Pop-Culturalist.com

From his small farm town in Ontario to becoming an award-winning sound recordist, mixer, and producer, John Diemer shares his incredible journey in the industry, founding Farmhouse Creative Labs, and creating his own legacy.

PC: How did you discover your passion for sound and the arts?
John: A lot of sound people tend to find their way into the industry through music, especially in the early 2000s. You had a lot of people that were studying, recording, and performing music. Then the music industry crashed with the rise of downloads and streaming. A lot of people were like, “Well, I have the skill set for recording and an interest in music. How can I apply this elsewhere and have a financially stable career?”

I initially had an interest in music. I went to school for music. That was the catalyst for getting me into that particular avenue. But I’ve always been in the creative industry through music in some capacity—playing in bands in high school and school band, and it’s what I studied in university.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
John: Survivor was a bucket list show for me. If you work in the television industry, specifically the reality industry, it’s one of the original shows. It’s the one that really put me on the map. To be a part of that, even in a small part, it felt like an “I’ve made it” moment. It was really cool to see that show be done.

Another important/influential show was Drag Race. That one had the most impact on me from a personal level because it felt like you’re part of something really, really important and big. Hearing the stories from some of those drag queens and what they’ve had to go through and overcome to be where they are was really humbling and incredible.

PC: Can you tell us a bit about Farmhouse Creative Labs and how that came to fruition?
John: I grew up on a pretty big dairy farm in Southwestern Ontario. We had almost a thousand cows, growing up. My first job was milking cows and working on the farm. But I very quickly realized that I didn’t want to stay in that town. There were seven people in the town. It was very, very, very small. I went to university in Windsor, which was a bigger town, but still only a couple of hundred thousand people, and I very quickly wanted to move to a bigger city.

Every business needs a name. I wanted to pay respect to where I came from and my roots. I was the youngest and it was kind of the last chance of taking over the farm, and since I chose not to, it was my last chance to carry on this legacy. This is my passion and my creative outlet.

PC: How do you juggle running your own company and the work that you do with sound? Is that ever a challenge to manage the two?
John: I have to. It’s the reason why I don’t do Survivor anymore. As fun as that show is and how awesome it is to live in Fiji for two months, it’s kind of irresponsible for me as a business owner.

When I was in my first five years of my career, I was like, “That sounds cool. I want to do that.” I now have to start making decisions of what I want to do based on what’s the most responsible thing to do for the business as well. Because as much as I have this company, I’m still the face of the business. You need to have a certain level of presence.

I’m not at the stage yet where the business is more than my name. It’s still very much me attached to it. People are hiring me at the end of the day. It gets pretty tough to be on the road for certain amounts of time. You definitely have to be careful with how much you’re on the road. It’s burned me in the past. So I’m getting to this stage where the postproduction side of the business is as busy, if not busier, than my location side of things, going out and filming.

But because we’re so closely tied together, we do the location and we do the post. Me being on location is as important because that’s how we get these contracts.

PC: Having been a part of this industry for so long, what’s one thing you know now that you wish you knew back when you started?
John: I’m still really involved in the school that I went to. I still do lectures at the school and guest talks. I’m heavily involved in grad placement as well. When the program’s done, I talk to a lot of the grads and help them apply to places or if not, hire them myself.

So I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I’m like, “Man, they must be scared, especially right now with COVID. Where are they going to work? It’s a stressful time.” I met with a lot of people when I graduated school. I remember feeling so intimidated about all the meetings I had with them.

At the time, I was very reluctant to be a freelancer. Maybe that’s different now than ten years ago. Graduating from school, the dream is always to get hired by a big company. I fell into freelance pretty quick, but I wish I could tell myself not to be so afraid of being a freelancer.

Fast-forward ten years, a lot of people are freelancing now. It’s the way to do it. Ten years ago, people were like, “Who do you work for? What company do you work for?” Freelancing is not a bad thing. It’s a very, very good thing if you do it right, and there’s benefits to working for big companies as well. I think I was afraid of making that jump and working for myself.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
John: Too Hot to Handle. Also any Food Network or HGTV show.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
John: I don’t think this is the right term, but any stoner comedy like Step Brothers, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, or Pineapple Express. Those are great lazy hungover Sunday movies.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
John: My girlfriend’s a ballet dancer. I go to the ballet a lot. Her friend is a choreographer. His name is Robert Bennet. He does some amazing contemporary ballets. He’s probably my favorite ballet choreographer to go see. They’re amazing.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
John: I run four or five times a week. My go-to running playlist is Taylor Swift. She has so many songs and you can put her on shuffle and go through.

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
John: That’s a tough one. I would say Miles Teller. He’s a really incredible actor. He doesn’t look anything like me, but I think he’s kind of nerdy. I’m a bit nerdy. He’s done Whiplash. I feel like he went to this music school and he played this intense introspective kind of character. I feel like he’d be a good person to play a sound guy, which is this unappreciated role or job that people have in the film industry.

To keep up with John, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.