Check Out David Dixon’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Dixon.

Hi David, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My mom began teaching me violin lessons at 2.5yrs old. She is a music instructor and was one of the ambassadors of the Suzuki Method here in the US. The Suzuki Method differs from other traditional methods in that the students learn note-association on their instrument and how to memorize the music instead of learning to read music as they develop. Reading and basic theory isn’t introduced until the student has a decent command of their instrument. As a kid, I didn’t love the violin. It wasn’t very pleasant to have early lessons before school, summer music programs to attend, and perform with various orchestras on weekend trips. However, at a very early age, I realized I could play most melodies I heard after only hearing them a couple of times. This was fun when I started learning bass and guitar, as I could quickly pick out popular songs that were on the radio.

By age 14, I knew I wanted to perform music for my career. I spent a year at Appalachian State University as a violin performance major. Still, I spent all my time playing guitar and singing at open mics and bars around town. I decided I needed to be studying guitar, and I wanted to experience living in a bigger city. I applied to Berklee College of Music in Boston and was accepted. Berklee was so much more enjoyable for me than a traditional music school. Instead of studying Bach & Mozart, we studied The Beatles & Stevie Wonder in music theory class. Berklee also emphasizes ear-training as a monumental factor in developing as a musician. I required four levels of Ear Training classes. The Suzuki Method experience from childhood was paramount in helping me excel in these classes. After music school, I moved back to North Carolina and started performing for a living, playing original music and covers in a 4-piece band and as a solo act.

In 2012, I moved to Wilmington, NC, since I’ve always wanted to live in a beach town, and the market was bigger than my hometown of Greenville, NC. Since I’ve lived in Wilmington, I have focused more on writing original music, recording it at my home studio, and performing mostly as a solo act. I use live-looping to stack multiple parts (guitars, bass, vocals & percussion). I’m releasing a new single in July!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Fortunately, I’ve stayed pretty booked up for the last decade or so w/ the exception of everything being shut down when the pandemic hit. That was a tough blow (for musicians and many others). I’ve never received any government aid for anything in my life, but I was able to go on unemployment for a few months during the height of the pandemic. That got many of my colleagues and me through the hardest part, so we didn’t lose our houses or go into crippling debt. As soon as I could get off of UE, I started booking as many outdoor performances as possible. I also started playing more house concerts and peoples’ homes. It was an incredibly important pivot in my career at the time. I’m thankful that many people were willing to host me at their homes and buy merch and tips. Only a few months after I felt like I was getting back on my feet, I suffered a major injury (broken/shattered clavicle, broken ribs) in a fall on Holden Beach.

The collarbone required surgery, and I could not perform for about two months. I was freaking out when that happened. I had just bought my first house and couldn’t lift a guitar, let alone play shows. Luckily, I researched music grants and was able to apply for and receive two separate grants. One from the “Musicians Foundation” in NYC and one from “MusiCares” in California. It was so wonderful to find that charitable organizations existed for someone in my situation. Don’t get me wrong, I still felt a solid financial blow, but those grants covered some of the major expenses, and I am incredibly grateful. After all the recovery and time off, I started easing back into live shows, and I’m back to performing full time as of a few months ago. I finally feel like I’m out of the hole, and the (financial) bleeding has stopped. It’s a huge relief and made me appreciate what I get to do for a living even more.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
These days when I’m not performing live, I spend most of my time in my home studio working on original music. Since I learned violin early and took piano lessons as a kid, I can add multiple instruments to my recordings instead of outsourcing those parts to other musicians. I can spend as much time as I want to explore different parts and different sound combinations, and track vocals at home until I like how everything sounds. That has been liberating compared to being on the clock in the studio, paying by the hour. I never thought of myself as an audio engineer or a music producer until recent years. I’ve had to learn some skill sets to make music the way I like and at my own pace. It’s fascinating and also highly time-consuming. This week I probably spent 25-30hours recording and editing parts for my new song.

I plan to release the newest song in July. It’s called “Before It Gets Too Cold” and includes a 7-part string section. I tracked all of the violins separately, a few being de-tuned to make the violin play in a lower register (like a viola or cello). It sounded like I hired an entire string section, but I just recorded them one by one in my studio.

I have a background in R&B, blues, jazz, and rock music, but I mainly write pop music these days. I’ve become passionate about songwriting and how the sections flow together in the most appropriate ways to serve the song. I think of Beatles songs or Frank Ocean songs, for example, how everything in the arrangement serves a specific purpose and helps the songs to come to life.

I released a 5-song pop EP in August called “The Game.” It’s available to stream on all the major platforms. One of the singles, “Across the Room,” is about to hit 100,000 streams on Spotify! I feel like “The Game” is my best work to date.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I regularly post music videos on Instagram. Sometimes I play guitar, sometimes singing or tracking parts in the studio. I like showing people interested in behind-the-scenes content how I arrange and put songs together. Sometimes I’ll do a 45sec or 1min video making a beat in Logic, showing the parts individually, then showing how it sounds. I also occasionally post songwriter or guitar tips. I’ve gotten some excellent feedback about some of those videos. My shows, merch & music updates (along with original songs and a couple of covers) are on my website. I’m most active on Instagram, but I also post on FB, YouTube & TikTok. On all socials, my handle is @daviddixonmusic.
You can listen to a lot of my original music and my most popular YouTube content for free at:
https://www.daviddixonmusic.com

Pricing:

• Hard copy of “The Game” EP $10
• Digital Download of “The Game” EP $5
• Cardinal DD T-shirt $25
• Cardinal DD Ladies Razor Tank Top $25

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.daviddixonmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daviddixonmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daviddixonmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW95f680fHDNR8fcpnPQfXA

Image Credits
TJ Drechsel (white T shirt images) Slone Eller (black T shirt images)