Unlike other careers people choose, the music industry is one of the strangest anyone does. Although nothing is guaranteed in life, the path to become a doctor, engineer, accountant, etc., has been traveled by many before and is a reasonably safe journey. When you enter the music industry, there is no path. You only have a vague map to your destination, whatever tools you have with you, and off you go. When you talk to others that have entered the music industry, they can only tell you what worked for them. Sometimes that will work for everyone or it will only work for them. Sometimes you have a guide to point you in the right direction or you won’t have anyone. Sometimes you just throw your hands in the air and see where the wind takes you. It takes a certain kind of person to take on a business like this.
So this is an on-going series for those who are working in the music industry and for people trying to break into it.
While the Band is Playing
by Jesse Davidson
In this edition, we had a chat with Mac Skinner, General Manager of Two-Rock amplifiers. For those unfamiliar with the brand:
Two-Rock is the boutique amplifier performance leader. Since our founding in 1999, our expert team of amplifier artisans has consistently delivered fully transparent, touch sensitive tonal performance at the very highest level of the industry. It’s hand wired, point to point excellence relied upon by leading artists like John Mayer, John Scofield, Eric Gales, and Matt Schofield – and the performance standard by which all other high-end amplifiers are judged. (Two-Rock.com)
We talked over the phone about his story in the industry.
JD: How did you get your start?
MS: It’s kind of interesting how it all came together. I’ve always played music growing up either with childhood friends or playing clarinet and saxophone in a jazz band. Then I left music behind for a bit when I went to college in ’94. I sort of tinkered around and dropped out of college. I tried to figure out what I was doing and where I wanted to go. When I finally made a decision I said, “ I don’t want to live in the restaurant industry the rest of my life. I want to finish my degree.” So went back to school asking myself, “What’s the one thing that’s always been a staple in my life?” and the answer was music. It always has been. So when I went back, I finished my music degree.
JD: Where did you go to school?
MS: Sonoma State. Around that time, I had made a ton of friends from my first time at college. One of those friends was a buddy of mine named Chad. We were roommates and hung out together. He couldn’t drive at the time so I would drop him off at work, which was KNM Analog Designs (the company that owned the Two-Rock brand) at the time. One day, sometime around December, the owners of KNM, Joe and Bill, wanted to go to the NAMM Show. They asked Chad if I could drive him and all the gear down to L.A. for the show and they’d pay me $500 and I would have my meals paid for. After that, there was a potential Guitar Center deal with the company that never panned out. But, they were worried about taking large amounts of orders and had asked me to come on and do piece work at the time. Little self-assemblies here and there.
Being at college, having some time, and doing solder work, gave some time to do it on my own. I started as a 1099 and within about a month, I didn’t just want piecework, I wanted to start building amps. I stayed late one night and built an entire amp. Much to Chad’s dismay, who was kind of my “supervisor” at the time (laughs). But I built the whole thing from start to finish. It had two problems but the thing fired off. That was the start of it. We moved into a new shop and for the next three or four years, I built amps. From start to finish and from the ground up. The chassis prep, building circuit boards, the entire amp assembly, shipping and final assembly. Somewhere in there, Chad left to start his own cabinet company, which became a full time job for him. So I took Chad’s place as the lead builder. About that same time, the owner’s of Two Rock were starting to feel burned out and I started taking on more responsibilities. The rest compounded from there and they sold the company to Premier Builder’s Guild. I was sold along with the company and became General Manager to run all of the production in this facility. Like I said, I always wanted to be in the music industry but I just never knew I’d be in the manufacturing of musical instruments (laughs).
JD: That’s awesome though. It seems like you just went with the flow of things for the most part.
MS: Yeah. The cool thing about Two-Rock is it was always an entrepreneurial business from the start and I always thrive in that sort of environment. And when you can stand by the product and you know it’s a good product. It doesn’t take much to put all of your heart into it, you know?
JD: Absolutely. As far as going to school, you met someone there that hooked you up with Two Rock. Many young musicians and industry professionals’ debate about whether they should go to college or go straight into looking for work. What do you think that college provided for you that you otherwise wouldn’t have?
MS: Well I think that’s a multiple part question. First of all, the connections I made in college and the amount of work I did in college with the musicians I was around helped shape who I am now. I really wanted to be a recording engineer. I wanted to sit behind a board and I wanted to have my own studio or work in a studio. Then I realized, I was supporting myself too and that wasn’t going to be easy. Because I’d probably end up as an intern, be working for 3 years with no money, get coffee for the bands and clean the studio (laughs) and I didn’t want to be that guy.
But the cool thing was, I was around enough musicians at the time that I got tons of recording experience on my own. I did a lot of work in that field but I became so busy with Two-Rock that I never had the ability to keep up with the changes in gear. This would have been around 2002-2003 and advances in recording came really fast after that. And my sessions became increasingly out of date (laughs) I just couldn’t keep up with it. So that said, being around all of that music, the musicians I was around, recording guitar amp after guitar amp, and listening to different styles from jazz, metal, rock country, folk etc., gave me the ears to be able to hear, from amplifier to amplifier, what sounds good and what doesn’t.
So if anyone were to ask me if college were a waste, I’d say no. I don’t necessarily have a ton of connections from college in the industry I’m in now although I do have some. Even the people I was around, I still run into from time to time.
JD: Yeah it’s a small world, right?
MS: Absolutely. I think college gave me the ability to communicate effectively too with people like artists and what they’re after. Not just in a studio but live performances as well. And all the makings therein.
JD: With all these people you’ve met and formed connections with, how do you stay in contact and maintain a good reputation with them?
MS: Well it’s hard to say because I’m so busy, it’s really hard for me to maintain a lot of contact. If it’s someone I work with closely, I try to reach out at least once or twice a month. If not, every six months or so. I have a high profile artist that I try to reach out to. I don’t much time to reach out to him very often but I try as much as I possibly can. Everybody is trying to get their stuff in the hands of somebody famous so the high profile artists don’t tend to contact back very often (laughs). But there are some I maintain relationships with. Matt Scohfield and I are really close. I leave him be for the most but he can call me up in a minutes notice and say something like, “Hey, I need something in New York in five days. Can you help me out?” and I’ll bend over backwards for him. And most of the artists and professionals that I deal with in the industry know that. I think follow through is important. I give everyone my email and phone number to make sure that I’m always accessible.
JD: Is there similarities between being a general manager at Two-Rock to being on the other side of the business as recording engineer or an artist?
MS: Well I don’t just manage Two Rock but I also manage the production facility that builds Two-Rock and Tone King.
As for the similarities, its funny, I had one of my managers come to me and say, “I want to take a class at the JC and what should I take?” He doesn’t speak English very well and I said, “What you really need is to take an English class because the ability to communicate effectively is key.“ It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. To be able to talk to people and able manage employees, an artist, a band, whatever. You have to be able to communicate well and you have to do it respectfully. You have to really set aside ego or any other bad personality trait that may come in the way of communicating effectively. Put that aside, be honest with yourself and be honest with the people you deal with. And that’s probably the biggest similarity.
JD: Any last bits of advice for young musicians or people looking at breaking into the industry?
MS: Follow your dream and work hard. Hard work pays off. I’ve worked my ass off and made pennies to get where I’m at and that hard work paid off
If you’d like more info on Two Rock and Tone King, visit:
http://www.two-rock.com
http://www.toneking.com
http://www.premierbuildersguild.com