Ep. 19: Becoming Irreplaceable: Isaac Levy's Approach to Music

[00:00:00] Stephen: Welcome to Secrets from the Scene. Today's episode we've got Isaac Levy. You'd be hard pressed to find Twin Cities native Isaac Levy without a guitar by his side. Following the footsteps of his father the venerable drummer of the Honeydogs and Brian Setzer Noah Levy Isaac has carved his own path in the music industry offering a wide range of talents developed since he was in diapers. Now 21 only 21 mind you He has worked within a plethora of roles and genres playing and recording with established [00:01:00] acts such as Ryan Lewis Julia Cole Chase Bryant Jonah Moray Michelle and Todd Rundgren Greg Hawks Cory Wong Yam Haus Quinn Sullivan and Grayson DeWolf. In addition to his client work Isaac's original music has earned major network placements on ABC and NBC. Isaac is available for touring production mixing engineering musical direction one off shows remote tracking sessions and everything in between. He is insanely impressive and I'm so happy to have him here today. Welcome Isaac. Isaac: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Stephen: Dude this is great. It's funny to finally meet you. I feel like I've known of you for a few years at least and it's nice to get you out here and do some work together. Isaac: Thanks man. I think it's really funny especially during the pandemic how many connections everybody made on Instagram. And now I'm at a point where finally meeting everybody who I've been talking to for years on Instagram. So it feels really good. Stephen: Yeah. Well let's introduce you and and your background to people. I think a lot of people [00:02:00] know of the Levy's because of you know how your dad and uncle have been such huge staples in the local scene. So talk about your coming up under them. Isaac: Yeah. I mean for as long as I can remember the main thing is that I knew that I always wanted to be a musician just from being on the side of the stage with my dad and my uncle. I got a guitar when I was five started playing drums when I was three and just right away it's almost like I've had tunnel vision my entire life. Hadn't wanted to do anything else. And there's always instruments in the house. There's always drums. And I just knew I wanted to be around it. Stephen: I'm trying to even think of where to begin because I have so many questions for you because I find it so fascinating. The fact that you know as much as you know at 21 and and you're good at as many things as you're good at. But it kind of makes sense given that you had it. A musical environment around you instruments around you. Did you sort of start playing everything right away? Or did you ever think about like Oh I've got to learn this thing first. Or was it [00:03:00] always just everything at once? Isaac: I would say I learned kind of guitar and drums at the same time. Bass definitely came a little bit later. But it was never more so like intentionally trying to learn everything or trying to be as good as everything. I just loved playing. I would sit down in front of the TV watch whatever was on Disney Channel and just play guitar for hours. Same with drums. I would just sit down and play. Put on headphones to whatever I could play to. And then drums came. very very easily. Guitar was a little bit tougher and then bass kind of later in life probably like fourth or fifth grade something in that area. But I would say a big thing too is that ever since I was a little kid I had an interest in computers and that really brought on to the side of production mixing anything computer based playback running tracks all of that. I always. Loved just being on a like a Mac like a MacBook and scrolling through menus like screwing up my dad's finder settings and all that. I just love to do it. And I've always had a drive to like [00:04:00] work on computers. Stephen: Well there's two things that come to mind with that is one is that I think the computer is an instrument in and of itself to learn how to play. You know for me that was what I was drawn to. I mean I I learned guitar studied voice that sort of thing. But once I started understanding what the computer could do for me musically I was like no this is what I really want to learn. Isaac: yeah of course. Stephen: so having that skill the the comfort with computers and using computers I'm sure had to have only made learning the other instruments that much better or that much more convenient because as soon as you can start capturing an instrument performance on your own you're in that feedback loop of like oh now I'm gonna play even more because I can hear it back and I can fix it. And you're just now you're self-sufficient. Isaac: Yes exactly. And I would say I probably I think I got an interface somewhere around like 10 or 11 and I started tracking myself playing against a click and from an early age I was like Oh man I'm rushing. I gotta I gotta fix that. And having [00:05:00] that like you said it's like a that feedback loop of knowing where you stand as a player you truly don't understand how you come across until you hear yourself recorded Stephen: I agree. Isaac: at all in a good or bad way. Stephen: Well because half of being a musician is