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Creativity isn’t tidy—it’s risky, chaotic, and full of surprises. It’s full of breakthroughs and breakdowns, moments of flow and moments of doubt. Join Mishu Hilmy for unfiltered conversations with artists, filmmakers, musicians, and fearless makers who thrive in the unknown, embrace imperfection, and create at the edge of possibility.
This is your front row seat to the self-doubt, unexpected wins, and messy emotional work of making something real. But craft isn’t just about feeling—it’s about problem-solving, process, and the devotion behind mastery.
Subscribe now for weekly episodes that celebrate the unpredictable, the playful, and the deeply human side of making things. Join the mailing list at mischiefpod.com
Email anytime at podcast@ohhmaybe.com and follow us @mischiefpod
Mishu Hilmy (00:03)
Welcome to Mischief in Mastery, where we embrace the ups, downs, and all around uncertainty of a creative life, and that steady, and sometimes not so steady journey toward expertise. Each episode we talk candidly with people I know, people I don't know, folks who produce, direct, write, act, do comedy, make art, make messes, and make meaning out of their lives. You will hear guests lay out how they work, what they're thinking about, where they get stuck, and why they snap out of their comfort zones and into big, bold, risky mo-
So, if you're hungry for honest insights, deep dives into process philosophies and practical tips, plus maybe little mischief along the way, you're in the right place. For more, visit mischiefpod.com.
His work highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall, Auditorium Theatre, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Kennedy Center and features on CNN Money, BBC Radio and 98.7 WFMT, among many others. As composer for film and games, his music has received various awards from film festivals around the country and his album MMXX, is Roman numeral for 2020, 2020, believe, a Grammy selected album, was hailed as a striking disc by British critic Robert Hugo.
beyond his own compositions, Tim orchestrates and arranges music for international artists, including Rene Fleming, Andrea Bocelli, Leric Opera of Chicago, Milwaukee Symphony, Third Coast Percussions, and others. Tim and I know each other from the past few years around the Chicago film scene, and we chat about mostly the practical side about staying creative, how to take intentional breaks with big projects, building a home studio for your new life and workflow, and figuring out how to balance your own ambitions with the daily demands of life.
So if you are into chats with composers and builders and makers, please continue listening. You can learn more about Tim on Instagram at Tim Corpus, as well as on his YouTube channel. And I'll add those in the show notes. So without any further ado and delay, let's listen to the conversation with Tim and myself.
Tim Corpus (02:15)
So like at the end of 2024, I moved, I got a house, bought a house just outside of the city. And so I was, and I had finished an album in August and a whole bunch of projects. So I was like spending the latter half or the latter quarter of 2024, fixing up an old mid-century modern house, like rebuilding the flooring and the stairs and stuff like that. And it was a really nice getaway from
my typical art of making music. Because I think I was really bored, you know, after you accomplish, after you finish a lot of stuff, it's like, I don't know, I needed a break. And so that's like where I was at. And now I'm just now like, so now in like the end of February, getting back in the mindset of, I want to create some more stuff. want to, I want to jump back in on a few other things. And that's kind of besides like working on more collaborative efforts, but doing like art for art sake or art for my sake.
Totally.
Like returning, you know, the end of the year, much of last year was around you were doing a fair amount of projects and then you moved and now you find yourself as you're maybe settling or getting some of the more, you know, brick and mortar move projects done at your new home that the either the itch or the mindfulness of new projects, new collaborations is coming up. Like when it comes to the move, were there anything like by your skill set of composing or making music that you were, you know, applicable skills that occurred in the move? I'm just curious.
that's really funny. You know, I think I'm really good under pressure. Like, I'm good in a disaster or a bad situation and a lot of like fixing things. Not like every time I cut, you know, a piece for stairs or flooring, nothing's ever right. And those are small disasters, but also like plumbing leaks that happened. There was a really fun, fun plumbing situation and that was a disaster. But like, I think in being kind of an artist who's used to saying.
Tim Corpus (04:12)
being told no a lot of the time, you're kind of just like taught to persevere through things. And there, you know, in a situation like that, where it's like a, a physical like, no, there's water in the basement. That's something that you can't really walk away from. have to kind of handle it. But I do think that there's, there's certainly an aspect of just like, all right, we just got to one measure at a time, one bucket of water at a time. And eventually it'll be done. And it's, gone. It's all gone, but it was awful.
I think that's my problem with like handiwork. I'm the type of person who's like, you know, cut twice, measure once and just have a lot of regret. Like I think I'm just...
That's good for you. I'm like cut four and
Yeah, cool. So yeah, is this your new studio then or your kind of studio in progress?
Yeah, studio in progress. So I currently have just a large open room, but I'll be adding a wall to kind of make it smaller to kind of control the acoustics a little bit better. But yeah, got some really nice 1950s, sixties paneling, super retro feeling, but it's nice to have a lot of space. was in a rather cramped space before. so often it was like having things put away after you're finished with it. Like you can't keep your toys out all the time, but that does kind of pause the creative process. Cause like you're working on something and you're like, I have an idea.
Tim Corpus (05:24)
It's like, okay, let me go get it. Plug it in. Let me do all, you know, so things like that, like slow it down. So this is nice because I have a little bit more space to keep things out. So I don't have to pause as much and I can like stay in the flow of the creative process a little bit longer. Yeah.
Right, yeah, I remember reading about environmental impacts to habits, you know? So it's like your routines and your habits are more likely to evolve and change because of the environment. So if you're like, oh, I gotta pull out a guitar or plug this thing in, it's just like one more inhibitor to prevent you from potentially freestyling or improvising or discovering something.
