Meet Shandon Campbell | Engineer, Musician, Minister

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

Hi Shandon, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Historically, my work-life balance was simple: pre-2016 music was just a hobby, and software engineering meant flexible hours to accommodate a hobby-filled life. Once music became a second profession demanding 15hrs/week on average, that balance shifted doubly: not only do I have much more “work” to balance with “life”, one of most life-giving categories in “life” was now “work”. Then once my Christian ministry similarly evolved into something more formal and regular at my church, this three-fold vocation meant that good time-management would be the only way to build without burnout.

Time management to me is Tetris. Life has a whole rainbow of categories—each color having individually-shaped tasks that, while often predictable, sometimes seem to fall down on us at random. Time management essentially asks, “how can I get life’s puzzle pieces to fit together and play nicely instead of stacking over the top?”. Approaching ten years into my three-fold dilemma, this is still one of the most difficult questions to answer. Case in point: I am drafting this music business response while waiting for my software code to compile on my work laptop, hoping to draft up the musical praise set for my church’s midweek service shortly thereafter. At least a dozen other tasks from every color go unattended, the consequences of which ranging from clients waiting on updates, to my laundry remaining unfolded.

Work, Music, Ministry. Each of these categories hurdle down blocks of all shapes and sizes at me every day, all while any one of them could benefit from the time I have available for all three combined. This often means that choosing to dedicate time in any one category of my life feels like wholesale abandonment the others—a feeling I suspect is common for many of the multi-disciplined individuals I’ve met over the years. For example, almost all my musical friends (international producers/DJs/instrumentalists, etc) are multi-disciplined by necessity—in today’s economy it is nearly impossible to make a full living off of your art—and thus by necessity must Tetris their way between their passions and their 9-5, all while keeping up with family and finding time to rest & recharge.

So what’s the cheat code?

What has proven helpful is to take a step back for two things: introspecting my identity, and assessing my assignment. In other words, “Who is my ‘who’, then what are my ‘whats’?”.

Only after this seasonal exercise can I recalibrate and achieve a healthier and more sustainable work-life balance. For example, if I believe my “who” is “Dessert Baker”, should I be spending the majority of my time practicing my Spanish conjugations? Obviously not; a baker bakes – that is their identity. How about my spare time, though? As a baker, should I spend all my free time drifting my racecar? Sounds like fun, but probably not. That’s because “free time” is not really “free”—it costs me the time I could have spent doing the “whats” that help build my “who”. A baker not only bakes during the workday, they study baking in between—studying nutrition, learning recipes, perhaps even engaging with content creation—which takes time. Similarly for me then, an engineer not only engineers but studies evolving technology; a musician not only creates music but practices to hone a stronger craft; and a minister not only serves others but takes time to prayerfully sharpen and distill that service. Therefore a good chunk of my “free time” should be budgeted accordingly, and the Tetris blocks I allow into my life should primarily serve what I believe my “who” to be. Budgeting in this way also grants me true free time to engage cathartically with my music as in pre-2016 for example, as opposed to it simply being “work”.

So who is my “who”? Engineer? Musician? Minister? These are all parts of my identity, and it certainly serves me well to walk through the above exercise for each of those (leaving room for laundry). But even before all of that, I must regularly introspect my identity and remind myself: Before I am an engineer, I am a Christian. Before I am a musician, I am a Christian. Even before I am a minister, I am a Christian. I am a Christian, and these vocations are simply sub-identities by which I exercise my chief assignment as a follower of Christ. They bear the fruits of Proverbs 16:3 in my life as I seek to commit every Tetris block of every color to God—even my laundry! It is this reality that helps me to survive in Tetris, as it gives me both a direction and an order to follow as I navigate each day’s tasks. This is the means by which I seek to navigate my work-life balance, …but I still have laundry to do!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I interact with music in a number of ways!

