Q&A With Austin Seltzer: Mix Engineering, Success, and the Power of Problem-Solving

What happens when you cross paths with an old friend and a storyteller, Sy Huq, for a unique Q&A? Well, you get an episode packed with stories of our shared history, laughter, and some wild insights into the world of music, success, and technology. Strap yourselves in as we journey back to the inception of our friendship, which started eight years ago on Sy's radio show.

As a music mix engineer, I've often been asked about the "black magic" that is mixing and mastering. I break down the complexities of this craft. Sy and I then move into the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on the music industry, arguing both sides of the debate. We share our thoughts about how AI might automate low to mid-tier work, but also firmly believe that top-tier work will always need a human touch.

Stirring up the excitement, we dive into an engaging discussion about immortality through music, our passions, and the future. Our conversation detours as we reminisce about our travel experiences, shedding light on how overcoming obstacles and communication skills honed in unfamiliar environments can be a game-changer, even in the music industry. As we wrap up, we share our thoughts on grounding oneself for success and the power of problem-solving. So, tune in, learn, laugh, and maybe even get inspired to chase your passion, just like we did!

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GROUNDS FOR SUCCESS LINKS
All Links Here: https://linktr.ee/groundsforsuccess

AUSTIN SELTZER LINKS
All Links Here: https://linktr.ee/Austinseltzer

SY HUQ LINKS
All Links Here: https://linktr.ee/sy.huq

Transcript

Austin Seltzer: 0:01

Welcome to the Grounds for Success podcast. I'm your host, austin Siltzer. Together we'll unveil the keys to success in the music industry. Join me as I explore my guest's life stories and experiences to uncover practical insights to help you align with your goals more effectively. Hey there, coffee drinkers. Welcome to the Grounds for Success podcast.

Austin Seltzer: 0:33

This is the first time I'm doing a Q&A so I'm really stoked. I have one of my best buddies in the entire world, sai Huck, here to ask me questions, do a little interview, but I have a feeling it's going to be ridiculous and fun And who knows what's going to happen. I don't know the questions he wrote down. So the whole thing is going to be organic and hopefully we'll learn some about my mixing and some about success and leadership and other things that Sai wants to hit me with. But before we get started, i just wanted to say that this is a Sunday. This episode comes out on Tuesday And last minute we had a pivot because one of my awesome guests just has some great notes that they would like to hit on the episode and I want to respect that. So you know we're doing a little impromptu Q&A session And yeah, if you see behind me on the chalkboard I wrote Problem Solver And honestly, i think to be a creative, a person who achieves, like to reach a high level of anything. Problem Solving is like one of the most important things. Like if you're thrown a curveball, how do you react. And here we are.

Austin Seltzer: 1:50

Sai stepped up and said that he's excited to interview me. And the last point before I bring in Sai is that this is a really cool full circle moment. First time I met Sai, he was actually interviewing me on a radio show. Sai was an on air personality and interviewed me and my partner at the time who in music, jason Smith, and this is a really cool full circle moment to be doing this. And onesie is no less. I'm Jack and I don't you know I'm an unfortunate Gryffindor, Like I know.

Sy Huq: 2:25

I'm a Gryffindor because it just matches. But I wish I was a Slytherin, But I can never. It's like I blame the swording hat every day.

Austin Seltzer: 2:32

Yeah, that's my life. Slytherin gang over here And yeah, we don't want you.

Sy Huq: 2:39

Well, I'll still serve the Dark Lord. That's the best part. I would love to be like a dark Asian for the Dark Lord. That'd be great.

Austin Seltzer: 2:46

Wait, I never said that I wanted to do that. What You just looped me into your darkness. I didn't say that I want to serve the Dark Lord. You did, i know.

Sy Huq: 2:56

I am no shame joining Voldemort, It would be so much more fun. Like everyone else is, like this is the system we got to contain, And then they're like this is we got to be remained outside of like society. No, dude, I want, like magic and reality to like combine and like the people that don't know magic and can't do magic, like feel the power of what magic could be like And their society could actually get better. If you think about it like that, like you can, you can start working with humans that focus on just like non magic problems to help magic accelerate their lives.

Austin Seltzer: 3:29

That's what you think Voldemort stands for. I think.

Sy Huq: 3:32

I think I think I could get Voldemort. I think I'd like to get Voldemort. I'd give him a PowerPoint presentation and I'd be like, okay, this is how you can accelerate your business.

Austin Seltzer: 3:44

I can totally see that.

Sy Huq: 3:45

Yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 3:46

I could see that actually, after this, you might, you know, really go into that, just to prove a point.

Sy Huq: 3:50

I think Voldemort has a business mindset. I mean, look at the logistics of his organization. Like he got the hierarchy down HR. Like he had a better HR than like Hogwarts. For sure. I think that's something that he's very underappreciated for. Okay, Yeah Well so in a way, i will be. I would love to tweak his business to optimum potential. the same way Watch this The same way that you tweak people's music to their optimal performance.

Austin Seltzer: 4:31

It's incredibly smooth. Thank you. Well, the last point that I should bring up, before we like really dive in here, is that Sai is an incredible writer, producer, director, all across the board, visionary storyteller. So I have a feeling that some of the dumb shit you're about to say and you're going to put me into some very fantastical trouble.

Sy Huq: 4:54

Yeah, yeah, no, it's. It's funny, like just to touch on the full circle moment because it it? I didn't it even. You know it, i didn't it even hit me until you said it earlier today. I was like, oh snap, the way we did meet was through this radio show I had called Technologic Radio and we had so much fun on that show It created a friendship, like it was. It was like instead of an interview, it was like a conversation at a dinner table kind of thing and actually just like hitting it off. I think by the end of it we were, we had permanent markers and we were drawing on Jason's head.

Austin Seltzer: 5:27

That sounds right.

Sy Huq: 5:30

Like that's how the interview ended. So I mean that's a cool way and a testament to how our friendship kind of grew in that light, and then the fact that we've just been supporting our careers and so early or in collaborations have been just natural and organic, i think it's been kind of really cool to tackle it that way.

Austin Seltzer: 5:48

Yeah, and it's been at least eight years, but we tried to count it the other day and I don't know why we had issues.

Sy Huq: 5:53

Maybe we're not good at math, but I'm not going to math.

Austin Seltzer: 5:56

Yeah, same. I think we're probably eight years, but probably more eight. If I say eight years and two years, we've got an issue because that's like multiple years.

Sy Huq: 6:05

I would definitely say that I would definitely. I would say eight years, because I think when it comes to terms of time, especially when you're just like in the hustle and it's a blur, you lose track of. You lose track of that pace, like of how long something is versus like how long something is taking in the moment You're working on something Like it's hard to keep track of both. I think it's maddening to keep track of both.

Austin Seltzer: 6:31

Yeah, i think that that's going to perfectly lead into these questions, because the flow state that we call it, or passion or whatever, just removes time.

Sy Huq: 6:41

Right.

Austin Seltzer: 6:42

Time is no longer a thing, you're just in it.

Sy Huq: 6:46

Also. Well, i get a lot of flak for like just grabbing it like a savage versus the handle. No.

Austin Seltzer: 6:51

Okay, cool, i love that. Okay If you guys don't know this, but size is very clumsy.

Sy Huq: 6:59

I have a horrible equilibrium, just naturally, and then I actually can hear on this ear as much. So Austin's life is filled with many moments of me running my foot into like chairs and tables and me falling off the stairs or me crashing into things where generally it would end somebody or need to, that's so true, actually Need to.

Austin Seltzer: 7:25

I think you're broken toes and I think you're broken 12.

