Conversations with Lucas Arens

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucas Arens.

Hi Lucas, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
So glad to be here. Thanks for having me!

I can look back at my past and see many, many times I was inspired to start a life filled with music. However, the main one was an evening running around my parent’s basement in my underwear (I was probably under ten years old) while my dad played his high school’s fight song on his trumpet. I remember being so enamored by the sound of his air pushing thru the tube of brass. I don’t know if I was able to make a sound myself but that moment has always stuck with me and led me to try out the trumpet when I reached the fifth grade. I can always recall the sound of my mom humming as she did various tasks around the house as well as the countless times she sat down at our upright piano and played a few tunes, sometimes letting me join in (I had no idea what I was doing).

I joined the band and continued growing my obsession through middle school and into high school. My dad had gifted me that very same trumpet and I ended up playing it at the same high school he went to [Pattonville High School in Maryland Heights, MO – a part of St. Louis)! Throughout my high school experience, I joined every band I could. That included the concert band, jazz ensemble, jazz band, jazz combos, musical pit orchestra, and many more. I ended up making the All-State Jazz Band my senior year and I think that moment made me realize how serious this career path was for me.

I picked up a few other instruments along the way, including piano, trombone, and guitar, and even sang a few songs with the choir. A few of my best friends and I started a rock band and played after school as much as we could. We went through our emo stage and even took a stab at playing [what we thought was] metal. I credit those experiences as my first with songwriting in a collaborative manner. During that time, I was also introducing myself to digital recording. My family had a PC and I probably opened up “voice recorder” at some point in my early teens. The first time I remember “producing” audio was when I would record myself counting to ten, reverse it, try to learn how to speak all of what I said in reverse, re-recording that, then reverse it to see how close I could get it to sound like I was speaking normally. To be honest, I got pretty good at speaking in reverse, haha… I soon downloaded torrents to install Fruity Loops, Sony Acid Pro, Audacity, etc. and further delved into my journey with chopping, screwing, and a LOT of distorting the audio.

I had the loving support of my family, amazing teachers, and insane friends by the end of high school, and at that point, there was no looking back. I went through a bunch of school interviews and auditions and ended up becoming a student at Webster University after having some great interactions with their faculty. My time at this school brought me a bunch of technical knowledge but was even more valuable for me in the connections I was able to make. I met some of my best friends at that school and still talk and work with most of them regularly to this day.

Halfway through my time at Webster, I got an internship at Shock City Studios, one of the few large-format recording studios in St. Louis. I never thought I’d get to walk into a place like that, let alone WORK there. During my internship, I was introduced to the biggest influence on my career, Tony Esterly. At the time, he was working as the chief engineer at the studio. Over time, I watched, then helped, him run sessions, interact with clients, mix songs, deal with money, play instruments, and produce every single artist that walked through the doors. The studio owner, Doug Firley (of Gravity Kills) eventually noticed that I never left the studio and offered me a staff engineer position the day I was graduating from college.

Thus began my professional career in audio and music. I was getting paid to record bands and make songs! It was my dream come true. Over the next seven years, I got to work with artists and styles of music spanning every genre you could think of. Sometimes it was their first time in the studio and for others it was their 500th, Via Tony’s mentorship and the act of sitting in that chair for hours on end, I was able to develop so many skills that I would have never acquired if it wasn’t for the real world experience.

In 2013, Tony left St. Louis for Nashville. He had been making short trips over the previous year or so and was starting to get in even deeper than he was before. Flash-forward to 2016 and 2017 when Tony finally convinced me to make the move to Nashville after telling me about how he was able to produce a full record for a new artist and that another song he produced landed in a Call of Duty trailer! Looking back, I almost wish I could have made it down to Nashville sooner but I know my time in St. Louis helped craft and hone my skills into what they are today and made me ready to take on a whole new way of working in Nashville.

