Meet Jesse Hanes | Grammy Recording Engineer & Recording Academy Producer

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

Hi Jesse, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I started my own business because I realized that not having a way to generate income without someone else providing me work was an unsafe way to live. I figured as long as I knew how to generate business from skills I posses I would be more financially secure in the long term.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I believe what sets my art apart from others is that it’s not limited to any one role. I play the role of writer and performer in my music with groups like Busta and #Trending. I am a co-producer for Mateo Briscoe and have been able to learn the skill of intuition when listening to songs in their raw form. My dedication to my craft is built into my lifestyle and my art reflects that.
Today I hold a Grammy Certificate for recording the vocals of Jayvn Thwaites on Falu’s Album “A Colorful World”. I am a Recording Academy Voting member in the San Francisco chapter in the producers and engineer wing and was blessed to be recommended by my friend Kenya Autie and Shane Q. Shawn Thwaites was a huge influence on my decision to join the Recording Academy and that has proved to have been one of the biggest things that changed my career on paper.
Getting into a position to be a studio owner with my best friend Jesse Szabo is one of my favorite things about my life right now. My friend Andrew Byrom was the one to connect me with the owner of the building I rent space from now.
It wasn’t easy to get here, I worked jobs that others would probably never consider going to school for audio engineering.

I grew up hustling every way I could flipping corner store toys and candy bars. At the beginning of deciding to become an artist, I would record vocals on my cell phone while listening on an old laptop and email them to myself. I was homeless for a couple of years in the early 2010s and didn’t have much job experience. I faced a mountain of obstacles that crushed me emotionally, but I knew one thing to be true. If I was able to ask the right questions I could find the next move to make to grow my career. And after 9 years of asking questions and 8 years of applying my knowledge to my career things started to become more clear about my art and how it is also a business.

I used to get mad when I would pay to play a show in the beginning and feel like I got robbed and wondered how so many artists did those shows so often, not realizing most of them were the brand hosting the events and making the other artist cover the venue and headliner cost for slot times. That was a hard lesson to learn and after 3 of those shows and seeing nothing in return I knew something had to change. So I began to learn what branding was and what marketing was and began to use my knowledge of graphic design and computer skills to try to grow my brand Works By Think Tank Music.

I had no official commercial releases and hardly any content to provide, but I made merch and sold shirts. People that supported me and liked my logo that was inspired by black anime characters had no problem spending 20 dollars on a shirt that a lot of them still wear today. My whole heart behind Works By Think Tank Music was to make the commercial music industry approachable on an independent level in my community. I wanted to show artists that you don’t need a label to claim your rights and to get streaming and performance royalties. I wanted to show that although it’s not common knowledge the information is readily available for any artist to learn about how to make the right moves to get their songs to their audience.

From leaving home shortly after my brother was murdered and my mother passing while starting school to become an audio engineer and now running a 3,000-square-foot facility with my best friend while serving as a member of the art commission for my home town it’s my hope to tell people that want to work as a creative that it is possible, but it might not be comfortable to get there. If you love the process of genuinely developing your brand it makes the work seem effortless. A 12-hour workday will feel like 4 hours on the good days.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I had a best friend visiting me I would have so much fun showing them my favorite places. I live in Northern California and I love everything about it. For lunch, on the first day, I would take them to my favorite taco truck “La Morenita” in Lodi. I would have them trip the Tripe tacos – crispy. I would then take them to the nature trail around Lodi lake and show them where the families of deer run around and people watch.

I’d certainly make it a point sometime in the week to drop by Santa Cruz to visit 26th Ave beach for the most awesome waves and then go walk around downtown to see the buskers and hit the record shop.

If we ended up hanging out in my hometown for the nightlife I would take you to my favorite dive bars in downtown Lodi. The drinks are affordable and they get you to twisted, respectfully. It would most likely be a mix of cocktails and craft brews. If we were day drinking we would hit the wineries all over town.

A shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my business partner Jesse Szabo and all of my family and friends that have supported me in my journey of pursuing a career in the music industry.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my business partner Jesse Szabo and all of my family and friends that have supported me in my journey of pursuing a career in the music industry.

Website: www.letsgosac.com/aboutus

Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsthat.k.a?igshid=NmZiMzY2Mjc=

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/kassette209

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/WBThinkTankPro/

Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCZN82s9OcbewhCdNBnsEdKg

Image Credits
Photo credits too Tyler Love, Jesse Szabo, Shane Q, Ronald Spatafora, and Brianda Hernandez.