Sy Huq: 7:28

Definitely. And then there are times where I think my shins are calloused up, like straight up, they can take some damage and I don't feel any pain on my toes anymore either. So it's kind of yeah for all those who wanted to know about feet today. So yeah, we've covered that. There you go, foot, game, foot game, foot game, all right, cool.

Austin Seltzer: 7:48

So getting caffeinated.

Sy Huq: 7:50

Yeah, we are getting caffeinated and crazier And caffeinated. Let's dive right in. Shall we? Let's do it, let's do it.

Austin Seltzer: 7:58

Yeah, my little tagline is let's get caffeinated.

Sy Huq: 8:00

Let's get caffeinated. And for the coffee drinkers out there, just know that you are the best of us. There you go, yeah, to kind of validate all your fans. Hell yeah, let's go Yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 8:15

All right. Well, let's dive right in.

Sy Huq: 8:17

So what exactly is mixing and mastering And how you take it that on? What do you do?

Austin Seltzer: 8:25

Yeah, it's for those of you listening who don't like, who are not so deep into music, that they understand what I do. It's a lot of people call like black magic. You know something? I'm basically in a dark room doing something in a track to make it sound better and it's hard to understand. So to break it down just like very simple here, i take a track that's already been recorded and produced, which means somebody with an artist, kind of they either you know program drums, play drums.

Austin Seltzer: 9:04

You know you got all your elements in a track, you formulate them in a way that makes it feel like a song, right. So you have songwriters writing like the top line, the melody or the lyrics. You have the artist, the vocalist, whoever who generally performs the song, but a producer who lays out the structure, creates the individual elements that go into a song, like kicks, snares, bass, guitar, all these elements. So after all of that, the song is sent to me and I take those individual elements the vocals, the drums, the bass, the guitar, the synths, the, whatever the individual elements of a song and I make them sound like the final product. And so we do that with EQ. So equalization, maybe this element needs less mid range and it needs more highs and lows and maybe this element doesn't need any highs, doesn't need any lows.

Austin Seltzer: 10:07

You know I make those decisions to make elements in a song fit together as great as possible. And then I that's the mixing phase. I mean there's so much more that goes into it, right, but I make these elements feel like a cohesive song. And then the mastering phase for me. Other mastering engineers have different things if they're just a mastering engineer, but for me that's making sure that this song sounds good across all the systems that people will listen to headphones and a phone and a car and home speakers. I make sure it's the same loudness as other tracks. So if you go from this track to the track I worked on, it's the same loudness. A great example would be like whenever you're watching a TV show and a commercial comes on and it's way louder than a show.

Austin Seltzer: 11:05

I make sure that our track sounds just like other popular tracks in that genre And yeah, that's what the mixing and mastering that's kind of like the very like 30,000 foot view, but that's what I do. People trust me with their songs to make them sound like a final product. That's amazing.

Sy Huq: 11:24

I would say a lot of people throughout this podcast versus the shows that have been, that are already out, versus the shows that are to come will ask and are asking who are you? And I think you've introduced yourself quite a bit in your light, in your way, in your podcast, but now you're in a seat across the board, across the seat that you usually sit on and we get a little opportunity to learn more about you, and you're especially in the mix and mastering engineering aspect of it. You've given classes about it before, you've talked to people privately and elevated their game or you've brought them in and you've collaborated and workshopped and you've given back a lot in that facet before this. So in a way, i think it's cool to kind of dive back into giving a taste of what that looks like, but also just understanding your process and in your mix and mastering purview. What is your process? How do you start? What's your page one?

Austin Seltzer: 12:34

Well, the honest answer is it depends on the project It really does. So I've currently started asking for the actual project from a producer, and what that means is like the session where final production is So recorded audio with all of the effects, all of the processing, all of the love and care that was put in by the producer and the artist into the song. They have what's called a rough mix. That's what we call it, and that just means like this is what they've been living with and they put all the love and care into this track to sound this way. And now it's time for a mixer to mix this thing, which just means elevate what they have to a final product. And what I'm getting to here is that if I listen to the rough and it is just so incredibly good I know that they have already lived and loved this track. My job is just to put final touches on it some sugar, some a 5% lift. But then there are sometimes where I listen to the production and I can hear exactly where that track needs to be and I know what it's saying. I know what it wants to be, but it needs to be lifted quite a bit And in those two scenarios that it's a completely different answer. One if the rough is already great, then what I do is I play the entire track and I just listen to only what it needs and nothing more, and I go in and I fine tune those little things. So I leave all of their settings, their plugins, their everything.

Austin Seltzer: 14:19

On this track We have like what's called a mixed bus chain, a master chain, whatever somebody calls it, the final processing that's going on the overall track. I will make sure that that is still there, the exact way that they had it, and then after that I'll add some of my own flavor. That just elevates it, that 5%. So I leave exactly what they have. But maybe I go through and I make things a little thicker, a little more bassy, a little more airy. On the top, the vocals sit just a little better. But then the one where I have to really dig in and make a track come to life I will tell them to print what that means is, like all the effects that they have on their audio. I will tell them to put it into the files that they send me. So a multi-track, that's what it's called. Let me topo chico here. Yeah, i mean it sounds decisive.

Austin Seltzer: 15:19

Yes, it is. I think that that's what I'm paid for Decisiveness and taste.

Sy Huq: 15:25

Would you say that that is an individual voice? in your art, like I imagine, in terms of branding, when it comes to your name and your mixes, there's a certain, like you said flavor. Is that considered a particular voice that is honed in, or is it something that is trying to be uniform, to kind of be like this? It should be like this. Is it that presumptuous, or is it more of just within your own bubble? This is what I can control. This is my voice and that's why you should bring it to me.

Austin Seltzer: 15:56

That's a great question. I do not try to fit in. I'm going to be honest. I just don't give a shit about that. Like, i've been listening to music my entire life and I love certain things and I don't love certain things, and whenever I listen to a song and I can hear exactly where it wants to go, it's where my mind hears it going. Of course, i ask for what the artist wants, what the producer wants. I listen to what they want and I take it to that place in a way that I know how, not by a textbook or by rules or whatever. I just don't give a shit about that. I just get there with whatever I can grab, whatever I can do to get to that point. Those choices are made by my taste and my ear. I think that that's what people come to me for.

Sy Huq: 16:54

Is that sort of where your joy is? Is the joy coming from the fact that you get to put your own flavor to it? That is your individualism? In terms of art, our expression of individualism often creates self-worth. Is that what's creating self-worth for you in this endeavor, in the Mixing and Mastering, or is it the reaction of your art?

Austin Seltzer: 17:21

Yeah, it's completely the reaction, Hilariously. I think that I find it hilarious because I feel like a true artist or whatever would say the opposite, gerist kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, i don't care. I want to see people out there posting and talking about and I'll just throw in my beauty school dropout boys seeing the crowd's reaction to their songs and I got to play a small part in that way. Cooler than having a high streaming track for me Don't mind, like a live show Or actually those two aren't really like a high streaming track would make me very happy because that means it's resonating with a lot of people. The fact that I got to put 200 hertz in this thing and a little bit of sheen on this and I got Koli's vocal to sit a little bit better, i don't really care, because at the end of the day, i want people to resonate with the music and if I see them live sharing on Instagram or wherever a song and people freaking out about it, then I know I touched somebody's life.

Sy Huq: 18:24

And especially shout out to BSD, because those guys I mean, i went to that one show with you and I hadn't experienced an old school Hollywood rock star moment. That was definitely my old school Hollywood rock star moment, when they were playing on the rooftop they're jumping off the stage rolling around, collapse and all over the place and everyone was just hype and then jumping into it with them and jamming.