Yeah, definitely. like getting used to the space is definitely real. I used to live in a third story walk up earth. Yeah. So it was, was a nice bright room. You know, I had great sunlight, which I love that. And now I'm in a basement that's very dark all the time. It's like a dungeon.
That mixed right that 50 50 mixes the consulting more sort of the right now or depending on the year like a steady flow of sort of you know whether it's a day job type environment and then the other is more of the this is like a more higher engagement of creative work that I'm doing.
Hmm. The, You mean like how does it fit within the life?
Mishu Hilmy (06:38)
He's like, we have the arts, the like the arts consulting as a music consulting for arts organizations. That is more of like a day job.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. it's, yeah, it would oftentimes like an executive director of an orchestra or whatever would be a full-time job. I did that for a bit and I didn't love a full-time job. I like a little bit of the mix of doing all sorts of things. So I kind of moved into this where I'm like part-time with multiple organizations. One where I'm doing only marketing, only web stuff. One where I'm doing,
a ton of fundraising. I'm like the strategic leader, the executive director. So I'm overseeing fundraising and kind of the overarching strategy. And these are usually like two year contracts or something like that. I have, it's so hard. don't know, like, cause you and I see each other a lot at events out and about and you know, seven o'clock on a Wednesday after you've been working all day, it can be really hard to go to those events. But at the same time, I feel like if I don't go to those, then I'm not pushing the other half of my career.
And so frustrating balance of like trying to do everything. Totally.
building those relationships and being present. Yes, it seems like there are intermediate contracts where they're short-term or over the course of years and they're more strategic. It's not necessarily direct input of I am composing, I am doing this. But the other side, the other 50 percent that I imagine one day you'd like to be 80 percent, 90 percent, and 100 percent given the sort of whatever gigs you have. So that's the thing you're really or historically have been enjoying of composing music.
Mishu Hilmy (08:13)
producing music, recording music for moving images, whether it's commercials, films, short films, music.
Yeah, I think I'll probably always have a little bit of this arts management. It's kind of fun to be the person who's in the room where it happens. I think it's certainly informed why I can't write certain music. It costs that much. That's why we can't do it. And I think I've learned to make smarter decisions because of that. Like the, I don't know what the phrase is, but you know, like the box around you and your art can make you come up with new ideas.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That is like something that I've definitely learned a lot from being on the other side of the table where I'm, you know, having to deal with finances. But especially, yeah, I love, I think I chose that path of a career was so that I could be parallel to what I'm doing. I'm supporting artists. I'm still hanging out with creatives, which is something I enjoy. But yeah, definitely working more and more. I think I've, my entire life I've been working more and more towards a life that's fully sustainable with just doing music.
How relevant is that? I think is the other thing that changes like as you grow up, is like, do you care about that as much as you did when you were younger? Some of the like the glitz and glam of things I think I care about a lot less as I get older. I'd rather just like not meet new people and hang out, hang out at home with the dog, my wife. Like there's, think as, as I've gotten older at least there is a change in like what the priority is in being a quote unquote full-time artist.
Mishu Hilmy (09:41)
Yeah, I think about that a lot around like knowing and allowing your motivations to evolve. Because if I think about what was, you know, a 20 year old version of myself, what might have motivated entering into the arts, if I were to use that as fuel, I think I would probably be, you know, grindy and toxic and, you know, way more insecure than I normally am. So it's, I think, probably a mature perspective to recalibrate like, wait a minute is, you know, being on the road.
You know, 250 days a year. Like, is that the thing I want to do? Maybe not anymore.
And the, the, it is a lot of rejection in any art form, no matter what you do. It is a ton of rejection. I mean, there are people who are phenomenal at handling it, but I feel like you do need a, a win every once in a while to keep going, or at least I do. And yeah, I think I, I was definitely living that a lot harder in my twenties than I am in my mid to late thirties where I like the wins come from other places. Yeah.
And therefore you're like, chasing other things. Yeah.
Yeah, not like seeking all your satisfaction in sort of one one area when it comes to say like rejection, like how have you, you know, evolved or how have you grown to sort of develop either a thicker skin or just like deal with deal with the unending nose of, you know, a creative life.
Tim Corpus (11:06)
Yeah. I think post COVID I like knows more because at least somebody's responding. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that, that, that was like, I don't know, somebody had said like, I, I aim for a hundred nos, you know, cause then I know, you know, that that's like their goals to get a hundred nos. and it's kind of like the, also the idea that like no bad idea, no artistic bad idea is a bad idea. It's like the faucet has to run. So you have to, you have to push the bad ideas, the good ideas.
And so I think my perspective on getting the nose has tried to shift that way where it's like you have to get the nose to get to the yeses. Right. That's a that's like something that I work on. Right.
Yeah, the lies we tell ourselves.
Yeah, like especially like there's there was definitely like in 2022, early 22, I had like several projects that were great, all lined up and all looking really good. And none of them ended up panning out. And that that hit really hard. And I was really frustrated because that had been like several months of doing demos and back and forth for a lot of different projects. And so it was like, I think the culmination of all of those together was like the camel that broke the
or the straw that broke the camel's back. was super frustrating. And at that point I was like, I think I need something else. So I decided to take part in a workshop like all about producing and recording just to put myself in like an educational environment. there was so much affirmation from that and not necessarily like, Hey, you're so great, but like do this little job. And then like, we're going to talk about it and work through it. And you did that little job.
Tim Corpus (12:43)
Good job. And so there was like a little bit of payoff and I feel like I got a lot of refreshments and edification in that. And also doing that with other people in like a educational sense of like, okay, we're all working on something. We're all learning something. And then we all came out with something that was like how to combat that. Yeah. Frustrating.
