Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin “Spaceman” Pope.
Hi Justin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Music has been a part of my life since I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. My father is a lifelong musician, and I used to watch him record and perform. I always wanted to play something. I used to play around on his keyboard and pluck a string or two on his guitars. When I went to 5th grade, I started playing the trombone. I played that for a year, then went to play trumpet from 6th grade on through school. During that time, I became very much consumed with hip-hop production and wanted to learn how to make beats. Having solid formal education in music helped a lot when I started messing with hip hop production at age 12, using my father’s synthesizer. For my 14th birthday, I got a drum machine and continued using my father’s keyboard to hone my melody creation. During that year, I also got a microphone from my father to start recording vocals, both mine and others. I used to record all my friends and their friends for years and years. 5 years ago, my wife and I quit our jobs and moved the family to Miami from Indianapolis to further my music career and to enjoy some change. I have interned in studios and ran my home studios, but 2 years ago decided to move to Worthington and open my studio to the public. I have been to Columbus a lot over the years and have always loved it here. Whenever I have an idea and that gut feeling, I educate myself and act! Even if there’s a worldwide pandemic. Through all of this, I have grown my studio and been able to live my dreams. Spaceman Recording Studios is a family business which includes myself, my wife, and kids. Entrepreneurship is what the Pope family is all about! To be able to enjoy what you do every day. To be able to make your own schedule, pay all your bills, and have no bedtime or alarm clock to wake you up! Have free time to spend with the people you love and no stress of answering to a boss. Freedom is what the American dream is all about!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The journey of an entrepreneur is never easy. There’s always a challenge. Always an obstacle. I have dealt with a lot! From struggles of growing my client base from 0 in a city where I didn’t know anybody to learning how to market to having the discipline to continue when times get hard. Also always educating myself to just be a better businessman and musician. There’s always something, but as an entrepreneur, you find a solution and push through.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an artist! I express it in many different ways. One medium I use is music. Within the musical realm, I wear many hats. One is I am a producer. I create drum patterns and melodies and mold them into complete compositions. Sometimes I start by playing a bass line on my bass guitar or a drum pattern using my midi keyboard. I never know how or where the ideas come from. It can be the way a certain bird called or the cadence in which some passersby were speaking. Music is everywhere and everything! Everything is a frequency. The basis in which all of our senses work is frequency based. The sun is basically a giant subwoofer. Inspiration comes from everywhere! Another musical hat I wear is songwriter. I love writing lyrics. Most of the time, I don’t write my lyrics down necessarily; I just come up with it as I go, on the spot. Next hat I wear is tracking/recording engineer. I have been a recording engineer for 24yrs now. Recording people is probably my favorite thing. I have always LOVED getting people to feel comfortable and express themselves fearlessly, from the heart. It’s a powerful thing! I take it very seriously and have gotten very good at it. When they hear themselves back and are happy and excited, it’s awesome! Makes me feel good and happy for them. I also love the pressure and the fast pace that comes with being a recording engineer. It’s a rush! I like to think I’ve broken the 100,000hr rule with tracking vocals. LOL, It’s what I remember most about what I’ve done in my life. After we record, then we have to mix and master the song. A lot of people know me for my mixing and mastering skills. It taken me longer to get good at mixing and mastering than anything else I’ve done, I feel. It’s very challenging. Great mixes are in the subtleties. It’s the small things that the average consumer has no idea what they are hearing, they are just enjoying. But a lot of what they are enjoying are the subtleties. It takes YEARS to get your mixing ears and chops together. You can’t teach ears. You can’t learn ears on YouTube. There’s no cheat code for ears. You have to earn them. I am very proud of my ears. They are big, extremely sensitive, and accurate. God knew I would need them. I feel I am to a point where I am pleased with my mixes almost as much as my clients are. Lol All jokes aside, I am my toughest critic. You have to be this way to achieve greatness. You have to know you can always get better. 100 yrs. from now, you will still get better every day you work towards the endless goal of musicianship. My musical style has always been my hook for people. I just do me in everything I do. I don’t try to sound like anybody; I have my own sound. I’m just Spaceman. My production, engineering, everything has my stamp on it. Huge but tight bass (genre dependent, of course), clear vocals, loud and clear mixes that have depth. I hope that’s what everyone receives from my music.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I am all about risk-taking. You will never achieve anything worthwhile in life without taking risks. I quit my job and talked my wife into quitting hers to move the family from Indy to Miami, like I said. We had good jobs that we enjoyed, but when the universe, God, spirits, your gut, however you want to word it, tells you to do something, you do it!! I left Miami to move here to Ohio because of this same philosophy. It has never failed me. Even when I thought it had. Believe in yourself. Your dreams are only impossible if you don’t try to realize them. Sometimes when you go through the struggle after the risk-taking, your mind play tricks on you. But it’s part of the process. You look back and realize why you went through what you went through and are so much stronger and better because of it.
Pricing:
- Studio Recording Time 1hr – $55
- Studio Recording Time 2hrs – $100
- Studio Recording Time goes up $45hr from there
- Complete mixing & mastering service – $100 per song
Contact Info:
- Website: IamTheSpaceman.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/spacemanpope
- Recording Studio info: https://g.co/kgs/eCDQYX