how good is your ear? It's not how good can you just hit the drums or play the strings. It's what's your ear doing? Can you tell the little difference in timing? Can you hear the difference in pitch? And It's really really difficult to train your ear without playback like live just playing something. I mean you could but it's so much easier to get a more advanced sense of timing or pitch when you can listen back as many times as you need to or in as zoomed in or zoomed out kind of function as you want. It It really helps to train the ear. Isaac: Yeah and the thing about me too is that I have perfect pitch and I definitely noticed it when I was a kid around the same time as I started recording [00:06:00] myself and just messing with logic. I would hear songs in the radios like as early as I can remember as a kid I would hear songs and then I would hear a different version like a live version of the song. And I remember there was a Curtis Mayfield song Gotta Have Peace where the the radio version was an E but there was a version of the Old Grey Whistle Test that was an F. And I remember telling my dad that when I was like five or six he was like what are you talking about? That is so not true. And then he looked it up and he's like you have perfect pitch. And it's funny because there's two schools of perfect pitch too. There's a school. Of thought that you're born with it and there's a school of thought that you've acquired it and I don't think I've acquired it I think I only realized I had it as soon as I learned my note names and kind of registered that to what a guitar fretboard was but Like having perfect pitch definitely came up around the same time as like you said I was hearing myself recorded and Hearing little variables in a track against my ear. Stephen: All right. So you're growing [00:07:00] up you're playing playing with your your family members and you're you're doing gigs at a super young age you're already able to take on sort of opportunities you knew that you wanted to do it right away. So all those things are kind of lined up to get you to where you are today at 21 having done all of these things. does your practice come from Hey this is the thing that's in front of me next. So I got to work on that. Or do you sort of go all right this is my gap. This is what you know I got to fill in this part. I don't know how to do that thing yet. Isaac: Yes I would say for the last five years my practice has been all right. This is coming up. Like you said I need to work on this. I would say before that only recently comes from a lack of time and a lack of free time. but before that it was always things where if it was something on a computer I would just try to make a song on logic. And if I couldn't figure something out practicing that I would look it up. I would just try as hard as I could search through menus. As far as guitar bass drums it was all the same. I would try to figure it out if I could and then I would just YouTube the rest of [00:08:00] it. And I think that's mainly the key to everything I've done is YouTube. Especially in this day and age. Stephen: And I will take that one step further which is just being self taught just the philosophy whether it's using YouTube or Isaac: Yeah I've I've had guitar teachers drum teachers in the past my dad actually never taught me any drum lessons But I've had teachers in the past but I would say the majority of the building blocks have all been from YouTube Especially in the studio field. It's just everything is out there right now and how we talked about earlier especially that Engineering production everything is all kind of computer based now. You know everybody gets stuck but there's really no reason why you shouldn't be able to figure it out with all the great resources that are Stephen: Yeah. It kind of also goes back to the skill of knowing computers cause I do think that people give up easily sometimes with trying to find the right answer. You know the beauty of YouTube and the problem of YouTube is everything's on YouTube. So it can be difficult to find the right answer. Isaac: really bad information Stephen: yeah. So knowing [00:09:00] how to search Isaac: Yes. That's it. That's a great call. Stephen: yeah. when you go about trying to find an answer how do you search it? Isaac: I would say in the recording field as far as computer goes just try to be as detailed as possible no matter what you do in any field if you vaguely search. For something that you're having trouble with you're not going to get there. Stephen: Yeah. You're or you're going to get always going to get themost 101 basic answer to it that exists or deterred away So that's I try to be specific especially if it comes to like a studio troubles Troubleshooting question and then you're skipping through 15 minute videos trying to find something specific but it can take a while But everything is out there. But yeah you definitely have to sift I think trying to be very specific particularly if there's any sort of like technical term that you know making sure that that's in there not using a generic term but the real like you know if you're trying to figure out something in logic that had to do with flex time like making sure that that term