We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zac Greenberg. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zac below.
Zac, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Creativity can be illusive. Two major aspects of being an artist are creativity and technique. Finding a unique and sustainable balance of creativity and technique is paramount in being an artist. As I have started to age into my life as a musician I have found the balance of creativity and technique to be evolving. When I was young I had no technique, but my creativity was boundless. Through higher education, creativity was curbed in the pursuit of technique. My journey as a creative professional has been adrift the unpredictable current of creativity and technique, ebbing and flowing between left and right brain. Mindfulness has been a key aspect of navigating this current. Awareness of one side’s dominance can encourage the pursuit of balance. The pursuit of balance can lead to distilled passion. What do I love about music? Why do I love it so much? Distilled passion can nurture creativity through exploration and expression in unexpected and unknown places. Where else have I felt this and where else can I feel this? When we reach a certain point in technique, it is difficult to feel the spark we felt when first starting our journey. We have explored the unknowns that mystified us. We have learned the magicians’ secrets, and with this knowledge it is easy to lose the magic. Finding spaces that share aspects of your distilled passion encourages exploration of further unknowns. To be a beginner, to be a child; here I have found sustainable fuel for my creativity.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Hi all, I’m Zac Greenberg and thank you for taking the time to read my interview. A little about me. I am a composer, sound designer, and multi instrumentalist. I work in a variety of fields including film and tv, experiential, stage, advertising, and sonic branding. My works have spanned from producing records to writing ballets, operas, modern dance work, META instillations, museum instillations, and much more. I enjoy collaborating with other art forms: allowing music and sound to be part of a larger experience. I operate my own recording studios, Taste Sound Studios, out of Los Angeles and New York City. I also co-founded an arts and medicine non-profit organization, Musicians for Health, focused on creating platforms for artists to be more involved in the medical field.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’d say the three biggest points that have helped my career are creativity, networking, and technical understanding of software and equipment. The real benefits come from utilizing these three in tandem. There are lots of people working in the sound and music fields. I see many of them being very proficient performers, composers, producers, and engineers. I have seen in my own career and careers of friends that when you are stuck in one lane, for me it would have been performing, your limit your professional reach. Starting as a musician who moved into composition but came up working as an engineer, has given me the ability to use my creativity to leverage skill sets in unexpected ways. When you put that with the ability to network, you open up a depth of possible revenue streams.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
If anything in my interview has peaked your interest, please reach out through my websites, social medias, or email me at [email protected]. Whether you are a creative professional in any field or have your own business of any sort, adding sound can be a fun and unique way to bring depth to your work, offerings, and media/advertising/branding packages. I would love to hear about your work and passion. Let’s explore how sound can benefit your journey!
Contact Info:
- Website: zacgreenberg.com
- Instagram: @zacgreenberg
- Facebook: @zacgreenberg
- Linkedin: @zacgreenberg
- Twitter: @zacgreenberg
- Youtube: @zacgreenberg
- SoundCloud: ZacGreenberg
- Other: musiciansforhealth.org
Image Credits
Francis Corby Ceschin Ed Cunningham
