(upbeat music)
- So there is a lot of history in this room.
This was the first space, studio, office, workplace.
Really What was the jump from doing YouTube
from your bedroom into, okay, this is a real thing.
(upbeat music)
Before this was even a reality.
I remember the catalyst to even look at an office
or a space was what we called the iPhone 6 house.
I think that kind of opened up everyone's eyes
to the notion of what could be doing things together
with a team on a bigger scale.
So after that, it was like, got to find a place.
And when we did, could not afford this place.
So naturally we borrowed money, which was really more so
of a bet on ourselves to be like, okay, this is for real.
For real.
I think sitting here and reflecting with everything empty
and bare my mind immediately goes back
to first getting into here where there was nothing.
It was a blank canvas, but within a month or so
things kind of aligned to where it was really
the first official brand partnership where I did a video
with Vizio but the TV they sent was way too small
for that wall, like hilariously small.
So here's this baby TV on the wall.
You got the super sad droopy wire going down
to what looks like a Pirate's chest,
not the best looking couch in the world,
but it's what we had.
I was proud of it.
And more than anything,
holy crap this was working.
For me my goal was never to be a YouTuber or an influencer.
That word is kind of disgusting
but then things accelerate at a rapid pace.
You start to get labeled this, guy's a tech reviewer,
this guy's a journalist and it's like, Whoa
I'm definitely not a journalist.
I just want to make cool things
take care of the people I care about most
of my life and then put some good back into the world.
I think when things start to grow and accelerate though
when you're in that state
the natural reaction is to be like, okay,
how do we grow and accelerate this even further,
faster and bigger.
So you hire people
you build a team and that big becomes the norm.
I know for me it's always been a challenge to work
with a team.
And I know from the opposing end
that's probably a very frustrating thing because
A most of everything is up here
and I don't do the best job of elaborating
or getting it out.
And secondly, I do have a hard time being
hands-off not necessarily out of control
but just for the love of doing it.
On the video side, shooting, editing,
lighting, A roll, B roll all the roles.
I don't think I could pick one that I enjoyed
over the other.
I think it's just the notion and concept
of making something out of nothing.
It's amazing.
Now with life much like tech
the notion of have you restarted lately
sometimes that applies to life.
And I think for me, 2020 was that in many ways
I think the biggest mental hurdle for me
with 2020 was knowing how much of the world was suffering.
And then it's like, hey we're people who make videos online.
So seeing people out there acting like everything was fine
and knowing that,
hey we have this make-believe fantasy job.
Things are okay.
But the world's suffering trying to balance that
and not acting like nothing was going on.
Then it's the question of like, what is all of this for?
You know, like, I don't want a team of 50 or 100
or I don't want to be this giant empire.
I just want to again, make cool things
take care of the people that I care about most
and put some good back into the world.
From there.
I love video.
Like I truly love video.
I think I can make a video with a decent amount of crisp
but
nothing truly makes my brain
move
and feel the way that music does.
Weirdly enough a lot of the times music is what fuels me
creatively to make a video.
It can dictate the, edit, the flow, the pacing.
So I think for me, knowing that music and guitar
specifically was my first true creative love.
I made that a goal to get back to that.
If you've watched the channel for a while, you more
than likely have noticed that music has always
been sprinkled in, in some form or fashion and more
heavily recently
if you go way back like the OGs,
you probably remember this .
(acoustic music)
I rightfully got roasted for that look
but that's what it was for that era.
And I think moving forward now,
like I don't think most people knew I played.
The reality of that is because I hadn't played
really for almost 10 years.
So again, I took 2020 as a challenge
as a goal to get back into it.
Let's practice, let's get better.
So you can be in the same room
as all these great people that you've worked
with over the years.
In a wild turn of events because really what was more
of an experimental I'm just going to launch this channel
to play some music to have some fun maybe
do a cover here and there that rapidly evolved
into releasing a song that's like
out on Spotify and Apple music.
The support from you guys has been amazing.
And if you haven't checked that out
or the channel I'll drop a link down below
there's also a giveaway to a brand new iPhone 12 pro.
But really I think that's ultimately what kind of
propelled all of this.
The hard reset.
With that hard reset gone is what was the shoe wall.
And I think for me that was a huge symbolic cleanse
and wipe because when I got into shoes.
I'm not someone who likes to party or drink or spend money
and go out or I've never wanted a Lamborghini
or Ferrari or any stupid stuff like that.
But I enjoyed collecting shoes.
It quickly became almost toxic, especially
in the tech space where it was more about clout and flexing.
And I think for me, it was a little bit of self reflection
because that wasn't the image I wanted to portray of
hey here's this dude just sharing ridiculous
amounts of shoes.
I don't want that to come off because it was really
never about that.
