‘I am Sound’ | Jeremy Robison on Transforming Lives through the Power of Flutes revisited

[Music] Welcome to the Observatory Podcast. With your host Scott and LaRae Wright. Join us each week as we explore living life from the inside out. [Music] Welcome back to the Observatory Podcast. Today Ray and I are going to sit down with Jeremy Robison. Jeremy's been on the show before and he came on with his wife. We had a great conversation there about their life and their pathway and things that they'd been going through. Today we're going to talk about Jeremy's experience with starting a new company designing flutes. They're 3D printed flutes designed after Native American style flutes and the way that he has really just seen that business explode and witnessed just some really amazing miracles happen in his life. It's really a vulnerable conversation and a beautiful conversation about how sound and music and connection and vibration are emanating in the world right now. So sit back relax and enjoy this conversation with Jeremy Robison. Welcome back to the Observatory Podcast. Today Ray and I are sitting with our good friend Jeremy Robison in his home with which is beautiful and amazing and there's a little bit of an echo in here which actually makes it really cool. It's a great place to play flutes, especially given what we're going to talk about today, right? For sure. A road trip with flutes on the agenda. So this is going to be exciting. Yeah, so this is actually your second time on the podcast. First time you were here with your wife Karen and that was when we really first started hanging out playing music together and we talked about your journeys together in your lives and how you came together and. It's like two years ago right? Yeah around there. Yeah that was kind of just when we were forming more of the drum circle right? Right. Or it was coffee and drums first and then it turned into a big group. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was maybe after we had gone and recorded that big long series of like 17 songs that we still got taken off of the. All the platforms because someone said we used their song. Yeah, I think it was some medicine song that I guess it turned out to be a cover that wasn't approved and it got us kicked off. So it got us kicked off. We can record again now with flutes. No, we can do it again. I didn't even play the flute back then. I remember being so shy with it watching you do it and I would just chant the harmonium maybe do ukulele but this was kind of a total unfolding after that. So it'll be a fun podcast. It's interesting how that unfolded and you're kind of like me. I call it. I have musical ADD. Yeah, me too. I have it in real life too. It's just the ADD manifesting in musical instruments because I want to play everything and I want to explore everything and kind of. Need to. It's like multi instrumentalist. I really respect people like that because they're the ones that love to jam. They'll pick up a piece of wood and make music. It's amazing. A rock, so whatever it is. Yeah. It's primal. Totally. Totally. So where we're going to go today is kind of on this journey of flutes and flute making and music and all of that and how that's unfolded in your life. So maybe just in the beginning. Well, and before we start there too, just I'm just really impressed with your ability to just say yes. Yeah. You really stayed present and just kept saying yes to what was coming without seeing the whole pathway or having any clue as to where it would lead you. And so as you share the story, weave that kind of innate knowing that you had that was just like, I'm just going to say yes. Yeah, that's a lot of faith. That's the word that keeps coming to mind with this because the faith to me is more. Yeah, embracing them now, not trying to figure it all out right there and it'll unfold and I've been trusting that a lot. It's beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. When we met, you had had this apparel business that exploded and was doing really well and then all of a sudden that kind of contracted and that was the impetus to what is unfolded here now with the flute. So tell us about that story just a little bit. Yeah, I think back when we were meeting, I was going through some hard times with the businesses. These are kind of older clothing companies again, ADHD in real life. I had like five stores and it was getting hard, competitive to manage clothing. Eventually, getting into some debts with the business, I had to just shut them down. It was a point of no return. And I've been tinkering with the flutes for about a year by then. Just like I even launched the store probably a few months before that, but nothing, no marketing, just kind of like shy with it. I wasn't very confident. But the moment we launched that F# drone, that was what changed the whole confidence energy. And this sounds really good. I was like, maybe we can take this to the world. So yeah, I was at the point of ashes, like literally broke. Like, what do I do? And then yeah, how many flutes? And thanks Jeremy for sharing that. Scary. Yeah, of course it was. It was a lot of faith. Right there was like where I spent my last pennies on ads and it just took off. It was amazing. To me, that was like my big leap, I guess, like Hanuman remembered who he was. He grew 50 times bigger and took the leap. So yeah, it's all right. It's really raw because there's so much fear in that that I had to go through. I'm still kind of going through. And it was like a lot of intense energy moving through my body. Like it felt like three years with the clothing swimming upstream with it. Now it's like Niagara Falls. It's amazing. It's abundant. But it's like still intense. I'm a Scorpio. So I feel like I thrive a lot in the ashes. Like when I'm like, wow, what do I do here? That's where some rising happens and I feel it's amazing. It's a really good story. It's raw to go through. Yeah. Well, and you know, I've got to witness that. Just seeing you not just what you're posting on social media, not just the interactions that we have in texting. But man, you would show up at the music gatherings with this giant bag of flutes. Yeah, my drums. And you'd walk over to me and you'd like, don't five different kinds of flutes in my lap and say, here, these are for you. Please, please experiment with them and play them. And I started to do that. And it was like it opened up a door for me personally. As I'm already a flute player, but it opened up a door for me to be able to experiment and play with instruments that I very unlikely would have ever owned, such as triple flutes or quad flutes. Because to be able to purchase a triple flute, you're looking at probably minimum, a hand-made wouldn't do a minimum of a thousand bucks. It's hard. It's a big gate to go through for some people. So what I feel like our mission is I'm not trying to compete with the wood. Sure. They sound amazing and there's so much amazing energy going into that. I'm just opening up a gate of affordability to get more people into music. I don't think anyone should get keep sound ever. It's just like everybody's welcome and hopefully this helps. Well, one leads to the other, I think. Once someone has a flute that they can afford and they learn to play, then striving to want something that's made by wood. I think that just creates abundance for everyone when you have the ability to step back and look at the whole life cycle of how that gets introduced to someone. And the energy that that is all about, it's about the bigger community and not just one little strand of it. Yeah, it's really amazing to see even all the scales, people that couldn't afford to have other scales they were investing in, be able to just cover it. Sort of like handpants too, those are very expensive investments. It's amazing that they're tuned to one scale because you can't go wrong where you hit it. That's why