Yeah, because I think, you know, the pursuit of like getting gigs or getting to the yes, it makes it can make it where you just like focus only in a productive sense. Like I can only I'm only going to produce or create if it's attached to a project or a potential project rather than, you know, creating the practice of doing it daily or regularly. And then the idea of like a workshop setting. Yeah, because we get so far along with our own point of view and our own skill set. It is nice to.
meet with a group of folks and then go, oh yeah, you know, this has just been how I've done it for so many years. But to get a fresh eye or a critical eye or just another person saying, oh, solid work. Have you tried this approach? It's like, oh yeah, I forgot. I forgot I can learn and do different things.
yeah. Well, and like, you know, you're a writer as well and we're just kind of alone a lot. It's like kind of that's part of it. It's just like you're alone until you finally get to poster or to production or whatever. And I think, I think that's why the classical arts, especially art like so in love with academia is because it is a safe environment where we can discuss and we can learn and we can enjoy because once you're out in the cold, it is much more like harsh. And I think that's.
That's one of the things they like in finding certain communities, especially in, in Chicagoland with like the film community, which is very caring, which is very cool. And I don't know if it's shocking to see how like warm a lot of the folks are, but it is really cool. And I found that also with composers, like, you know, just people being nerds and learning out about like what they like. It makes for just a great community that like, you can all deal with the nose together a little bit, guess. I don't know.
Tim Corpus (14:40)
And then that's how we met, like just being at these events where it's like, what are you not doing right now? we're all out together because we're not working on something.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think, you know, the more I think about like why why the arts, it goes less to like the potential for bonanza money and more around like, I like I like weird, nerdy, smart, passionate people. So it's like about the people and the enjoyment of the process. if those are the two things that kind of get me going. So for you, like, how have you been, you know, developing your relationship with the process? Do you have?
know, strategies that you implement daily. Do you record daily? Do you write daily? Or, you know, do you have routines that, you know, create that are focused on process? Also, like, what is your emotional experience or your intellectual experience with your process? Like, how do feel?
Yeah, well, I'll say there's one part of the process that's educational, which for composers, we call it score study. So you basically listen to the music and you watch the sheet music because basically like, can you match the sound with how it's technically happening? And there's so many, there's a million ways to get a million different sounds. And that I have tried to do weekly. I used to back in grad school, you do it for several hours every day. And I missed it because like there is so much information that comes from that, but also just idea building and then,
Cause when, when you're at the blank canvas, I like to just try something and usually I can run with that for maybe 30 seconds. And then I hit the, like my first real bad wall is around 30 seconds in. It's not like the start. I think that's because like in doing all of this research, just kind of discovery. I just have a whole bunch of different interesting ideas and tools that I can, okay, let's start on this. So I think day to day I do like to try to write every day if I'm not
Tim Corpus (16:30)
writing, there's so much editing that happens in sheet music and in composing. So whether it's that or it's composing, I think they're the same. So something to do with kind of the creation of music, I try to do that for a bit every day. And whether that's working on a score or just writing out an idea, think like, you know, when I was taking this break, I wasn't doing any of that. That was like a purposeful, I'm not going do anything. And if I have an idea, I'll write it down, but.
That's not going to be the priority. A lot of the times when I like am having a day where I feeling like I'm not doing anything, like nothing's productive and it's really frustrating. I've always found that because I'm a very kinesthetic person is either get up and walk, you know, I have a dog, so I take a lot of walks, but also with a studio, there's a lot of technical work to be done, taking care of cables, tuning instruments, instruments and getting away from that or getting away from the computer and doing that.
I find I like, okay, that's how I solve this 32nd issue. I usually don't come up with that pounding against the wall. I have to leave the room to get that breakthrough.
Yeah, yeah, it's like, it's like that one, Einstein, you go in the shower, you get your best thoughts, know, you're, you're soldering or, know, changing wires and you're cleaning things up. They'll get those thoughts as a form of problem solving as well as, yeah, I think walking is underestimated as like a great, a great emotional regulator as well as creative regulator and, you know, a place for free thinking. I think that, yeah, the, idea of like taking a mindful break, which is there's some degree of sort of, you know,
daring and courage there because I think that if you're somewhat compulsive like I am it's like, oh no, I can't be away from this creative, this creative actor, this creative industry. So I think, did you have this experience or what was the experience like of you spent X number of months deliberately creating that space and then how was it when it came to like listening to the return, the desire to return to the work?
Tim Corpus (18:35)
I think I kind of like, it's almost like after dinner, you're not hungry. And so you need time before you're hungry. And so I think that's what it was. It was just like, after I took a little bit of a break, was like hungry for doing that. And I think in that period of time, I was doing like, you know, the marketing work that I have to do for like, was, you're still like taking care of the company. You're still keeping the fire going. But just not forcing the creative process. I didn't have any deadlines. And it's also like a great time to take a break because
for most of the arts, the holidays, unless you're doing like the nutcracker. know, like film, nobody's filming anything. Everybody's kind of like wrapping up the end of the year. So it's a time when other folks are also just like done. You know, I feel like this was the most done people were like starting November 4th. Everybody was like, f**k it, done with the year. And so it kind of worked with everyone else that I was like, all right, we're on a break and I can just do other things. I think that when I came back to stuff,
I was interested in like starting in a different place than I had started before. So I did this album in 2021 called 2020. And then as soon as I was done with that, I started the next album, like they they dovetailed. And so that was really like, you know, a couple hours of music that was all released within two or so years. So then in coming back to it now, was like, you know, I don't want to start the same way or the same styles that I did before. I want to try something very different.
And I don't think I necessarily would have been as interested in starting from a different position if I had like just kept trudging through, you So I think that the distance gave me a, yeah, let's, what if I start in a completely different weird, weird way.