Austin Seltzer: 18:48

You don't see that It was on top of a diamond store.

Sy Huq: 18:51

Yeah, that's right, it was a jeweler store. I was just straightening through a jeweler store and I'm sure you could have bought something if you wanted to walk in all bow and stuff. but it's almost like the whole experience was set up to live what the old rock star world looked like.

Austin Seltzer: 19:10

Yeah, it was great To answer one of the second part to one of your questions. If I get a track, a multi-track, from like a track that I need to dig into the tool chest a little bit deeper, my first thing that I do always is I set up my mastering or mix bus, whatever people want to call it. Again, i don't care, these things just don't matter. I put it on my master bus, but I set up my mastering processing before I even start the track, because every single little move that I make in that mix has to translate to the final product. So if I mix the track, then you put these things on later to change the overall EQ curve or loudness or low end, just like thickness or whatnot.

Austin Seltzer: 20:02

If you put that on after you've, like, really started mixing a track, it will completely change. Why would you do that? I put it on at the beginning. Every little thing that I do translates through that and that's how I start. But not on a track that everybody already loves and already sounds good. If I were to do that, it would completely sonically change that track and it will no longer be the track that they loved. And so that's the two totally stark different mixing And that kind of lands within your best practices, right?

Sy Huq: 20:36

So I think that's a perfect way to kind of dive into more of what are some things that you consider that you would tell somebody are your best practices, and do you think that people should take away from it versus they just should only be for you?

Austin Seltzer: 20:52

Number one, best practice humanly possible that everybody should listen to. This particular piece of advice is communication is key, literally number one. Talk to your producers, talk to your songwriters, talk to your artists, talk to the manager whoever you need to to understand what the vision for the track is, what they want, different from the rough that they're sending you. Is this going to be a radio track? Is this going to be a SoundCloud kind of track? Is this going to be you know where? what's the end goal of this song? What's the turnaround time? The deal sorry, the deal points. You need to know that immediately, don't negotiate afterwards. That makes no sense. Communication is number one. That's non-negotiable. It's not like I need to find my own way to do this. Communication is key, number one. And then I could go down a list of, like, best mixing practices. But, like again, who gives a shit? It's taste, it doesn't matter, rules do not matter. I could give so many pointers about mixing, but the thing is is all the things that I do are wrong in so many ways.

Sy Huq: 22:07

Right. I mean, it's kind of an allegory of life in a way, too Like you prepare as much as you can and throw it away in terms of execution, because ultimately, there is a part of you that you couldn't even deny from the art itself, when everything is stripped away, And I think that's where you try to get it as well. That's pretty fascinating. When you implement those best practices. It's very hard to tell somebody that it always turns out all right Yeah.

Sy Huq: 22:42

So, incredibly difficult, right Leaning into the imperfection I'm sure is pretty normal or consistent in your everyday. What kind of takeaways do you get from that? What kind of lessons do you have you learn from that, and how do you continue moving forward, knowing that you're going to run into these bumps? What do those bumps look like?

Austin Seltzer: 23:01

in that sense, too, Can you give me an example of a bump?

Sy Huq: 23:06

Yeah, so when you have a mix that you've done and you've administered the notes and you've taken it in, and there's a curveball brought in on the reception back to you where you have a short, where it's, you thought you did exactly what was needed, but it was perceived differently. I'm sure that creates a miscommunication in a world where you're trying to communicate as much as possible.

Austin Seltzer: 23:31

How do you deal?

Sy Huq: 23:32

with that.

Austin Seltzer: 23:33

Yeah. So that's a great point And I have fine tuned over the years exactly what to do in that place. If somebody gives me notes and they seem very black and white, like I know exactly what to do, i do those exact notes. And then I'm given a note like hey, this, this, this and this weren't hit. These were notes that we requested, type thing And immediately I'll either hop on a phone call and talk about it verbally There's just even a texting notes. I think is the best way because I can read them, i can scroll down them, i can see exactly what they say, like, especially if there's time markers.

Sy Huq: 24:14

All right, it's like fit in.

Austin Seltzer: 24:15

Yeah, it should be that way, but maybe a verbal conversation. But now, typically what I'll do is we'll do a live mix session where I either bring them in the room it's going to be so easy, they're going to be able to point to the exact harmony, the exact spot, the exact whatever in the room And then, if that's not possible, we have this thing audio movers. It's a little plug in that you actually saw me do it with Devon Oliver the other day Where I will send the audio straight from my computer to somebody else's computer, where they can listen through their headphones, their speakers or whatever, and we'll hop on like a FaceTime call, so I'm face to face, we can talk about the notes face to face through that, and then I can also play the music at the same time. Oh, right there, right there, you're like okay, perfect, i got it.

Sy Huq: 25:09

Let me hit that. I was wondering how you were doing that too, because that's like for me. I just thought you were just accepting listening to like a rougher version, that's through Zoom or something like that.

Austin Seltzer: 25:20

Yeah, no, I can send a perfectly high quality version to whoever in real time. I mean like a.2 second delay.

Sy Huq: 25:32

Right, but would that also work in terms of like, say, you sent a voice note to somebody and it's okay when you're like you're taking them out or whatever. So, yeah, that's the way I do it? it started a whole argument and fight because they misunderstood it, So you've taken it to the lengths where you're like, okay, hold on, open your laptop. I'm going to play exactly the part that you did not listen to.

Austin Seltzer: 25:52

I mean, dude, i've taken my phone and sent a video of like hey, these are the parts that are playing there. Yeah, like, if somebody's like hey, will you turn the piano down in this section? I'm like shit, there is no piano in this song. There's not even a synth that sounds like a piano, right? I'm just going to send a video and I'll go down and I'll play all the individual parts, right, and I'll say here are the parts that are playing. Which part do you mean, right?

Sy Huq: 26:24

Oh, that's a cool way to kind of jitto that whole conversation. You don't want to tell them, hey, there's no piano in the song, and then it's. Then it kind of looks awkward on their side too.

Austin Seltzer: 26:34

Exactly right. I don't want to make them feel dumb. Yeah right, I want to avoid all that. It's like hey, these are the parts that are playing. Which one do you mean? Oh, oh, number three.

Sy Huq: 26:42

Okay, perfect, oh, that's cool. That's cool, i mean, in a way you can kind of do that via email too. Yeah, i don't fuck with email, it's too slow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 26:51

We're in a world of like. We need instant feedback, right, and that's the way I like to work, like, if I'm a scalpel, i'm in there, i'm making laser clean edits. I'm trying to be as efficient as possible because generally our deadlines are like the same day, right, i don't have time.

Sy Huq: 27:13

Right, your turnaround is fast. Yeah, i think faster than people think too.

Austin Seltzer: 27:17

I can turn around tracks incredibly fast. Right, that's just the way I was. I. I all the projects that I've worked on have really been incredibly quick turnarounds, and so you just become very efficient. Right, i'm giving it just as much love as somebody over three days, i promise. Right, i really care about this. I'm listening across all these different devices. I'm doing everything. I'm just very efficient with knowing where to do something, where not to do something.

Sy Huq: 27:47

Right, Like you've honed in on, not just, it's like chess, like when people play speed chess and they're and you're, and you're thinking about like playing a 14 minute game. That means you have 14 minutes humanively to figure out your moves to defeat the opponent and all that kind of stuff. And then those that play at three minute matches or one minute matches, they have to make decisions immediately But that doesn't mean that they're worse players, Right. I mean sometimes it means that they're almost always. It means that they're better players actually, Cause there's decides to move still have to win the game, Right?