I think these flutes are so popular too because they're easy to learn on and stay in the scale. Right. But yeah, I'm just excited to see people expand in their music practice, even if they're professionals. I even have some very advanced musicians buying on our website, like John Mayer. It's crazy. This thing's just blowing up and I just feel so much collaborative energy and it's overwhelming sometimes. Yeah. Well, I would love everyone having a flute to be part of their meditation practice and what brings them into stillness. So yeah, let's, I want to hear this story. I know it's raw for you because you're a father, you have children, you have a family. So I can imagine the mortgage, the karma yoga, the darned dad life. It's amazing. I signed up for it in the stars and I love it. So I know how raw it is to share, but I know that there will be so many people that resonate with that sense of like when you're in a place that feels so constricted. Yeah. No, it's, it's takes faith, you know, when you have nowhere else to look, what else is there where you, you know, what's around you and inside you. So taking that leap was huge for me. My soul, I had to bury the clothing businesses. It was kind of a funny fairy tale ending actually. Like I was on a Romdos retreat in Maui in December. So we get there and then this was just when the ads were starting to go off with I am sound and I'm greeted by this woman, one of the caretakers of Romdos's house. She's like, you're the flute guy. So that was like my welcome and just receiving that. And then I had this cloak with me. I'd be here now cloak the brown pages. And I wanted to give it to the guy that wrote the Ramdas book Being Ramdas because that kind of really set me on an amazing interjourney to get to know Ramdas, who's a teacher to me. And so I get the confidence to give him the cloak and get this, the theme of the retreats grist for the mill. And I had heard a story earlier that day, Ramdas had a blanket that he wanted to give to his guru, this green, cashmere, beautiful blanket. And he gets up to him and Maharaji picks it up like a dead rat, flicks it at this guy named Jug-A-Nos girlfriend. I don't know her name, but basically Ramdas is sitting there with this gift that he just gave to his guru and it's thrown away like that. But because of the love that was surrounding him in his guru, he looked immediately for the teaching. So hold that thought of that story. I give my cloak the next morning to the guy that wrote that book. And he refuses the gift. He's like, oh, I don't like to travel with things. And I'm just sitting there like, whoa. And I thought of a blanket story. And it was so parallel with it. And the end of the story is they give you these mollabies at the end with a little thread on it. And it's, they keep some of Maharaji's blankets in a safe. It was the thread from the green blanket. Wow. Wow. And I give that away. But he didn't take it. And I brought it to Ramdas's house and they received it. And it's there. And then I buried the clothing that's over. But it was a wild, wild birth that came through after this. And it's amazing. It feels really aligned to my soul. Like I feel like I can play when I work, which it wasn't fully possible before. And now I can do it. And yeah, it's a lot of passion and alignment in my life. Thankfully, I'm not quite through all of the mountains. I have to climb, but it's going there. And I feel it, you know, right? It's in, it's still in that creation mode. Yeah. I mean, you're offering new keys of flute, new, uh, what does it you call it? I mean, some of them are in major keys. Yeah. And my mental ways of walking them too. Yeah. And yeah, John Pattern, an artist that I love to listen to. He makes exact dance music and was even on the Ramdas vinyl. Uh, he went with me to the retreat, by the way. So he was part of that story and those all about it. But we're working on a collab for more of a Celtic way of walking the scales. He calls it pentatonic major. So we'll have to play that after it's beautiful. I don't want for you. I heard you playing it. Well, you think I'm like, I want one of those for sure. It sounds like a bagpipe, honestly, the five. Yeah, it's just fun collabs coming out too with other artists. And I want to connect with you on teaching. I think there's so much collaborative energy here that's really healing. Yeah. I agree. So let's begin at the beginning. I mean, tell us what was your first relationship with the flute? Have you played the flute for a long time or when was that first flute experience? You know, so I wasn't, um, experienced with the flute at all and tell Scott gave me a lesson. So even in the drum circles, you would see me. I never really picked it up. So I was super shy with it even after the lesson. I remember recording myself and then like finally getting the confidence to go live or even in front of somebody watching me, just like the drums. I had that same thing before. Can I stay in the pattern? Can I? And the flute was like that for me. So your lesson really was a pivotal change for me, especially when you said treat it like a percussion instrument. Yeah. So when I took that and then I read the music lesson, I'm like, whoa, I can speak flute now. It's like even my body, I can dance now and it feels like a drum. Like I know where to move my feet. So it's far out to just surrender into this. It almost feels like a deity sometimes, like music or rhythm itself, the god of rhythm. It's like when I fall off the waves of it, I don't feel shame anymore. It's just like hot back in where you go into it. It's weight. Yeah. And the music lesson is the book that Victor Wooten, Victor Wooten, that is just an amazing book to read. Yeah. I love that book. That was my favorite takeaway was just that just as little babies learn to speak English, they're not studying all the theory and forming it first. They're jamming. They're jamming with the pros. And I put on Spotify matching scales and my flute practice evolves when I can dive into that or even just a drum, you know, having that. Yeah, it's amazing. Just having some percussion to match your finger movement to help so much that I always teach this at the notes that while they note, I always say the notes don't matter. They do matter. However, they matter less than we give them credit for because you don't, it doesn't matter, especially with a simple pentatonic scale. Totally. It's very simple. You've got six notes to work with. There's more, but you've got six really, yeah, easily accessible notes to work with. And especially when they're in the flute in that format, it's like you can't go wrong too much with it as long as you're walking and covering the holes. That's a one thing, a little plug for flutes with people getting started. It's so important to cover those holes. One of the most common frustrations they blow into it and it just sounds like a choo choo train. It's anything. Even the slightest bit. So we put these volcano rings around our holes on the flutes to really feel that. When you get more advanced, like, you know this, you start to feel it in your fingertips, you know, and something's off. So it's cool. Yeah, I love the connection that you can make with the flute. Yeah. And I mean, when we first got here, we did a little walking tour of all of the places where you're printing these flutes. And so from never playing the flute to a simple lesson and then to this place, you must have felt that relationship just so akin to like deep in your bones, like when you started playing the flute and having the experience with it. Yeah, especially and it goes so far beyond the flute because music to me, they all intertwine. It's the ADHD of music, but I'm learning so much by inter weaving instruments. For example, the tabloat drums from India change the game with my handpan practice. And now the flute in the way I move my fingers. So yeah, I'm just I keep honoring