Right. Yeah, yeah. You get sort of a certain clarity or I don't know, like if it's a freshness, some of those, you know, habitual thoughts or approaches might have, you might've just forgotten them or you've been far away. You can take it differently.
Tim Corpus (20:27)
Well, it also gives time to like, listen to other things. Like, I feel like as creatives, we're always trying to churn out things. And then we do all consume so much media, like parallel to the score study stuff is how much of it are you actually really absorbing? I think there are certain shows that people really love and they do like really gain a lot out of it. And like, oh, I love those colors and I want to mimic that or something. But I feel like, you know, when I'm watching reruns of 30 Rock, I'm not, that's...
That's not the point, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're not.
pick it up those those stings or those little.
music's great but like that's not my purpose for it.
Yeah, yeah. Like learning through osmosis is definitely important, but it's also like there's a degree of active learning as well. So do you like you do a mix of like just composing for say yourself, your own music? does. So I understand correctly, it's not like 100 % of your music making is in service of media image, right? Is there like a kind of a breakdown of, know, the past few months I've mostly been doing my own diddy is some
Tim Corpus (21:05)
because you're doing other things,
Mishu Hilmy (21:31)
longer pieces just for as ideas rather than I got a score idea but I don't have a movie to attach it
I feel like I always have school ideas and I never have the movie for it. I've been asked to do a lot of comedy over the last couple of years and it's great and that's fun, but I'd love to do like a sci-fi, like a good science fiction drama. I'd love to do something a little bit darker, anyways. I think that I'm like right now I'm focused probably more on concert music. So that being like a symphony orchestra on the stage, youth orchestra, I was asked to write a piece for a high school band down in Southern Illinois.
so yeah, you know, like it's, very mixed between doing that stuff. There's like, that music is just for me. Like my album is just for me. Like people will listen to it. Cool. That's not like, that's like the stuff that I put out on Spotify like that. That's not necessarily the moneymaker, you know, like that's for me, but just as much of collaboration with film or games, like I'm asked by other musicians to help write their music. They're like, we have this piece. Can you rearrange it for us? Arrange this jazz piece for orchestra or whatever.
So I do a lot of that as well. And then there's all of the film stuff where it's highly collaborative and those projects, it's not that they're less me, but you have to give up a little bit. I think especially on indie projects, there doesn't seem to be a lot of the time for experimentation. A lot of the time it's like, okay, we want this and we want to get it done so we can make whatever film festival.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's like those two things like timelines, budget, and you're also in service of this abstraction of story. And it's almost like the trump card of like whether you're working with a director or whoever, like, yeah, I don't know, this this this theme you're giving us isn't really working with genre stories. So you kind of got to maybe, you know, all right, I'll I'll dial it back or shift it up.
Tim Corpus (23:20)
Yeah, it's like when Hans Zimmer did Interstellar, Christopher Nolan asked him to write some music about an idea.
Yeah, before it was produced.
Yeah, and before I even knew how like time was working in the story. And I think it's a great score and a great movie. And that's that's such a cool way to experiment. Yeah. Okay, we have an idea. then, hey, we'll come back together in six months. And then we'll see how it all pieces out. most of time, it's like, all right, so here's a just before final cut and try to finish this for next week. Yeah, it's always different.
Right. When it comes to sort of getting those relationships or those connections or leads, like how, how active are you in creating leads or finding projects versus, you know, the passivity of relying on referrals? Like what's, what's your approach for that when it comes to getting at least maybe at the film level or the client work?
Yeah, I mean for all of it, it's very active. So many cold emails. And cold emails, less so in film because that's highly collaborative. If you're getting a symphony orchestra to play your music, a lot of the time it's not that collaborative. Maybe they're gonna play it in another country or a place you're not gonna attend and they're just gonna do their interpretation and that's that. So cold emails can work. They're not the greatest thing in the world, but I've never had any success from a cold email.
Tim Corpus (24:37.812)
the film world, you know? So with that, you know, I'm at all of these events all the time, going out to LA multiple times a year to meet with people and just kind of, you know, it's like staying alive out there, like they out of sight out of mind. you kind of have to go pop back in and like, hey, I'm still here for when you get that project. So, yeah, it's very active in like maintaining relationships, going out and that like going back to seeing things. I love film independent, like the organization Film Independent, because it's all about indie film.
which I love because they tend to be really moving and fun, amazing. Like Thelma was just one of the most fun movies I've seen in years. And like, it's fun to go see people's movies when you like like them and you know them too, right? Like it's even better. Like a Marvel movie can be fun too, but like it's so fun to like see and support each other too. So yeah, there's definitely an active part of just like being in the community and showing up that like
leads to leads eventually. Because we're all, yeah. yeah. Let's work together at some point. You know, that that becomes like a common line.
Totally, yeah, it's like, I know this person's not a weirdo or a creep or whatever, or they seem trustworthy, they show up. They're not gonna just kind of be here and disappear. So I think yeah, there's definitely that value of just creating that, being a known presence or a known quantity. Do you have like an approach when it comes to say like, all right, I have a goal, this month I'll try and send 20 emails to 20 orchestras across the States or across the globe.
And this is like, are there like honorariums or fees as a goal of like, if someone plays my, you know, quartet piece or my full orchestra piece or my symphony piece, I'm pretty naive to it. So is it that it will, you know, there'll be a fee? Is that like the goal or, you know, I'm curious.