is in there. And then[00:10:00] part of I think the art of finding answers on YouTube or Google or wherever is. When you get let's say your first round second round search where you start to get hints of like okay I think there's that like incorporating new search terms that you find along the way to keep narrowing it down to get to the more advanced answer that you're looking for. Isaac: For sure Stephen: And I know people probably super bored by this but I'm telling you it will change your life if you have the determination to self teach because if you give up on these answers or keep. sort of expecting waiting for other people to teach you it you just you're going to go a lot slower than people like Isaac who's way ahead of Isaac: Yeah I will say the reason why I was able to kind of self teach is because grew up in live and studio settings where I wasn't necessarily working. It was just a fly on the wall. well I grew up with my dad taking me to sessions with fantastic producers engineers and then also seeing the players. I would just kind of sit back on the studio couch and absorb all of it. I'm self taught but I. Always had an understanding of session flow or [00:11:00] how to run a session anything like that or as far as live touring too growing up on the bus with my dad I've had the understanding of how things should work. It's just the fine details I taught myself. So I think well I know for a fact that's the biggest possible leg up I could have ever had was being around that from a young age. Stephen: Without a doubt. I mean just just seeing how things should be. Isaac: Yes for sure. And how to handle yourself as a person too. Stephen: absolutely. Well let's circle back to that because I think that's probably something you're very good at and I want to pick your brain about it. But let's make sure that you know getting all the listeners involved that don't know the things like talk a little bit about what you have worked on what you're currently working on all the different roles you play like flex a little bit right now so that people know how much stuff that you're doing. Isaac: Yeah. starting play guitar bass drums and piano in studio and live situations. probably primarily studio. That's kind of where my heart is. That's kind of where my brain works too. But right now doing [00:12:00] some work for a producer named Ryan Lewis. you would know him from the Macklemore stuff. Very successful. Grammy winning. Ryan is a great guy and I'm working with his artists that he's working on. live. I just got off the road with a band called Yam Haus. Those six weeks. And then I've just backtracking I've worked with multiple different country artists from everything from big tours with buses and planes to everything to a van tour. And same with the studio I've worked in massive massive commercial studios down to teeny home studios and I think everything's a learning process when you have that vast majority of day to day work that's really it. And then as far as Stage things I'll run monitors for artists as well as playing so I'll take care of ears and backing tracks and all of that My philosophy is do as much as you can and do it Well try to be a jack of all trades but don't be bad at anything I guess don't neglect one field that needs area. Well it needs an area of attention if that makes sense. Stephen: Well and I think that's you know the focus of today's episode is [00:13:00] essentially how being a jack of all trades can can keep you busy now. I should say that that's probably a little bit controversial and that there are people that would say no you need to you need to specialize. You need to be known for something that you're doing whether it's being really good at guitar or being a really great producer or being a tech. you're doing all of those and that's working to your benefit. but The question that I have is is it because it was out of necessity that you needed to do that? Because that's sort of the impression that I get or was it more of just keeping your options open? Isaac: More so keeping my options open. I think the root of it is that I'm extremely curious. I'm a very curious person. When I learned something I like to learn as much as I can about it. It's just opened up pathways as far as like an example if I'm on a gig being a guitar player in the bigger shows I'll have backing tracks now and if somebody needs tracks I learned somehow I don't know how but I caught on to that or if somebody needs monitors in ears ran I just volunteered myself and because of that [00:14:00] the way I'm able to do a lot of things honestly makes me somewhat irreplaceable in some fields. Stephen: Yeah. Isaac: the way that I can do three jobs in one person's shoes I would say that's the key to why I'm able to work every day is because I'm able to do that. I'm able to do more than just one role. Stephen: Offering more value. Isaac: Exactly. Exactly. Stephen: Yeah. I got to imagine that that sort of has happened just naturally over time. It wasn't something that you set out Isaac: not at all. Yeah it's just things I picked up and dove into. Stephen: Because of your curiosity and then it's like actually I do kind of know a little bit about that. I can I can handle that for