Mentor Profile: Joel Negus
When I think about what makes Joel Negus the right person to mentor songwriters, it's not the technical résumé - though the technical résumé is striking. Classically trained double bassist out of the Cleveland Institute of Music, with roots in jazz, metal, and indie. CEO and co-owner of Cleveland Scoring, the company contracting high-end recording sessions for film, television, and video games out of the Heights Theater Scoring Stage - a room big enough for 100-plus musicians. A composer with credits across visual media and his own releases under his name. The producer behind orchestral reworks that turn indie songs into something cinematic. The person who mastered and mentored a Cleveland-area artist's debut record onto a Spanish label.
What makes him right for this work is something else: Joel has spent his career building infrastructure so other people can make their best work. That instinct - to remove the obstacle between an artist and the sound in their head - is the same instinct that makes him a generous mentor.
He's the rare person who can sit on both sides of the glass. He's the musician who knows what it feels like to walk into a session with a song that isn't quite finished. He's also the engineer who knows exactly what that song needs to become a recording. Most artists never get access to someone who fluently speaks both languages. The ones who do tend to make different records because of it.
I met Joel through the local music industry and found out quickly how generous he is with his time and knowledge. He has become a great friend and inspiration.
What Joel brings
Joel's mentorship sits at the intersection of three things most songwriters need and rarely find in one person:
The composer's ear. He thinks about arrangement and orchestration the way a film composer does - how a part serves the story, where space matters more than density, what an instrument is actually doing emotionally underneath the notes. If your songs are starting to feel like they want more than guitar and voice, Joel can help you hear what they're asking for.
The producer's pragmatism. Running Cleveland Scoring means making real records on real timelines with real budgets. Joel knows how to take an artist from "I have a song" to "I have a finished recording," and he knows which decisions actually matter and which ones don't. He's good for artists who want to stop circling a project and finish it.
The Cleveland community. Joel is deeply rooted here - through Cleveland Scoring, through Heights Theater, through City Church Heights, through his network of musicians, composers, and engineers across the city. For Cleveland-area writers especially, mentorship with Joel often opens doors that go beyond the mentorship itself.
Who Joel is good for
Writers thinking about production - whether for the first time or trying to level-up, artists with songs that want more sonic space than they’re getting, people preparing for a studio project, composers who want access to world class musicians, and artists who are interested in developing their own voice.
A few quick facts
CEO and co-owner of Cleveland Scoring at Heights Theater
Trained at Cleveland Institute of Music
Composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist (double bass, and a long list more)
Releases under his own name and as part of Cleveland Scoring orchestral rework projects
Cleveland-based - available for in-person sessions in addition to remote mentorship
Want to work with Joel?
You can learn more about Joel's work at clevelandscoring.com and listen to his music on Spotify and Apple Music. To work with him as a mentor, reach out and we'll set up an introduction.
Read more about our Mentorship Program here.