We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dariush Apfelthaler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dariush below.
Dariush, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I have to attribute my confidence and self-esteem to playing football in high school. I was always shy and quiet growing up. I moved around a few times as a kid, and I always struggled to fit in. I was never athletic, and I was usually “the fat kid” in any friend group I was a part of. For some reason, I decided to join the football team as a freshman in high school, and I was awful. I was slow, unconditioned, and didn’t know much about the game. That first season I barely played 5 snaps as a defensive lineman, and I wanted to quit as soon as the regular season was over. To be honest, I was too soft and scared to face my coaches and tell them I didn’t want to be a part of the team anymore, so I stuck around for the off-season. Some football programs just rest and take it easy for the off season until spring ball practices start, but that wasn’t the case for our program. We got two weeks off, and then it was time to start our strength and conditioning program. This was the most difficult experience I’ve ever had in my life. I have to thank my strength and conditioning coach, Jeff McCann, who pushed us beyond our limits physically and mentally every single day. I could barely do a few push ups when I started the program, and by the end of it, I was able to bench press and squat more weight than most of my peers. Then sophomore year came and all of a sudden I was a starting offensive lineman with the help of another amazing coach, AJ Burnham. He believed in me and also pushed me to be the best I can be on and off the football field. I finally felt like I fit in somewhere, and that I was a part of something bigger than myself. I went on to be first team on varsity for my remaining two years and was honored as an all-league offensive lineman. That whole experience completely shifted my mindset. It took those coaches to push me beyond my limits and show me what is possible when you put your mind towards something. I still carry that with me to this day. No matter what challenges I’m facing, I’m not afraid to take them on.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My job is to produce, record, mix, and master music. To me, music is the closest thing we have to actual magic. We all have our soundtracks to our lives that shape our environment. It can determine and alter our mood, we can celebrate to it, we can cry to it, we can work out to it, it can be the voice of a revolution, and so much more. I believe music makes the world a better place, so my job is to help artists get that music out into the world. I work with mostly independent artists who aren’t signed to big record labels, and I wear multiple hats when it comes to the music creation process. I make beats, I record musicians and vocalists, I mix music in stereo and spatial audio (Dolby Atmos Surround Sound), and I master the final product for release. I don’t do every single one of those things for every song I’m a part of, but I fill in however I’m needed for every project.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three things that were most impactful for my journey were my passion for my craft, work ethic, and always being a student. I’m fortunate enough to have found something I truly love to do every single day. I realize that’s not the case for most people, so I really consider myself lucky in that regard. That passion leads to the work ethic. If you don’t love what you’re doing, it’s difficult to put a certain amount of effort into it. Sometimes I’m referred to as a workaholic, but when you love your job, it doesn’t even feel like work. Lastly, I try to never stay stagnant with my knowledge. We’re in a time where truth changes daily, and technology is progressing at an insane exponential rate that we can’t even grasp. This applies to everything in my opinion, but just referring to music, things that were true today may not be true tomorrow. The technology being used to create music is constantly being updated, the way people consume music is always changing, and the way musicians are being paid is always different throughout the years, so I always try to stay updated and make sure I don’t get stuck in my ways or left behind.
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?
I’m always open to collaborate. My most valued collaborations have always come from an organic place of mutual respect. If anyone would like to have a studio session, or get a mix/master done for a song, I’m available to be booked on www.engineears.com/darshmadebeats or if you’d just like to have a conversation, hit me up on instagram @darshmadebeats
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.darshmadebeats.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darshmadebeats
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshmadebeats
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_gURAcvHBgIVih53wqEZsw
- Other: https://engineears.com/darshmadebeats
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