Tim Corpus (26:28.065)
Sometimes folks have that. a common place would be like, because I'm preparing the sheet music, so they either have to rent it or buy it. So there's a small fee there, which is very small because like, I'm not a huge name. And oftentimes I'll make more money on the live royalty, the live performance royalties. So like if a string quartet, if the sheet music costs $20, I may make 10 times that.
in the back, depending on the venue or how many times they play it. Sometimes I think, that's just like, that's just some marketing and like how to get to know people. Like what is, is it their money or after is it somebody else's money? And that can be, you know, another way to think about like, you know, the cost of projects of how to like create those leads in those situations. But yeah, so sheet music is, is usually the start. And I think, yeah, I try to send out,
I don't have a number set, but where I'm like, Hey, check out this sheet music. I pivoted away from doing cold emails because they don't work to just like creating content.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
and just trying to promote that better. I do. I have a YouTube channel where I do a lot of like tutorial and education work on music production stuff. It's super niche and like hardcore nerdy. It's not one on one level stuff, but it's weird because I found a strong audience there and other people have been like, you know, your stuff about music. Do you want to work together? And that's probably been more promising and more successful than cold emails. But that was just like, hey, I have an idea and this is how I do said idea.
Tim Corpus (28:02.262)
and solve this technical issue.
Yeah, I think it's interesting just the idea of like a digital footprint or kind of platforming in general when it comes to establishing who you are can be in like a trustworthy person or just someone who's around, you know, as for like kind of cold emails. Yeah, you know, I talked to some a couple months ago and they were advocate of like the warm email, right? Like how do you do your research, find connections, find relationships and, you know, leverage that in the initial entryway and say, hey, I'm not asking for anything, but knowing that you have a
orchestra in Savannah or Hungary. Do you have 10, 20 minutes? see you used to live in Illinois or you used to in Chicago. I'd love to hear how you ended up from Chicago to Hungary.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it's I know if it's just the digital evolution of what it means to sort of create work and maybe just the slow decay of late stage capitalism that we get to enjoy, you know, the many the many hats. But I like the thing is, is like for me is like how it goes back to process. Do I enjoy the emails I send to say, you want do you want to do this? Do you want to jump on the phone? Do I enjoy it? And if not, then it's, you know, signal for me to like step back. So are you able to like
Mishu Hilmy (29:39.36)
find connection with the more administrative, mechanical elements of running the business of Tim Corpus.
love to offload that. I am working on giving other people work. I'm working on building up that ability to be like, Hey, here's some money. You want to do some work? being a job creator to get rid of those things that are really slowing me down. Because also just like as one person and especially like in a career like we have where your brain is split a lot, we're not always as, I'm not always as effective.
maybe one administrative thing, like following up with emails. Like I will forget to do like certain follow-up because you know, you go out one night, you meet someone and you got this stack of cards. You know, you go to Filmscape, you meet all these people, but you're on deadline next week and then you're on vacation. so like, yeah, I'm, I'd like to start being better about outsourcing and hiring other people to do jobs that they want to do and letting go. Because I think that's also a healthy part of like, as a career grows or as a company grows that it's like,
You bring other people on so that you can keep an eye on the overarching strategy and the bird's eye view. And it's hard to do that when you're dealing with certain administrative things.
Totally. Yeah. And also like getting back to the things that matter, know, that's like, that's what I try to think about. I just remember like, love editing. I just love, you I love it. And at the same time, I also realized it's like one of those things of distrust and fear. So I just remember the first few times where I just handed off my footage to someone who edited it. And when they did, I was blown away. was like, yeah, this is, you know, more or less what I imagined and even better than what I could have executed on.
Mishu Hilmy (31:20.142)
But it took years to move away from me editing or doing X, Y, or Z. yeah, think it's like an important evolution. It's just like the trust. Maybe it's like just seeking failure. Like, okay, maybe I work with someone and they're on a short-term contract and they really fuck me over. And okay, I learned these are the flags for the next time I interview someone.
Yeah, well do you like being the face of the company?
I don't mind, I mean, I think I'm indifferent personally, but I do know or I do think or I posit that in this media landscape, it's just about trust. I'd rather let people know, hey, look, I'm out there. I'm trying to earnestly caring about the people in our community and the work and the craft. So if I care about it, why wouldn't I be comfortable kind of talking about it or, making videos for various platforms there? Then on the flip side is like, well, I'm also making stuff for like
attention conglomerates and these are billion, trillion, trillionaire kind of companies. But yeah, I'm indifferent, but I think it's a responsibility if I am to create and be reasonable of the world we live in, right? Like, I'm not going to ask for anything if people don't know who you are to a degree. So it's like creating that trust within our community. And yourself, because I see you've been evolving that in the past probably few years.
Yeah, think well, because from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty, I was full time as the CEO of an orchestra. So it was like like you're the face of the company in a different way, because you're like the dad, you know, like you're just handling the books, but you're like in charge of things. But you're not the fun, like you're not fun. So like you have no fun, dad. Yeah. Like the conductor and the artists, the musicians, they are the fun. And like so you put them as the face of what you're selling kind of thing. And so it's which I guess is like a very heartless way to look at how arts organizations work. But that's right.
Tim Corpus (33:10.294)
what people are buying and interested in is the art. And my job is to facilitate that the art can happen. then coming to a life of being a freelancer, it's interesting to be kind of both of those again. so now it's like, yeah, I am selling myself. And I think dealing with the, you know, how much do I want to share on social media? How much don't I want to share? How much do I blog, vlog, whatever about my life and how much don't I? And that was actually, okay, so.
We're doing all of this work on this house that we're building. And we talked about it. We're like, should we, should we record this? Cause it's, it's an interesting process. My wife and I get into arguments while something it's cut number four and it's very frustrating and it would make for a great YouTube channel. And we were like, we're not going to do that. When I can tell people where I live.