sound and music. That's the name of the business I am sound. And I just want people to get into it. It's so healing. Yeah. I agree. Jeremy, thank you brother for so open and vulnerable and just being in this space because, you know, we can see how important this is to you. I can't tell you how honored I am to be part of it. I've given you a couple of ideas as we've, you know, interacted during it and I like to put the holes in the triangle. Yeah, game changer for that triple. That was like, and the reason is I wanted to be able to access each one of the holes individually instead of having to play only two of the the ones together and with it being in a triangle, I could I could turn the flute and make any sound I wanted to with a triple flute. As I've been playing it more and more as I start playing it, you start with a single, you move to the high double, then you move to that you can move to the high double with the low drown and, you know, yeah, and just the whole song, you know, all you need is one instrument to have a completely it's like a ceramic. It is. And yeah, I do it. The opposite is on my way, I love starting on the single. So I'll twist it that way. And then I go to the low double next because it's kind of sneaky and low because the high double is loud. Like that's just like already open three holes, but it is so powerful when you mix the harmony. So yeah, the triples just fun. Like this is a toy as well. It is. It is. And the thing that you showed me, you know, this is the student now teaching the teacher when you switched your hands around from the doing at the opposite where you moved your left hand. And I learned that from Bernardo, one of our affiliates. Like it's so fun how it's like these wizards on the path that keep popping up. Like, you know, those old computer games and there's the menu. I see that like an Instagram people are teaching me about toblos and you with the flus were sharing ideas. So it's just an amazing playground to be a big. It's a playground. It's totally what it is. It is like a bunch of kids curious kids playing with music in a way that it's not that it's never been done before, but it's for us. It's never been done. Yeah, we're making new things as we go to. Yeah, trying to make it. It's in that creative space. Yeah, it's like that guy that comes to our drum circle. What's his name? He's an older man that brings like a new instrument of the month every month. Michael. Michael. Michael. He's the one I was telling you about earlier. He's the guy that has a musical ADD just like you. Yeah. I line with that like I want him jam with him some more because I kind of envision myself as an old man when I'm a grandpa instrument of the month. Here comes grandpa, new flu, what the heck. I've been to his house and you need to go. Yeah, it's full. And he's there's instruments that he's created himself. Yeah, did you read do combos of strings like it's insane industrial stuff. Yeah, hands on, which I respect a lot. I do too. Super creative guy. Michael Taguereth, I think you say he's last name. Okay. Good dude. All right, so I'm going to pull us back for a minute. Okay, thanks. We'll go down rabbit holes. No, but I mean, I love all of this because it's so powerful. The conversation, you know, and we're such vibrational human beings. And so when you talk about just how much healing it's brought, I can only imagine how much it will continue to bring, given where we are in our world. But tell us about it. So once you just, once you made a decision to try and make a 3D printed flute, what did that journey look like? And then the community that's around you is just amazing. Yeah, it's really rising up. And I want to formulate maybe a Facebook group that's got to be a way to connect even better. But yeah, it was an is a journey at first. first I was tinkering for a year. Yeah. Can I ask you a question because this is related to that. So I had bought a 3D printed triple flute before and I'm pretty sure you had seen it. I wondered if that I bought it on Etsy several years back. I wondered if you remember even seeing that. I even have one behind me. So that was the thing. Yeah, that's the same company that one right there. And they're good. To be honest, I was testing out some of their drones. They weren't quite there for me yet. 3D. Intel, that F# like I said and it's kind of synchronistic because my designer that makes all these he lives by the pyramids in Egypt, his name's Ibrahim. And it's funny I have this onk tattoo on my wrist. I always kind of flex with my selfies. And here's the new flute and he loves it. But he designed this as the first flute for me and it's 432 Hertz F# which matches the frequency of the top of the pyramids and the earth. And you said what's interesting about him is he is an engineer. Yeah. He knows nothing about music. No, and we kind of did this together. Like it was awesome looking at his notebooks of just handwritten charts of notes and grant you I do a chromatic tuner on all these. They're sound tested. He's precise. Yeah. So I'm not as much savvy with music theory. I plan on studying that later as I go, but it's just like the journey, right? Like I'm trying to integrate later. Right. Right now let's be here. Let's collaborate. Right. And play. Let's put these flutes in the hands of as many people as we can. Yeah. So that music can resonate into the world. That's what's happening. We're witnessing this. That's work. The throat chakra opening up the kids. I love it when my kids, like even my son's friend prints for me too and my twin nephews and they're like sound testing in the cell. So it's a lot of like the youth coming up into this too. Which I'm so cool excited about because I'm a dad. Kids are drawn to the flute when I'm out in a park playing or something. Who comes and listens. The kids. Yeah. Kids are the ones. So I don't want to bypass the tuning to the top of the pyramid. So go back to that. That I'm like, "Ooh, I don't know that I knew that." Well, yeah. And I think I just looked at Wikipedia. I hope I'm saying it true. But I've said it to a few people and they've told it back to me too. But that apparently is the frequency of the top of the pyramid and also the frequency of the Mother Earth. 432 Hertz F#. Well, it's just a fun dot to connect. And so that's one of the ones you made with him. You collaborated on making that. Yeah. And it's really the first one that I took to market really because I didn't feel fully confident. Although like it's now a bestseller, I had that D5 pocket drone even before I launched ads. And yeah, I had a few customers trickle in and it's awesome. But starting with a really high pitched flute is difficult. I feel in this to have confidence and make waves especially with the professionals. With that F# like even Shrikahla, he immediately wanted one. I've been connecting with artists like Yima and they're wanting to use it and recording albums. So these are like, it blew me away honestly when I played it. Like I was like, I can't believe this is 3D printed. This is far. Wow. And that's the heart chakra. Yes, it is. Yeah. So I mean, it just fills me with so much happiness, seeing that kind of alignment that is invisible. It's happening behind the scenes without a lot of attention that alignment to just the heart chakra. Yeah, it's definitely the area I'm playing with. That's my path. I feel we're all on a path of the heart. Finding the deepest self. Definitely. I forget what I was going to say. Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay. This is it all. It's all in flow. So the F#, it's the first one you go to market with. Yeah. And it has this beautiful sound. And suddenly, not only are you marketing it to people who've never played the flute, but people who are really, you know, very talented musicians are like, wow, this is different. I want this. Yeah. A lot of the people that go to the jungle to play flutes, they don't want to bring their very expensive ones and risk damaging them. So they use this as a portable alternative and love it out there too. So glad to see they're even going in the jungle. We use recycled PLAs. So we're very eco-conscious in the beginning we started with a cassava-based filament that biodegrades. Unfortunately, that supplier went out of business there in Korea. So now we use a recycled PLA and with plans of even working with, there's a place that takes ocean plastics like the sprite bottles, gorgeous filaments, I'm in works of maybe doing a collection with them reflow. So it's fun. I kind of even see myself being in that space of like helping clean up the earth, making beautiful, alchemized filaments for wind instruments and maybe even being in that world too. I just love collaborating and finding new wizards on the journey and just opening doors. You know, it's amazing. Well, when I was going to say, when I go out to, I attend these primitive skills gatherings around and one of the things that I teach there is flute playing. But I always at night were out doing drum circles and I've been busting out your flutes, the triple flutes especially when we're doing the drum circle and always without fail. Someone will come up. Is that the ones that I see on Instagram and this and that? You know, actually, yeah, this is a buddy of mine. The way the word got out so quickly, I'm just curious, is to like, what is the, I think the algorithms, you know, what we're talking about in a lot of people say, you know, the algorithm is you can't get around how they want things to be unfolded, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know that I really agree with that. I think there's an energetic fountain that's pushing things to where humanity needs them to be to become more connected. This seems like one of those to me. It's awesome. I love reading the comments. They're so all over the place. I even get some trolls. The best are people that are like, oh, I just had a soundbath like they're, these are ads too. So I'm an open book. I'm paying for advertising. That was necessary to get this moving and to save my house and all that stuff. But these ads I'm paying for are also soundbaths. It's like such a cool energy. And because they're already affordable, like I come from an area where I always had to run sales on my clothing and clear things out. And now it's the price already sells itself. It's affordable gateway and I can be myself and play and invite. And that's all I do. And it's working really well with even the ads which is what's growing fast. I want to do an ad with you sometime. Let's do it. Let's do it. Of course, too. And of course, yes. I get that comment all the time. I refer to you also, Tommy Graven. And yeah, we should work together on some instruction. That'd be fun. I love to do that. I remember the food class that you first came to. It was the one we did where there were several people there. At the Hurt. Yeah, Adam taught the ukulele. Okay. And then I think somebody taught drums and then I did the flutes. And did you teach something to? No, I didn't. We were going to do a harmonium maybe. But yeah, the flutes I had bought one on eBay, a wood sea. And that's what I used in the beginning. I think he recommended that one first. Now you can recommend mine. They're more affordable than eBay. And that's the thing is, the affordability puts it in the hands of more people. They start. I mean, the low end price is like $25, right? Yeah, that's the lowest one. It's the A4 single. And it's a great one like for your first lesson to walk away with. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But honestly, if you're really wanting to get into serious play and practice, I always recommend the F#4 drums. It's very special to me, but it's also very forgiving and easy to learn on because the holes aren't too far. So yeah, like the bigger one, sometimes you got to stretch your fingers. And like we said, the slightest movement can throw all the harmony off. Yeah, and some of the holes are really big. So if you have small fingers, you can't even cover the holes with some of them. Yeah. This giant ocarina, I was just playing the D ocarina that was huge. Like to get your fingers over the holes in that. It's. It's a great one, another game too. And I even taped one of the holes or put a tie on it just so I could reach. It's a new way of holding those. You have to use the flesh of your fingers instead of the tips. And it's very wavy like it's super cool. Yeah. So how many flutes now? Varieties and keys in that? How many do you have? Wow, it's moving so fast that off the top of my head, I can't say it right here, but like it's, we have a roadmap of the scales. We're going through them very intuitively. It's honestly like the next project because I bought that hand pan at the high vibe fest. I need a flute to match that. So that kind of directs. It's like whatever's here. So yeah, we've launched, we start with F sharp. We have ACG D. No B. No B yet. And we're working on F major and some of these collaborative ones with John. But yeah, I need to expand more with ocarinas. We have those harmonic ocarinas. And there's a company out of the Netherlands called Stonewistel. They make a Huwaka, which is like a three or four chambered ocarina. I think it's three. But that's an instrument I'm very interested in because they're so expensive to buy. And I respect them. They're amazing articians like handmade ceramic, beautiful sound. But I want an affordable gate to that because they're so amazing. And it's not their invention. It was invented by Sharon Russell in the 80s. Fairly modern instrument actually, even though it sounds ancient, again, kind of like my stuff. Yeah. And you have single flutes, drone flutes, double, triples and quad. The quad's are now, yeah, I gave my own sample I had to the lead singer of Yima or he heard me playing it on stage and I had this accidental overtone drone on the back so I was like playing like an overtone flute with the harmony of a drone so I gave it to him I can make another one but yeah there's some cool stuff coming out. Put me on the list. I've got a basket now. Yeah it's me too right there. It's full of your flutes. It's just like that. It's bigger than that one but it's it's just the same way and that's that's the where they are. The big ones, the small ones everything in between and they'll create is. And the multi-collars they're so playful. They're fun and I come from a background of clothing also I used to sell camera bags and thinking of travel gear and some innovations there with how to carry your flutes too. Like you see Andre 3000 out in Japan at the Starbucks with his little sling flute with him. He always carries it with him and I think it's fun especially if you're out in the park or hiking the house in ways to carry. So yeah lots of ideas is so many floating around and again I'm just keep I keep honoring the energy that's here trying to be very intuitive with this because it's a lot more than who I think I am or anything about me. Yeah I think one of the places I wanted to go because I've noticed you know you were talking about trolls here and there there has been some pushback on certain things and you know there's artists that create Native American flutes and sometimes I know you get pushback on that. One of the things I like to talk about you know there's a lot of appropriation there's a lot of colonialism that's gone on on this planet. But we're becoming coming to this place I think finally even though it seems super divided right now of a more especially the generations coming a more united front where there's no division because of anything. Yeah we're all just people. Yeah that earth and I think honoring those traditions I think is really really important which I know you do. Oh for sure. If anyone says you don't I'm just here to say that's not true because I know you I've