THE JOURNEY

From a bedroom closet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

to one of the youngest minds in Entertainment Engineering

CHAPTER I: The Unlikely Beginning

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Where our story begins.

James Laurent was told repeatedly that music wasn't his path. "Don't continue with band or orchestra. You lack musical ability." But fate had other plans.

CHAPTER II: When One Dream Dies

Then came the injury.

At 17, Sweden wanted him for professional soccer. A knee injury shattered that dream. With a borrowed USB mic and family laptop, James taught himself engineering in his bedroom. "If they won't teach me, I'll teach myself."

CHAPTER III: The Rise

By 20, he was a sought-after LA engineer. By 23, he worked on South Park, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network. The self-taught kid became a go-to engineer nationwide.

CHAPTER IV: The Prodigy

Now 25, James is an RIAA Certified Gold engineering prodigy—one of the youngest engineers designing Dolby Atmos studios. Building rooms at Amazon Music. Currently at FX Networks. But when the sun sets...

CHAPTER V: The Bedroom Studio

He returns to where it began. Recording, mixing, mastering. Designing cover art. Filming content. Building websites. A true one-man show.

If you see it, you're seeing him.

CHAPTER VI: The Grind

8-12 hours of sleep. Per week.

60-hour work weeks at FX fund the dream. $25,000 for music rights, more for PR, all out of James' pocket. Every paycheck becomes equipment, marketing, vision. The music is only 15% of the work.

CHAPTER VII: The Vision

200+ hours hand-painting 3D models. Learning Unreal Engine. Coding websites. This isn't about saving money—it's about control, vision, refusing to compromise.

CHAPTER VIII: The Road Ahead

"Degen Z" represents four years of work. Songs having 18+ mix versions. Verses rewritten 11 times. "I made it too big to fail."

The kid they told to quit
became the engineer they call
became the artist they'll remember.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

This is just the beginning.