Yeah. Yeah.
Mishu Hilmy (33:59.49)
Yeah, I think that's the sort of whether it's integrity or maturity is like what boundary you have. Like if you're like, I want to monetize this content so we can do affiliate links with Home Depot and Lowe's and make some passive income over the next few years. That's fine if that's like a business model you want, but it's to have those at least candid conversations and go, no, this is just an us thing.
Yeah, because yeah, that's what it was like. Sure, that'd be great to have money. That would great. That would pay for the floors. But then it was like, I don't think we want the work or I don't know. There's also some charm with it, like the people when they see you for the first time or see something for the first time as opposed to like know everything about you. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, I just think it's a weird decision that has been foisted upon us in the 21st century of like, you have the option to record everything and make money off of what you record, because it's like a potential slot machine of you never know. Like you could be the couple that has this house flipping chemistry. Yeah. It does it. But I just think it's a strange, strange proposition to have to confront every day. And unless you like have that
Create this space to go like, what do I divulge online? And create this space you're kind of at risk of like just having no boundaries.
Yeah. And what do we, what do we lose along the way? Like between like, between like the personal relationship, here's the, the family, we're doing this. And what do we lose by bringing everybody else in as opposed to it being like an intimate, like home is supposed to be your safest space, right? Which is why like home, having a home is such an important thing for like providing people with a place to live because it like gets you a baseline of just like, I, I am okay right here, right now. There are tons of other things wrong, but like the feeling of
Tim Corpus (35:51.18)
the idea of home is like, you, I don't know. I think that people, we're not gonna get political, but you know, the importance of being able to have that and have that safety. And it's like, do you wanna welcome other people into that? I don't know. So it was just a nut to do it. Since my life is all like this music nonsense anyways, people see enough of me. They don't need Disney more.
Totally. Yeah. Yeah. It's also like, again, like what is enough, right? Like there's, there's something of, you know, I, there's certain itches that can't be satisfied and I don't need them to be satisfied. So it's like, I've just like finished reading a Cal Newport book that he published in like 2019, I think called digital minimalism. So it's just been, you know, I also read, I think, um, is it Johan Hari's stolen focus? So, uh, I've been thinking more on just attention and, um, how often I interface with like digital media and to be,
not necessarily more mindful to just question like what is the impulse, you know, because it's yeah, what is enough? Like, OK, do I need my platform to have X number of, you know, engagement metrics, percentage metrics, followers, likes, etc. Or am I doing something else like enjoying sending emails to say, hey, Tim, you want to want to chat for an hour? Maybe that's better than me posting about X, Y or Z and hoping Tim likes it.
Mm. Yeah. That and the like, who are you? Like, you know, your Instagram life isn't real. Maybe I mean, it's as real as you portray it to be as any of us portray it to be. But like how real are you now? That's that's the other side of it. It's like how real do any of us want to choose to be? Because I think I definitely have like a social media persona because I'm choosing to filter out certain things and therefore it's not the most raw me, you know? Yeah.
Yeah, I think the challenge is that we know this digital life can make material improvements, right? You can materially become or have opportunities, have opportunities, get money, get brand deals, get ad revenue. So like it's just that thing of like, yeah, constantly there to go. If I do, you know, post four times a day versus once a week, I might be able to, you know, pull that slot lever just a little bit better to get eyes from someone who can make a, a difference. But it's.
Mishu Hilmy (37:59.926)
It's just something that I think I tried to navigate of like how much effort do I want to put in front of this slot machine?
Yeah. Do you get like the same or have the same kind of thoughts regarding like the output of work to like how perfect does it need to be? Because like nowadays we could edit until forever as opposed to like how much slicing can you really do?
Yeah, yeah, I think it's a just a challenge like this even with like the editing some of these initial podcast interviews of the weird I don't know where the default came from of like wanting to give an a plus or whatever So yeah, I'm aware of it, but I it's like an active effort to go. No, no, you're just doing 90 minutes It's an hour-long talk. You're gonna spend no more than 90 minutes scrubbing through cleaning up some of the transitions But it is an effort to not not focus on the output because like the
not focus on the outcome. See outcomes out of my control and like qualities out of my control. I can make all these clean slices, clean edits, know, nice cross fades or whatever. Some people will notice some people won't, but what is more important is did I enjoy the 90 minutes or was I present or was I in a flow state with the 90 minutes versus in like a dread state of if I don't have this clean, snappy tightness, it's going to, you know, befall my family's name and you know, ruin everything.
Yeah. I feel like that comes from both of our shared excitement and life of live. Cause I come from a live music background and like standup comedy. Like there's, there's a lot of wonderfulness in imperfection just doesn't exist in perfection. that's like, I don't know. I'm, I am not as tight on perfecting music as a lot of other people think I should be.
Tim Corpus (39:42.144)
And part of it is I don't care. And part of it is, I think like part of it is a laziness of like, don't care to fix it. Like it's good enough for me. and there's definitely times where the anxiety takes over and like, I got to fix, fix, fix, fix, fix. But I think with my own stuff, is nice to be like, that's where it's at.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think it's all contextual, right? It's like if there's certain money on the line, it's like, all right, this client, I do want to give them an effort because there's a something I value. But for me personally, it's this is more of an experiment in doing so it's more important that I do and complete at a C plus or D minus or whatever, that I just do it for 15, 20 minutes a day than not do it because I'm like musing on how it could be so much better.
Yeah. Well, and think, yeah, through experience, your D becomes a C becomes a B because you're just like, get better at knowing how to do things. But it is interesting that like, does the A have to be an A plus? Yeah. Or like, yeah. What point is the effort towards the art outweigh the art itself?
