Christian Cullen is a keyboardist / composer who spent 5 years as a member of rock legends Night Ranger. Other artists he has played with include Vince Neil (Motley Crue), Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon), Bobby Kimble (Toto), Rick Nielsen & Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Tommy Shaw (Styx), and many other rock legends.
After leaving Night Ranger, Christian has had tremendous success as a composer for TV and Radio spots for companies including Disney, NFL, Fox, Ford, and Google.
Here's a sneak peek inside this episode:
- [2:51] How living in Illinois, and not living in a major music metropolis, opened doors for him to play with so many rock legends.
- [9:46] His approach to taking on a challenging gig, especially with a tight deadline or a quick turnaround time.
- [11:15] Why it's important to never take a gig that you don't think you're right for.
- [18:28] There's something magical that happens when you get in a room with other musicians. Something else starts to happen that you never expected and it changes everything. You have to be open to that and not hold on too tight to any one particular idea.
- [19:16] The best stuff happens incollaboration. When you look at your favorite records, it's a team of people doing what they do best.
- [22:46] His weekly schedule of scoring, sound designing, and mixing video projects for clients.
- [29:17] Why it's so crucial to be honest with yourself about what your weaknesses are.
- [30:10] Once he knew he wanted to be a producer, he also realized that he had to get better at mixing.
- [31:35] Once you have the ability make your recordings sound great, the creation process is more exciting, and you reach your end goal much quicker.
- [35:14 - 35:35] Perfection doesn't exist, and there is no perfect scenario. Creating music doesn't require you to be a perfectionist to do exceptional work.
- [36:17] Towards the end of his time touring with Night Ranger, he woke up one day and realized, ‘’It's time, it's time to say goodbye to this chapter of my life.’’
- [38:34] Everything he's ever achieved in his career, opportunity wise, came through some relationship that was forged over time.
- [39:26] Part of being successful as a creative individual is not having the financial stress while trying to create.
- [41:42] Layering sound effects to picture is no different than layering instruments such as guitars or synths.
- [46:50] There’s so much to learn from other people who have had in the music business, and there are a lot of people who are eager to share their experience when they see that there's interest in what they’ve done.
You can learn more about Christian at: http://christiancullenmusic.com/
