David Deutsch | Musician & Film Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Deutsch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, what role has risk played in your life or career?
As artists and creatives, risk taking is single handedly the most important part of our lives and daily existence. Not only do we have to take risks and reach out to people, show case our work, promote ourselves, and push ourselves beyond belief for the single idea that we can, but we also have to find and take a risk within ourselves to allow us to open up and be completely vulnerable to create our art. It’s so easy being comfortable and staying put in life. It’s easy being content with what goals you have already accomplished, and where you are now in your current artistic growth. What would happen if you never take that next step or risk in your career? What will happen if you just stay the way you are and not progress further with your goals? Most likely, nothing terrible, and everything would turn out ok, if you are happy with how your life is right now. But what if you took that next step? The whole part of taking risk after risk, is to accomplish each and every single goal you have. The more risks you take, the broader your horizons will be on who you are, the people around you, your own creative self worth, and ultimately, your goals will grow and change, and adapt. Success is amazing, but the true beauty of it all is the hard work, determination, and the amount of risks you take that lead you to where you are now. For me, my artistic path hasn’t always been the easiest or the most conventional. The first big risk I took growing up was choosing to leave my suburban school to go to a completely different school that focuses on the creative and performing arts in downtown Cincinnati. I did not know who I was going to meet, or what would happen to me. I saw that my vision of being a musician and artist required me to take this leap of faith and switch schools in such a pivotal moment of my childhood and artistic development. For the next 9 years, my life would be based around the risks I took when choosing what colleges and grad programs to attend and study at. Because I chose to leave my hometown and move to an entirely new state for undergrad, led me to meet so many wonderful and amazing people in my life that I most definitely would have never met unless taking the risk to leave my comfort zone. Even more so, choosing to move to Seattle, all the way across the country where my entire family and life has been for the first 22 years of my life, for grad school was an extremely large, and ultimately, profound and worthwhile risk. After grad school, I moved to Los Angeles, and here I have to take risks everyday to network, reach out to people, put my heart on the line when writing music, and take the risk that everything will work out for the best in the end. I truly believe that the more hard work and energy you put out into the world, life will repay it back. It won’t always be quick, but thats why I’m choosing to take the risks now so that I can have a long, sustainable career in the future.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a musician, and film composer. I specialize in music production and composition for artists, bands, DJs, and film / TV / video games. My journey to where I am has been a long a winding road, but I am very happy to be where I am now. I’m currently growing and learning more than I ever have, and its a beautiful place to be in mentally and emotionally. There is a countless amount of lessons learned along the way, but most importantly you have to get out in the world, be heard, be seen, but also be heard and seen for the right reasons. Along with that, being a people person, and someone that you would want to hang around is crucial. In this business we work very, very long and stressful hours, and having a teammate or member that you can kick back with at the end of day matters so much more than the actual work itself. Another life lesson I’ve learned, and am still learning is no matter what, the single most important thing in your life is your mental health and physical well being. Although we live and breathe, and die by our art and creations, nothing is more stopping or motivating to yourself than your own mental health. Always keep it in check, seek help if you wish to grow, and lastly read books and meditate so when, and if you are no longer seeking external help, you can continue to always be pushing yourself forward in a safe, healthy manner. Working on my own music and with other people, I put over 100% of my care and attention into the work. I want it to be as best as possible, whether I’m getting credit or not. I put so much time, energy, and passion into each and every single project I work on. It’s come to the point where I do not plan my days when working much because I know I’ll lose track of time. We all as artists need a safe space where we can forget the world around us, and lose all sense of time when working on our art. Sometimes I even forget to eat!

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
For scenic views, my favorite spot is this place in Burbank where I frequently visit and just sit on top of a hill and overlook the entire Valley. I’m not exactly sure what road it is, I happened to stumble upon it on a walk one night in my neighborhood and just remembered the walk…sorry. For hiking, the best, and toughest city hike I’ve done is Seven Trees Trail. It’s in Glendale, but you can see the trail from the 134, and at the top on a super clear day you can see the ocean! For the best Ramen in LA, go and visit Menya Musashi in Sawtelle. Seriously, it’s life changing. One of my favorite local bars is called Story Tavern in downtown Burbank. It’s nice, it’s quiet, it has darts, and really good Moscow Mules. It’s a great place to take friends, or a spouse and enjoy a night out of “friendly” competition in darts, shuffle board, or ping pong. I choose to eat a plant based diet, and when I want some comfort food, I always go to Cruzer’s Pizza in Los Feliz. They seriously have the best vegan and gluten free pizzas I’ve ever tasted. This list can be endless, but I think a great spot to head to for a nice picnic and a day at the beach, albeit, it’ll be kind of cold, is Point Dume in Malibu. It’s beautiful, not crowded, and very private and gorgeous beyond belief.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d love to give a shout out to my parents. They are truly, truly, absolutely, and unbelievably amazing, and I am so lucky and fortunate to be their son. Growing up they were always so incredibly, and without a question, supportive of me, for who I am, what my passions were, and my drive and determination to be a musician. I literally could not be where I am today if it wasn’t for them. Every private lesson I took, the countless and never ending hours of practicing that they had to listen to, the discussions about music where I know they have absolutely no idea what I am talking about, but are listening to me anyways because it’s what I am passionate about, and the fact that they would drive over 5 hours in a single day just to come to a concert of mine during undergrad was truly so unbelievably special. There’s an endless list of reasons why my parents are so amazing, and I am so grateful to be able to give them the shout out and praise they deserve. I am incredibly honored to be their son, and will never stop appreciating how fortunate I truly am to have them as my parents.