Not Just Music Podcast

197 episodes listed below

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Independent music talk with life inside it.

The gist

Not Just Music Podcast treats music as craft, business, history, and daily discipline. Recent episodes move from home-studio budgeting and BandLab workflows into collaboration, Black-owned recording spaces, content struggles, and the mindset needed to finish work.

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About Not Just Music Podcast

Not Just Music Podcast is a conversational music-and-life show built around independent creativity. It is less interested in glamour than in the day-to-day mechanics of making something with limited time, limited money, and a real life happening in the background. Recent episodes spend a lot of time on studio budgeting, home recording, and the belief that modern tools have lowered the barrier to entry. BandLab, GarageBand, phone microphones, Wi-Fi, laptops, and basic recording habits all become part of a bigger argument about access. The show repeatedly pushes against the idea that artists need a perfect studio before they begin. Start where possible. Finish the work. Learn the tools. Make room in the week. That advice often comes wrapped in longer reflections about lifestyle, family, sacrifice, discipline, and mindset. The pacing is loose and patient, with ideas repeated from several angles until the point lands. Collaboration is another central concern. The show presents teamwork as both creative fuel and practical distribution muscle, contrasting isolated solo effort with rooms full of people who can shape, challenge, and carry a record further. It also gives space to Black music history and independent recording culture, including discussion of Black-owned studio history, cultural giants, Grammy milestones, and the value of protecting a name. Technical problems, content creation fatigue, and imperfect recording sessions are treated as part of the work rather than reasons to stop. The tone can be blunt, but the underlying posture is encouraging. It speaks most clearly to artists, producers, songwriters, and creators who are trying to build without waiting for permission. It is also attentive to community, with recurring love sent to the autism community, people with disabilities, and people under the spectrum community. The show’s charm is its unvarnished working-process feel: practical music talk that keeps turning into a larger conversation about character, endurance, and responsibility.

Made for: For independent artists, producers, beginner songwriters, and content creators who want practical studio talk alongside motivation and cultural context. It especially suits people building with modest tools and uneven schedules.

What sets it apart: The show connects budget recording advice to bigger questions of collaboration, Black history, ownership, and personal discipline. Its loose, real-time style makes the advice feel like it comes from inside the work, not from above it.

In their own words

Podcast by Not Just Music Podcast. Host Duan Barrino a musical being from North Carolina. Determined to find an avenue outside of music and discovered podcasting. Which is urban driven in society and culture. This is where the name "Not Just Music Podcast" was created from. We hope you enjoy. Let's get into some topics. Visit our website for more.

As heard by us

Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026

Practical studio talk meets Black music history in conversations grounded in collaboration, affordable tools, disciplined work, and independent recording.

Not Just Music Podcast keeps returning to the working life of making records, with Duan Barino and Quincy Murdoch turning studio questions into loose, practical conversations.

Read our full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Duan Barrino has a word for your studio gear cart: finish.

Press play if you want

to hear why your phone and BandLab may be enough to start recording
to rethink going it alone when you need help getting a record heard

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

home-studio budgetingBandLab and GarageBand workflowsmusic collaborationBlack music historyindependent recording studiossongwriting and hookscontent creation challengesartist discipline and finishing

Talks about

Music Personal Stories

Best episodes of Not Just Music Podcast

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

Ways to Budget For The Studio Part 2Apr 16, 2026

Resourcefulness does most of the work here.

This episode keeps its point simple: making music does not require a studio, because a phone, a car, a truck, or even an 18-wheeler can carry more creative reach than people assume.

Ways to Budget For The StudioApr 13, 2026

A grounded look at fitting studio work into real life through time, sacrifice, and repetition.

The episode treats studio work as a matter of fit as much as craft. It frames budget in broad terms, not just money, but also time, family, and the discipline to give something up so the work can live across the day, week, and month.

Black History of The Independent Recording StudioApr 7, 2026

A studio-history conversation that turns into practical advice about hooks, self-recording, and creative discipline.

The episode traces Black music history through Bodie Recording Company, the Cleveland studio Thomas Bodie built at home with custom equipment in the 1950s.

