Never Pass Up a Hundred Bucks | Let's Talk Christ in Audio with DJ Evon

Let's Talk...Audio

Hello World! Welcome back to Let's Talk...Audio. Remember to join us on Discord!

Evan Smith wears many hats. He's a DJ, an audio repair tech, a producer, and an evangelist. He went to school at MediaTech Institute in Dallas, TX, to learn audio.

Tangela points out in the opening statements of the show that, while Let's Talk...Audio is about minorities in the industry, she views that umbrella as including things outside of the usual talk about identity. For instance, outside of the church, it is abnormal to find audio engineers who profess a Christian perspective.

Evan says "I've seen God work more outside the church, than inside."

Tangela: "I don't typically see audio engineers who are as forward with their faith ... I think that's something ... that would be nice for people to hear about ... to know that if that's something that matters to you, you can do it and be successful in it."

Evan also works under the name DJ Evon. He uses the request for an introduction to talk about how he presents his Christian perspective in the context of his work.

Evan does front-of-house sound for his church. He is also in training for audio repair with Audio Electronics in Dallas.

They spend some time talking about the joy of watching musical artists become successful, and being able to remember the tiny local gigs they used to play.

Tangela: "How do you maintain that balance of being in the secular world ... with your beliefs ... that are at the forefront of your business model?"

Evan: "We're not called to judge people outside the church; we are called to judge people inside the church ... what we need to do is stop, take a breathe ..."

Tangela asks if he gets push-back against his desire to play clean music when he DJ's shows. Evan says most of his clients respect his preferences and roll with it.

Tangela finds a need to clarify for her guest that, while Audio is in the title, it's meant as a starting place, rather than an end goal for interviews. This show is more about how do people function in the world of audio. Tangela points out that there may be members of the audience who follow Jesus, or there might be members of the audience who struggle with sobriety. So she sees this talk as an opportunity for discussing how to handle situations of excess when what you need is restraint.

Tangela expresses a takeaway from Evan's thoughts. "You're talking about setting healthy boundaries with people ... being up front with [expectations]." So how do you set up healthy boundaries? It's one thing to say, you should have healthy boundaries. It's another thing to grow and develop healthy boundaries.

Evan points out that having deliberate and consistent communication with trusted friends is a key strategy for keeping yourself accountable. He shifts to talking about maintaining rules in a studio situation. "Also, 9 out of 10 audio repairs are because of food ... so don't bring stuff into your studio ..."

From there they talk about sound treating your work space with sound panels and bass traps.

And then the gear talk starts, and "O my gosh, Evan just went to his closet ..."

Evan shares an array of microphones he likes to use, and we find out he is a fan of Slate Digital. Evan takes another opportunity to praise the MediaTech Institute. This podcast interview is being recorded (on his end) with an Universal Audio Apollo X4 interface. His headphones are the Slate VSX.

Tangela: "Would you say that you make the gear, or does the gear make you?" She wants to know what Evan's overarching philosophy about the relationship with gear.

He says that he started out believing that he needed the best gear, and that over time he realized it doesn't matter, and the important thing is do your best work and to serve people. He hypes MediaTech all the time because that place helped him to see what he is capable of doing himself.

Tangela: "What was ... the hardest ... thing that you had to learn in terms of managing your business or ... starting out in audio and trying to make that your primary source of income?"

Evan: "Never pass up a hundred dollars ... I'm serious! I heard this once and it brought gratefulness, God is gonna provide for you and a lot of people don't have faith ... If God is telling you to do something, do it ..."

"The music industry is like stocks ... there's high points, there's low points, and you keep going ..."

"Making a plan, having a budget, is super important; that's what I'm learning now ..."

Evan has learned to "care a lot more about the people and the relationships than just making music or being the 'next big thing' or whatever. I think our eyes need to be towards who are we doing this for."

Tangela translates: "Remember your purpose, and not just being out here because you wanna be out here in these streets."

One of the next topics that comes up is the meta issue of clarifying techniques in conversation and interviews. Evan doesn't skip a beat and recommends MediaTech to Tangela.

Evan: "What I am saying is that they have resources for the public to use."

Tangela: "Do you think that's a big lesson through your life ... learning to say Yes to opportunities?"

Evan: "Yes ..."

Tangela: "The first time I went to college I went to Dallas Baptist University ... DBU's music business program had a huge focus on learning business and understanding business ... How did you learn how to run and manage your business?"

Evan says he learned some in school but also a lot through practice, through doing. He emphasizes networking as a major component of success in business.

Tangela asks about systems in Evan's business for keeping organized. She brings up examples like spreadsheets and CRMs (Customer Relations Management). Evan talks about data integrity choices he makes with his computer.

Tangela: "What is a business skill you're trying to learn right now?"

Evan: "Time management ... It's really about having genuine time with people ... There's a lot of projects that I'm working on ..." Evan keeps very strong and detailed calendars.

Evan was cooped up at home during the lockdowns last year, but was able to buy a house while the markets were in a slump before things got crazy. Otherwise the covid situation has been a big pivoting opportunity.

Tangela: "Evan! What are you racially? ... I try to have some tact but I have none of that right now!"

Evan is second generation Italian-American. He goes to visit family in Italy regularly. By American standards he's "white", but doesn't look stereotypically white.

Evan: "Keep this, I love this by the way. I want everybody to know about this conversation."

Tangela: "I don't edit my own podcast," because she's too hard on herself about content edits. "Mostly I'm a one-person-show, except" for the cutting out edits and the show notes.

Evan also does podcast editing.

Tangela: "Do you not think it's important to niche down?"

Evan: "That's a very good question, I don't think so; If you limit yourself, you never know what you're capable of doing."

Tangela: "The fundamentals of sound are the same everywhere ... but how you do audio in live sound vs podcasting vs music ... they're not the same ... the way you approach them is different because the mediums are different ..."

Tangela points out that there are downsides to being too open, in terms of the quality that can be achieved in any one area. Evan agrees and also points to scheduling issues.

Evan: "I'm a DJ at heart ... that's what I love to do and that's my passion."

Tangela: "A lot of people view DJing as a performance job, and maybe audio engineering is a behind-the-scenes performance ... As sound engineers we effect how people here the sound ... [a sound engineer] is part of the artist's performance ... I can understand how you would have learned all of it together and see it as all one thing."

Evan: "I learned all of it together ... I gravitated towards live and studio work."

Tangela: "I never had anybody put them in the same category before ..."

"What is some advice that you'd like to leave the audience?"

Evan: "Never give up ... "

This interview was conducted over squadcast.fm on July 24, 2021. You can find Evan at www.djevon.com

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