It's also arbitrary at the end of the day, like A through F, doesn't, it doesn't matter because like they can't, can never be quantified. A client, could give an A plus after or an A plus outcome that you think in the client hates or vice versa. You can give a seat. So that's, that's why I just try to return to like, what am I doing in the moment? That's iterative improvisational freeing and present there. I'm curious in terms of like perspective, like how do you
Yeah.
Mishu Hilmy (41:08.342)
I think it's easier in sort of like actual prose writing, but how do you inject your personal aesthetics or your perspectives when it comes to something as abstract as like notes on a scale?
Yeah, sheet music is really interesting because it's just dots on a page and it can be interpreted so many different ways. And I think my voice has come out of the combinations of what those things are. I'm a drummer by trade. So a lot of my voice tends to be rather rhythmic. And I think I find some of my better ideas when I am being a little bit more rhythmic and that can be dark and scary or it can be fun. But yeah, that's one way that I think I am like my voice.
But it is an interesting question in regards to like, like the weird thing of being a writer is that I am not in control. Like I hand this over and I am at the whim and the will and the current day emotion of the performer. And there's certainly like a, not to get too technical, but like a style and a harmonic language that, I sound like that. don't sound like someone else, but I think back to the, I mean,
especially in classical music, there was a really strong sense, especially from like post-war through the nineties, where it was like as precise as possible instruction was like kind of choking towards performers. And then you go back to like the 1800s, early 1900s, way before that. And sometimes there's so little instruction that two different performances sound vastly different. And so I think I myself, because I am somewhat like
Yeah.
Tim Corpus (42:41.998)
jovial fun person that I don't like to choke. I think I did that after grad school. I came out of academia kind of choking music. And over years of just kind of growing up of relaxing a little bit and like letting it flow and knowing and not knowing that it'll be okay. Cause I had a big performance of a big orchestra piece last February. There were so many wrong notes. was so painful. It was so painful for me and nobody else noticed only I noticed, but it was so painful. And like,
Right. Yeah.
Tim Corpus (43:11.99)
I don't think if I did anything more, anything would have been different. know, like at a certain point, it is what it is.
Yeah, I wonder because when I think of like fresh out of academia, I think of, you know, dogma and ego, right? It's like, well, no, I am a fresh 22 year old or whatever. And like I have the sharpest perspective on what art should be and what quality should be. So I think it's maybe interesting because it is similar like filmmaking, right? This is a collaborative handoff and to go like, how much do I let go of my ego and let the conductor and the staff and the musicians kind of
go as far as they can within the bound that's not necessarily like broken or breaking it but even that's sort of in my opinion like a fun a fun and terrible experience but it can be fun too.
also found that a lot of my best or maybe like most popular writing has been done in a shorter period of time where I don't have the time to academicize it, like think too hard about it. Because definitely coming out of grad school, you're like, well, how does this measure up to the grades? That's insane thing to do, but that's what you're taught to do coming out of school is to
Right.
Mishu Hilmy (44:23.67)
Which is terrible. It's terrible. It's like what you really ideally would be measuring against. never compare yourself. But if there were ideal comparison, be like, how do I measure against this person's work when they were a student? But even so, got like, know, precocious people and prodigies. So like just not comparing in general. But yeah, I also like that perfectionism. think that's probably where it comes from for me as well. We spend so much time, you know, our whole lives consuming media. So we know what fully fleshed
product looks like and we know we know we have our tastes like I I know what I like that's good but then when you're trying to do it oh man I can't I can't write like Richard Link later when I'm 19 of course not you know
Right. Yeah. And like also what we have access to, you know, some of the, like my favorite big music didn't sound that great when it was written in the early 1900s, because the players weren't even that as good as they are today. Like players today are the best they've ever been. They're like camera operators with the best they've ever been like, right. Like we all come out with a lot more training and understanding than people had 150 years ago.
And so like even what even comparing it as apples and oranges, because different worlds, which is also strange.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like everything's going to evolve and change. And I think that just further reinforces like letting go of the ego and just seeing like, all right, what's this new world? For you, it comes to, you know, to sort of add to like point of view, how do you take risks when it comes to say your music or your writing or your collaborations? Like what do you do to like inject either risk taking or a big swing, a bit of, you know, subversion, mischief?
Tim Corpus (46:07.214)
Yeah, I think my album 2020, which was all about that year and all of the things that happened, is the least I had sounded like that ever before. And it was a huge swing in a different direction. And I think the way I first gave myself permission to do that, to be like, I'm not going to... Because I was in a very different place and it was the first time I was really coming back to doing music more fully. Because I had a full-time job for three years. And so I was like, I'm going to do whatever I want.
And I also came into it with the idea that I was like, nobody's going to listen to this and I don't really care. But that was freeing, right? Cause I wasn't trying to sell it. I wasn't concerned about a collaborator, like making them happy. This one was fully just for me to kind of go through therapy and taking the chances. Like then building, I do like walls that I can know where the edge is and then I can push it. Like I'm okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's not working. We can push that, but,
So on some tracks, it was a 10 track album. There were clear boundaries. Like I was going to write like very R and B mixed with techno and then add some classical instruments to it. And that was a weird room with walls, but that was, that was the goal. And then it ended up something different, but that's like where we started. And so giving myself like, you know, here are the parameters and then, you know, you can mess with them later, but I tend to find myself pushing those.
But if I don't have the parameters to begin with, I don't push anything, right? I'm just like a blank page and I can use any color I want as opposed to walking in and like, I'm use red and I'm gonna use blue and I'm not gonna use anything else. And that's where I find discovery.
