KVR Audio

B4ckdraft · Post by **B4ckdraft** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 6:37 am

Hey guys I'm kind of hung up on this issue right now. I'm pursuing a career as a firefighter paramedic at the moment but my passion is in music. I fell in love with EDM 12 years ago when I was about 9 years old, I'm 21 now. I started producing and dj'ing about 3 or 4 years ago before the whole scene got absolutely huge. I really wanted to try pursuing a career as a DJ/Producer but none of my family or friends supported me so it has been very hard trying to work on it even in my free time because I get grief from my family mostly my parents. I'm still pursuing the career as a Firefighter but I don't believe it's really my passion. I don't want to grow up with regrets by not following my passion but I also don't want to fully commit to DJ'ing and producing and find myself 30 years later with nothing to show for it. Please if anyone has any advice or is in a similar situation that'd be great to hear from you.

carrieres · Post by **carrieres** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 8:21 am

you have to follow both like everybody else
at least, until you attract a great manager who want to make some money with you !

T-CM11 · Post by **T-CM11** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 8:43 am

Why should your job have to be your passion?

Me, I would never want to make a living in music. It would kill all passion.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 11:14 am

I would say this is a passionate hobby seeing how I love learning how to make music on the computer. So far it's been a real journey but I think I am improving somewhat..

Could i do this for a living? Probably not by myself, but if i had a partner to work with on a project then probably because we could keep each other motivated.

Timfonie · Post by **Timfonie** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 11:28 am

Do both. Try the best to combine them. Spend enough time to your passionate hobby (music) while pursuing a career as a paramedic for a steady income. Please don't let your family get into the way making music!

Doing something as a hobby doesn't mean it is not on a professional level. It's just that you don't have to focus on it to make a living out of it.

michael2 · Post by **michael2** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 2:50 pm

you can do both. a healthy balance is pretty much key to a happy life.

FWIW: I was a touring/recording musician for 15 years. it was great. but i got tired of the stuff that goes along with the industry in general (touring, not making much money, not having time for relationships,..). ended up going back to school about 10 years ago so I could get a job I didn't hate. I love my current job.

still do music, but also family, work, garden, art,... I have no regrets that I gave up doing it full time. the experience of age shows me that there are a lot of little things that go into a life.

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:39 pm

Life isn't easy. You always have to ponder everything. Nobody can give you the solution. Having a job means not having enough time for making music. Being without a job means having much time for making music but not enough money for equipment. Having not enough equipment means that you cannot make professional music...and so on...

Anyway, it's always useful to stand on 2 feet and have some other bases, too. There are people here at KVR who make great music but they still aren't famous. And there are people who make not so good music but they're famous, nevertheless. And there are people who worked as musicians but they quit to play the small pubs and bars and touring from one gig to another with daily changing hotel rooms.

You can live a happy life as a firefighter and be proud how many people's lives you have salved. And you can live a happy life as DJ and be proud how many people are dancing to your music. And you can be a DJ'ing firefighter or a firefighting DJ...

The only tip I can give you is NOT to give up your (paid) profession just because of a music career as long as you're not that famous that you can live from it...

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:54 pm

saving lives is a far more noble life than creating art.
telling your grandkids about a huge fire where you saved a family will be far better than "i filled rooms full of people off their faces on drugs".

youre likely to meet far more interesting people as a firefighting paramedic too, most artists are to involved in their own thing to be interesting. the ones who arent so involved in their art are cocks.

keep the music as something to help you wind down after a shift rescuing cats from trees

ZenSound · Post by **ZenSound** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:06 pm

One needs guts to follow his own passions, really BIG GUTS.

The best thing is give a try to both ways, the head way and the heart way.

Enjoy your life!
Cheers.

T-CM11 · Post by **T-CM11** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:16 pm

vurt wrote:saving lives is a far more noble life than creating art.
telling your grandkids about a huge fire where you saved a family will be far better than "i filled rooms full of people off their faces on drugs".

youre likely to meet far more interesting people as a firefighting paramedic too, most artists are to involved in their own thing to be interesting. the ones who arent so involved in their art are cocks.

I disagree. People are the scum of the earth. At least some make art while they're parasitizing this planet to hell.

bftucker · Post by **bftucker** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:50 pm

Kafka trained as a lawyer and, after completing his legal education, obtained employment with an insurance company. He began to write short stories in his spare time. For the rest of his life, he complained about the little time he had to devote to what he came to regard as his calling. He regretted having to devote so much attention to his Brotberuf ("day job", literally "bread job").

Despite his brotherruf, I enjoy the results of his "hobby."

Sometimes, in order to indulge your passion, you need to make a sacrifice of your passion, if that makes any sense. Sometimes, in fact, in order to be "successful," people (in this case,musicians)sacrifice their passion in a different way. Hermann Melville, kept the integrity of his passion but was never successful as a writer. His wife and her family finally got him a job working for the government!

I am thinking of those I admire- like, for example, Polyslaxn

https://soundcloud.com/polyslax/margin-fades

who I assume is making exactly the music he wants to make and does it passionately, despite his day job. He can correct me if I am wrong!

...

dsan@mail.com · Post by **dsan@mail.com** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:51 pm

T-CM11 wrote:People are the scum of the earth.....

I guess that's one perspective.

Surely you can find some good in some one.....

Happy Musiking!
dsan

bftucker · Post by **bftucker** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:51 pm

T-CM11 wrote: People are the scum of the earth. At least some make art while they're parasitizing this planet to hell.

Kafka would probably agree!

Aubrey Lamont · Post by **Aubrey Lamont** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 6:01 pm

Why should career = passion?

If it does, great. But I know a lot of very happy people who are NOT passionate about their careers.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 6:36 pm

Well, the dream job is to be paid for what you like and what you are good at

I'm trying to follow thas advice. However, it's not likley to earn for living from music production, especially electronic and sophisticated. To earn money you need to be popular DJ, audio engineer or, for example, synth developer. I try to do all these things, even though that's not easy. Better to do what you love than turn back.

Hobby or Passion?