witnessed you I've seen you I've played music with you and I know that you honor those traditions. Yeah and my personal life especially and even in the business I mean once I'm through my obligations and my Dharma like getting through the finances and everything I do want to open up some charity components is first and foremost to the earth you know giving back helping clean up and then even to the Native American foundations that did birth this beautiful scale tradition of pentatonic minor in the way of playing drum flutes and I honor respect that even the other day I'm just recollecting at a drum circle I met a man that hand makes wooden flutes like gorgeous ones you might know them and I gifted him the F sharp he had the F sharp in that wood and he let me play it while he played my plastic one and I just had this beautiful solo with him in moment where I could honor him what he does and he honored what I did and it just felt so right on and so I feel I get all these whispering in my heart like just keep going you're doing what's right to be honest I've looked at all the trolls profiles that go there they're not Native American the ones that I have a lot of friendly Native American people that support play my flutes and yeah I feel right on there's no battles I don't like to pick anywhere to stand you know and like have a Bible bash and with religion or anything it's just to be right about something right yeah it's all about inviting we're all walking each other home and that's how I see it it's a great well and I love what you said earlier about like no one own sound yeah you can't get keep it yeah you can't get keep it and to allow it to be affordable just open so many avenues for like I said the the entire population you know people wanting then and being introduced to other options of flutes once they're playing and they have that talent exactly so it's much more ancient than any even ritual or traditional artifact like sound and the healing the home of the universe like what this is no gates necessary for that one so let's jump then into the community that you're building I love how you talked about how collaborative you're making it and how your own you know children are printing and how just talk a little bit about that and the energy behind that and was that intentional or did that just kind of pop up you know how did you how did that materialize in this journey that is a perfect example of a spontaneous unfolding that was not planned at all and it is so beautiful it's like the flute mafia we always joke about it like my dealers each of my kids manage a printer and then a couple of their friends that were very interested in entrepreneurial like wanted printers and I'm getting text from their dad saying hey can I buy ten more printers and they're I'm like you know having a throttle a little bit but like it's there's this rising of people that are starting to like collaborate and friends and family nothing advertised I'm keeping it organic but it seems to be matching the demand it's like a really wild show like to zoom out and see the universe unfold and to play with it and not try to control it that's what's happening here and in fact I did at when we were really scaling I had to do a PO out of China for still the recycled PLA but to get some help on the back orders and the tariffs happen and that shut that down and I'm like you know what we're here now let's just rise out and everybody started buying printers like I have a friend Tyler's got 15 Brandon's got 15 James probably 10 John there's lots of printers what you saw here in the tour was just the beginning now it's it's it's pretty widespread like a flute mapquester flute hub or something they're way smaller than I thought they were gonna be yeah that well some of them are big some of them are small so we have the small soldiers that I call them my machine elves it's like I love that it's like Santa's workshop yeah it is but it never stops and never stops and it's like Steve job lab you know just make apple one two three what are we doing it's so creative but and it's fun to like show my community behind me so this is an open source back end supply chain it's something I've never seen actually that's happening and I get to hype them up with the new flutes we're sharing photos solos and it just feels like there's a like a whole unit of energy there which is very magical in a business it's it's such a beautiful concept I mean I love the idea that children that young people are learning not only the accountability of being business entrepreneur like youth entrepreneurs right or understanding the exchange of money in their lives much earlier and I'm even seeing like I don't know if you do this but it would be cool to receive a flute and know like who printed that one that'd be fun you know and like a little bio of you know like this person is 15 years old or this one is this you know because it just creates that energy of this is the community this isn't some big factory or you know entrepreneur that's it you're really creating a community that's rising there's a story behind it too and yeah even I was just thinking the other day my wife's sister was in town with her baby his name's Rami and I have a lot of filters in that room that theater room that has some printers but they were sleeping there so there was like the last week's batch of flutes had the energy of a sleeping baby in that room wow yeah that is so beautiful I love that I mean I'm just sitting here thinking you know a story of you know all these flutes got printed in the room of this this teenager yeah help them because you're you're they're not doing this for free they're being compensated for doing this and they're going to college because of the the flutes that were being printed in their room during this process now they're going to college with the funds for buying DJ soundboards and my son wants to be a DJ so we went half of it I paid for the other half was from his flute money so wow it's pretty cool we go to the record store sometimes it's like I want to buy a new record such a collaborative thing open source yeah it's it's really far out to to navigate it that way I feel like I was very lonely as an entrepreneur before now not so much it's really cool even though I'm the only owner of this it doesn't feel that way there's like other people with skin in the game in other ways it's cool yeah I love how it's organically shaping it's so beautiful see where it goes there's not just limiting to flutes to you know before I started this my whole idea was to make the world's smallest harmonium obsessed with harmonium to it's a wind instrument actually yeah but yeah I was wanting to make some more portable ones for like Harinam Kirtan style like out in the city and I still plan on that like there's some innovations like even in 3d printing do you know they're starting to print with my sillium now certain printers they're they're printing with what's another one I even made one with some copper in it and used a patina spray to make it turn turquoise so I can do these things on the flutes later wow I'm just maintaining the boundary of eco-friendly like that's part of the mission sure portable friendly eco-friendly and very portable well I felt very special when I was at last gathering we went to the drum circle by the fire so it's dark yeah the fire is burning but all my all my instruments are back in the back and it's kind of dark so I go back there to grab a flute and I look at my bag and I see something glowing in there I'm like what is glowing in my bag and I pick up it's a flute you had given me that glows in the dark I forgot to tell you I didn't even know yeah whoa this is magical that's a pretty cool filament so like I was buying for some recycled filaments from certain companies so I want to do things like that the the reflow company that uses the plastic from the ocean makes a very tight filament that even sounds a bit louder so there's plenty of innovations coming in colors too we just switched our colorways as well we were gonna sick of purple and green. Yeah. Yeah. So now it's blue, yellow, Army green, like lots of different ones. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I love just all the lessons that this experience is teaching you. Everything from you know, the gift of it being a financial reward, the gift of it being something that you have so much passion for and not, you know, forcing you into having to make a choice that really shifted the way you live. You know, it's keeping this such beautiful alignment in your life and showing you like just how big the potential is. Yeah, the anything's possible. It's like really faith affirming too. Just this is constantly feeling my faith and it is amazing to rely on the universe sometimes. It's like the balls in your court, you know, those are powerful moments. I feel where a lot of times we feel it's always in our court. This is game changing stuff for our life. Yeah. Okay, I want to talk a little bit more about that because I know that that's going to be a tender place. But there have been times when, you know, people say, oh, you just have to trust the universe. Yeah. Just just do that. Right. Yeah. And that seems so possible. But the conflict that happens in being able to trust the universe is what has to be what you have to let go of that you've nurtured all your life. Yeah. I call it a complete exhale. For me, it's not surrendering into here. You go universe. I need it to be this way. It's I don't know, but here it is. It's a full dive. You know, right. It is the full exhale because you have to really let go of anything that you know. Yeah. It's it's really powerful place to be in. And yeah, maybe I was teetering on a little bit on belief like the doubting Thomas. I don't know what it was. It just felt like a very powerful moment for me of like some sort of birth, you know, where I kind of went into whatever felt like the deepest dive into the fire, you know, a lot of fear. But like not running from it, just like what else can I do? Almost like forced surrender. I wasca. It's like that sometimes. Yeah. And that happened and that happened before the trip to Hawaii with Ramdas. Yes, because then I was already kind of doing the ads and they greeted me as the fluke guy. So when was the moment where you just said I'm the exhale. When was that moment that you just had? I'm going to experiment with this. I'm going to go start making 3D flutes. I mean, did it? Was it one event or was it a series where you just kind of leaned in and it unfolded? Well, the experiments of the flutes were happening behind the scenes. Like it's funny. When you connect dots with the universe, what's bubbling up in your desire systems, your interests, that was unfolding already. The biggest part for me, I think I even posted a video on the tongue drum or something out by my fire in the backyard where I mess it. I put on the caption dive into the fire. That was my moment when I posted that of the rock bottom. I don't know what to do. I'm going to lose everything like here it is. I remember you telling that story. It's like, yeah, we're our house is going up for sale. Yeah. We've got to figure this out. We don't really have any of their options and now all that's kind of gone away. Yeah. So it was right there that like I said, it's like they say in Zen like the surrender of no surrender. It's just happened. It had to happen. And I exhaled into that like per se metaphorically even. And that's to me where the magic happened. Like it was that. I even started learning this in a massage, by the way. It's funny how your body can teach you similar lessons. So I was struggling with tickles or a point of really intense pain in a massage. And I was experimenting with the full opening and exhale. And it turned into bliss. I kid you not. I was like playing with some stuff there that was teaching me about how to face pain. And it was amazing. What you do, it almost felt like three steps I needed to open and actually work on even like aligning my spine while it was being pressed more. But that combo with the breath led to bliss. And I was really tying that into my experience with this too. So it's interesting. The levels of the micro you can learn in the body too. Yeah. I love that. It's such good stuff. So as as that unfolded and it started to take off. Did you just get some 3D printers and start doing it here? How did you meet Eber him? Is that his name? Yeah, Eber him. So my good friend Tanner Yaro, he's active LDS, really close friend. We saw him every day and have amazing deep conversations. It's really cool. But our relationship's been really good. And he shared with me one of his contractors that helps him with dungeons and dragons industry. So he makes games on Kickstarter. And very successful with what he does, but a ton of innovative 3D designs. So he's like, I have a guy that he lives in Egypt actually. And he could totally try this project because I wanted him to like experiment with flutes. So that's where it came from. And yeah, we've just cultivated a really good relationship. Me and Eber him. I don't think he's very active on social media. But in WhatsApp, we're always connecting. Let's go to Egypt. I do want to go to Egypt. I'm serious. That's on the agenda play in there. We've been talking about this. Egypt has been calling us. I would love to. I got to meet Eber him. That's the biggest pull to Egypt for me, honestly. There's a lot of magic with him. I would be down for that. So just putting that out there in this moment. But it's just amazing to witness this stuff. And then once he started helping you with design, how I mean, you had to travel this path for a while. How long did it take before you actually started production? We got a flu. Yeah. And enough to print because I know I know when once it happened, it was like boom, everything was out. Nothing. You had no inventory. Yeah. And then you went through that first wave of like, oh my goodness, there's demand. And now I have to man it. It's like, okay, let me get demand first. Oh, now I have to manage inventory. And it's like that. Growing pains of business. The growing pains. Yeah. I've been through this. Yeah. I have over a decade experience with e-commerce and all these things are normal problems to have and they're good problems. But yeah, there was moments like it'd be funny to have a fly on the wall or even ask my kids who observed this from the beginning to now because I was by myself upstairs by my bed, hand assembling the flute, shipping. I even on the first two orders drew a doodle of Ram Das and said some things on there. So it was like so hands on in the beginning. Like I was the only one doing it. You know, right. Then my brother who actually rents downstairs from me, he lives in our basement. Jamie, he helps now with all that. So he kind of joined forces with me. I started hiring him to do a lot with the printers and to run our shipping team. And what's really cool with the shipping team, another collaboration. My wife goes to a cadia aesthetic school and we really needed shippers and it turned out a lot of the women there needed jobs. So we fired like six of them. That's awesome. So it's really helping them out. They're really grateful. It's like, yeah, just open source back end. And it happened that way. Like I, my right brains more active than my left and I'm learning a lot of things by necessity, especially with numbers. But when it comes to like managing a whole operation of logistics and shipping and fulfillment, I need help. And that was really amazing to see how this just rose up organically. Yeah. And we got out of China because of the tariffs like everything's just here, right here in the county. Yeah. And so give us a number from the very first flute you sold to how many flutes do you sell today? Oh, how