Daily Inspiration: Meet Vincent Beard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vincent Beard

Hi Vincent, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For most of my life, I thought the only avenue to have a career in music was to be a teacher. I grew up in band classes, marching bands, was a drum major in high school, and went to the University of Kentucky to study music education with that singular goal in mind.

However, as I progressed through college, I felt an emptiness in reproducing someone’s vision for what they think someone’s vision (usually a dead guy) is for what this piece of music should sound like, while being told I was representing my vision. Music isn’t about idolizing the past, it’s about making something today, it’s about saying something about yourself, about the world around you.

The avenue I found to say something was in hardcore. The place I found others with something to say was in hardcore. That was the music I wanted to make for myself, and that was the music I wanted to help other people make a reality in the studio.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In college, I struggled to find a purpose. Professors would often repeat that I was on the right track being in academic music, and that satisfaction would come. But it never did.

I had one notion of what working in music looked like, and I was starting to see that it wasn’t working for me. Music as competition, as something to be judged on someone’s technical proficiency in, not as a living, breathing thing that says something about you and what you believe, what you feel, is not music.

I started writing songs, and finding people to write songs with. I started mixing them on my laptop, I found more people who wanted to make songs, and who wanted me to make their songs a reality, and that was the purpose I was searching for: making music a reality for people with something to say.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At the core of who I am, I am a musician. I can’t go a day without creating something; whether it’s a riff, a demo, a finished song for my project Soulherder or one of the various bands and artists I work for as a producer, a day is never complete until I’ve made something.

My specialty is in writing and producing heavy music. Bands like Converge, Job for a Cowboy, Have Heart and many more have always spoken to me in a way that other music simply cannot, and have been the inspiration for the songwriting I do in Soulherder.

My most proud work with Soulherder has been our most recent releases, which I’ve produced. ‘Absence: Vol. I’ has been a particular point of pride for me, as well as the single ‘Need 2’. ‘Absence: Vol. I’ challenged me in ways I never thought possible, trying to channel some of the most intense human experiences into a sonic world. How do you make the music reflect the reality of the lyrics? Making a drum part feel anxious, a guitar riff sound longing, a bass tone that weighs on your chest. Getting the chance to produce a project Soulherder wrote with so much personal pain behind it, not only have I been grateful to be trusted with bringing it all to life, but to be a part of such an amazing project as a writer on songs like ‘Need 2’. My greatest point of pride is in bringing ideas to life through my production.

My work with Silver Lining has also been a blast to put together. There’s so much ambition in those projects to work through between their orchestral elements, creating a visual scene using sound, producing synth breaks, there’s no shortage of challenges for me to overcome in their music, and I love getting to be a part of it.

I feel what separates me from other producers is my obsession with taking the music I love and breaking it down into its components to figure out what’s going on and how it works. I love that little reverby lead tucked away in the back of a mix as much as I love a heart-wrenching vocal performance. I love hearing all the little gears turning by themselves and seeing how they fit together to make something beautiful.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Everything I do as a musician and producer, passion exists at the core of what I do. I love heavy music and I love making it for Soulherder and for other bands, but music is essential to me in all forms. When I get a folder full of stems for a new song from a band or artist, it will never be successful until the artist feels that their vision is a reality. I am not the boss, the artist is. They have a vision, a message, something to say to the world, and I am entrusted with making that something tangible. I am honored every time to be a part of making someone’s heart and soul a piece of music that they can bring to the world. That passion and sensitivity to the wishes of the artist is what drives my success.

Pricing:

• Single Mix and Master – $100
• EP Mix and Master (3-5 songs) – $450
• Album Mix and Master – $80 per song
• Songwriting – $80 per song
• Recording – $60 per song, $80 for drums

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/soulherder?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0BMQABpkck97SBH62mc_Ac657gni4zhY_zWtjm3uGpzEjXZZs1WCbpXx6y3g_9Tg_aem_7wXwlZSUfhZRpJ2deva6Tw
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whimsical_little_man?igsh=MW1wY3U2dnJ4aTZtaQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Image Credits
SinisterStar