Check Out Jon Mohr’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Mohr

Hi Jon, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I got a keyboard for Christmas when I was in elementary school and tried learning some of the songs with it. I didn’t get very far, and dropped the keyboard for a bit. Picked it back up again in 6th grade and learned (parts of) a Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden piano cover I found on YouTube and played that for my music class! I then dropped the keyboard again, picked it up in 8th grade and learned lots of sections from power metal songs I enjoyed, and then dropped it once again. In 11th grade, I took a music appreciation class and I still don’t know what clicked, but something did, and I wanted to write my own songs with the piano and I realized that I actually COULD. The quality of the songs I wrote at this time was… well, it was something. Let’s put it that way.

Over the next 8 years I’d work on my arrangement, orchestration, composition, and production skills. I got my first film scoring gig once I started doing some marketing on Instagram in late 2019, got another gig in 2020, and have had a fairly steady stream of gigs since then. I also got into trailer music in 2020 a little, but especially in 2022, and have had my music used in a considerable number of promotions which feels really cool. I used the internet for basically my entire music career to get anywhere, and without it I really don’t know where I’d be. Certainly not where I am now. It’s great because there’s a lot of educational resources out there for people who want to do this, and you no longer NEED to live somewhere like Los Angeles to have a career.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s not been a smooth road by any means. I basically learned everything, and continue to learn everything, trial by fire. Since I was teaching myself a majority of things, aside from some YouTube videos for more specific topics like modes and niche production tutorials, I basically learned how to do everything the wrong way so that I could really cement the “right” way to do things for me. The funny thing is I still don’t 100% know what I’m doing. But I have a mind properly oriented for music as well as workflows that make me efficient in music composition and production that I’ve gotten as far as I have, and continue to grow.

I know another big struggle for me can be comparison to others–it’s really easy, particularly in the music industry, I think–to compare yourself to your colleagues and feel jealous of their accomplishments. But I’ve been reminding myself that I’m my only competition at the end of the day. Additionally, these things others have done/are doing that I’m not able to–do I really want them? More often then not, I find myself thinking “No, I don’t.” The longer I’ve been in this industry long enough that a vision for my life and music has crystallized very well and I have a very clear roadmap for how to get there, and what that looks like.

Nowadays I think my biggest struggle is just staying focused. It’s very easy to just take out your phone and scroll, or put a YouTube video on in the background, but it tanks my productivity pretty hard. I’m trying to set my phone away for longer, not open additional tabs, and just focus on the song. I’m getting there, but it’s definitely a process!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I write mainly cinematic music for various forms of media. I think I specialize mostly in trailer music at this point in my life–I’ve been writing a lot of it for some publishers and that’s just where a majority of my work is at this time. I think I’m known for this style of music mostly–I post a lot of it on Instagram (not as much nowadays as I’d like to) and have gotten a good network of colleagues and friends from doing that, same with Facebook.

As of now, I think I’m most proud of my project Bioluminescent Soundwaves. It was a project I actually received funding for from the Ohio Arts Council in very early 2024. It included a lot of collaborations I was very thrilled about, particularly some with some metal vocalists–and it was probably the most personal and fulfilling project I’ve worked on to date. It feels very true to who I am as a person and as an artist.

I think what sets my apart is my dedication to doing whatever I can to nail the sound/vibe I’m going for. For instance with one of my songs, Opalescent Soul, that has a variety of “styles” within it but it all falls under the umbrella of metal. I mixed synths and orchestra with metal (which isn’t necessarily super unique on its own) but I put a lot of myself in that song and made it something that’s very personal to me. I do that with every song I work on–I try to be fully honest with who I am as a person and artist and in doing so, I find that it generally makes the song better.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
1. The internet is incredibly helpful. You can do virtually anything with it.

2. Disconnect from the news. Obviously not all of it, but in my opinion, there is very little you NEED to know that will have an effect on your life. The rest of it is just unnecessary stress that will affect your ability to work.

3. No matter what happens, life will continue. You could be going through a lot of stuff, but life will continue to march on. I used to hate it when I was younger and there would be some potential “catastrophe” be it weather, or some solar flare or whatever and no one would “cancel school” or something like that. I don’t know if I’m phrasing that right but–as I got older, I’ve kinda grown really fond of that “no matter what happens, we keep going” mindset and way of operation. It’s reassuring in a way. Nothing and no one will wait for you. Again, it sounds dark but it’s something that really keeps me going and keeps me in a good headspace.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jonrmohr.com/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonrmohr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JonRMohr
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jrmohrmus
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/jonrmohr