you as well. Yeah. when it comes to being good at things right? Just the concept of that part of knowing that you're good at something is by validating it right? By Hey I've done this for at this level. Isaac: Yep. Stephen: and you're good at a lot of things at an early age which brings me to the question of how have you gone about it? Saying yes to these kinds of things in terms of knowing that you're ready For it and [00:15:00] taking on these you know high pressure kind of gigs Isaac: Yeah. to be honest with you I've always had a sense of confidence where I've always known enough about things where even if I knew I was gonna be over in my head well I would just do it anyways. And I think because of that there hasn't necessarily been a time where it's. Where I failed. If you prepare hard enough for anything and you have the means to prepare hard enough just say yes to everything to a certain point As long as it's not a detriment to everything else that is happening in your career Like if you're taking a gig that would make you lose out on a better gig or something But just say yes to everything figure it out. Even if you know how to do it a little bit I think that's kind of what I've done my whole life is figuring it out as I go. And that just builds your building blocks of knowledge for future gigs or whatever you need in the future. Stephen: probably just the confidence that you can figure it out that you know Hey I at least know that I'm capable of solving this problem no matter what it is. Yeah. That's Isaac: For sure. And you know[00:16:00] growing up in the scene in every area that I work in there's somebody I can call. If I can't figure something out that will help me that will walk me through it luckily I don't think I've had to do that too much but just saying yes and figuring it out. Yeah. For sure. Stephen: Because you sort of have a fail safe in a depending on what you're saying yes to of course and it's probably not everything. I don't want to diminish that. But but it does you know go Okay well if I really get into a bind I've got somebody. And you know in in your case I imagine a lot of your closest mentors being your family and and then friends of family and that kind of thing. But Have you seeked other mentors outside of that circle? Isaac: Not really to be honest with you. I would say Ryan is a very good mentor to me and just teaching me how to do things learning under his way. But I wouldn't say outside of the musical circle I haven't necessarily embarked on trying to find a mentor or anything that's right for me. Stephen: Well you've you've had some built Isaac: Yes [00:17:00] exactly. I think that's the thing is that I've been so fortunate to grow up with. Everybody who my dad's worked with instead of necessary lessons it's been mentorship. I would say almost exclusively Stephen: the reason I bring that up and ask that is that I want to sort of emphasize how important it is to your career to find mentors. Isaac: Yeah I would say it's it's all of it for me Absolutely. All of it is because I had Great mentors along the way either by learning by example or just having deep conversations one of the two I mean it really is the key to everything. Stephen: Yeah. you know if you have people in your immediate circle that's great. But if you don't and plenty of people listening to this go well well if I had you know that sort of what but that's not an excuse. I mean everybody has different backgrounds and You can attract mentors you know a big part of that is your attitude your ability to make relationships to be easy to be around getting out there. And sure some people might have to work a little harder to make some initial connections but that's just how it [00:18:00] is. And I know. Already just from from your reputation and from the little bit of time that we spent together that that's another skill that you have in terms of just being easy to hang out with. So it self perpetuates you know and you'll only keep attracting more and more mentors because people want to help people that are talented and can learn. Isaac: I know uhyou can definitely see as you get a little bit older like the natural instilled generosity of showing the younger generation just teaching them and showing them well because I think this industry the biggest thing is. You will succeed if you want others to succeed. It's not necessarily a selfish endeavor. something to know is that older guys who are successful are basically always nice always generous. everybody wants to help the younger generation and keep it alive. I think just reaching out somebody who you're a fan of reach out odds are that they'll write you back. I Stephen: Yeah I agree. there's a book called the go giver and it's essentially that sort of thing of like If you want to attract people to you you should be trying to serve [00:19:00] people. if you put out good energy it's going to come back to you at some point. Isaac: 110%. Stephen: I also just think that that's sort of with the amount of options it's just good business you know with the amount of options that people have out there if you're trying to stand out from the crowd you better be bringing value you better be bringing something otherwise there's just