Conversations with Jake Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Smith.

Hi Jake, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, and developed a passion for music late in high school. My dad got a Macbook computer from his work when I was in 5th grade, and I started using it and recording videos and editing them in iMovie. I had a cousin who was in high school at the time and he was designing and printing t-shirts with Adobe Illustrator for a class at school.

I was taking all of that in too. So when I got older, I got to take similar classes in high school, and I learned everything from graphic design to video editing and eventually, I found music production on my own. I was always intrigued by computers and was always encouraged to draw, write, and read by my parents. As I grew older and learned more about songwriting and music production I saw how all of these things could be made easier by the computer. I always say the computer was my first instrument when people ask me about how I got started in music.

But I am grateful to have found all of my other creative mediums first because they have opened the door for me to be pretty self-sufficient as an artist and small label owner. I make all my logos, T-shirt Designs, and posters and also make my album art and occasionally make art for friends and other artists. My faith has been a part of my story from very early on and has been the thing that has given me the self-confidence I’ve needed to do all of these things, and fail at them from time to time, but continue getting back up again. Without my faith, I think I would’ve chosen something easier by now.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Since graduating from Belmont, I’ve gone through lots of changes. In college I mostly focused on gigging with my band “Legit Smitty” and a few other friends’ bands. I was also booking shows for friends and helping them put out music through my indie label “Holy Moly Records.” I studied audio engineering technology and had earned my bachelor of science by August of 2022. And I knew I was gonna have to start making a living eventually. So I threw myself into producing friends’ projects and was fortunate to have it snowball quite a bit. 2023 has been my first full year freelancing as a producer here in Nashville. I’ve produced five projects for myself now, and several singles. And I did two EPs about 12 or so singles for various new friends and clients. I was blessed to have all that work this year.

In terms of the lowest of lows. Unfortunately, this summer my entire family was involved in a very serious car accident in Hawaii. My sister was in the ICU for weeks and almost didn’t survive. She was airlifted to Queens Medical Center on Oahu with a C1 vertebral fracture and a brain injury. It’s been 4 months since our accident and 8 weeks since our return home. In that time, we’ve seen Bekah make miraculous progress physically and cognitively. But we’ve seen her slowly decline emotionally. It is going to be a continual journey as she recovers physically and emotionally from her brain injury and her neck injury.

Fortunately, my family encouraged me quickly after the accident to get back to my new clients and their projects and my projects. Bekah’s healing was going to take time. And they have been very generous about flying me back home whenever possible, to be present with the family.

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?
Through my recording project “Legit Smitty” I record and release mostly Alternative Rock and Alternative Folk. Most folks who choose to work with me and have me record their music, are familiar with my solo music and want to capture a similar vibe. Which is flattering. I’m known for capturing emotion, helping artists “cut the fat” out of their writing, and for making cool and weird production choices. People are often asking me to do more of the “weird noise stuff.” For their recordings or in their live bands. I’m generally the “weird cool sounds guy.”

Recently, I’m most proud of my work with my friend Maddie’s project “Mercury.” She just signed to Big Loud Rock, and I’m grateful to have been able to work on her project and just truly believe in everything we have done together. And I hope I get to continue recording with her for a long time. It’s just really honest and gripping music. And it’s grungey and rough around the edges. Which is my favorite kind of thing to make and be a part of. Honest and rough around the edges – that’s my favorite kind of art and music.

And I think that’s also what sets me apart. I have a dedication to being real, and not stopping until we get the best that we can. I also try not to work on projects that I don’t truly believe I can do justice to. If someone asks me to make music that’s not in my genre wheelhouse, I try and point them toward a friend who could probably help them better. I’m simply trying to monetize my lifestyle of creating and being in community with creatives. Because I have to, to eat and pay rent. Also, the hope is that if I work on stuff I believe in, then it will snowball into getting to work on more stuff in the same vein, and I’ll get to establish my name as the “grunge, alt-rock, folk guy”. I wouldn’t mind diverging from that eventually. But I think it’s my favorite and my biggest interest right now.

I just try to love well at the center of everything I do. That means doing my best work, and just talking to my artists when they need to talk, giving them lots of revisions, and letting them express all their qualms and questions about the tracks. I try to also teach the process. If all my artists can be better recorders themselves, then they can come to me with better demos, and we can all make better art and music together. I record my clients but I also try and teach them why we are choosing a particular microphone, and why we are placing it in a particular spot on the instrument, and so forth. I try not to gatekeep what I know. Because I love learning.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love that I can go see my favorite little bands play at really cool venues, with good sound systems. Lots of touring acts that are cool openers come through here all the time. I could go to a show and see a really good band 2 or 3 nights a week. And I do a lot of the time.

I love Portland Brew East and sitting outside and eating my plain bagel with cream cheese and drinking my coffee on a Saturday morning. I love running into lovely people there who sing beautiful songs make beautiful recordings, and read great books. I love Cornelia Air Park, Shelby Bottoms, Sevier Park, and Radnor Lake.

I guess that also leads me to what I like least. The constant development and building and tearing down of buildings is kind of annoying. I’m from a small town where a lot of things generally stay the same. There are a lot more trees still standing where I’m from. I kind of hate the big city, but was ok with it when I initially moved here because of how green the Belmont campus is. Now, I’ve been off campus for a few years and I’ve rented places with decent-sized backyards. Because that’s how I can try and get my daily nature fix. Just stepping out on the back porch is important to me. I got to be outside and in the woods and near water a lot as a kid, and now anywhere I go in Nashville except Radnor, I feel like I can hear the interstate if I listen for it.

There are lots of beautiful awesome people here. But that can also make you feel like you are not that important. People can come and go pretty regularly in the music scene. Whether they are moving or going out on tour, it kinda sucks to not have the same people always present. Also, there are just too many bands to go see sometimes. And sometimes you just gotta be honest and recognize some people’s bands suck and that not everyone is gonna make it. I think some people feel like they HAVE to have a project or a band just because they live here.

And that is what’s going to give them value and worth here. Which sucks. I do value my friends in bands. But I also am trying to get better at loving my friends and making friends with folks who are more than just attendees. we need this person. Just because they don’t have “output” doesn’t make them less valuable. I’d rather have more people to just hang out and be real and human with than have a bunch more shows to go to where the music isn’t that great. Ha.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.legitsmitty.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legit.smitty/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2nIeG5-yaSuwKoucf_-V0Q