Totally, yeah. think, gosh, I know you were mentioning earlier, but what is it like, know, constraints breed creativity or whatever the phrase is, know. The mother of invention, right? It's like, what's of invention? Limitedness or, you know, I don't know, constraints, the mother of invention, something like that. But yeah, I remember maybe a little bit a while ago thinking about mirrors and how like mirrors can amplify lasers. So like if you just have like a stream of light with no mirrors, it's just going to dissipate. It's going to have nothing to reflect against.
Tim Corpus (47:56.023)
He said a wave of-
Mishu Hilmy (48:17.302)
versus, like you said, bring creating these walls. How can I create so many kind of angles of these mirrors that really focus this laser of what this creativity could be? I think that's an interesting challenge there. Just to continue on the idea like risk. like constraints, like a helpful tool to explore and kind of discover. What about when it comes to, say, like, you know, client work or pushing yourself or other projects or even putting yourself out there to get, you know, to win a bid?
Like how do you navigate standing out whether it is through risk taking or perspective?
Yeah. You know, I bit on a, or I pitched on a project that I didn't get, but I really emotionally connected with it. And so I was like, I'm just going to sound like me. I like looking at the footage, I was like, they want this. But I was like, like it means X to me. I think maybe they want Y and they didn't pick me. So this is a great example, but in that one, yeah, I was just like, this is my voice and I'm going to be who I'm going to be. Yeah. And if you don't pick me, there are a ton of other amazing composers here in town.
I'm sure they'll do a great job for you. In another project where I, I met with a producer and she was like, you know, I have this interesting project. I think you should read it. I was like, cool. And I loved it. And I was like really excited by it. And so I wasn't asked to put anything together, but I put together a pitch of music that I was like, this is what it sounds like. Like, this is that character. It like resonated so much to me and it was not at all what they asked for. And the director and the writer loved it. Yeah. And so then we've like,
been in talks and development throughout the process, which has been awesome. And that again was like, this is me. Like I really resonated with this and I'm not like, you know, blown smoke. Like I really liked this. And they're like, you, you do really like this. And I think that, that shines through as opposed to like the cold email pitch. Right. was like, no, this means something to me in a way that's different than just like coming on board last minute. I was like, I think that this is where your character goes. I think I even said, I was like, yeah.
Tim Corpus (50:18.668)
I think this is the world that you're looking for. Like even if you get somebody else, like I think this is what you're looking for. And I could have been wrong, but that was like a risk take.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for sharing. You know, I just, just asked that because, you know, I think in the context of like auditions and it's just on my mind of most, most sort of self-tape monologues I've seen, you know, it might be a six out of 10 or seven out of 10 because people are trying to fit the brief, right? They're like, I don't know. I'll stay minimal. I'll just, you know, do what's, you know, gold on gold, right? Guild and gold rather than you, bring your perspective and go, I know what the brief says, but looking at it, here's what I think. And it sometimes it works out most times it doesn't, right? But the question is,
again, at the process level, would I rather, gosh, my acting career was just me giving six out of 10s and seven out of 10s because I took this virtually no risk. I was too polite and too fearful for any sort of audition I went on. But like if you're going to be making this creative work, like it seems like a painful process if like every time you submit or try to collaborate, you're like, OK, I really I really want to serve this this thing versus some, you know, sometimes I'll take a big swing and.
probably won't work, at least I'm honest to my point of view or giving them a fresh cheeky perspective or different perspective that they may need or may not need. Yeah. Yeah. That's, always struggle with like sending temp tracks or reference tracks to composers. Cause even then I'm like, gosh, it's like, it's a vibe I'm looking for, but it's also like, it sounds nice. But then when they're just like, no, make it more like the temp. how do you have you been like, how do you deal with, how do you deal with getting reference tracks and temp? Right. Or even kickstart the conversation. Cause for me at the directing level, it's like knowing
I'm realizing a certain laziness with either reference or temp tracks and going, wait a minute, these are hopefully to help start or clarify conversation. And for me to remember some of those elements, whether it is broad language around colors or vibes or going, I really like the sort of a free read instrument. So if we could play around with the free read instrument, that'd be great. And maybe the tempo. And those are the two things that I want out of this temp track. Okay, then that's helpful versus,
Mishu Hilmy (52:22.478)
Here's a reference. And then if I'm vague on why I like it as a reference, you know, I might be disappointed when you're pulling out a funky bass. I'm like, no, no, I don't want a funky bass. want something like Yeah. Like an intellectual reference. Like legit reference. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So yeah, we're wrapping up. I think we're a few minutes over. Yeah, I'm curious. What are you looking forward to? What are you wanting to sort of stretch yourself? You know, like how?
How do you want to stretch yourself out in the near future? What are you excited about? Just curious. Right, yeah. It's the personal stretches and the challenging and then the comfort zone too. That's great. Well, Tim, it was absolute delight getting to chat and I look forward to seeing you at the next event.
I'll see you then.
Mishu Hilmy (53:17.294)
Before sending you off with a little creative prompt, I just wanted to say thank you for listening to Mischief and Mastery. If you enjoyed this show, please rate it and leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your support does mean a lot. Until next time, keep taking care of yourself, your lightness, curiosity, and sense of play. And now for a little mischief motivation. All right, this one is inspired by some environmental priming and cognitive load theory.
little space audit, take five minutes to look around your workspace and remove or rearrange two items that distract or inhibit your workflow, your life, your attention, whatever they are. Just make a simple adjustment and see how that might improve or boost your focus, productivity, et cetera. So do a little space audit, take five minutes, throw something in the garbage or hide it from your view. Maybe put your cell phone away if you plan on doing some drawing or writing or whatever. Anyway.
That's the space audit. Hope you give it a shot and have a great day.
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