Meet Tim Johnson

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tim Johnson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tim below.

Tim , so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

For me as a producer I feel like we have to maintain a certain level of creativity that other people don’t realize.

A lot of times people get caught up in the sound, but they don’t know what level of creativity it took to get there, especially without having any prior knowledge.

Personally, I pull from all points of view, all walks of life. I feel like God put me on earth to teach, but to also be a listener and observe the way other people do things to take and turn into some form of understanding or teaching. I use my creativity as a way to help people keep their mind away from certain things.

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

Growing up I was never dealt the best hand at life. Me, my mother, and my sister stayed in a one floor house with the worst plumbing you could ask for. Often times I would wake up and the hallway would be flooded, and I would have to walk around the house in my sneakers.

At the age of six my mother gave me the opportunity to join an African drum group in Fort Wayne, where I was born and raised. Once I joined the group I never knew the impact it would have on me as I grew older. I learned how to be a leader, how to be teachable, how to learn on the fly, and multiple other skills, and ideas I could use to help me in life. My love for music started right there in the middle of downtown on Friday nights, and Saturday mornings/afternoon. When I turned 12, myself, a few of the adults, and the experienced band members took a trip to Guinea, West Africa, and during that trip is when I learned that I wasn’t a kid anymore. During those three weeks I seen a side of myself, as a kid at the time, as someone who was very strong willed based off of his surroundings. I could finally be a kid! It was short lived, because we were only there for three weeks, but the bonds we created helped us grow so much closer to each other, the culture of our people, and just the overall camaraderie of community.

Fast forward to 2016, and I am currently getting ready to drop out of college!!! College for me was so hard, because I didn’t really have much of a support system so I turned to music. My dorm mate, and I lived across the hall from some guys from Chicago. Me being the person I am, I wanted to make some friends, so I would go over, and kick it with them, maybe do some college activities, but one thing that was always being done was music. We made music for hours and hours on end, and honestly it started to become second nature for me. The first conversation my first ever producer and I had was that if I wanted to make music, then I needed to write, and write with substance. So spring break came, and once I got back I decided I wouldn’t go back to class anymore. We spent all day, everyday making music. Hooks, beats, verses, remixing songs, just doing it because of the love. After the semester ended I ultimately came home, and started my own journey as an artist. I locked in with my then future business partner who at the time was just my audio engineer.

Through 2016-2022 I got married, had two kids, and got divorce all in that time, and during the time I took the opportunity to learn how to produce my own music in 2020, to also learning how to engineer my own music in 2021, and then ultimately taking the responsibility to do it on my own, and take the leap of faith to make it a freelance business to start out. In the beginning stages everything was slow, and most times it still is, but back five years ago I didn’t have the same respect that I do now. Struggling to obtain clients, because they had already built their relationship with another producer or engineer.

Between 2022-2025 I bounced between studios. The main I worked out of was Successful Musik Studios owned by Taylor Zank. I was his first in-house engineer, and during that time I didn’t have much opportunity to use the studio, because his client book is hefty, but I did learn how to deal with people in studio sessions, what to look for in an artists, and what’s worth my time. I also had a stint at KYDA as their in-house producer, but our particular ideas didn’t align.

Now as of March 2025 I am running my studio at home for my main clients, and for any other clients I have them send me over any work they want done, and I’ll attach my invoice to it, and move on. For the clients that come to me personally for all of their work, they get a little more of a special treatment, because they’re counting on me to handle all the sonic responsibilities. Those clients hold a special place in my heart, because they allow for me to be a creative, and a producer. Being an artist is fun, its less work, and its also you being in the forefront, but as a producer/engineer you have the chance to put people in a world to see, and hear these sounds, and vocal inflictions, moving vocals from one ear to the next, and allowing the experience to be three-dimensional. Im so grateful for my gifts, and them becoming so vital to my creative nourishment. I’ll never take it for granted

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?

The three qualities that most impacted me in my life to this point would be:
#1; Listen more than you speak
$2: Focus on your plate of food
#3: No one is going to help you

Those three lessons helped me understand how cruel life is. Sadly enough we live in a world that doesn’t allow us to safely be ourselves a lot of times, and I think becoming the type of person that will listen more than they speak, that has given me the chance to think first, but also to evaluate first. When I was a kid my mom would tell me to mind my business a lot, and as I grew I understood why, because you can’t accomplish anything looking at someone’s else’s plate. Lastly, understanding that no one is gonna help you was something I learned early, because my mother was diagnosed with cancer a month before I turned 10, so imagine a 10 year old getting home from school, and you have to do your homework, wash the dishes, while taking care of your mother, and you have to figure out how to cook something (which most times would be top ramen)

For people who are just beginning on their journey, whatever it may be. No matter what you do, or how much you fail, keep going. There are people watching you in places you can’t even see, so please don’t stop, it’s someone out here that needs to see, hear, feel your creations. The only way to improve is to continue to put in the work, and push through the doubt. As a creative we often leave room for doubt, and doubt understand that the more we work on it the better we get.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me, honestly, was believe in me no matter what it is. My mom has two minor, and a bachelors degree, so seeing her go through that put a fire in me. She always encouraged me to push through, and be a leader of confidence, and constantly tell myself “yes”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: officially2ez
• Facebook: Teezy Johnson
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWO24UqIi3zV27SBppjj_rw
• Other: https://linktr.ee/Teezy2ez?utm_source=linktree_admin_share

Image Credits

Photo Credits: Kelsey Martin