somebody else that will even if it pains you it's a good business it's what you should be doing regardless Isaac: Well and even for the same paycheck there are a million great guitar players on this planet and I think the thing that's allowed me to get hired is that I'm bringing value. Like in a session the other day I was only being paid to play guitar and one of the 1176 compressors went down So I went into the back room grabbed a spare it screwed it back in patched it back in and I wasn't being asked to do that I was just being paid to Play guitar and stuff like that. Just just little things make yourself valuable I think that is the key to success Stephen: you know I grew up in southern [00:20:00] Minnesota and My parents are farmers and that was sort of the attitude like never stand and watch somebody else work. I always offer to help you know and that's sort of what you've demonstrated with that example of like I see something that needs to be done that I can do. I don't need permission to help somebody. I don't need to be told to help somebody just always offering to help. And provide more value. that's a mindset ultimately but you still have to have the skills then to do it because you could also get in trouble if Isaac: Yes. Uh, you're Stephen: it wrong. And Yeah. so you have to have the confidence that you know what to do and how to do it. So obviously there's probably some things that you don't do. I actually before when we were getting set up and stuff we were laughing at how much we both don't know about cameras and lights. So if somebody asks you to be the lighting guy Isaac: No no I'm saying no. video is just such a foreign world to me. There's so many great videographers that I'm friends with and I would just rather let them do [00:21:00] that. Stephen: yeah. So you know where your sorry your border is at least now. You never know that might yeah. yeah. you had mentioned that you think your heart is mostly on the studio side of the world but what right now what how much of your work is studio work versus live work? Isaac: I would say especially living in Minnesota seasonally Well not necessarily Minnesota in general. I would say seasonally the bigger tours festivals everything lies in the summer season. And I would say seasonally 80 percent of my touring is in the summer months. It could be like May through September. Whereas right now in these winter months I'm only in the studio. I have maybe one show every other week. I much prefer to be in the studio more so because with the touring thing it's really fun but it's a lot of work for what like 90 minutes worth of a show whereas in the studio you're building something where that song can be with you forever [00:22:00] if that makes sense. You're building something for somebody else that they'll always have and the process is so much fun. Whereas touring's tough because you're working so hard all day. Soundchecking loading in loading out. all the anticipation is just for 90 minutes worth of an event. And I much prefer to just Work hard consistently throughout the day and then when dinnertime rolls around just stop working like a normal session hour Stephen: Yeah. Isaac: And I just much prefer doing that and I much prefer being creative more so than being just a A hired gun who is playing the parts. Stephen: Sure. Isaac: my brain just works in more of a creative manner than that. I would say which don't get me wrong. I love being hired gun as well. It's just if I have the option I will work in the studio every day Stephen: Along those lines how much of your own stuff do you work on? Isaac: of my own stuff. Never. My favorite thing is just working for other artists or other producers engineers [00:23:00] anything that's what makes me happy is when I don't necessarily have an attachment to the song. I do co writes a lot Stephen: Mm hmm. Isaac: I wouldn't say I never work on my own thing. Stephen: Have you ever? Isaac: Yeah I pretty Frequently write songs just sit down it's just kind of not where my heart is kind of an artist project Hasn't ever really been something I wanted to do. I just love being involved with other people Stephen: Well I think that's probably what makes you so good at being a jack of all trades is that your heart is in helping other people. And so you keep finding other things that you can do to help other people. you're doing all these things you're staying busy you've got all these opportunities. I imagine that's going to stay that way for a little while. You're young. You know you're going to keep following what comes up the next big thing you know the next producer like Ryan Lewis that calls you up that you want to work on you know probably just keep following that trail. But at the same time do you feel like you're trying to work towards something like is the end goal to be your own in demand producer? Isaac: Yeah [00:24:00] I would say that I would say my end goal is to do exactly what i'm doing right now I see myself in 10 years doing exactly what I'm doing right now. Just bigger caliber of artists and names just better opportunities. just hopefully bigger shows even bigger artists Stephen: Yeah. Isaac: kind of keep progressing but I'm very fortunate where right now I am