Meet Austin Isshac | Musician, Sound Engineer, and Producer

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

Hi Austin, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The idea behind Jung Records was to create a professional environment where artist’s can come in and receive top of the line production services and still leave with 100% of their musical rights. This is important to me because, Major Labels control a lot of aspects of an artist’s career. With Labels funding the music, touring, etc., they have a big say in what/how artist’s are releasing their music. I wanted to cut the middle man out, and provide a professional service where you can come in, record, and leave with a product that you are 100% satisfied with. And from there, you can decide how you would like to market your music, which is such a great feeling and idea I think!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started Jung Records in College as an idea for fun in 2016, and made it an official business in the City of Los Angeles in 2017. A lot of my business and artistic ideas came from the school I was attending at the time; Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA (2014-2017).

There I met and learned from some of the worlds top teachers, musicians, engineers, and students as well.
Having the opportunity to be amongst so many people from different backgrounds and musical upbringings, helped open up my mind artistically and showed me different ways of approaching music entirely. Those three years really pushed me to my limits mentally and physically at times, due to the hard schedule I had of constant classes and practice 24/7. I lived at school, staying for 12-16 hour days each day of the week, studying, practicing, networking, and absorbing as much as I could from the environment and others around me.

These experiences drastically started shaping and molding me into the artist and business owner I am today. What I think sets me apart from a lot of others, is my ability to build genuine relationships and connections with people, and bring the best out of them while in an environment of creativity and high emotion. This has been something I’ve worked hard to develop over time, because having these genuine artistic connections with one another is just as important as being skilled in your craft. To have a great attitude and resilience is something that will get you far in this industry I believe. And I approach my company with that same mindset as well, building and establishing genuine connections with artists and helping their art grow through skill and positivity.

In all of this, I’ve been blessed and fortunate to work with some of the worlds top musicians and Artist’s like:
Green Day, KISS, Def Leppard, Kanye West to name a few. I have a live record with ‘Green Day’ at The Whisky A Go-Go in 2019. Last year, in 2022, the rock band I tour with ‘Santa Cruz’ opened up for KISS in Mexico City for the “Hell to Heaven” festival on the Main Stage. And I got to do their sound in front of thousands of people. It was a life changing experience because not only did it help build my confidence more as engineer, it showed me that all my hard work and dedication in the last 6 years has been paying off.

Of course nothing in life comes easy. There were and continue to be a lot of sleepless nights and long work days. Locking myself away in a room for hours practicing as musician, or learning and working everyday as an audio engineer. In the end to me, it’s all worth while when you’re able to achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself, and help others grow and learn along the way. Being able to give back and help the people you’ve met through your career is very important to me, because many have done the same by giving me their time and knowledge along the way.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Haha, you may be asking the wrong person. I’m usually a day by day person in terms of plans with friends. But with work I definitely plan ahead.

A fun day with my friend to me would be:

-Early morning workout
– Play some golf afterwards or go on a hike
– Grab a nice brunch at a local restaurant or cafe
– Go into the studio for a couple hours and work on music
– Grab some tacos from down the street
– Go out and see a show or swing by a cool spot for some drinks to finish the night

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to give big shoutouts to all my Friends and Family members because they have been by my side through the process of building Jung Records, and understanding how much this has meant to me through the years. While building my company, I’ve been also able to help others in providing work, having a creative space for peoples art, and teaching about music production and sound engineering. Which to me is a full circle experience, and it’s something that I truly enjoy and I’m grateful for, because without the help and support of my family and friends, I wouldn’t be where I am today. And to be able to give back and help when possible is great too.

A lot of my drive also comes from growing up as an athlete, playing different sports, and being competitive amongst others. Having hero’s and examples in my life like: Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Michael Phelps to name a few, had a huge impact on me fundamentally. They were all THE BEST at what they did, and dominated the field because of the drive, persistence, and dedication they had to their craft. They were leaders and created opportunities for themselves and for others around them to succeed in the best and worst of circumstances. I take a lot of that inspiration and mindset, and try to channel that into how I run my company and carry myself today.

Website: www.jungrecords.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jung_records/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-isshac1218/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isa_Isshac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jungrecords

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JungRecords

Image Credits
Shannon Hickerson: Photos 3 and 5 and Main Photo Vincent Silva: photo 6