Austin Seltzer: 28:20

And they didn't start out playing at that speed, right? See, that's. The thing that people probably don't see is that I can mix the track very quickly, but I have mixed tracks incredibly slow and a little bit faster and a little bit faster, just because I'm honing in how sharp my little scalpel is.

Sy Huq: 28:39

Right, right, that's it. And your moves are. You've done it so many times, too, that your moves have also been calculated in terms of the, the number of options. You've already considered them before and you know how they sound before too, so I'm sure that it gives you an advantage just from the experience itself. Totally, yeah, in that way, it sounds like you've you've gotten the scalpel and you're you've learned quite a lot through this whole process. What are you still learning, then? Like, like, what are things that you're continually working on and excited for to learn about in the future? Like, moving forward?

Austin Seltzer: 29:16

I think that's a great question. I think, sonically, i really think that I'm playing at the top level, like the very top. I listen to the best mixers in the world and I think that I can do the same exact thing I really do like sonically, but that is so little part of the battle. That's like the given I'm a mixer, i need to sonically be great. Right, the things that I'm constantly learning are how to work with people, other people, better. That is the that.

Austin Seltzer: 29:49

Whenever you asked what are the key takeaway type things and I said communication. That's it. Like I really think that if your communication becomes better and better and better, you can deal with difficult situations better. You can work with timely manners more efficiently. You can deal with egos better. I'm trying to work with egotistical motherfuckers. I'm trying to work with the best artists in the world, right, they have to have that elevated sense of self that like how else can you be a star? Right? I? to work with people like that, i need to have great communication. I need to deal with, how you say, judo, if somebody comes in real hot, i need to be able to just like, just just move things very nice and efficiently so that they feel respected and heard And I get what they need done.

Austin Seltzer: 30:46

But the way that I do things So it's it's all communication. I don't know. I'm listening and using new plugins all the time. That's cool. I really enjoy the technology and using the latest, greatest cool things, but I really find myself being more the person that I just want to make the product feel as good as possible Sonically. Maybe there's some other plugins that can do things more cleanly or in a different way, but how does it feel? Right, that's what matters. I want to move people. Right. People aren't watching a show live or just ridiculously posting things on TikTok like these incredibly viral tracks. If they sonically sound good, right, it's how it makes you feel We're listening through a freaking phone. Right, a phone speaker. How does it feel through that phone speaker? that really matters.

Sy Huq: 31:44

True, i don't think a lot of people know that either. That like you test via I mean, i've seen it firsthand The test of your phone speaker, test of your car, how it plays in the car, like that is such a smart move in my eyes because that's how it's going to be received often too.

Austin Seltzer: 31:59

Yeah, i'm making final mix. passes through my iPhone speaker.

Sy Huq: 32:03

Yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 32:04

So I do it with my monitors, i do it with AirPods, i do it in my car. Right, i have a couple of various speakers in the studio, like an Echo 8 down here It's like a bigger speaker, and then upstairs that little cylinder one another Echo. But then the very final things. I'm listening through my phone speaker Right. Can I hear every single little element of that track? Right, then you know we're good, because that's how people share music. Now They, oh, do check this out and they hold up their phone Right, and you need to be able to understand what's going on.

Sy Huq: 32:41

It's really the tip of the iceberg too. It's really fascinating to think about the fact that, in the moment that it all comes down to like iPhone speakers, that or any phone speakers that music gets played out of to show display, enjoy all this work in a finely tuned studio, all this work in back and forth between multiple camps of people listening on high end like studios and speakers and headphones All that work goes into returning back to the semblance of the optimal listening listening out of an iPhone speaker.

Austin Seltzer: 33:12

Yeah, and me, i'm personally so fucking cool with that. Yeah, i know so many people that complain about that. But, dude, how cool is it that we can instantly share music anywhere? Right, right. And if you listen to a hit, something that universally makes people move, like randomly in my mind just peaches by Justin Bieber, right, if you play that out of an iPhone speaker, it moves people. Yeah, it makes you feel something. Right, like, how could I talk down on that? So cool.

Sy Huq: 33:42

And I think we touch on this all the time, like. One of my favorite analogies that I've experienced over and over again is the fact that, like you're going through a museum And if you ask people like what their favorite painting is, if you go to, like, the Louvre in Paris, and people go and they choose the Mona Lisa. Not everyone's choosing the Mona Lisa, you know. Mona Lisa may be the one that's known the most, it may be the one that looks the best for a lot of people, maybe, but ultimately the favorite piece for everybody, which is different often, is never uniformly, always one is what makes people feel the most, what they relate to, and one person relates to a piece of art and one corridor may resonate with them, with the entire world on their shoulders, versus the one that everyone is talking about down the aisle that's crowding. You can barely get a glimpse of it because it's so popular.

Sy Huq: 34:36

Yeah, yeah I think in the same way sonically. That's got to be it too.

Sy Huq: 34:40

For sure, Yeah Like unless everyone's favorite song is peaches, then I'm wrong. A lot of people like peaches. A lot of people do like peaches. There's nothing wrong with that. There's a lot that you do in your life in terms of chasing and achieving success, and it requires, i think, apparently comes off, and in a beautiful fashion, a passionate way. What is passion to you? How do you find passion? How would you recommend others find their passion if they don't have one Or are searching for it and are yearning for a direction, swimming lanes, something that helps them along their path?

Austin Seltzer: 35:21

Yeah, this is one of my very, very, very favorite topics, and the reason is I don't really believe in luck, but I will say that I think that I found music so early in life, like as a kid. I already became obsessed with it which will come up in a second here obsession But I think that I got lucky to find music, and what I didn't get lucky about is I always focused on it. But I did get lucky that from an early age I found music. So why I'm bringing that up is whenever I meet people who either I can tell that they don't have a passion they're like working a nine to five that they really hate and they're like, ah, but I wish that I were doing something I loved, but they don't know what that is Or somebody that just asked me like how did you find that you're? how did you find your passion? I was in the shower just the other day and that's where I do all my thinking, as you know, my shower thoughts And I thought about this and I think that I actually, like, came up with a formula for how to find your passion, or how to find a passion, because I don't think that we have one passion and I think it can totally change, like I could change my passion for music to be something else. Right, and here's the formula.

Austin Seltzer: 36:52

It's only two things. It only takes two things. One, something that makes you very happy and that you love. So this could be cars, like modifying cars. This could be, obviously, music. This could be drawing or painting. This could be designing clothes, something that you just do. This could be gardening Something during the pandemic. This could be baking. You know I'm trying to think of like, whatever it may be that brings you joy and happiness. So let's take us, during the pandemic, like baking. We started baking bread and just like everybody else like pizzas.

Austin Seltzer: 37:37

So we found something that makes us really happy. Like whenever we're doing it, we're like time stands still, like you're kneading this dough, you're hand-making pasta, so you're putting the eggs and the egg yolks and this your the flour, and you're kneading this thing with your hands and time is just standing still. You got some music playing. Oh yeah, you're here and you're like holy shit, it's been like an hour. Right, you really liked that process. Okay, so that's one thing. Maybe you have a list of like 10 things that this happens to you. Those are things that bring you happiness. The other main part, like the two-part equation here, is becoming obsessed with that thing. So now we have this bread that we're baking, or I'm going to go with pasta, because I really enjoyed making pasta.

Sy Huq: 38:39

You made some cool pastas in the pandemic too. We did Spinach, spinach pasta one day.

