Name: TJ Dumser aka Six Missing
Nationality: American
Occupation: Producer, composer
Current release: Six Missing's new album Here For Now is out December 15th 2023 via Nettwerk.  

If you enjoyed this Six Missing interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook and has a dedicated website for his sound design work.
 


When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Whenever I listen to music, or write music for that matter, I see vignettes …movie scenes playing out in my mind. And so I love listening to works that create such a distinct sense of setting and environment – anything that completely envelopes me is what I gravitate towards.

And that happens to find its way into my writing process as well – and likely why some of my pieces have such a dramatic tilt.

For instance, my track “Possibility” aims to establish a “feel” and “vibe” straight out of the gate. Putting the listener into a place as visceral as possible.



I like to write from that place of visualizing the end “scene” so I’m often writing with my eyes closed and losing sense of time spent. Music is magic.  

How do listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

I’m someone that truly loves the experience of listening to music no matter the means – but that being said, I find listening on headphones to be incredibly personal and intimate. I suppose that’s why I write mainly on headphones – which I’m sure will stir up some groans from the audience telling me the proper way is to yada yada, haha …

But really, I love when music plays with dynamics and makes you lean in to really hear what the artist is doing. In my song “Thought Drop,” there are these little details in the piano notes that are treats for headphone listeners.



I’ll often sit or lay with my eyes closed in a quiet space and turn on noise-canceling in my AirPods and just be consumed. No matter the genre, I just want to be levelled by what I’m hearing. And so I love hearing the little imperfections you miss when listening on a bigger system such as the sound the singer's lips make or the fingers pulling off the keys of a piano.

But to completely contradict myself, I also love a good loud track played at full volume over the speakers in my studio.

Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

This question is truly a bit overwhelming because I always feel like I want to include my entire musical history that lead me to where I am today – but, fully acknowledging that I’ll omit some of that – AC/DC’s “Powerage” is so raw and full of energy and truly is the sound of “BEING IN A BAND.”



You can hear the one-unified-mind-melt happening and AC/DC was the band that taught me to be a good listener in a band, when to push and when to pull.

Next would be Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues – I mean, there is literally nothing you can knock this album for, it’s a perfect album.



You have so much SPACE in the sound and they create a vibe so strong you can almost smell the incense burning in the corners of the room.

Phoebe Bridgers’s Stranger in the Alps was such an experience for me and literally plows through me like a freight train, the way that record is engineered and mixed with her vocals containing so much power with such gentle performances whilst the band roars behind her is such a work of art.



And for fear of being too long I’ll cap it off with Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Really one of the first bands I came across while in High School that showed me how to be “out there” and then “reel it in” all while retaining ultra-musicality.



Gosh, there are so many more! Okay one more – Green-House is my latest obsession, they make such brilliantly composed soundscapes yet bring such melodic components to it that really inspire me to bring into my own work.



Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

For me, whenever I hear a piano I want to weep instantly. Perhaps it’s because I think the piano is a perfect instrument. It contains the entire frequency spectrum, can have rhythm and lead, percussive and also get soft. It mystifies me how good some people are at it.

My old friend Eric Tait used to play in early iterations of Six Missing and he has such a gift at the piano that even thinking about hearing him play makes my eyes tear up as I write this.

I have no explanation for why the piano does what it does to me other than … it’s so firmly planted in the human mind that it almost feels spiritual and primal.

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

Through my meditation practice I’ve actually learned to work WITH sounds that some may find offensive. For instance, I used to enjoy meditating on the subway in NYC when I lived there. Some folks would probably think that it’s “too loud“ to do such a thing, but I’ve come to appreciate noise – i think that if we can find a way to just accept what is, we can be comfortable anywhere.

On the flip side of this question, I find rain to be the most peaceful sound in the world. I could sit and listen to rain for hours – and rainy days are my favorite.

It’s why I wrote “Rain Washes” as an example of my love for the mood rain creates. It slows things down. Allows us to breathe.



Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

In the other side of my career I’m a Sound Designer for Film + TV so I’m always listening, literally always.

I’m finding little sounds that devices make like the sounds the crosswalk countdown makes or maybe the sound of the car door opening and how there are a few different sounds all happening at once to make up that one sound. I splay sounds out into layers in my head as I hear that – almost like looking at the layers of a cake once you cut into it.

I once was caught completely off guard after getting out of a cab in NYC when I heard the ticket printer (it was a yellow cab and yes I’m dating myself here) and realized it was an element in the sound that made up the Smoke Monster on LOST. Sound designers are sonic wizards and I loved realizing that – it’s what made me continue down my career path.



Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

I started flotation therapy about six years ago and for those that have never done that – it’s floating in salt water in complete silence and total darkness.

The only sound you can hear is the rushing of blood through your body and while that may sound terrifying to some, it is otherworldly and totally peaceful. It’s really so spiritual to just be with your body.

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

My studio is my safe place, it’s also an instrument all on its own. I have spent many years ensuring that everything within the studio serves a purpose and is there to inspire creativity and play. I also have made sure that everything is plugged in at all times – the worst feeling in the world is having an idea and then losing steam on it even before you’ve started anything because you have to take something out of the closet.

A great example of how my studio functions as an instrument would be my record with my friend Zac Colwell – Unfolding.



I recorded and mixed that in nine days. I wrote and mixed a track a day until it was done. I was only able to do that because of my workflow.

Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

I have always equated my type of ambient music as sonic ice sculptures – in that half of the magic is experiencing the piece be built. I think that’s a very strong theme with how I write music, though it’s something I’m looking to play with more in the future.

One of my newest tracks, “Sleep,” exemplifies that well – you begin with the layers slowly coming together until you realize what the painting is all of a sudden.



How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

I’m a big believer in balance – I lived in NYC for a long time and you would start to feel the insanity creeping in when you’re in such a state of constant noise. You needed to get out, wash it away, clear your head with peaceful quiet and nature.

So I do think that if you’re in a ‘‘pressure cooker“ of sorts, you should find a little time to clear the cache with just the sound of … air.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds?

When you listen, and I mean really listen to nature, you realize they are all in harmony with each other. Everything has its place.

I think you can also really hear how playful nature is, it’s laughing and smiling at you when you clue into it. Almost as though it gives you a wink when you realize what is happening.

It’s for this exact reason that I write with field recordings in my music so much – as a reminder that nature is the true composer – Loving Kindness – takes the listener on a journey utilizing sounds found in nature.

Many animals communicate through sound. Based either on experience or intuition, do you feel as though interspecies communication is possible and important? Is there a creative element to it, would you say?

Well there have certainly been moments when I was sure my cat was about to speak words to me. But then I realized her meows are her communicating with me.

So even though we don’t have the same words, we are speaking. A great lesson lies in there.  

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

I’m going to be the person to say it – go see an audiologist annually. Take care of your ears becuase they don’t come back.

And protect them – I got custom molds made for in-ear monitors that double as ear protection and they were the best investment I’ve made in the past few years. Wear ear plugs!

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

I had read somewhere, possibly Eckhart Tolle, that silence gives form to sound. Without silence, we have nothing to arise out of.

My track “On Being” was written after I was meditating on the idea of silence and its role in sound. We cannot have one without the other.



Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

This is a fascinating question – one that I feel rather strongly about. If we all listened more, we’d actually see the truer meanings behind actions.

So in essence, being better listeners make us better, more compassionate people. And couldn’t we all benefit from more compassion these days (and all days)?