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In this episode, I have an in-depth conversation with the songwriter, composer, and independent music entrepreneur Emma Wallace.

Emma Wallace has a dozen albums, EPs, and singles to her credit, including her latest, Immortal (available August 31, 2018).

With over a decade of hard-fought experience building a career that supports a family of four through her music, Emma’s got a lot to share about how to be a committed, steadfast, positivity-focused independent creator in the face of professional, personal, and financial challenges.

No matter your creative endeavor, you’ll find a lot of inspiration in her story.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

Here are some of the things I talk about with Emma Wallace in this episode, including a few links to sites with which I have an affiliate relationship. I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase products through those links. It’s a lovely way to show your support for Sonitotum!

• Find out more about Emma Wallace at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.
• Listen to Emma Wallace on Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music, Amazon Prime Music, or anywhere music is streamed.
• Buy Emma Wallace music on iTunes, Amazon.com, Google Play Music, or anywhere else you can purchase music downloads.
• There’s a piece of new music in this episode, heard right at the beginning and end of the interview. This “bumper” music is a little tune called “Gwinton.”  It’s built around a bassline I cooked up while playing with my new Behringer U-Phoria UMC202HD audio interface. The drums, percussion, and guitar are samples and loops found in Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio; the bass guitar is played by your host.
• Emma mentions the song “Nature Boy,” which includes the lyric, “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn | Is just to love and be loved in return.” Nat “King” Cole made the song famous first, but this Kurt Elling rendition is definitive to me.
• Emma and I met when we both worked at Borders Books and Music in Pasadena, California, ten thousand million years ago.
• James Raymond is a Los Angeles-based producer, performer, and songwriter.
• CDBaby is perhaps the oldest online distributor of digital and tangible music. I used to be a customer! Wait, holy crap, you can still buy my stuff there! Emma’s, too!
• “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” is all about the DIY, can-do, up-against-it attitude exemplified by Mickey Rooney’s gumption in Babes In Arms. If you have a basement, a closet, a spare room, a garage… you can and should make your thing.
• Emma Wallace talks about the importance of gratitude. I wrote about how gratitude can make you a better creator and a better person.
• The Cult of Done has a manifesto you just might want to print out and put where ever you do your creative work… and maybe where you do everything but create, too!
• Michael Rosenbaum‘s podcast is Inside of You. Listen!
• Get a taste of Immortal, the album from Emma Wallace released on August 31, 2018 in this video for her song “Done.”

You’re Only Hearing Two Thirds of This Episode!

If you’re not one of my patrons, you’re missing out on over half an hour of material not heard in the public edition of this episode!

My patrons get exclusive, early access to the uncut / unexpurgated version of Sonitotum a few days before it goes out to the rest of the world. Their version of this episode has thirty four more minutes of episode, including a whole lot more with Emma Wallace. Don’t miss out!

You can get early access to the unedited edition of every episode of Sonitotum for about the same as 250 bendy drinking straws will cost you at Bed, Bath, and Beyond every month. Plus the free Sonitotum theme song (“Anastasia”) and bumper music (“Gwinton”), and whole lot of other stuff. Click here to learn more about becoming a patron of Sonitotum and my other creative endeavors.

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Be A Guest on Sonitotum

I’m always interested in talking to independent creators willing to have a transparent, in-depth, unguarded conversation about making stuff, finding success as you define it, and staying healthy and sane in the process.

Fill out this form, and when you do, select “Sonitotum Podcast Guest Inquiry” as your contact category.

Let’s talk!

Making the Episode

Every episode of Sonitotum takes hours and hours, and long interview episodes like this take hours and hours and hours — like, twelve, I think, but I actually stopped counting — to record, edit, and produce, including writing these show notes and creating the graphics and social media assets.

Equipment and Software

For those who are interested (folks sometimes ask), here’s what I used (and use) to make this episode. I have affiliate arrangements with some of these products and services. If you make a purchase when you click through using my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a great way to help support the podcast… so thank you!

• Aurycle a460 large diaphragm studio condenser microphone
• Zoom R16 Recorder:Interface:Controller (digital multitrack recorder)
• Akai Professional MPD218 (MIDI drum pad controller for performing drum parts of “Anastasia”)
• Behringer U-Phoria UMC202HD (audio interface for directly connecting microphones and musical instruments to a computer)
• Sennheiser HD 202 headphones
• Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio (digital audio workstation / music creation software — used when recording and producing “Anastasia” and “Gwinton”)
• Adobe Audition CC (digital audio workstation for recording, editing, and producing audio — used to mix and produce the podcast)
• Zencast.fm (podcast media file hosting and distribution service)

What Did You Think of My Conversation With Emma Wallace?

Emma Wallace was the first, but far from the last, interview guest you’ll hear on Sonitotum. What did you think of our talk? Do you have any questions for Emma?  Let’s hear from you in the comments!