Luckily, Tony and a few other friends I had before I moved here (Lydia Vaughan, Stephen Ellrod, Brett & Brigetta Truitt, to name a few) helped introduce me to the world of songwriting and publishing and I was able to sign my first publishing deal by 2018: a joint-venture between Downtown Music Publishing and Tony’s company, Pray For My Haters.

Since then, I’ve grown so much as a producer, writer, and mixer and am lucky enough to have built a quality home studio where I get to work every day. Downtown and PFMH landed me my first syncs, I got my first cuts, and so many of the songs I was a part of began to see the light of day and be heard by people across the world. To say I’m extremely lucky to be where I am doesn’t even hit the tip of the iceberg. Hard work, determination, and the help and kindness of my peers and teachers turned my life into something I never thought it would be…

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing’s great without a little struggle, right? Haha. The crazy thing about working in such a creative field is that nothing is “right” and nothing is “wrong.” Usually, when I like something I’ve made no one else seems to care. And then I make something that I can’t stand to listen to after it’s finished and everyone else loves it! To me, that’s one of the hardest things in this industry that I struggle with daily.

On top of that, I still wake up every morning wondering how I could create something new today. I’ve played these notes, used these chords, and layered a synth over a guitar… it’s wild how endless the possibilities are yet it still feels like there are no options left.

On top of the creative parts, it’s still a job. You have to make money to stay afloat. Even though I’d still do this every day for free there’s no way my bank and mortgage lender would like that. The constant struggle of creativity vs. ‘will this make money’ seems to be never-ending and feels like a situation that you always have to give and take from each.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My main focus daily is centered around music production. I am usually sitting in a chair behind a computer and speakers playing synths, guitars, trumpets, or a handful of other instruments to create the backing track to what a vocalist would sing over. 3-4 days a week I have an artist and songwriter in my studio and we start from scratch trying to create a new piece of music.

A lot of time that is focused on the pop arena (including EDM, Hip-hop, R&B, etc.), and other times I write specifically for Film, TV, and commercial advertisements. It’s cool to see the music you create released on Spotify and hear it on the radio just as much as hearing something you produced paired with an amazing visual in a movie trailer or television commercial.

I think my main specialty is the ability to hop from one day making a hip-hop track to the next day orchestrating a bunch of strings and horns for an epic trailer. I love this job because every day is so different and there are so many genres and uses to explore. I hope every time a new artist/writer comes into my studio they feel welcomed and know that I am willing to travel in any direction that they’d like. I guess you could call me flexible in a creative sense.

I’m proud of everything I get to create, even on the days when I don’t think it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I always want to go in and out of a creative session on a positive note and truly enjoy creating. It’s the best.

I feel like I’m most known for pop production and my contributions to the sync world. I’ve had quite a few songs land on commercials for Apple or Target, ads for All-State and Whiteclaw, networks like ESPN, Fox Sports, and NBC, trailers for Disney movies, promos for HBO and Paramount, and TV shows like 9-1-1, Lucifer, All-American, and Grey’s Anatomy. I feel truly lucky that my resume has been able to grow as much as it has over the last 5 years.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I met my mentor, Tony Esterly, simply by obtaining an internship at a recording studio called Shock City Studios while I was in college. I started as any intern does. I helped set up microphones for sessions, make coffee for clients, and even clean the bathrooms! Soon enough I was able to build up a trust with Tony and the rest of the studio and was able to begin working as a staff engineer. That eventually led me to Nashville after Tony moved there and told me about all of the awesome stuff he was getting to do…

My best advice for finding a mentor and networking is simply to show up and be yourself. If you’re passionate about it everyone else will see. If you are present and kind then everyone else will respect you. Then, as you develop those relationships, all that’s left is the sharing of knowledge and furthering your education on the subject. Luckily, I only had to have one internship to get started on my professional journey. I have a few friends that went through a handful before their journey moved to the next step. The path is different for everyone but everyone can show up.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lucasarens.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucasarens/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/26wpBMiPlEH9BsggXFLC2c?si=3a818da3483c4f47