many today? It's a lot. I should have ran the number of how many flutes total we sold. But orders wise, I mean, some days we're doing 200 orders a day. It's a lot of flutes. Big, big world out there. Yeah. And shipping everywhere. Everywhere Australia, Japan, Hong Kong. Yeah, it's having issues with Canada lately. And I'm Canadian. There's like high duties. I'm getting a lot of people like not able to receive the package or sending it back because of the duties. But we're trying to figure that out. So I opened up my advertising to certain countries and I had to turn off the Canada ones for that reason recently. So it's cool. I play a lot with audiences. It's fun at the drum circles. People say, Oh, I've seen your stuff everywhere. And I'm like, well, target in the right people. Exactly. So it's really cool. There's a lot you can do with the advertising. And just I follow a lot of my intuition. I'm doing angel numbers on my budget, like 111 for this campaign. It's just fun. I have my own cosmic jokes going on with me. And I'm at play. And what I do, you know, and the lessons for you just keep being deeper and deeper and deeper. Yeah. No, they're so deep, so paralleling. And yeah, I just keep coming back to what Ram Das teaches me here now. Like this is the most interesting thing there is. And the next message you need, where is it here? Right here. Always. It almost feels like it's not running a business. It's really so integrated in your life. It's like, yeah, I'm living life. And oh, by the way, I print flutes as part of that experience. That's a cool way to look at it, actually. Because it does, you know, typically the business becomes the thing. And Scott always says, don't make the thing the thing. But this is so integrated into your healing, who you are, what you want to do. It's just like, I'm living in flutes as part of that. Definitely. And it's definitely like opening up a lot of doors. Like the brand of I Am sound is definitely like a platform that's coming out for me that helps me connect with a lot of people even artists, you know, Collaboration so yeah, it really does feel like play. I was even in a joking way saying to my son the other day we're driving and It didn't feel like it was coming from an ego place. It might sound like it was But I was like, you know what my biggest flex is JJ I was like I finally found how to make work my play and I really feel that. Oh, yeah, and it's true Yeah, well, I love that. I want to talk for a second about the quality. Yeah, because You know, I'm I'm particular about how things are gonna sound and I know in the in the beginning and you gave me Quite a few flutes that were just like Yeah, I'm the same way a very picky with airways too, so yeah, like even the Ocarinas were struggling to make them really loud Actually kind of look like toys. They're definitely high quality sound Yeah, we're very precise with the airways in fact those little blocks on there It's an innovation we did where you don't have to tie it with a string It just slides into the track and I'm just like you very picky when it comes to how things are sounding and We make a lot of adjustments some flutes need more air to go through so we'll make a tiny little tweak there And some might sound a bit more breathy than others and that's just kind of how they're designed Because in some situations they're more difficult to play if it's too sensitive and you can't blow hard enough So yeah, it's very interesting to dive into the air volume. That's a huge thing to play with with these airways and Of course the basics of walking the scale to make it sound good. Yeah They're they're they're Breakdownable. Yeah, they come apart they come apart so they come in and and multiple pieces and one of the things I found is where where they connect There is sometimes a little bit of leak there. So you just have to make sure that it's pushed in tight Yeah, definitely don't put them in direct heat So I made that problem at high-five I had it out in the sun for a bit and that'll change this ever so slightly It doesn't really affect the sound It's just the the joints there will become loose and what I recommend to people that do is just super glue Even if you're worried and it's like gonna get hot somewhere. That's what I do it together because I rarely take them apart It's more just the innovation of way to print it Yeah, and some people like that for travel if but then you got to be really careful with temperature and you know not sure We're working it. Yeah, that's what I do I've glued several of them together just to make sure that they're sealed and make sure that there's not a leak somewhere Because if there's a leak on a flute, that's an issue totally. Yeah, you got to be careful with the way the air goes through Yeah, any slight thing can change the sound now. I have a quick question We've had several young nephews want to learn the flute and so do you? Change does the flute have to change at all based on Whether it's a child playing or an adult playing or can the flutes Again just depending on the nature of how the air flows through them be adapted to anyone Anyone that can fit the on the whole Just the mean thing. Yeah, I like some female hands struggle on for example the a3 Right the bigger it's a stretch, but we try to make them reachable overall like even my wife can play that one But yeah, the kids will probably like the smaller flutes and then there go to is to always just blow super hard into it So you tell them to start soft because it'll sound like a choo choo train unless you go soft You got feel the flow of the octave otherwise it jumps to the higher octave as a squeak Yeah The overtone overtone which you do intentionally sometimes especially on the band's area It's amazing on the on the drones That's the a lot of times I'm blowing I can find a place where the drone is Overtoning where did the the one that I'm playing with my fingers is not yeah, yeah, and then you've got the overtone coming at the same time And again, that's with the sensitivity of the airways I found for example the D4 is a bit more sensitive So certain flutes and I need to add these as insights and advice on the product descriptions Because I see each flute as a different personality so I need a little softer touch Like the f sharps are very forgiving one so you can actually play it aggressively Sounds awesome, especially rolling the aris What do you call that by the way a lot of people ask that trilling trilling? Yeah, you guys are like talking flutology You know it's like you need a interpreter But I mean that's that's something that's just prompting you that you know to make those videos that instruct and give all this advice Because it's it's learning a new language and it's the experience that everyone has with the flute And I love the idea that you're going to make bags there was I have a small flute that I bought that's I wanted to build more of a relationship with water And so I asked the flute maker if he could make me a flute that would Align with the energy of the element of water and he he sent this one to me it's small But I told Scott I want like just something really simple it can fit into And I can put it over my shoulder and hike with it or so when you said you're going to do that I'm I'm like oh yeah be I'm all over that There's some weird experiments like even one that's totally back burner But I'm actually going to lunch on friday with a factory owner in china that makes jewelry and I want to do a flute ring Like a drone ring that actually screw on to your emblem like the super bowl-sized ring But imagine some brass knuckles with a quad like I remember you so showing me something you sent me something about when the first They first came out. Yeah, that sounds cool. So yeah, that could be a real thing People play ocarina's as necklace charms to but just fun stuff I'm just like liking to innovate in weird ways sometimes right