living my dream life. I get a mix of being a session player. Touring guitar player. I'm able to fly across the country and play gigs for other people as well as work in big studios and it's What I've wanted to do since I was a little kid it's my job and I'm extremely thankful for it. Stephen: What are you trying to get better at currently? Isaac: I would say I'm not bad at it but time management is always tough for example this week I have sessions every day and then Two theater shows on friday and saturday theater as in playing for an artist who's playing for theater not like plays or anything but I would say maybe controlling the anxiety that has to deal with preparation. My biggest fear is that I come [00:25:00] into something not prepared. And this week has been a battle of all right I have like three hours worth of music to learn for this artist on Friday and Saturday but I have sessions every day until six. So just carving out time while still being able to be a normal person have a social life. just time management in that regard is kind of a. Everlasting battle. Stephen: you say no to much? Isaac: I do. I don't like to do it but you know sometimes Like tomorrow I got asked to do a second session at night And I couldn't it's one of those things where it's just a little bit too cramped I wanted to be able to fully have the dedication of these shows this weekend Make me feel like I know my part. I don't want to let anybody else down with a lack of preparation But I do say no to stuff especially on timing constraints Once in a while I just like having a day off. I don't do that very often but once in a while I'm just happy not to work. it isn't about money but money is a big factor too. If somebody unfortunately just doesn't have the budget for something I can't necessarily always do that. Especially cause I know that something else would probably come [00:26:00] along with my normal rate or whatever that would be. Stephen: Yeah. Well along the lines of saying no to stuff part of that's sometimes it's financial. Sometimes it's to make sure that you're giving enough attention to the things that you've already committed to. That's all smart. That reminded me because I wanted to circle back to this like the mental preparation that it takes to do all the things that you're doing that has to be such a a big piece of your talent all of these things are going well for you you're not just showing up and like I'm awesome at this naturally. Like you know you've put in the work and you and you make sure that you're ready for those. So you know some of these things are very big gigs or big sessions. how do you sort of mentally prepare from a creative standpoint going into a big session or going into a big gig. Isaac: it is always varying. some of the biggest sessions I've been on I don't even get bounces of the songs. I don't hear anything until I get in and then I chart it when I'm there. I've also had sessions where I get the songs way in advance chart them. [00:27:00] I think mentally my anxiety goes away as long as I know I'm prepared. The only times I've been anxious for something is when I'm still prepared but I know that I could have done better. Stephen: Yeah Isaac: keeps me up at night and at the beginning of the week every week like sunday night mostly I kind of look at what I have for the week and whatever it is if it's Kind of planning out different gear for what I need for different sessions or different shows of the week If I need to learn any songs Honestly just pre planning not too far ahead but a good healthy amount of pre planning solves any kind of anxiety for me And it just lets me naturally flow and naturally be able to do what I love. Stephen: just making sure that you have enough time in your schedule to go through the Isaac: for sure like for this week in particular that's a great example Because like I said it's three hours of music I said no to the session on sunday because I saw It's like all right playing out my week. I really want to know that i'm prepared on friday And now that I have a little bit of time Thursday night I know I'm going to do the [00:28:00] majority of the practicing and everything and I've gotten better about that probably the last year I would say the last five years I was just saying yes yes yes. And then it would come back to bite me later because I didn't feel like I was prepared because I had sessions and I was still in high school and touring. At the same time like I would leave high school to tour play sessions and then come back and that was definitely too much on my plate. So I would say in the last year I've definitely gotten better about keeping a schedule and saying no to things. Like keeping time open for prep is so important. Stephen: Yeah absolutely. In terms of the opportunities getting asked to do things is it always just well this person that I knew I was on this gig and then I met that person. Is it always just that chain effect? Isaac: Always. It's always that chain effect. I would say an Instagram presence definitely reinforces it Stephen: Yeah. Isaac: showing people that you're working and always busy and staying busy and staying active helps that but I would say the majority of it is just people [00:29:00] I've