Let's Talk With Qunetta DavisSep 13, 2025

A candid conversation about trust, trauma, and staying guarded in entertainment.

Q Davis comes across as an author, actor, mother, survivor, and more, but the stronger impression is how plainly she talks about boundaries, trust, trauma, and what it takes to keep an edge in entertainment.

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Find your next episode

About Not Just Music Podcast

In their own words

As heard by us

Why you'd press play

Talks about

Best episodes of Not Just Music Podcast

Podcasts like Not Just Music Podcast

Episodes

Faith, Mental Health, and AI: Staying Grounded

AI Should Be the Tool, Not the Artist

A Song Can Follow You for the Rest of Your Life

Stop Chasing $1,000: Make Your First Dollar In Music

Emails Over DMs

Showmanship: Why Your Live Performance Can Make or Break Your Career

Independent Artist Harsh Reality

Zero Budget

AI Prompting & Music Comp

Don't Just Rap, Entertain

I Found My Purpose In AI

AI Is Not Coming, It Is Already Here

Stay Positive Throughout Your Music Journey

Value In The Music Industry

Important Files After Studio Session

Beginner Music Artist Often Do This

Ways to Budget For The Studio Part 2

Ways to Budget For The Studio

The Power of Music Collaborations

Black History of The Independent Recording Studio

Beginner Songwriters Should Know This

Ups & Downs To Creating Content

NJMP History Of Recording

Be The Next Cultural Giant

Music Production History & Future

Laila Edwards and Claressa Shields Complete The Mission

King Allegations To Believe Or Not Believe

First Black Super Bowl Halftime Act

100 Years Of Black History

First Black Movie By Oscar Micheaux

What Characterizes Black History?

Let's Go Laila Edwards - Homeisode 63

Let's Recognize Crystal N. Feimster - Homeisode 62

Let’s Talk Vivian Strong - Homeisode 61

Happy 2026

There Is Only One Latasha Harlins - Homeisode 60

Washington's Complex Legacy - Homeisode 59

Christmas Episode - Homeisode 58

Incarcerated Parents Kids Connect - Homeisode 57

Harlem Globetrotters Rise To Greatness- Homeisode 56

The Trailblazer Uncle Luke - Homeisode 55

Results of Culture & Society - Homeisode 54

Giving Thanks 2025 - Homeisode 53

The Impact of James Madison - Homeisode 52

Bold Like Sylvia Dubois - Homeisode 51

A Tribute to Lincoln University - Homeisode 50

Birth Certificates Ugly Roots - Homeisode 49

When Interracial Laws Began - Richard and Mildred Loving - Homeisode 48

The Impact of Sugarhill Delight - Homeisode 47

Historical Womanizing of The Black Culture - Homeisode 46

Do We Really Understand The Word Slavery? - Homeisode 45

The Impact of Ida B Wells - Jimmy Kimmel Opinion - Homeisode 44

My Motivational List of 2025 - Homeisode 43

Trust, Have Faith And Believe - Homeisode 42

Let's Talk With Qunetta Davis

The Original Mr. Ice Cream Man - Alfred L Cralle

The Team Over Self - Homeisode 41

No Ironing Board? What Are You Using? - Sarah Boone

Imagine Having A Major Invention Buy Your Freedom - Benjamin Bradley

Make The Choice, You Can Do It - Homeisode 40

Any Black Women Inventors In The House? - Patricia Bath

Boots On The Ground Is Bloodline - William Abrams

Make Family Matter in 2025 - Homeisode 39

More Than A Boss and Entrepreneur ft. Chariel Dye - Homeisode 38

Black Awards Being Cancelled - Homeisode 37

Actor, Music Artist and More ft Jasmine - Homeisode 36

Belief In True Love - Homeisode 35

Berry Gordy Checks Smokey Robinson Moment - Episode 102

Artistry, Hip-Hop Culture and Branding ft. L Crock - Homeisode 34

Current Level of Support - Homeisode 33

Recording Using a Vocal Chain in Cakewalk Sonar - Episode 101