Meet Nick Norton

 

We recently connected with Nick Norton and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Nick with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

Before I can answer that accurately, we have to talk about the idea of a “work ethic” in the first place, specifically paying attention to the word “ethic.” We’re generally raised to believe that hard work is a virtue in and of itself. It’s not. That idea came out of the beginnings of the industrial revolution in England. As mechanization made jobs easier, Puritans basically didn’t want their young people to have free time for partying and getting out of line, which, to me, is a much better use of time. The rise of capital and consumerism didn’t help much throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as it’s easy to convince people that they need more money (or to “work harder”) when you systematically exploit their labor to sell things they make back to them at a premium, and when there are more than enough resources—in a country like the US—for all of its citizens to be treated with basic dignity and quality living conditions whether they work hard or not. With the wealth we have here, no one should be required to work to survive. Period.

Unfortunately, things aren’t like that. I was raised by a single mother working a good job, and we had limited means. She had, and has, a great work ethic in the traditional sense, because going corporate was driven by purpose for her—the purpose of supporting a kid. We weren’t super poor or anything, but I wondered why other kids at school seemed to have infinite money compared to us, with their parents seeming to work half as hard. I was already interested in anarchist philosophy from being in the punk scene, and when I first read about wage slavery a lot of things clicked for me.

Early in college I was working for a music producer who said, “if your income is based on the amount of work you do, you will never get ahead in this country.” The hours my mom—and countless workers across our country—put in without receiving any upward mobility in return squared with this bit of wisdom. I also met a well-to-do salesperson who, when I asked what he did, said, “as little as possible.” It struck me that if you’re employed by a chemical weapons factory, then working as little as possible and doing a bad job is actually good for the world. If having a “strong work ethic” can lead to people suffering and dying, then in what universe is a strong work ethic possibly a good thing in and of itself? It’s more important to have a strong and altruistic ethic in general, and to perform work in service of it.

In this light, and in practice, my system is to determine if the work I’m going to undertake is either actively useful to the world or enjoyable to me before choosing to undertake it, or if I’m broke enough or there’s a good enough tradeoff to make it worth sacrificing my time for something I don’t wholly believe in. Regarding being useful to the world, I’m not necessarily talking about solving world hunger here—making art and entertainment for people is, to me, a worthwhile and important pursuit, because I don’t totally see the point of being alive if you’re not enjoying it a bit. I’m okay with less money if it means a happier life.

This all sounds very fancy and formal, but it comes down to a pretty simple formula a friend gave me: “good people, good work, good money: if it’s got two, say yes.” Also, if the vibes are off, bail. The funny thing about all this is that I’m actually known for working my ass off for projects, but that doesn’t feel like work to me. It’s just doing things I enjoy, or things that fulfill me because I believe they are necessary.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I try to use sound to make the world a better place. In practice, this means I’m a composer, often a concert producer or sound engineer, often a sound and music editor for film and TV, and often a teacher. All of these activities feel like pursuing the same mission, using pretty much the same skill set. If I’m playing or producing a concert, it’s providing enjoyment or catharsis or community for whomever shows up. When I release tracks, I usually give the income to one charity or another, and even when I don’t, the fact that someone somewhere might get something out of them means a lot to me. If I’m music editing a movie, or mixing a record, I’m (ideally) enabling an artist to make what they want to make. If I’m dialogue editing a reality TV show, it might mean someone depressed on a couch somewhere has something to distract them. It’s all about trying to do good.

The big thing to talk about is my album Music For Sunsets, which came out in 2023 on people places records. It’s vintage instrumental synth stuff with a lot of field recordings and studio trickery, but also a very personal record, largely dealing with my recovery from a serious mental health diagnosis in the middle of a total life breakdown in 2020. I’m amazed I ever finished it, and now two follow-ups are underway.

It’s probably worth mentioning that since everyone in Hollywood has been unemployed since last year—thanks a lot, AMPTP—that lately I’ve been doing a lot more record mixing and live engineering. It’s very fun. People can hit me up for that at nicknorton.space.

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?

Three things have really had a huge impact on my journey, and none of them are music-specific. One is that I’m a very curious person. I’m always up to try something new, and I like figuring out how things work. I read a lot, and I try to talk with new people regularly. I’ve always sought out mentors to learn from, and continue to as my career advances. This has helped me develop a pretty wide range of skills and interests, as well as the ability to function well in a variety of different situations, which has in turn opened up more opportunities.

Another is that I’m very pragmatic. I’m not attached to the way I want to do things, and am happy to adjust my thinking and processes as new information and technology becomes available. It’s cool to be wrong and make mistakes, because you can then learn something new and improve. Pragmatism takes practice, because it’s tough to disconnect your sense of self from your sense of being correct, but if there’s a better way to accomplish something, I’d prefer to do it that way.

The third thing, and I’d be remiss not to mention this, is that I’m a white cishet male from a middle class area. US society is consciously designed to make things easy for me. I’m not saying things are always easy, and I’ve certainly had struggles, but I have also had the opportunity to go to good schools, and to travel, and to work in the way that I see fit. I haven’t had to worry about being systematically or casually oppressed for my gender, race, or sexuality. I’ve never been without a roof over my head, never had the state tell me what I could or could not do with my body, and certainly never been shot at while going out in search of food. Everything I said before regarding my opinions about work is impossible to implement when you’re being abused or starving, and enormous numbers of people have to deal with those sorts of struggles.

Recognizing that comparatively speaking I’m privileged beyond most of humanity has given me the perspective necessary to appreciate whatever it is I happen to be doing, even when things are not going well. I can always choose to quit, and not everybody can. I thus feel as though I owe it to humanity to try to uplift others, and to help people in less privileged social groups access more comfortable lives for themselves as much as I can. I just happen to have more experience with music than I do with other skills, so I try to use what I’m good at to do good.

As for advice? Be open to learning and help people out as often as you can. The rest will probably work itself out.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

The absurd amount of cognitive dissonance one has to accept in order to function day-to-day in 2024 is an ongoing challenge. It’s tough knowing that your morning coffee is contributing to a war machine. At least I’m not alone on this one. I’m also having a bit of trouble with scheduling some string players for a concert I have coming up, but I’m sure we’ll get that sorted.

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