Austin Seltzer: 38:43

Yeah, which we grew, the spinach. We made ravioli. But so, okay, the obsession part, how you become obsessed with something is just like this I'm going to take, let's go with, let's go with. I guess we could do pasta, but I would rather do something like gardening. Okay, let's do that. We did a lot of too, we did, yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 39:12

So what if you spend? you have a nine to five, i'm going to do it. And whenever you come home, or let's say, whenever you wake up at like 730 in the morning, you go outside and you spend 30 minutes in the garden. This could be planting or pruning or whatever, pulling weeds, repotting, whatever, whatever it is for 30 minutes And you do that for a while each morning. Now, your mind knows, at 730 in the morning, i'm going to do this, and then you start at 730 or maybe 630. Now you wake up even earlier. Now you can do an hour of that activity. Now your body needs that, it needs that part of your routine. If you don't do it, you miss your plants. Now you can do it for an hour and 30 minutes Maybe. Whenever you come home, now you go outside and you water the plants and you do X, y and Z, and as you continually add a little bit more time into that thing, you become more and more obsessed with whatever that craft is. So we can pivot to anything like music now.

Austin Seltzer: 40:28

I worked for my dad whenever I was like 18 through like 25. And I would add more and more and more and more time onto the craft of music, whether that be like going out to shows and networking, or being in a bedroom producing whatever it is. You'd put a little bit more and more time into this thing until you are obsessed. And you know that you're obsessed when people start inviting you out to places that you would normally say yes to, but you're like I can't, i gotta do this thing When you don't. Really that music wasn't making me money, those plants are definitely not making us money, but you would rather do this thing than this other thing that brought you joy before. And so now, as you lean more into that obsession, now that's a passion. You are passionate, because I damn well know that if you're spending this much time with this thing, whenever you do hang out with those friends, you're probably talking relentlessly about music or spaghetti or plants. Now it's a passion.

Sy Huq: 41:32

So it's this. Love plus obsession. Yes, equals a passion. Yes, wow it's amazing.

Austin Seltzer: 41:38

That's all you had to do to find your passion Find things that you love and slowly start to implement them into your day And over time, like more and more of your free time, go into that thing, and now it becomes a passion, because in everyday conversation you're talking about this thing that before wasn't even a conversation point, and now you're probably ticking people off because that's what you wanna talk about and they don't give a shit about that. And that's how you start to find the people that you align with, who want to talk about the thing that you're passionate about.

Sy Huq: 42:09

In a way, you're having a healthy relationship with your art.

Austin Seltzer: 42:14

I think it's healthy. It's gotta start out as a hobby.

Sy Huq: 42:18

Yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 42:20

And it slowly could turn into something that you devote your life to, which means monetarily making or living off of. But even if it just stayed a hobby, that can be a passion. But for people who want to turn their passion here's the final piece that I'll say on this For people that wanna turn their passion into their main job, this is what I think people get so wrong is having, and you are a perfect example of this.

Sy Huq: 42:48

Of how to not do it, no, of how to do it, of how to do it. I agree, yes, totally.

Austin Seltzer: 42:54

Is you have to have, like we're in LA, it's expensive. You have to have that main job that's providing the income so that you can live to do your passion until it can overtake your job. That is not having a plan B, right, everybody thinks that's having a plan B Right, but that main job is what's supporting plan A, right, right, right, right. Having a plan B would be also going to fucking school for a degree. That is not aligned with your passion, right? So now you're having a main job to pay for life. That's also paying for school, that's paying for a degree. That's doing something other than your passion.

Austin Seltzer: 43:36

But if you're having this main job that's providing income that allows you to do this passion and you're reinvesting that money into your passion, right. And now maybe you start to get a catering gig where you're making pasta, or you're starting a farm so that you can do a little farmers market type thing with vegetables, or you're starting to mix freelance you know cheaper track for people Right. And then you're like that's how you start to move into your passion as your main income Right, but that job is not plan B, right? Hopefully this really helps somebody, because I think that that, right there, that's how you do it Right.

Sy Huq: 44:19

No for sure, I mean. And then oftentimes, when it does align where your main form of income goes into your passion and you want to take it to a professional level of that being your main source of income, your passion being it, the things in that other job, role, whatever you're doing, there are things you can take from that that strengthen that passion and often give a flavor that nobody else can put on Like. That's the part where they're like oh where did that efficiency and consulting come from? Like where you know that's what you can put into the business side of making an art happen and it just being like downpacked and you're a step rung above people in the industry. Just that started without that Yep, and you see that many times over, even in the sense of like professional.

Sy Huq: 45:06

If we were to take it like one step further, i know of people that went like in that military, for example, like Navy SEALs, and now they're back in society. They're in med school And we know how bad med schools. You know you got to work so hard to get through that, but for people that are Navy SEALs at least from personal experience from my friends it's not a lot of, it's not as much work as what they had to do in like life-daring situations. Oh, of course, yeah, so they get to have that privilege of mental security and that steel mindset to bring toward something that it's already hard and tackle that forward and something that people will spend their entire lives on, something like the medical field. I think that translates to what we do too.

Sy Huq: 45:58

Yeah, you're so right, which kind of goes into a question that I wanted to bring up in terms of like the big hammer, and I think it gets brought up all the time in experienced rooms of veterans and rooms where people don't really know what they don't know and they're just getting into the industry, getting into music in general as well, and that's in an age where today, of the emergence of AI And I know you love talking about this too So the question that a lot of people talk about and I get a lot in my profession as well is like, aren't you worried that AIs can just view out for me, being a screenwriter, scripts within five minutes and that's gonna be the next age era of movies, because they're gonna be just as good in the same transference for you. Do you ever hear the question that aren't you worried that AI is gonna challenge your role in the industry And how do you deal with that? What's your way of saying that? it's gonna be a tool or not? what's your take on that?

Austin Seltzer: 47:09

Yeah, I hear people talk about this all the time And generally I'm part of the discussion. I really really love AI, all things AI. So it's a really easy answer for me. If you are doing I'm just gonna be brutally honest if you are doing low to mid, low tier work as a mixer or a mastering engineer, I think your job's gone straight up. I think it's gonna be gone, And I'm talking about like the 50, 100, 150, $200 mixes. No man, they're gonna have software that they can pay 600, maybe probably gonna be way less. They'll have software that they can just put their track into. If I'm talking about the client, they'll be able to put it in the software and it's gonna mix it, it's gonna master it, it's gonna do all of that for next to no money And it's gonna sound pretty good. I mean, it's gonna sound. I bet it will sound just as good as the person doing those mixes.

Austin Seltzer: 48:14

Honestly, but for the top tier mixers, masterers or like the mid to upper to the top tier, I think that two things one, that labels in general and probably like indie artists that are like for the craft they will always want to pay to have a human touch There's just like there's things that are there's, just like there's things in our industry that move so incredibly slow they're like glacial pace of moving, And I don't think that this thing will change for the top dogs but for, like those mid to upper tier people. I think that, especially the younger mixers or masters, they would be really intelligent and I'm talking to myself here to utilize AI tech that will do two things One, hopefully, prep our sessions for us very intelligently. Oh, my God, I would use that right now Because it takes so much time. It takes so much time And I have a great assistant, Niko, who is doing all my prepping and, my God, it's made my world so much better. Thank you, Niko, And that would be great. Everybody should utilize that.

Austin Seltzer: 49:32

But then, on the going on from that, I think that all mixers and masterers would be intelligent to use the AI mixing software and get a track where we're talking in the future, where it can understand the mix, moves and the sonic palette and positioning of things that you normally use, And you could utilize that to get you close to where you'd wanna go. And then it takes the human element to elevate it to like that professional, like top, top, top level, Just like we see with Mid Journey, where it's so fucking incredible It makes images that are insane. Right Right, Love Mid Journey? yeah, But neither of us are pros in that field. Right Like, I mean, you do tons of drawing and painting and all sorts of storyboarding and this and that And it's great, But I know that you would say that a professional in that field is leaps and bounds more like better than you in that craft. Right, especially like?