met and then building a big spiderweb of a network. That's all of my Stephen: Referral after referral after referral. yeah Is it something that you intentionally try to keep fostering and like spreading out? Do you are you the type to like try to introduce yourself and go out and expand the network or is it just because of Isaac: Not necessarily. it's just more so I meet somebody hopefully you make a good impression on them. They will tell people if it's right. I've had that happen recently. I heard you just worked with this person he sent me to you. And that that's always a great feeling because it makes you feel like you've done something right. I would say that's that's all of it. It's not necessarilygoing out of my way to kind of expand the network. But I think it just happens naturally. If you if you do a good job you're good to be around. It'll happen. Stephen: I have a few other questions for you before I let you go. some kind of odds and ends. I know that one thing in your bio that your original music has had some nice sync placements. Isaac: Yeah Stephen: How big of a role is [00:30:00] sync playing in your career? Isaac: quite honestly right now not at all really during the pandemic. I was doing a lot of sync placements. I had placements for Ford and the bachelor bachelorette stuff like that. nothing crazy right now. Right now my sync placements are more so me tracking guitar for another producer. Like I just did a few commercials. I can't really say too much about it but just played guitar in a few commercials for other people. But I know so many people who exclusively make their money from sync but as it stands right now sync isn't a massive part of my income. Stephen: Is it something that you sort of just fill in the blanks with? Like when you have time you pursue it? Isaac: Yeah. I work for a organization that just sends me. Emails basically every day. Hey if you can do this it's yours. If you can't don't even respond to this email. It's all good. And it's one of those things where it's actually a guaranteed placement It's not necessarily like you're making a song for spec that's sitting in a library somewhere until a big corporation picks it up So that is very nice to [00:31:00] have but I haven't done that in a while Mostly just because it's really really time consuming to get everything perfect Stephen: Yep. Isaac: I've never done Like an advertisement licensing track where it's been approved right away. there's always revisions. the stem printing it takes forever when everything needs to be perfect and you need different versions of 15 30 you know minute long 90 second long it's just a little bit too much time it's a it's a big project and I haven't necessarily had a time or even drive to do that because there's so much Stephen: Yeah yeah.Looking forward you said you know you're basically already doing exactly what you want to do. You're just going to scale it up. Do you think you're going to be staying here or do you envision yourself moving? Isaac: that's a definitely something I'm thinking a lot about right now right now in Minneapolis Minneapolis has Phenomenal one of the best music scenes but there isn't an industry Stephen: No Isaac: and by that there aren't any record labels there are a handful of national tours. Nothing immense like Nashville or LA [00:32:00] and I do see myself Moving to Nashville maybe LA if the circumstances were right but I really like Nashville I really like the culture of Nashville I don't see myself living in Minnesota for an extended period of time. I would say Stephen: makes sense. I think that would be a natural progression for you. You're young. it's it's easy at this point to move. and. You know things are going well you're likely to get the bigger opportunity. I mean obviously I think you could probably continue this path from right where you are but you know you might accelerate it even more. Isaac: exactly. And that's the thing. It's any of the the national opportunities for National touring artists or bigger producers. it's not an everyday thing. Whereas if you live in a city as in Nashville or LA Every day you get a call like that. It's just a bigger horizon of artists Producers music directors that'll hook you up with a better gig it's just kind of limitless whereas I've definitely I don't want to say felt the limits of Minnesota But there's definitely not having a necessarily like an industry it's kind of wearing off on me a little bit Stephen: I get it. [00:33:00] And you have to travel out to I mean that might happen regardless but but there is more travel if you're here. Isaac: I'm very lucky like I've had so much work here but it's definitely something I want to expand and be able to go to nashville L. a. Stephen: Yeah. well. You know the point of secrets from the scene the podcast is to is to shed light on what people are doing. And I feel like we've done that really well with you but also to just sort of share like tips and tricks and insight you know your journey is shorter than many, which is cool. I think that's great. But I do think that already you have a lot to share to you know people that are are looking to get to where you're at you know whether they're younger than you or older