H3NRY | Music Producer, Mixing Engineer & Studio Operator

We had the good fortune of connecting with H3NRY and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi H3NRY, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Work life balance is something I’ve become very passionate about. For most people, balancing your work and life is essentially deciding how much time you’re willing to devote to your job/career versus your personal life (spouse, kids, vacation, hobbies). The assumption here is that “work” is a completely separate category from “life”, and you have to balance the two to achieve order and stability. Enter the creatives, the entrepreneurs, the self-employed. While most of my high school buddies took the traditional college route and now work respectable jobs for big companies, I decided it wasn’t for me and began laying the groundwork to work for myself. Ever since, I’ve paid close attention to how our lives differed, and the most glaring difference is how we think and act when we are “off the clock”. The truth is, when you are employed by someone doing something you aren’t 100% passionate about and committed to, you aren’t going to put 100% of your effort into it. Most people do the minimum until 5pm and then put their work brain into hibernation until the next morning. When I Iearned to produce music and decided to pursue it full time, I realized I had found something that I could be fired up about 24/7. Something I could constantly be brainstorming and creatively strategizing. Now I never get bored. And it’s made me a happier person. After all, boredom is psychologically linked to depression. Having a permanent mental chess game in my mind keeps me constantly engaged and never wondering what there is to do. In summary, I think every person should have a thing they can truly obsess over and try to be the very best they can be at; whether it’s a side project or your full time gig 😎

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always used audio engineering (recording, mixing, and mastering other people’s music) as a means to get my foot in the door producing my own music. As a result, I discovered one of my biggest strengths is actually being in a room with artists, understanding their visions, and executing. I find so much joy in helping singers and rappers translate ideas from their head into music. Doing this has led artists to tell other artists about me and even bring them in for collaborations. I’m especially proud that I’ve been able to support myself financially this way completely through word of mouth. As I transition heavier into producing more of my own passion projects and working less with just whoever will pay me, I take with me the invaluable skills of speaking the language of music, being a good collaborator, and adapting my style to work with a wide variety of other’s styles. I wouldn’t say it was “easy” because that makes it seem like I didn’t work my ass off. If anything it’s been easy because I truly love what I’m doing (something I encourage everyone to have in their lives). I want the world to know that I am going to be a powerful force in the music industry! And all because I am truly fucking obsessed with doing it!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Assuming everything is back open 😂 For daytime ventures I would go to Piedmont Park, The Beltline, Atlanta Botanical Garden, and the Trap Music Museum. Meals would include Bottle Rocket for sushi, JR Crickets for lemon pepper wet wings, Fellini’s for pizza and beer, and Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse if we were ballin like that. Evening shenanigans would include Atlanta United/Hawks/Falcons home games, barhopping in Edgewood, EAV, The Highlands, and (parts of) Buckhead, and any good shows at the Tabernacle, Variety Playhouse, Aisle 5, Terminal West, or Smith’s Olde Bar (sorry new Masquerade). The late night bad decisions would be made at Believe Music Hall, MJQ, Follies, and the Pink Pony.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Everything starts with my parents. Before my mom passed, my folks were the perfect balance of left brain (dad) and right brain (mom). She was constantly in her art studio painting, drawing, sculpting, sewing, and making wild creations that don’t even have a verb to describe them. I like to think I am carrying on her passion in my music studio. Both of them have been, without any shred of a doubt, the biggest contributors to the man I’ve become. The next key component to my growth was my good friend and former mentor Justin Padron. I moved in with him clueless about producing, and got to watch and assist him daily operating his own home studio. It was there I decided to go all-in on music. My most recent mentors would be Gary Vaynerchuk, a very special entrepreneur with practical philosophies that really resonate with me, and Adam Ivy, a music marketing genius that helps artists get further faster in their music careers. I plan on playing the role of student until I die, so I expect this list to grow in coming years.