Sy Huq: 50:37

the artistry of like storyboarding and like animation. it's unbelievable how underrated those artists are.

Austin Seltzer: 50:45

Right, They're so good, but what you can do is you could utilize Mid Journey to storyboard and it looks pretty damn good, right, but then it would take a real pro, somebody who's spent 10 plus years in this field, to take that image and they can elevate it to like top tier status Using whatever their tools are Photoshop or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Same thing with mixing. I think that it would take the human element to take it. That AI level up just a little bit.

Sy Huq: 51:17

That's amazing, i mean, for you. Do you see AI to well, in a sense of just automated processing, with AI to be accelerating your business in a way? Is it in a way where, yeah, ASPREP is gonna reduce time, but what's gonna be your new bottleneck? Do you think about that Like what's the new bottleneck? after that? that process gets kind of eliminated.

Austin Seltzer: 51:45

Yeah, i've thought about it. I think for me, just looking at that question right now, the bottleneck is, i think, that I would be too quick and too efficient and I wouldn't have enough projects coming in. I mean, i have a lot of projects coming in right now, but I think it feels like a lot because I'm doing everything Right right. I mean, just now I have an assistant to help prep, but right now the bottleneck is like exporting. I could have a second rig and I could do exporting on that second rig, which I will set up, but currently the bottleneck would actually be the influx of or non-influx of work. If I had 10 tracks coming in a day, there would be a difference If I could utilize AI to prep sessions. No human should mix 10 tracks in a day at a pro level. At that point, i think you are not putting enough love into a track, or yourself.

Sy Huq: 52:48

Or that. You know you're working all the time.

Austin Seltzer: 52:51

Yeah, that's. I think that that would be it. really, i'm very hopeful for everything AI in the future. I think that it will just take out the mundane tasks in our life and, for those of us who are on a quest to be as proficient in our craft as possible, it will take out the mundane things that take away from the time that we could be putting into the hard part of our craft And, i think, in a way.

Sy Huq: 53:18

You know, whether we like it or not, it's our opinion of what we have in terms of like why is going to be in our lives, in their roles, but it's not going to slow down. I don't know in what world people think like oh well, maybe it should take its time, maybe we should take this relationship that we have with AI slow. We don't get a say in this matter. This is happening way above or in the clouds. Yeah, literally in the cloud. Yeah, it's already started. It won't stop.

Austin Seltzer: 53:47

Yeah.

Sy Huq: 53:49

We're going to have to take a little bit of benefit because, yes, it's going to take a little bit more energy and there's a learning curve. as we kind of transfer into this new era of artificial intelligence, from instant intelligence to artificial intelligence which is interesting We find out that there is a learning curve to it. It's not going to happen as naturally as we went from net zero to dial up internet to like faster internet, instant internet, cheaper internet on our phones.

Sy Huq: 54:24

We're going to have to learn a new craft. Yeah, exactly, it's a big leap, but also really cool that in our generation, in our time, in our lifespan, that we get to experience that. we've experienced a lot in our time.

Sy Huq: 54:34

Yes we have In our few generations. But, speaking of that, it kind of allows us to think about that time span. The time that we have here, it is limited. We are going to experience this transference in AI We're just talking about we're reaching a generation where there's going to be a new generation of people that haven't seen the matrix Right, that really bugs me, right And then eventually, like people that haven't seen, like interstellar you know, but they're going to be referencing it and not even know where it comes from.

Austin Seltzer: 55:06

Hilariously, though. You already know, my favorite movie is interstellar. The matrix is so much more important.

Sy Huq: 55:11

Yeah Well, matrix is my favorite movie.

Austin Seltzer: 55:13

Yeah, and the idea of that is so much more important than interstellar. I fucking love that movie, right, but dude, the matrix is so great.

Sy Huq: 55:22

I mean they both have different commentaries. One is the longevity and like why we should care for our earth, like what happened. It's kind of dystopian, if you think about it, like the world's kind of.

Austin Seltzer: 55:31

And love.

Sy Huq: 55:31

And love right, and what does love look like in terms of the answer between time and space, like how does that traverse The matrix? talks about our reality and our perceptions of reality and a lot of people don't realize that it comes from Plato's Algority of the Cave And it's about like we only see what we've been erased around and what we've been surrounded by, and our limitations are that That kind of broke a little bit when the internet came out and like instant information was accessible to us, because now we can see the world without even leaving our closet. You know what the bedroom could be in a different world, what the house could be in a different world, what the roads could be in a different world. You could change that now, yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 56:17

But I mean, but then the cave, the actual allegory becomes even more relevant, because now we hide behind social media, behind a computer indoors, not socializing. So now the world is scary outside of behind a screen.

Sy Huq: 56:36

And that's the conundrum there. I think, in that perspective of time, whether that limits our time or gives us more time, I think that's just what people would want, Like it's up to their desire. Do you want to feel limited by time? Do you not want to feel limited by time To you? how do you? what's your perspective of time in that sense And in that time, what are you trying to accomplish?

Austin Seltzer: 57:00

In the time of my life? Damn the big question. So my goal, my real goal in life is I want to be the one of the biggest mixers in the world, and I've said that on here before. But what that means to me is not I am the highest streaming, the highest ranked, the blah blah blah mixer. I want to touch as many lives as humanly possible with the music that I mix. That's, that's that, and I know for damn certain that I'm going to do that.

Austin Seltzer: 57:42

I'm just like I'm putting too much love and care into this craft. I'm developing great relationships with people that I really love, who are doing awesome work and also have that same desire. So I know, i know it will happen. It's just a matter of time. So I'm not really worried about time in that aspect.

Austin Seltzer: 57:59

But I guess the one thing that sounds crazy to a lot of people, but I think that one of the things that I want through music is this immortality. I do, i want forever, till the end of time. I want people to listen to the stuff that I got to work on and I want them to still move. I want them to still have thoughts like maybe introspective ones or or happy times, or sad times, like a breakup song or, you know, a song that makes you want to lift heavy weight, or a song that makes you fall in love, like I want, hundreds of years from now, to have music that I worked on still affecting people, Right. I don't know, maybe it's because I've taken psychedelics and shit with you know, but I just don't really care about the time aspect. I know that it's all coming. I'm doing everything that I can with as much love as I can.

Sy Huq: 59:05

Yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 59:06

And I just think that, no matter what it's going to, it's going to take me to where I want to go. I believe in it.

Sy Huq: 59:14

That's amazing, Like see, because sometimes people feel the motivation from the limitation of time, right, Like sticking on music, like Alexander Hamilton. Like in the Hamilton musical, one of the lines that sticks is like writing like he's running out of time And that made him achieve a platform where he accomplished what he had. Because of that, And for you you're saying that that you're not limited by time, but you know and trust the process so much to the point that you have a desire of what you want to accomplish in the time that you have, whether it's limited, whether it's short or long.

Austin Seltzer: 59:53

Yeah, yeah, i think that I am going to reach whatever point I'm going to, with what time I have, and I know that it's going to be a very high point. There's no way it won't be. But I don't know how big or how vast, how many people I'm going to affect, right, i just know that I'm going to do it with all the greatest intentions, with as much love and effort and hard work and great relationships that I can. Right, i'm not. I don't, yeah, i don't feel pressed by time. Of course, i want to be working on all these huge, influential records that are happening right now, but I also know that I'm probably just not, i'm not in the point in my life where those opportunities are ready for me. Right, i just need to keep on moving and just doing my best work And those, those will come when they come.

