Success is in the Musik
By La’Crystele Brown
FWIS Contributing Writer
Timothy “Teezy” Johnson built up a great deal of resiliency as a child watching his mother fight through cancer and everything that came with it. A majority of what we see in him today came from going through trial and error alone during different situations in his life. Even with so much going on, at an early age he found that he loved music! Traveling to Africa at 12 with his djembe drum group was the beginning of Johnson’s love for music, and the first time he’d been out of the country or away from his mother; Johnson went on to play the drums and other instruments at his church, he found that his love for music grew stronger and stronger every day. Today, Johnson is a producer, engineer, artist, creator, and creative director in the music industry and has a studio called Successful Musik Studios that he opened with his business partner.
When covid first began many were out of work due to companies closing both permanently and temporarily. During this time, like several others Johnson was out of work, so he got together with his best friend and joined his LLC Soniq Sound. He expressed to his best friend that he understands music, but he was tired of waiting on people to make it. This led to his best friend taking him under his wing and Johnson realizes how important this impact was. Johnson was with a studio called Loyalty is Famous or LF Studios, where he worked with his best friend and did sessions with him, helping in any way needed but the owner of the studio moved to Indianapolis, and closed the studio located in Fort Wayne. After this, Johnson was left to go back to the drawing board.
Instead of sitting around waiting on someone or something to happen, Johnson took matters into his own hands working with what he had. This consisted of a computer speaker, a MacBook laptop, and some unappealing stock sounds that he wasn’t quite sure how to use. After about a year, around February 2021, everything finally started to come together. Johnson started working with an artist by the name of Isaiah Porter, who goes by the stage name Sir Porter. He produces, mixes and masters all his music. He also started working with other artist such as Stan Stan and he produces most of his music as well. Since February 2021 until now Johnson has been building his brand into what he wants it to be.
When making music Johnson is very in tune, he usually has an idea of exactly whose voice he’d want on the record and how it should sound. When he goes to write a song, produce a beat, or engineer, he’s always thinking about who it could be for and if he doesn’t know right away, he’ll sit on it until he finds the right person. He takes pride in the fact that he is one of the only people you can come to in Fort Wayne and get a beat mixed, mastered, and recorded in 6 hours. He is big on networking and connecting with new people both in music but also beyond music. Johnson is aware of how important and beneficial networking is but also the impact of being genuine and creating those real and respectful relationships. He loves music and he is so dedicated to it that he’s even willing to take a loss sometimes when working with artists that are serious but can’t financially afford to pay for studio time. Being new in the industry he tries to get the people he is working with to see his reasoning for being willing to take these losses is bigger than money. Making music is his passion and there is potential in touching the money later if they put in the work now. Johnson’s goal is to put together a group of artists and engineers to form a team that will encourage and push one another.
The people in the industry that know Johnson and those that watch him all think the same thing… He’s great at what he does, but he’s not afraid to admit that he has areas where he can learn more, and he disciplines himself so that he is able to remain humble but also keep growing and learning. When he first started out, he was like a fly on the wall, always there but silently watching and learning from his peers. Once he started to get hands on, he was able to create his own sound by using what he’d learned and his experience with music. He is now at the point that he can create from hearing or playing, and he can even bring a beat that’s in his head to life. Now that he knows the basics, he’s able to transform into a new era where he can produce, engineer, and create in different genres rather than just R&B.
Johnson is big on being a supportive friend. He’ll have friends inside and outside the industry, come to the studio to vent and watch him as he works, to help, collaborate or just to chill. He likes for his space to be an open space for those he loves including his children.
At the top of the year, Johnson’s podcast Pillow Talk TV will be premiering. Pillow Talk TV will be female led. His vision is for the podcast to be a place where women visit, host, and listen and know that they have a voice. A man, raised in a house full of women, Johnson believes it’s important to speak about certain topics while giving women the space to also share their views openly and without judgement. The podcast will include topics such as parenthood, dealing with depression, how to balance being a parent, trywork, trying to pay bills, trying to enjoy life, and trying to remember the fact that you’re human. He touched on how we have to do so much to live and be happy and, in the process, we drain ourselves because we’re so focused on life that we forget we’re human. For Pillow Talk TV Johnson wants the female cohost to be able to speak and say what she wants without someone filtering them or their feelings.
The team will consist of a female moderator and two female cohosts, he would also like to include a female creative director. He has come to realize that women are better decision makers when it comes to things that people like when it comes to things such as movies, music, food, and pretty much anything else. He understands that some people don’t feel that way, but he has conducted a great amount of research and 70% of the people who control what happens in entertainment are women. The podcast is going to be centered around life situations, relationships, parenthood and more. The cast is going to talk about real life and they’re going to be genuine and raw with their delivery.
Johnson is excited to keep growing and excelling in his career. He is passionate about his work, and he is even more passionate about his children. He touched on making coparenting as healthy as possible and being real and genuine with your children. He realizes it’s important to talk to your children and create memories. He also spoke on how it’s important to understand and acknowledge their feelings.
Johnson is going to keep making music, networking, building his brand, and being a family man. He is open to working with new artists and engineers. You can reach him by email at ezbeatsproductions5@gmail.com.