First, I am a pianist/keyboardist. I started out on piano as a kid, picking up other instruments over the years (guitar, bass, drums, violin), but at the professional level I operate in now, it is safest to say I only play piano (hence my artist name being Mysterkeyz). I am probably most known for my ear and my chords: that I am able to play songs almost immediately after hearing them, or that I am able to use music theory to tastefully reharmonize chords on the fly—even during church! Secondly, I am a producer. Similarly, I started producing as a kid (first on my Casio Keyboard, then on my older brother’s copy of Fruity Loops 4). Over the years I have developed the skills to win international competitions and be the trusted producer for a number of accomplished artists. Thirdly, I am an audio engineer. This encompasses the fields of audio wiring, recording, mixing, mastering, etc, which makes it very easy for me to be the one-stop-shop for a lot of my collaborations and partnerships. Lastly, I am a DJ! Like the other areas, this also started from youth (on my copy of Virtual DJ in high school). This hobby was put on hold for a number of years until 2016, when I started to DJ for weddings and dance competitions more and more. It is now a major part of my business, having been trusted to perform at dozens of weddings across the country (and some international!).

I think one of the things that sets me apart is how my vocations and passions all blend. As an electrical/computer engineer for example, my left-brained thinking helps me to leverage music theory (the “math” of music) in the way that I play piano live or arrange/compose productions. It also exposed me to digital signal processing (the “math” of audio), which allows me to have a more intimate understanding of mixing, mastering, noise issues, device issues, etc. I believe another distinguishing factor is being a former hip-hop dancer, which allows me to approach my production from either a musician’s or a dancer’s mindset, depending on the situation. Most of the production competitions I have won are the result of leveraging my background to create something that multiple types of people—casual listeners, music “theory heads”, dancers, other producers—can all enjoy! Lastly, having an older brother born in the early 80s certainly helped broaden my musical background to make DJing for various ages far easier than if I only listened to 90s and 00s music growing up!

Now that I’ve explained who Mysterkeyz is, rather than sharing things I’m proud of, I’d like to share an area of growth: for the literally hundreds of musical pieces I’ve created over the past 20 years, I can probably count on two hands the amount that have actually been publicly released. Whether this is prideful perfectionism, crippling self-doubt, or poor procrastination, this habit has gotten in the way of a number of major collaborations and partnerships that could have propelled my music career forward greatly. Now there are records I should’ve released 6, 7, 8 years ago that don’t particularly feel relevant to release now. Thankfully though, I have a number of friends, colleagues, partners and clients who have encouraged me, challenged me, even wagered with me, all to make sure I don’t squander the gift I’ve been given or the time I’ve placed into my art. My hope in writing this is to encourage any other artist in this similar headspace: rather than weighting for a perfection that will never come, release that song. Share that artwork. Post that dance! Walk in the “whats” of your “who”!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It’s not hard planning a week in San Diego—anywhere you turn is a sight for sore eyes! In terms of sights, high places like Mt Soledad, Potato Chip Rock, and Mt. Helix come to mind. In terms of beaches and oceanside, La Jolla, Sunset Cliffs, and Coronado come to mind. In terms of food, tacos are a non-negotiable (yes, I’m a faithful Tacos El Gordo stan), Asian food (Grandma KBBQ, Manna, etc) is noteworthy, …honestly San Diego is significantly diverse that any cuisine is faithfully represented here. As for entertainment, most of my expertise here is related to live music! Bars & Lounges like Prohibition and LouLou’s provide high-talent events on the weekly. Just down the street, my residency at NeoSoulTuesdays afforded me access to meeting the vast majority of San Diego musicians I interact with today. One of my favorite events ran by people from that community is Soul Sunday held at Quartyard, a beautiful outdoor performance venue. While no longer a dancer, I am still very much connected with the community and am aware of weekly cyphers/events and monthly jams/battles (StudioFX, CultureShock, etc). I love that any day of the week I can likely show up to not only support a high-caliber artistic friend, but also have a great time in the process! Lastly and of course, there are a number of churches that either have official Sunday/midweek services or host unofficial events through their members that are also a great and life-giving time. Lighthouse Bible Church in Clairemont is where I do the vast majority of my ministry, though I’m aware of solid and healthy churches all around the city!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Proverbs 16:3 says “Commit to the LORD whatever it is that you do, and you will succeed”. Any shoutout that I give has to come after shouting out God who has brought me this far!

I believe the vehicle by which God provides any success is through the many sources of support, mentorship, love, and encouragement he has given me throughout my life—including my family, my churches, the musicians I look up to or still collaborate with, my engineering managers, even my previous significant others! Mentioning any one name will make me feel wrong for forgetting any others.

Website: https://linktr.ee/mysterkeyz

Instagram: https://instagram.com/mysterkeyz

Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/shandon-campbell

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