Sy Huq: 1:00:48

And a lot of people may say that that's a very self-aware mentality. Would you say that that's that is something that's self-aware or more in terms of like mindfulness of the entire situation as a whole, because self-awareness is I know what I am and I can only control what I control which is true.

Sy Huq: 1:01:08

That's the truth that everyone should come to eventually is that you can only control what you can control, and everything else is the river that you're flowing with. But for you, is that mentality of how you are treating what you need to accomplish in life part of an entire equation, or is it just the one puzzle piece that you just want to place yourself on this planet?

Austin Seltzer: 1:01:33

I think that it's wisdom. I know that's not one of the answers you gave there.

Sy Huq: 1:01:38

Yeah, I know I told it.

Austin Seltzer: 1:01:40

I think that throughout the years of me trying to move quicker than the world was ready for each time, I think that I moved forward a step and back to.

Austin Seltzer: 1:01:58

I really do. There are so many times where I saw an opportunity and I just I reached for it and it was out of my grasp and I tried to bend the world to what I wanted it to be. And I wouldn't say that it bit me. I just ended up two steps backwards because maybe I lost out on that opportunity or somehow I got burned because I was overreaching. And so now, at this point, I'm just like I'm going to do the best work that I can with the people that I love, people that I respect. I'm going to do my best work. I'm going to make them feel great about having worked with me or being my friend, Like I'm adding to their life. And I think that it's pretty evident by how many tracks I post a week that I work on and all the cool people I have around me that not like cool because they got followers, but just good people is working.

Sy Huq: 1:03:02

And that requires you to step out of, like, your comfort zone? Absolutely Yeah. How do you take that on?

Austin Seltzer: 1:03:14

I just don't think that's the way to do it. Be present, yeah, just like, if something. Okay, it was me the other day and Devin's cold plunge. Like I hate cold water. Holy hell, i hate cold water. I really do And I just like that. I was like I think I smacked myself in the face And I was like, don't think about it.

Sy Huq: 1:03:40

Just do it.

Austin Seltzer: 1:03:41

And just did it, which I mean you've been like you, of all people that I know want to be first to do some dumb shit. Like it does not seem like this is something you should be doing, oh, i'll do it. And so you, you really like, i love I, i love being risky, because I really believe in myself.

Sy Huq: 1:04:05

Yeah, yeah.

Austin Seltzer: 1:04:05

Same And I know you're that way but there, but you're just down to do whatever. And I think it's the same way If it's somebody in a room that you want to talk to, just do the thing, and as soon as you start thinking about it, you're not going to do it. So just act on impulse, like, be impulsive, but not to a detriment. That's the fine line, but that's really the answer For me.

Sy Huq: 1:04:31

I mean and thank you for that, like I'm not even going to deny it. There's a truth to it, i think, because my one of my desires is my life, for my life to be an adventure Right. I would love for, for that feeling of like being on a pirate ship with a bunch of really cool folks and you're just sailing trying to just find things.

Austin Seltzer: 1:04:50

What a perspective to think that they're cool folks. I love that.

Sy Huq: 1:04:53

I mean they could, it could be mutiny.

Austin Seltzer: 1:04:55

It certainly has been many times over on this pirate ship of life that they're cool people because you're hanging with pirates.

Sy Huq: 1:05:01

They're pirates of pirates, man. Like you know, there's a you know no honor amongst thieves, right, But in a sense there is just a really cool mentality that I landed on when I was traveling and I travel all the time now and I have my entire life But when I do travel, that feeling of a plane, feeling like a pirate ship, you know the feeling of like just jumping into an opportunity and adventure or something. There's so many unknowns and and using that to challenge your security, challenge your mental, mental security as well, And I'm not saying that I'm impervious, Like it's not invulnerable. I mess up and screw up all the time, but I learned so much from it And I think that's kind of what you're saying too, Like in terms of experience, like the more you do it, the more mistakes you make, the more it creates who you actually are versus who you've continued to perceive yourself to be, because that is a solid foundation that you can always return back to, And I think that's that's.

Sy Huq: 1:06:05

Being present is the best way to do it, because then you're not distracted by the things that, again, you have no control over. In that sense, travel has influenced your life quite a bit too, And how you know, say, for example, like 2017 was a big, pivotal moment for you in terms of we traveled the world and you've traveled solo quite a bit yourself. How is going out of your comfort zone not just in a room, but leaving your country, leaving the bounds of your cultural rules and dynamics and embracing other cultures and dynamics, just seeing that what's beyond the horizon? how has that influenced you, not only in your life, but in your art too?

Austin Seltzer: 1:06:54

It's going to come back to communication again, where, whenever you're overseas, in a country where you can't communicate through language, you're really, really great at learning different languages. I know that that's that comes from your childhood. I think that you you early adopted or had to several languages, so you have an ability to learn other languages quite well. I don't have that ability and I'm going to be honest, i don't really have the. I don't have the time and yearning to learn other languages, although I want to communicate, i do, but I also have to be real with myself. I don't have the time, with everything else I have going on in my world, to learn these languages. So whenever you're in a different environment, one that's completely novel, you don't know their food, their language, their daily lives, any of that. you have to find ways to communicate And I think that that's again problem solving. It's gestures in the body, the just how can I connect to somebody else?

Austin Seltzer: 1:08:11

And how can I deal with these wild curve balls, like being in a country where there's like no taxis, no Ubers, no, nothing like how do I communicate that I need to go somewhere and how do I get a ride there? I really I'm allergic. Like I'm not allergic to any food, but if you were in Japan and you're allergic to shrimp or something like that and you cannot speak their language, like how do you figure out that? to tell them that you're allergic to this thing? Like these novelties that we don't have over here make you instantly problem solve and you have to find comfort in jumping off that cliff. I think that that's what it is like.

Austin Seltzer: 1:08:54

The this world is so different from my world. How do you feel comfortable in that? And then bringing it back to my world now every day is a new uncomfortability. Like I'm trying to grow my career in such a way that I'm continuously dealing with novel things, so I have to be like this podcast. I don't know shit about video, but now we're taping this thing and I've never sat down and had an on-mic conversation with somebody. I mean we did, but like routinely setting this room up to look this way. It was just an idea in my head and I found Ashley to help me bring it together. All of that is like swimming in risk and the unknown and chaos, and finding comfort in that is so usable in the entertainment world. So travel, the novelty of it, the risk of it, the unknown of it, bringing it back to what we do, where we're creating, is like I think it's one of the most important things that I could ever list. Be comfortable in the uncomfortable and you get that from traveling.

Sy Huq: 1:10:14

Absolutely, and there is an approach in terms of overcoming obstacles as well. In that sense, when you have obstacles, that again you don't see it coming, because those are the ones that are the heaviest and they hit the hardest, how do you overcome them and how do you continue moving forward to achieve success? in that sense?

Austin Seltzer: 1:10:39

I think that the best way to overcome obstacles depending on what they are, but I just like anyone that comes up in my mind is don't be impulsive. Let whatever the thing is, whatever the bump is, whatever your instant reaction is anger, sadness, maybe even happiness let all that come back to an equilibrium point where you're not acting on impulse, and then make a logical decision. I think that that's the way to deal with bumps, because whatever comes up in your mind immediately is the wrong answer. Don't fucking act on that impulse. And then how do you keep on moving forward? Well, a bump is nothing. Just think about.

Austin Seltzer: 1:11:30

I think this is the easiest way. Think of 10 bumps that you've run into in the past couple years and look where you are now. I'm guessing most of all those bumps. I bet it's hard to think about 10 bumps that you hit, but at the time they seem like mountains. So just know that this bump will pass and don't act on impulse, because that impulse may become a mountain and that mountain may last for a long time and you will remember that time Make it much worse.