Since then I've just tried to simplify everything
down to what I use.
I'm still on the iPhone 12 mini.
My main and only machine right now is
an M1 13 inch MacBook pro.
I really wanted to get back to the basics and kind
show anybody who's out there who wants to do this,
that, nah, you don't need the craziest
fanciest Mac pro or red or Alexa.
Like I'm not shooting on red or Alexa right now.
We switched over to the FX9 which has been incredible
but I've enjoyed the simplicity.
So once the wall came down, I think that was fuel to
like Harold and Kumar Pooky.
(man shouting)
Not to that extent but I think it was just kind of
invigorating to just start over.
Again those that have followed the channel
Kevin Kenson, we worked closely together
we're essentially swapping units.
A huge bonus for me and I doubt the neighbors watching
but the next door neighbor did not like any time
I played anything remotely loud
like it could be like 6:30 PM.
She wasn't having it.
So with that swap, I get to start over.
I get to build out a music spot
and not worrying about pissing off the neighbors.
Sorry, if you're watching.
- No offense.
- That unit is especially cool
because of the exposed brick shout out to Brandon Havara
dream desk, Ed Sheeran
but more so it just allows me to kind of build out
a music spot upstairs
and that's going to be something that I'm doing
over the next, probably one to two months.
It's really close now, really I think the foundation
and the skeleton of that setup upstairs is there
the output desk works really well.
I think the goal is to upgrade these Dyn audio
to Barefoot which is going to be insane.
Honestly, these units are acoustic nightmares
with the high ceilings, with all kinds of metal.
So over the next one to two months, like I said
the goal there is to properly acoustically treat that shout
out to vintage King for all the help so far.
I can't wait to see what it looks like
once it's finished.
Again as far as my setup
I am only using an M1 13 inch MacBook pro.
No Mac pro, no iMac,
no 16 inch MacBook pro.
That is my machine.
Currently with this music setup, I have kind of
a floating pro display XDR and I know this is over killing.
Tim cook if you are watching,
please, please, please, please, please.
For the love of tech
bring us a monitor that doesn't cost that much because
with all the M1 goodness and all the M1 X goodness
on the way we need something else.
But I have that pair was an OWC four terabyte drive
and huge shout out to them.
They have been kind of the storage saviors
for the past two years for me
from their high-end thunder blade to this guy right here
and definitely got some cool stuff with them on the way.
So stay tuned for that.
On the flip side over here, I do have a 5K iMac more
as a archival machine, as silly as that sounds to go back
to older operating systems and pull back older projects.
I think the goal downstairs is to leave it fairly open
and to just kind of maybe have a workspace there
if needed with an LG Ozer fire.
Or again, Tim cook bring us a monitor.
I think again, with that exposed brick
I want to leave that open towards the corner.
I think that makes sense
for some sort of top-down station life flat
those crisp shots that you've seen here and there
at the heart of that top-down setup is the artifacts table
which is incredible.
I'm going to really put this thing to use both
for product shots but I think it could be a wild desk
set up as well.
And I think for this spot, you know
kind of the sky is the limits.
I do have a little bit of the
TLD Jonathan flare with that cable less floating TV
rest and peace home pods.
Back here I think would be sick to throw
some arcade cabinets
and really kind of get the Kevin Kenson gaming vibe going.
Over here We got Stevie's Mac pro station with the plant.
And since I'm all M1 and not using any of that
he gets to reap the benefits.
Next to that we've got Travis on the M1 16 gig Mac mini
and that has been a game changer for us.
And I think finally in this corner
that's a similar kind of permanent
or semi-permanent top-down life flat station where
it's just ready to go to grab product shots.
But also kind of goes hand in hand
with that floating TV is a darker color
of the table from artifacts.
So that's going to kind of be the central hub
as things kind of get back to a little more
of the normal we're used to,
but definitely stay appealed
for updates to not only this space
but for obviously my vision over there
which is going to be a ton of fun.
From there I think my core message is
for those that have continued to ride with me.
I appreciate you if you want to continue doing so amazing.
If not, that's all good.
Like if you're not into me voicing my opinion on politics
or life or you're not happy with the content that I make,
that's fine.
If you want to go.
I think for me along the lines over the past couple
of years, it was that mental decision of, okay
do I want to make things that make me happy and I enjoy
or don't want to chase the clicks.
Part of the whole Apple angle that I think drove me
personally crazy is at a certain point
I think people who weren't truly into it or used it
they were pressured into doing coverage
on it for the clicks and the views.
If that's your thing
and that's what you want to do, I respect it.
But again, for me, my goal here is to make cool stuff
to take care of the people that I care
about most and then put some good back into the world.
I appreciate you guys watching, stay tuned
for a lot of fun stuff coming soon.
And I will catch you guys later.
(soft upbeat music)