Life & Work with Cory Goldsmith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Goldsmith. 

Hi Cory, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible, but it’s been a long journey!!! Music has always been a part of my life. I was born in Alpharetta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. My mother and her parents were musicians, and I did my best to follow in their footsteps. I started writing music with a guitar and some piano when I was about 12. I played in concert band throughout school, as well as marching band playing on the drumline. Throughout that, I was playing guitar and bass in bands, and I even went on tour with the band (Come What May) that I was in with my friends while attending the University of Georgia (who by the way just won the National Championship last night Go Dawgs!!!). Writing music was always the thing I loved most in life. The ability to express one’s self through that medium was like no other. Being in a band is great, but sometimes what I call “writing songs by committee” gets tiring. Sometimes you just want full creative control. I was a big fan of dance music, especially trance and techno. To that end, I started fooling around a little bit writing songs on my computer in my off time. Yet, towards the end of my college education, another love of mine started to seem like a more viable path: mathematics and science. I left my band and my musical aspirations behind to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder to enter the Chemical Physics Ph.D. program there. 

Seven years in Colorado changed my life, but also the path of my musical journey. Getting a doctorate is difficult. It puts you through the ringer in more ways than one, but it also made me realize that I couldn’t turn my back on music. I found myself wanting to write music more than ever, and so decided to start producing again, and this time getting serious about it. I started DJing in Boulder and Denver and got my first releases out the door. I released my first couple of bigger releases on Alter Ego Records and Discover Digital. Through the Denver scene and the wonderful people of Denver Trance Family as well as the absolutely top-notch house and techno scene, I became more and more inspired and started to really hone in on my sound: which is techno with a lot of melodic and trance influences. I sought help when I felt stuck from people in similar places, and owe a lot to my dear friend Stephen Kirkwood in Dumbarton, Scotland, who really helped me turn several pages over the years. I’ve always been a big fan of Stephen’s, and he’s always been on a similar path musically to me in terms of combining techno and trance. His friendship and mentorship over this time really shaped the artistic direction I began to take (and still does!). 

I learned a lot about myself during those years. I started to realize that music was indeed my number one love, and I felt the need to combine it with my love of mathematics and physics. My doctoral work was doing theoretical and computational physics, which involved a lot of programming. I got this idea in my head that I should make music software. With the support of one of my good friends in Denver Devon Whitt, I was able to get in contact with Ableton’s head of software engineering, which led to an internship in Berlin in the summer of 2016. The techno scene in Berlin is legendary, and that summer had just an enormous influence on my sound. However, the important part here is that I learned that sound development was my path. I moved to Denver after graduating with my doctorate, teaching music production part-time until I was able to get the job I wanted. I became a software engineer at esteemed audio company and plug-in manufacturer iZotope in Boston in 2019, which is where I remain employed today. 

Working at iZotope, I continue to get more in-depth knowledge of audio, especially mixing and mastering. I’m continuously surrounded by some of the most talented and inspiring people in the world, and it’s here in Boston that my career has really started to accelerate. My ties to Denver remain incredibly strong, and I come back and play at least one show a year there (I have two coming up in February!!). Every time I come back, my good friend Adam Stark and I write music together, and we’ve created a few hits that were released on Roger Shah’s esteemed label Magic Island. Our last track together “Cesca” was supported by such legends as Cosmic Gate and Aly & Fila in 2021. 

In general, 2021 was the biggest year of my career, despite the pandemic. In addition to the releases with Adam, I released some pretty big techno hits in 2021 on labels such as The Yellowheads’ Reload Records and Canadian imprint VRTN. Seeing The Yellowheads play out one of my tunes was definitely a highlight of 2021. Another highlight was playing my first international gig, in Toronto, by invite of my friend and VRTN label owner Saad Ayub. It honestly feels like 2021 was the beginning of something special, and that 2022 is going to be even bigger. I have the best support group in the world, and this hasn’t been a solo mission at all. I’ve made so many great friends along the way, particularly in Denver, and every success that has started to come my way is a win not only for myself but those who have supported and helped me. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Absolutely has not been a smooth road. As I mentioned, the years in Boulder and Denver were particularly influential. Not only was I going through the insane task of getting a Ph.D. when in Boulder, but I went through the lowest point of my life. My older sister Rachel passed away unexpectedly in March 2015, and I couldn’t do anything for months. I considered leaving grad school, and I couldn’t write a song to save my life. Music had always been my escape, but there was, and still is, no escape from losing a sibling. To this day, I still can’t write a song for Rachel, because I know it won’t live up to the standard in my head that any song dedicated to her should be at. In Denver, after I finished my doctorate, I was set on getting a job in sound/music, but no one wanted a physics Ph.D. that was a mediocre software developer at best. I was making scraps teaching music production, just barely getting by. I’d play lots of shows during that time, but good-paying gigs are hard to come by as a local. You really start to question yourself during times like that. 

Aside from that, I’ve gone through (and still do) what I think every music producer has gone through in the constant urge in the back of your head to give up. To get a “real job”. To stop trying to make this music thing work. Constantly falling short of your goals is the name of the game, and I can’t tell you how often you come face to face with rejection, from labels or elsewhere. I still don’t handle rejection well, but I’ve always tried to take it as further motivation to get better, and I think it’s worked so far? I’d like to believe that at least. You can never be content in music production. There is ALWAYS room to improve, and when I feel stuck, I seek help from those who’ve been through it and have skills that I have yet to obtain. Aside from Stephen Kirkwood who I mentioned previously, more recently I’ve been lucky enough to get some advice and mentorship from friends like Saad Ayub, Sam Wolfe, and Rebel Boy (Johnny Yono). I think that’s really the message here. When you feel stuck, seek out those who’ve walked where you haven’t, and let them tell you what your music is missing or where your path could go differently. You don’t have to take all of their advice, it’s your creative vision after all. However, I guarantee that asking people you trust for honest feedback goes a long long way, and can only make you better. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
– I’m most proud of my accomplishments in 2021: massive support from legends like Cosmic Gate, Aly & Fila, and The Yellowheads, from successful releases on Reload and Magic Island. 

– I’m specialized in and am known for combining techno and trance, and always have been. This is super convenient right now actually because it seems that techno and trance are starting to overlap a lot more. It’s really cool to have releases on techno labels like Reload while also having music on trance labels like Magic Island. It’s interesting to see how a lot of trance artists are going more techno and many techno artists are starting to go more trance. I’d like to think that what sets me apart is the history I have with these two genres. It gives me something the others don’t. I’ve had to do a lot of work, a lot of learning, to be able to successfully create some sort of mashup of the genres. It’s not something that I think is easy, especially when there are purists on both sides. It takes time, and I’d like to think I’ve taken the time. 

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Perseverance. Can’t really say more than that. If you love making music, don’t stop. Stay hungry. Always want and NEED to be better than you are. Nothing is given in this life, it’s earned. 

Contact Info:

• Email: corygoldsmithproducer@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corygoldsmithmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/corygoldsmithofficial
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CoryGoldsmithDJ
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWrjAFhwcS8aPZ-9xaouz-Q
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/corygoldsmithofficial

Image Credits
Jaybird Photography
Fuel Heart Productions
Carsontography
Ruslaan Haider Photography