and I’m really grateful for it.
Please tell us about your art.
In the recording world, my role often becomes similar to that of an additional member of the band. That doesn’t always mean creative involvement, but more so the idea that when a band has spent time writing, re-writing, saving their money to record and they’re coming to me, entrusting me with their music, I’m immediately mentally and emotionally invested. The weight of that isn’t lost on me. At that point we’re going into recording with a common goal, asking ourselves, “how do we capture and shape these songs so that they’re the best they can possibly be?” Making sure a band walks away feeling like they’re proud of what we created and had fun doing it is really important to me.
In terms of inspiration, there’s just a lot of really talented bands out there and I think the desire to partner in creating something that will have an impact on their listeners is a huge motivator. I’m constantly experimenting, chatting with audio peers and ingesting anything I can to improve myself as a recording and mixing engineer. Sometimes my version of relaxing after a day of working on music is reading or watching recording education material, and since it’s something I truly love, I don’t think anything of it.
Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
It’s tough. I’m not sure there’s a right answer, or a one-size fits all guide, but for me the approach was taking a bit of a detour to get where I wanted to be. I would have loved to been immersed in audio in college and working in proper commercial recording studios, but the financial uncertainty after college and art school debt pushed me in a different direction. I sludge through a degree I had a lukewarm interest in and endured a personally unfulfilling day-job, while filling the nooks and crannies of every one of those days with my passion.
There were a lot of days in there where I would wake up at 5am to mix until 7am, open up Pro Tools to work on my train ride commute, eat lunch at my desk to then take a “lunch” and work at a coffee shop, and again on the train ride home. I say all that to say, I’m not waking up at 5am and working 12+ hour days anymore; that time was just a means to an end. I knew that wouldn’t be forever, and knowing I was working towards eventually transitioning to focusing on my creative passion full-time was a light at the end of the tunnel. If you’re an artist and are fortunate enough to be presented with an opportunity that would eventually liberate you to focus more comfortably on your art, I’d say do it.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
With my position being a little more behind the scenes, the work I’ve done can be seen on my portfolio page and of course, by the artist’s I’ve worked with. Support them!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nickstetina.com
- Email: hello@nickstetina.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nick_stetina/
Image Credit:
Irv22 Photography, Blakely Thomas
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