We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Camilo Velandia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Camilo below.
Camilo, 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?
As someone who makes a living out of creating, my clients expect a certain standard of artistic creativity, usually within a quick turn around. From time to time I have found this to be a challenge, so I have come up with a few ways to keep sparking creativity into what I do.
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?
My name is Camilo Velandia. I am a guitarist and record producer from Bogota, Colombia, living in Florida since 1999. As a musician and a sideman, I have toured in over 45 countries over the past 13 years, and have performed with artists such as Julio Iglesias, Luis Fonsi, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Secada, Camila Cabello, Julio Iglesias Jr, Jon Secada, and many more. I am a Latin Grammy winner for an album I arranged and recorded in 2020, as well as having worked on several Latin Grammy winning albums. I currently make my living recording music, producing music, and performing live.
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?
I have been working in the South Florida music industry for over 13 years, and have always noticed some very important qualities in the musicians that continue to get call backs for important and well paid gigs and sessions. I have made it a point to keep those qualities myself to ensure that the artists/producers/managers that hire me, always call me back.. One very important quality, is showing up prepared. It is a very bad habit for musicians to show up to rehearsals and gigs without having learned the material. I always make it a point to show up prepared, even if it means I have to get four hours of sleep because I’m learning the music the night before. I have seen musicians get blacklisted because they don’t learn material, or don’t show up ready. Another important skill, is knowing your role in a particular work situation. If I am a producer, what is my role? If I am a musician, what is my role? If I am a soloist what is my role? In every musical situation I am in, I am always working with other people. Everyone has a role, and a very important part of each role, is not to step on someone else’s toes. Most of the time as a musician, I am hired to be a supportive instrument. My job is to make the artist look and sound good. As a producer, my job is to understand the artist’s idea, and carry it out through a complex process, while still keeping the integrity of what the artist wanted since the inception of this idea. A third, and incredibly important quality, is to be a good hang. You need to be someone that people like to be around. Recording, playing shows, live touring…. all of these different scenarios require you to be with a group of people for sometimes days, and being a likable person will always guarantee that people will want to work with you.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
Fortunately for me, I have maintained a very busy work schedule, and very often I am overwhelmed with work, both in quantity, and in expected quality, all usually with a requested short turn around, and all while trying to be creative. I am often exhausted when I am working on people’s music, and I am still expected to keep a standard of quality, and inspiration to keep getting a call back. I find it very important to be constantly trying to discover new inspiring music. I REALLY, purposely look for music. I drive a lot, and use driving as a sacred time to study, to listen, to discover new music. I find that this keeps my ears fresh, looking for new ideas, looking for new sounds, and trying to avoid repeating myself. In a way, working a lot helps develop a certain amount of endurance and perseverance, to where even if I’m tired, I am able to judge if what I am recording or playing is good enough and inspiring me. If I don’t like it, or if it doesn’t hold up to a certain standard, then I know the artist won’t “feel” it when they hear it, so I sometimes spend long hours on really small details, but I find it very necessary to have those moments of “studying” to listen and discover new material that may inspire me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.camilovelandia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camilovelandiamusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camilovelandiaguitarist
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/camilovelandiamusic
Image Credits
Siufer Velandia, EI Photography
