Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541592
112 M PS E . O R G PERRY LA MARCA MPSE: Great to chat with you, Joseph! I'd love to start by asking you to share with our readers a bit about your background, your musical training, and what led you into the field of music editing. JOHN DE BEASI: I don't know how far back you want to go, but I've been a trumpet player since the fourth grade. PL: Fourth grade would be perfect! JD: It's a funny thing, because you know on my podcast, I've asked people how they knew what avenue of artistic or creative expression; how did they know they wanted to be a dancer or a pianist or what have you. And the reason I ask this is because I have a distinct memory of my older brother when it came time for him to choose an instrument. He chose the trumpet, but it just sat in the closet where I could stare at it. I can still see it in my mind's eye and something inside of me said, "I can do that!" And you know, a couple of years later when it was my turn, I said I wanted to play the trumpet and my folks were like, "No, we've already done that with your brother." I'm like, "No, I really think I can do that!" So, my dad, not wanting to waste money on 'renting another one,' went to a pawn shop and bought this terrible, terrible trumpet, which I still have. And I could play it, and I am playing it. When it came time for my formal education, I was also an athlete and had scholarships to play hockey and make music for higher education. So, I went to UMass in Amherst for both and decided to focus on music. After about a year and a half, I realized I was on an educational track, which was not really what I wanted. I did learn a lot about trumpet playing from Walter Chesnut, who was quite an amazing trumpet teacher. But I just wasn't into the classics the way the rest of the majors were. It just didn't excite me. A friend of mine at the time had just started playing jazz and started talking to me about the Berklee College of Music, so we both ended up transferring there in my sophomore year. And so that's basically what happened. There I was as a performance major, and in the first Joseph in home studio.