Exposed Vocals Interviews Brian Streckfus
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Brian Streckfus:
I am from Bel Air/Baltimore, MD. I studied music for eight years in college level institutions (Classical and Jazz). I went to school for music at Peabody Conservatory which was a pretty amazing experience, it was like a music mansion. I was pretty blessed to be able to wake up and just work on music all day.
Since graduating, I’ve been performing, teaching and producing (https://www.youtube.com/user/
Depression is actually the main reason why I became an artist. I channeled a lot of negative energy into something constructive which is one reason why I like music so much. Depression was what really pushed me at a point when I was learning my chops so it seemed like it was just good timing and a silver lining in being depressed. It gave a bit of fire in my gut, where if I hadn’t been depressed maybe I would of ended up being complacent without much music in my life.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Brian Streckfus: I’m not in a band right now, I’m self-titled basically, the name to remember is Brian Streckfus. I’ve done several duo collaborations with many musicians however, which is fun because I get to work with all kinds of music. It’s a pretty interesting concept if you ask me but I’m sure I’m not the first. I’m like a producer/recording engineer who will sometimes will play with the artist if they want me to.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Brian Streckfus: I’m not sure how I feel about it. It has changed the music industry for sure, I think everyone can agree on that. I think it is nice because you can hear anything with just a click of a button leading to very complex artist’s minds, deserving musicians are more able to be found and you can also practice more because you could possibly make a living just making music out of your house. It also makes rich suits have less of a strangle hold on the music industry. On the other hand, I only make money off of streaming views, which isn’t very much. So I am kind of a starving artist because of it but I’ve gotten so used to it. So, I make the majority of my income off of teaching, producing and performing not royalties. I give my music away for free (on Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/user/
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Brian Streckfus: I think these things have led to success in my life:
1. I originally wanted to have an album growing up but now a constantly evolving music website actually sounds cooler and the concept of an album makes less and less sense. It reflects the age we live in, the size of the file matters less and less and so does the distance between the artist and the audience and that has been the trend for a long time. That’s one of the reasons popular music has/had norms when it comes to song duration and album duration, because artists/producers were limited by disc space depending on what decade they were living in. That doesn’t matter as much any more, I have a 50GB youtube video, I’m sure someone out there has an even bigger video.
2. I would recommend learning sheet music, there’s too many reasons to list. I’ve gotten more gigs and higher paying gigs. Certain opportunities require the ability to read sheet music no matter what, so auditions can go better. I’ve become less forgetful with songs and can officially copyright them too. It made me better at seeing a note happening a few seconds from now…etc…
3. I try to be proactive and be a do-it-yourselfer. I try to be my own boss. I built my own little recording studio, I do my own publicity, mixing, video, etc…All the really successful musicians I know are real grinders, they have crazy work ethic. All of the opportunities I’ve had took at least some effort in acquiring. Just never give up.
4. Be diverse. I have several ways of making income in the music field not just one. It’s really hard to fill 40 hours a week in one music field in my experience. In a band setting it can be helpful too of course because there is more to a successful music career than just the playing aspects especially when you’re a startup.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Brian Streckfus: Everywhere. Math big time. Music used to be called, “The Art of Measuring Well” but that was back before people knew exactly how to build chords and scales so it makes sense when you think about it. The math has to do with expression even though it is a bit counter-intuitive and I don’t think I would be doing it if it wasn’t for more expressive playing. For example, why is a minor chord sad? Because the frequencies are less divisible than a major chord (Makes uglier fractions with the intervals). Or why did that chord progression have so much angst and longing? Because the dissonant frequencies take a long time/never resolve perfectly…Like the chord progression C, G, Am for example, the last chord is a let down mathematically and aurally. Why did that augmented chord sound dreamy and ghostly? Because you’re in multiple keys at the same time when you play that chord.
It’s also beneficial because I can think about the music process without an instrument; because I understand how mathematics are connected to certain emotions. So you could say it’s like going through every chord quality C, Cm, C7, Cm7, CMaj7, Csus2, etc… and remembering what emotion it reminds you of, the tradition behind it and the mathematics involved in the chord always (in my experience) agree with both.