and what's really coming up that will match all sorts of Ways for people to engage with the music. Yeah, so cool. So A question that I have and you know, this is speculative maybe but like why would a John mayor order flutes? You know, I don't know why he did I still haven't heard from him. He doesn't follow me But I would love to know why John mayor Yeah, that makes you open the song down the road. Yeah, you know, is it the sound? Is it the portability? Is it just the innovation of it? There's just so many things. I think that is such a great story Well, I do see a little wave not a little one a big one thanks to our friend Andre 3000 who I don't know I would love to meet him someday So Andre 3000 is outcast and famous rapper disappears for 17 years comes back and drops an album sure enough It's only flutes native American flutes. So there's a big wave that occurred with that and I see it even in the DJ scene So another guy named Mike Dean. I believe he's Kanye's producer EDM's wanting a D4 and a D5 To send to his hotel in Vegas like these guys are DJing they're connecting with rappers so Not just with the medicine healing soundbass space. I see this going in Susing into pop culture which is fascinating to see how music can actually change culture Like it can really infiltrate and do some healing and what are the flutes gonna do in any type of music right and anyone can learn to play it It's the breath. Yeah, I'm breath made alive and unlocking the throat chakra and the singing. I'm a big chanter I love using the voice to and you can play with vocals into the flutes too. That's what's so fun with these Rowling we'll teach that. Yeah Well, I see that he may you may be making Dan Moys in the future Yeah, we can some Dan Moys 3d printed Dan Moys there's an idea. Yeah, because those are hard to get they're really hard to get you have to get him from Russia I have to look into that. I don't know what that is. Oh, yeah, a little mouthharts like oh, yeah, those are awesome Yeah, they'd have to be kind of sturdy. We'll have to explore that well, you know The world is your oyster The world is your oyster Prima of my silly and maybe on that one. Yeah, that would be so cool Jeremy, this has been such a fabulous conversation Yeah You know, there's so many threads to it. It is like a woven tapestry of experience, right? Yeah, it is still weaving Yeah, and just like printing the filament with each flute like I feel I feel the story is itself printing and weaving and Making such magic in your life and every life that is touched by the flutes Yeah, I appreciate that and it's fun to meet like this and kind of connect dots with the weaving going on I don't often live in that like nothing's been whiteboarded in this business and But I I love it the mystery living in that is magic. You know, that's my message Well, and the more you live there the less unknown it becomes and so Not knowing becomes the way. Yeah, and you learn to receive which is a new game. It's so nice And that's why I wanted to just highlight as we started that Such a capacity to say yes, I am here Just I am here and I'm willing to co-create with whatever That energetic pulses of of life that wanted to reach out and connect with you and and create that Create that partnership. Yeah, appreciate that I think a powerful lesson for me that I'm witnessing with this is that If you have something that you're passionate about, I mean for you music flutes, you know music in general yes But flutes is is one of the things that's really unfolded that unfolded that you've become passionate about That's just a lesson for everyone. What is it in your life that you're passionate about? And what can you do to think outside of the box to help Prepetuate that to create that to allow others to see and feel and experience that passion along with with you. And that's what I see this as. It's like everyone out there that is able to go get one of these very affordable flutes now can tap into. What Jeremy tapped into. - Yeah, and I just tell everyone, find your way through. Like what is it for you that lets you up? It's your bliss, your passion. Follow that for a lot. It might be surfing or crocheting. Flutes is a great one to experiment with because there's breathwork components, the quieting of the mind. So yeah, these practices that help us find our way through when the clutter of the mind are very helpful. And that's why I feel this is for me personally too. - Yeah, I can't agree more. It's my go to for a space one. When my mind chatter seems to be at an all time high, I can go to the place where I can pick up the place for the music plays, I call it. - Yeah, the reset to just sit there and play and allow it to just come through. - That in the hand pin. I get to borrow ones with that one. - What energy did I just move there, that was insane. - Yeah, that's our good friend Matt has you know Matt. - Yeah, he's genius on the pan. - Genius on the pan. The other day, he's been posting some stuff he's been doing the other day. He sent me a message and he says, "I'm going to the park to play. Do you want to come?" I'm like, "Oh yeah." - Yeah, he lives near you, right? - He lives right near me. So we went to the park and I took an amp. So we miked up. So we had the flute and the hand pin going just randomly marked alls up, shows up out of nowhere. He grabs a flute. So now we got the three of us playing. - Mark prints for me. He has one printer. - Does he? - Yeah, he just started to. - So I mean, it's magical how that kind of stuff just happens. - Yeah, so incredible. And Vinnie. - Vinnie, tomorrow at Vinnie's place. - Oh, is that the gathering tomorrow? - That's the gathering tomorrow night. - I should be there then. - We're going to be playing some music, can't bring some flute. - It's sweet. - It'd be great. - Bring a bag. - Bring a bag of flutes, yes. - So, yeah. So beautiful. - Well, anything else that you want to share? - Any closing comments. - We'll put in the show notes for people how to get a whole of you. It's not difficult. - Yeah. - It's out there. - No, I think we covered so many different areas of this that was beautiful to just be, you know, like I was watching myself say it. It's so funny to play with that witness. But this was amazing for me to just voice this. So I appreciate that. And I would say just connect with me on social media. If I'm me on Instagram, TikTok, soon to be YouTube that needs to happen. - And it's all under I am sound. - I am sound.one. - That one? - Oh, any. - We'll put the connections to all that in there. In the show notes so people will be able to find you. But I appreciate you. - Our brother, I mean, we've, - So much. - So much. - So paths crossed in this world of music. And no accidents, it's been a beautiful journey. - Yeah, it's magic. - It's been a group of people that's just been a magical journey. So thank you so much for having me. - Absolutely. - And I'm looking forward to Egypt. - Yes. - Let's do that. - And a solo permission to play in the pyramids. - Yes. I'm sure that can happen somehow. Energetically just put that out there. - Perfect. - So. - All right. So until next time. - Bye. - Bye bye. - If you're enjoying the Observatory Podcast, please consider subscribing, sharing us. And if you have time to write a review about something that may have affected your life or helped you in some way, please do so. That helps us to get the word out and get this information out to more and more people so that it can be shared. And we can help ripple out this energy that's emanating in the world today. There's been so much separation. And we want to find a way to create conversations where we can come together, not divide so much as we have been to learn to come together in unity. Thank you. (soft music) - You've been listening to the Observatory Podcast. Please be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of our future episodes. (soft music) (soft music)