Meet Scott Slater

We recently connected with Scott Slater and have shared our conversation below.

Scott, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

This question immediately brings to mind a memory from college at Drew University. I’ve always been somewhat of a shy type–I’m not necessarily the kind of person to approach someone in a bar, or to just insert myself into conversations at social gatherings. But that said, I do crave social connection so I often find myself walking that thin line between two parts of my personality.

When I got to college, I did a few things that were very much outside of my comfort zone. One was to join the Ultimate team (mind you, I had never played any organized sports in high school). A second thing I did was to (successfully!) try out for Drew University’s improv comedy group, which was known as “Improvability” at the time.

Perhaps most importantly, I also applied to be a part of the Orientation Committee, a student-run organization tasked with welcoming incoming freshmen, making them feel comfortable, and preparing them for life in a university. This was a perfect role for me because approaching and starting conversations with incoming students was an important part of the “job description”. Our adviser was a man by the name of Tullio Nieman. At one point he sat the ten of us Orientation Committee members down and told each of us what we brought to the table and why we were invaluable, and I’ll never forget it. When he came to me he said, “Scott, you’re the kind of person that is rarely found in the center of the room vying for attention. But what you’ll also find is that wherever you are eventually BECOMES the center of the room.”

So many things clicked in my mind upon hearing that. It can seem as if we’re always expected to conform to some sort of agreed-upon standard of behavior; of likes and interests, ways of thinking and dressing and presenting ourselves. I genuinely think that a lot of what we experience as a lack of confidence and self-esteem is actually just running into difficulty conforming to these standards. When I learned that there is magic in being exactly who you are and dropping the need to conform, then confidence and self-esteem invariably followed.

Sometimes it can be hard to “be yourself” and to “let your freak flag fly” as it were. But there is peace to be found in the realization that it is almost always harder to do the opposite.

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?

I have always felt the calling of life surrounded by music. I have taught myself to play multiple instruments like piano/keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, harmonica, ukulele, mandolin and more. My background in tech has led me to the world of music production as well.

After a very long detour into the world of software development, I’m steering this ship back into the world of music and sound design. I have several albums out there in the music streaming world with an artist named Michelle Hotaling (we also released a Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks tribute album called “Crystal Revisions” under the moniker of “Mirabelle”). Most recently I have been co-creating a musical called “Fable” (https://www.youtube.com/@fable_musical) in which I play all of the instruments on all of the soundtrack, and I am currently ramping up my own recording and production studio called “Quantum Sheep Studio”.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Somewhere along the way, I formulated an ideaology about dreams that has become very important to me. I’m not talking about the kind of dreams you have while asleep (although those are often certainly a part of it), but rather, the dreams you have while awake. The “what would you do if money was no object” kind of dreams. There are reasons why people on this earth have different loves and interests, be it art or accounting or architecture or business or finance or music. I do believe in some way that we truly are “the universe experiencing itself” and if everyone in the universe was an accountant, or a musician, or a CPA, or a nutritionist, then that would be a rather incomplete experience. If you find that you love movies and spend all of your time thinking about movies and setbuilding and costumes and direction then that is your cue that THAT is what you are meant to experience (or rather, what the universe desires to experience through you).

I have learned, perhaps the hard way, that getting a “sensible” job and doing what is expected of you by society when you have other dreams and desires is kind of like spending a life swimming upstream. It’s exhausting. There’s a flow out there that, once you find it and follow it, makes the whole journey that much smoother. This is not to say that there won’t be challenges and trials and tribulations. But if you’re going to face challenges and trials and tribulations regardless, I think it’s much better to work through them in a life that feeds your soul, as opposed to the alternative.

On a more practical level, use algorithms to your advantage. If you want to learn more about music production, one great way to do that is to start watching videos about it on YouTube (or TikTok or Instagram, etc.). Before long your feed will be packed with videos about music production. How inspiring!

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I am always looking for collaborators of all sorts. Want to write music together? Excellent. Want to rent/buy and renovate a music studio? I love it. Want to create an immersive program that attracts like-minded people to travel to amazing locales to spend a week learning about music production? Let’s go for it. Are you a songwriter and you need a guitar part (or a drum part or a bass part or…) for your song? I’d love to help.

All that said, I can be reached at [email protected].

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slaterama
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slaterama/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fable_musical

Image Credits

Scott Slater, Josh DeAmara, Gregory Fisher