I think it’s cooler when there are two simultaneous story lines in a popular music song; what the singer is saying and what the music is saying. The amount of options become endless and it becomes a very expressive art. Basically what I’m saying is what if one wrote happy lyrics but played a minor key or vice versa? Then, one could make the words “I love you” for example, sound when paired with certain dramatic chord and melody selections.
My usual process is to work on guitar fundamentals, then when I collaborate with someone, I improvise and produce it for them. A lot of people come to me with ideas already well in mind. So when they feel set in stone with what they are doing I tend to find inspiration to spark my creative fire. Additionally, there are so many creative decisions in the mixing stages, that I find expression can even be formed after the recording has been tracked. For instance, layering on more tracks.
I record early in the process because waiting too long to record can give me tunnel vision. If I wait too long in this process, I feel that I may not mature on the song as quick. However, as soon as I hit record, I find opportunities to improve myself. Sometimes it just takes mimicking the situation for you to start getting ideas that you wouldn’t normally get. If I’m just jamming with people, I am always at least tracking and monitoring people with headphones. Sometimes I write music aurally sometimes it is cerebrally.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Brian Streckfus:
Yes, my official website domain is:
I also use:
And others as well like twitter and google+ @ Brian Streckfus
Please follow for free music and updates!! 🙂
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Brian Streckfus: Improve my recording studio! Would be so much fun. That would be enough money for me to make music and not really worry about anything which is really what the dream is for me in a lot of ways. It would be beautiful. I would probably get a new house and car and live it up a bit.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Brian Streckfus: Social Media. Google+ is personally my favorite but Youtube is a close second. I also use Twitter, Facebook and I just got into SoundCloud. Google+ is nice because I thought it was relatively easier to get the ball rolling on another social media site. So it’s great if you’re a start up. Go find the right circles and communities and you’ll probably be successful right away. YouTube, on the other hand, takes longer IMO because it sort of works more exponentially. I have business cards to hand out when I perform live.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Brian Streckfus: Many things. I’m producing (pretty much done) five songs for a rock band called Derailed, stay tuned for that, that will be published in early April. The next cover scheduled is “Imagine” by John Lennon, which I plan on recording on March 19th. For classical guitar, Fernando Sor’s Variations over a theme from the Magic Flute by Mozart and Bellinati’s Inspriciao (Brazilian guitar music is awesome!). I also will make another backing track for guitarists soon! As well as a music lesson on chord progressions. I also plan on making a video explaining the ins and outs of my recording studio. That ought to be a good video to watch if you are interested in my workflow, music writing process, equipment reviews, etc…There’s other things in the works but I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep. So keep your eyes peeled for what’s to come!
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Brian Streckfus: Comedian, Computer Programmer, Video Game Programmer, Podcasts.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Brian Streckfus: I carry sheet music and scale charts around in my pocket or book bag and memorize them whenever I have a moment. It works really nice because it actually connects the synapses in your brain more often in a day. I feel like I can memorize music better in my mind better then I can with an instrument. I’m just always multi-tasking basically. If I’m mixing and mastering I will play guitar and do social media during loading screens. I’ll listen to music in the shower, etc…Have to just find time to squeeze it all in.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Brian Streckfus: I know for myself I’m always improving, musically and production wise. I plan on having cooler Go-Pro camera angles on guitar. I also plan on doing some live streaming so that people can see the music process in action. So, fans should looking forward to the fact that the music industry and constantly evolving and always trying to ways to capture your attention, it is kind of sad that the concept of “albums” starts to be less and less important but it kind of makes things interesting because you’ll get to see the entire music process in action. There’s too much to look forward to in fact. You know, a guitar player on a self-tuning 8 string movable-bridge microtonal guitar streaming MIDI data with cyborg electricity hands and every song will be 50 GB big and albums will have 83 songs lol. *Slurps Energy Drink* Sad part is that’s not that far away from the truth. Rock on \m/