Meet Dylan Barnes of Tucson, AZ

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dylan Barnes.

Hi Dylan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started singing songs in the backseat of the car. I remember at 5 or 6 I would join my mom for errands and sing songs I somehow knew the words to. I never tried to learn the words they were just there for me to sing. Later, in 3rd grade I would mess with this keyboard our family had in the Arizona room. It had a setting almost like guitar hero where the keys would light up for popular songs and you could follow along. One setting would keep you honest and only play if you got it correct, but another one would play the song out regardless of what you played. One time I brought the keyboard to a Show & Tell. I pretended to play “Candle in the Wind” backwards. That’s where I truly got my start. To me music and art aren’t just about storytelling or self-expression; at the end of the day I am putting on a show.

Between then and now I played various woodwinds in school bands, marching band, jazz bands, extra-curricular jazz academies and combos. I had a high school garage band called Athens Marathon & we played house shows, diy venues, First Night celebration in Tucson and stuff.

My production journey started in the same way as almost anyone: recording my & my friend’s groups in garages and poorly insulated rooms. The first “studio album” I made as MicTV was “soultry” which we recorded with an outside producer in 2016-2017. We recorded over 50 songs, but by the end of the session over half of those songs were lost. If you want to learn why you can ask you in person if you know me like that lol. Anyway, losing those songs led me to take my own production, mixing & mastering knowledge more seriously & soon after that I got a sort-of pseudo-internship at Wavelab Recording Studios the old fashioned way: calling and bothering the owner for weeks on end. That sort of grew into another internship at Saint Cecelia Studios. The owners/engineers would ask me what I was there for & I was honest. I told them I was there to learn how to make my own music sound better.

Anyway, I could get into more history, but that’s neither here-nor-there. I’ve had to diversify my skills & services in order to make-do, so to cover the history and journey of each subset would be exhausting i think for both myself and whoever is reading this. EOD I’m just another person trying to make things work.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My high school band Athens Marathon at first had 3 members. Myself, Dante & Paul. I knew Dante from middle school we rode the bus together & were in band together off and on. Paul I had just met sophomore year of high school when the band started & we had Humanities together. Over a few months we would either practice in Dante’s garage or Paul’s bedroom, because both spots had drum sets. I was playing baritone saxophone & guitar for the band. Paul was the lead songwriter, though i started adding songs here & there and Dante would have a song every once in a while as well. We were all obsessed with the album “Antidotes” by Foals at the time. In general we were into the sort of pop-math-emo stuff that was coming out in like 2008. I started to become better friends with Paul and we would sit together in humanities talking about anything other than what we should have been.

But with all the practice and bonding this iteration of the band would never play a show together. Maybe 3-4 months into the project a group of our mutual friends threw me a surprise birthday party. Although somewhat humiliating (they plastered cringe selfies from my MySpace page all over the walls of the house), it was also sweet and well-meaning.. i think. Dante was there, but not Paul. I asked him where Paul was and he said they had gone to Buffalo Exchange with a bunch of his clothes he was trying to sell/get rid of and that he had seemed tired or something.

I left the party a little early to catch the last bus home. I got on the computer and had a chat from a friend. She told me Paul had committed suicide. Dante and I made a decision to carry on the band in his honor, which we did for a few years, but eventually disbanded because we just didn’t fit anymore as friends, bandmates, whatever. That was probably one of the most important challenges and obstacles. A lot of other stuff seems trite to be honest. Not even worth mentioning.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make music at all levels of the process: I write it, I sing it, I perform it, I record it, I engineer it, I produce it, I arrange it, I band lead, I book shows, I put together bills, I market, I make the flyers & posters, I distribute them, I make the tapes by hand, I make the artwork to send into the CD printing, I communicate with the production line to see what materials we need to print, I get those materials together, I make the sales, I write the blurbs… I’m the guy. I’m most proud of doing the work. I work & write in many styles and genres. I am the accumulation of all my influences, life experiences & the people around me. What sets me apart is my perspective, POV & story.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk-taking is inherent to artistry & entrepreneurship. As an artist you’re emotionally vulnerable and revealing feelings you don’t always express. That’s risky. You know, someone could hate on you, someone could insult your voice or feelings. I one time had someone in the audience laugh at a very serious song (maybe a little *too* serious for them). That was alienating.

I don’t think I even need to go into the financial risks involved in art-making. Every third person on the street will tell you there’s no real money in it. As a working artist you’re essentially an entrepreneur running a small business selling stuff nobody asked for, There’s not a whole lot of perceived financial stability in that.

A lot of my relationship with risk assessment and management came from skateboarding. I once sprained my ankle real bad trying to tre flip a three block. Luckily, I had a friend for each arm to help hobble me home. The next morning the right side of my foot had a baseball sized knot. A dark purple streak stayed on the side of my foot for nearly a month, but I was already skating again before it even became close to healing fully. I would go skate the university knowing I might get kicked out by campus police, but also that I could head straight home afterwards with just a slap on the wrist.

I know at some point I’m bound to get hurt with this stuff, but I also know that for the most part I will recover.

Pricing:

• Single Master: $45 (discounts available Friday-Sunday & with bulk just ask)
• Mix/Master of under 5 stems: $75
• Mix/Master of 5-10 Stems: $125
• Mix/Master of more than 10 Stems: Ask
• Albums available on Bandcamp at various price points

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mictv.bandcamp.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/microphonetelevision/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mictv4president