Meet Frank Nguyen

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Frank Nguyen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Frank, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.

After graduating high school I was the rebel child who chose to study the recording arts while my sister was the obedient child who took the medical route and graduated at Cal State Long Beach. Growing up, I hated being told what to do. It felt thrilling to take the path less traveled as I believed that music was my calling and not a 4 year university into a tech job. Not that anything is wrong with committing 4+ years to schooling that might land you a job after graduation, I would just rather be my own boss. My entrepreneurial spirit forces me to be my own boss and take risks whether it’s approaching people to make conversations or building on my own brand. Taking risks can cause feelings of anxiety and stress especially when the outcome could be rejection. Few people will actually care unfortunately or barely try to understand who you are in this busy, constantly moving cycle of life so let your presence be known by being truly yourself! On the days that I’m not working on projects or creating new music, I am in the gym doing cardio to burn calories and achieve the same level of serotonin that taking risks gives me.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have been interning at 2 different studios in Hollywood all while absorbing the vibes and picking up tricks since these past 2 years. These experiences allowed me to level up in my music creation and I couldn’t have gotten to where I was now if it weren’t for the amazing interns, team managers, and music producers that I have met in person. Don’t sleep on the interns! As of Summer 2024, I’m launching a beatstars website where anyone can purchase my beats and loops!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I believe that having the quality of friendliness allows you to have more opportunities and the skill of being able to read the room in a creative environment allows you to keep up with people who have been doing it longer than you. Finally, the area of knowledge in a Digital Audio Workstation, like Pro Tools (widely used in the music industry) will allow a person to get into studio doors as an intern and eventually work their way up to an assistant engineer. My advice to folks who are early in their musical journey is to invest in any of the M1/2/3-series Apple silicon Macs and purchase a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) like Logic Pro, Ableton Live or FL Studio; many retailers offer free trials. In today’s music industry, being able to work from home is just as important as investing into an expensive studio space.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

The book that has played the most important role in my development so far has to be Get Repped In Sync: The Music Licensing Agency Handbook For Indie Artists by John Clinebell and Sonnet Simmons. The book dives into the opportunity of sync by explaining how music gets placed and how sync agencies can help by repping your music while also sharing tips and tricks on how to pitch. I like their advice on building an artist bio, visuals, and sound. Basically become the full package that you have to offer so these sync agencies may have a higher chance to call back. “Brands and networks love adding active artists to their projects because there’s more potential for cross promotion and organic engagement when there’s a “real artist” with a following involved.” says John & Sonnet.

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Image Credits

Aaron SABI Concepcion, Leyna Nguyen

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