than you what is something that you'd really like to impart on people to teach to share that you think has helped you be successful Isaac: I think any time I've ever gotten a call back from anybody has been because I put an extra 20 percent in the first time and I try to do that whenever I can. Whereas if it's what we talked about [00:34:00] earlier where I got called to play guitar and I ended up doing more than that sometimes for the same amount of money I just ended up doing more. I would say always going above and beyond. whether that's preparedness whether that's just making a great impression being a good guy to be around just do more. I think is a for lack of a better term just just do more. Stephen: over deliver? Isaac: Yeah over deliver. there's a fine line cause you don't want to be tacky or annoying but do more than what you're asked for. I know I'm working with an artist right now where I started this relationship with the artist and they asked me to send them stems I sent them to their producer and everything was labeled. Great with folders and subfolders and multiple takes everything laid out I could have just messily put stuff in a folder and send it on Dropbox but the organization and the extra 10 percent the extra mile got a call back whoever's hiring you make their life easier and Be a person who they can't live without Kind of be irreplaceable if possible without doing too much Kind of try to be [00:35:00] irreplaceable Yeah for sure. Definitely read the Stephen: Read the room. if you're as multi talented as Isaac be he can you know it's easier to be irreplaceable. I do want to be you know there's there's going to be a lot of people listening to this. They're like man you know they're going to be looking up to you in a in a different way. So I want to be respectful of everybody's at a different stage but even if you're like. Okay. that's a few years away from me. to me all the things you say are true but I feel like I can boil it down a little bit to just like you care you truly care about your craft. You take that very seriously because you're always prepared but you also care about making. Whoever you are delivering your craft to making it a better experience for them whether that's by just simply by being prepared or by labeling something easier clearly communicating being on time offering to fix something offering to take on more than what you agreed to do all of those things I think that that comes with some balance and making sure that you're protecting [00:36:00] your own time. And protecting your own boundaries which we didn't get into but uh you know you're probably managing that or figuring out how to manage Isaac: uh Getting better at it Like I said I've started saying no more setting boundaries. Definitely five years ago like we talked about I was in a place where I was just saying yes while I was still in high school. I didn't have any time you know my grades were slipping in school because I was flying out Thursdays and Fridays and only going to school for the first half. definitely give yourself time. you are a priority as well. Stephen: Yes. Isaac: You can become a detriment to yourself really quick if you say yes to everything everything definitely some time set some boundaries to yourself as Stephen: Yeah. Do you fight against burnout ever? Isaac: yeah I mean It hasn't been too bad lately the only time I experience burnout is when I do the same thing every day. like this last tour I was on was six weeks. I was only home for a day in the middle of it. for the six weeks tour I think the first leg was three weeks. Then I flew out to play with an artist named Gina Miles. on the west coast then I flew home for one day the [00:37:00] burnout I experienced on that tour was because there was no variety whereas I haven't experienced burnout too bad lately like an average week for me isn't just playing guitar for an artist every day for the same artist. It's I'm working with a multitude of different people doing different things and that variety for me. Has it's kind of solved most of the burnout. Obviously workload things the times where I'm still working with a variety of different artists or things the times where I just have too much of my plate causes a lot of burnout but I would say the way that I'm able to work with a variety of peoplesolves the burnout for me. Stephen: Yeah. Because it allows you to stay curious. Yeah. Yeah I could see that. That's great man. This whole conversation has been really inspiring and helpful cool to get to peek behind what's going on in your career. wish you the best going forward. You got really cool stuff going on. If somebody wants to reach out or get in contact where would you like them to go? Isaac: Yeah Instagram is usually the best for me. at Isaac Levy [00:38:00] Music. I'm always on Instagram so. Stephen: That will be in the show notes. And yeah I appreciate your time. if you guys enjoyed this episode please send me an email and or hit me up on Instagram as well. I'll put that in the show notes and let me know what you liked what you didn't like and what kind of episodes you would like to hear in the future. Isaac thank you so much man. Isaac: Yeah thanks for having me. Stephen: Till next time.