Sy Huq: 1:12:04

Yes, yeah, absolutely, and in that sense, though, you have to right now. When you say bumps, the only bumps I'm thinking about are speed bumps that have ruined my car.

Sy Huq: 1:12:15

So in a way that I'm thankful that that's kind of the situation here. Then, in approaching uncomfortability, when you talk about what we learned on our travels, there was a specific moment when I was getting my hair cut in the Philippines. I did not know how to communicate what kind of haircut I wanted. Like a picture is like you give pictures like a dice roll, Like here's a picture, and then they're like okay, we got you And then you just trust because they're just going to either mess up your haircut or not?

Austin Seltzer: 1:12:45

Yeah, I will say that haircut was in a parking garage.

Sy Huq: 1:12:49

Oh yeah, we had to walk through a parking garage and into a haircutting spot.

Austin Seltzer: 1:12:54

Bro, our hair looked good. He was nasty.

Sy Huq: 1:12:58

Scissors only too. It was crazy, he was so good. And then, like, the other thing is, while I was getting my haircut, one of the things I learned there was like hair will grow back right.

Sy Huq: 1:13:11

So in a way that if you were to take anything out of that I mean I certainly do is, like in a speed bump in life, say, if you just like, oh, you wanted a Mohawk and you gave me a Mohawk, well then it won't be a Mohawk forever, you know, yeah, and I think that's a cool little way to kind of look at life. You know that kind of thing. So, with all those bumps and ups and downs and things that you learned, i always come down to like, if we were to say life in a wavelength the top most moments in the lowest of the lows We've all hit those, we know a lot of people can identify with those. A lot of people may try to find, or are trying to find, those lowest moments and highest moments In your highest moment, and we'll take one at a time. In your highest moment, what was your takeaway? What was a good takeaway that you got?

Sy Huq: 1:14:14

I'm trying to think because Or we'll try lowest moment first. I think it's good to come out with catharsis. So in your lowest moment, what is a takeaway?

Austin Seltzer: 1:14:30

Man. Why this is a difficult question is because these moments don't last. In the moment it's very difficult or very great, but the very next moment it's gone. But in my lowest moment I don't think there was any takeaway Straight up. It took me moving past it to reflect on it. So what I know from my lowest moment, when my ability to move past it was the moment that I knew that I was ultimately so passionate about music and this craft and being able to mix music every single day for a living, is my ultimate calling, because my lowest moment was so bad and I had to go through such a stable, non-music part of my life that I got back to this. That just shows that this is it. This is everything that I always wanted since I was a little kid, and I'm glad that somebody did not ruin forever this for me, which ultimately would have been me ruining it for me, because it's all me, it's nobody else 100%.

Austin Seltzer: 1:16:11

And then the highest moment. I think the takeaway is that it does not last, and that's sad to say, because I think one of the points of this podcast is we talk about what does success mean? And I think that a lot of success is being in this moment and being present with it and a balance between chasing the carrot and smelling the roses. But at this point in my life I'm chasing the carrot. I love that. It really does fuel me and I find so much love in trying to move forward. So the key takeaway from the greatest moments is that they don't last, and there's always a higher peak that you're trying to climb to. So, reflecting on it, i would love to say that I smelled the roses and I go out to eat and have a celebration meal for these things, but just as you eat the food and shit it out, it's here and gone, right.

Sy Huq: 1:17:25

On a t-shirt, yeah.

Sy Huq: 1:17:27

I know, dude on the front, shit on the back. It's not a shitty line, but it is Yeah, yeah, but it stinks. In a way, it's also a great analogy of saying not to take things for granted whether it's good or bad. And I love that because I think it, if things had a permanence to it, it would be as bad as we think it is, like it would actually be as bad as we think it is, because then it's like the permanence of it, it's unshakable, and there are events in life I think that do have a permanence to it. I think death is the most permanent thing, Right? So it's a thing that's guaranteed.

Sy Huq: 1:18:14

It's like you can't tell somebody well, don't take death for granted, it might not happen to you. You might be one of the lucky ones The one time where you just the guy won't go down. You know, right, it was a name. Rasputin got pretty close to that one. I think they kept hanging him and kept breaking and stuff like that. Wow, did you know that? Uh-uh, he was like it was just a weird anomaly. As the story goes, or historically is actually known that he, they try to hang him and every time they turn to hang him, it like it would break one time, or like they try to kill him multiple times.

Austin Seltzer: 1:18:47

How did they not say like this was God saying that he shouldn't die?

Sy Huq: 1:18:51

Well, he was saying that he's like I'm a special human being, like I have the power, and then he, and then there were things that happened that showed that he had something outside of just normal understanding of power. And I think it's I don't know enough to say, but I from what? I what? I think it is like kind of magic, like in the sense of in a performance space, like if I were to prove to somebody that I had a certain amount of power outside of the realm of reality and I didn't care about being caught or being fraud because my ability was so good my ability to perform in a magic sense is so good that I could be like I could speak with the dead, and then you actually could. It's just a magic trick And then getting getting the results of it. The same way that there was this big moment in magic that happened in the magic world of things, where I forgot the, there's a magician that was claiming that he can speak to the dead and he can reach out to somebody who's like relative and gather, like an answer to whatever they're looking for in life, and he turned into a big act like it turned into like a nationally televised act and it was getting. You know, it was amazing, it was a huge, huge performance.

Sy Huq: 1:20:01

I think one of the judges for one of the competitions was like Chris Angel and Chris Angel, knowing that world, he's like the performer and performers in the magic world because he just has the flair to it and a lot of things that a lot of people don't even like him. And when you're not liked in the magic world, that's a positive. Like people don't realize, and so some people do love him, a lot of people love him. He did a thing where he didn't like the idea that that magician was claiming that the magic was real, that his performance was a real ability, that he had to speak with the dead. So he put like a card with a message inside an envelope and he didn't and he went on a national television and he's like if anyone not even him, but if anyone could tell me what's in this envelope, i will personally give them.

Sy Huq: 1:20:48

I think it was like a million dollars And I don't think it was, i don't think everyone done. So it's kind of cool to. I think that's what Rasputin was doing, along with the dancer. But anyway, if we're to take something away from that, it is to kind of show that the performance does matter in your art, like in the art how it's received, because there's a responsibility to it as well And it just just to do it for yourself. There is a mentality for that too. But that also has consequences outside as well. The ripples does reach people in that other day, yeah Now.

Austin Seltzer: 1:21:30

Alright. so now that you have listened to this cool little Q&A that I did with Sai, hopefully you learned some about me, some of like my thoughts on success in music and life in general. I hope to keep on doing these little Q&As because hopefully over time you guys will have some questions for me that I can answer, But this was a fun way to get some of the thoughts in my head out through a perfect conduit inside. He's a great person to host an interview because he's done it for several years and we know each other so well.

Austin Seltzer: 1:22:04

So stay tuned for more.

Sy Huq: 1:22:09

Could I put last words into Sure? I would say something like the old technologic style would be and make sure to ground yourself, because your parents stopped doing that long ago. Wow, grounds for success.

Austin Seltzer: 1:22:30

That's fire. Thanks for listening to the Grounds for Success podcast. I want to thank all of the people who work on this podcast and help me out. My team is everything to me and without them I couldn't bring these to you every single week. I want to also thank all of my clients on the Mixing and Mastering side, because without you I could not have grounds for success. So thank you so much. If you're enjoying the Grounds for Success podcast, please follow, like and subscribe on whichever platform you're listening or watching on. It helps us out a ton and I want to keep getting this content to you in whichever way you listen or watch.