There are a few things you can take away from the recent Olympics.
Regardless of what you think of sports in general, these athletes can be some of the most inspiring and committed people alive.
Many of their traits can be directly translated to anything you do, such as music and audio.
Focus on Your Strengths
I saw this picture of the incredible height difference between a swimmer and a gymnast.
One was 4’9 and the other was 6’1.
I think you can guess which one was the swimmer and which one was the gymnast. I don’t know about you but I’d rather be on the shorter side when I’m doing flips on those balance beams. Your body type can really tell you which sport you’re going to excel at, and those athletes have played to their strengths.
And gotten the gold medals to show it.
It’s the same way with audio production. If you excel at producing rock music, then maybe hip-hop is out of your league. If you can create the same type of depth and space with delay instead of reverb, then keep using delay. Especially if it’s easier for you.
Play to your strength and excel at the things you know you’re good at.
Otherwise you’ll never think you’re good enough.
Community and Respect
Sure, there’s intense competition going on every step of the way, but some moments were more inspiring than others.
- Usain Bolt stopping an interview out of respect for the U.S. national anthem.
- Kerani James and Oscar Pistorius exchanging numbers out of mutual respect for one another.
- Come to think of it, Oscar Pistorius might have been the most inspiring person of the whole Olympics.
Being a part of a community of like-minded individuals, whether you’re competing with them or not can easily inspire you to do your best.
Being an audio engineer is also about community and respect for your fellow musicians and engineers.
I used to have some pretty bad underground bands come through my live venue back in the day. Did I talk shit about them behind their back?
Hell no.
Anybody who goes up on stage and tears open their art for the world to see deserves your utmost respect. Everybody has to start somewhere. And everybody can become better.
Which brings us to the most important part of becoming an Olympian Audio Engineer.
Train
Train. Train. Train.
And then train some more.
Become better at what you do every day. The super-athletes that go for the golds devote their entire existence to their sport.
They put everything else on hold to become the absolute best at what they do.
Misty May-Treanor, one of the most successful beach volleyball players of all time, told Jon Stewart on the Daily Show that she basically put her whole family on hold just to train for the Olympics.
That is an intense commitment to a sport.
Just imagine.
If you would only put 20% of that effort into learning about audio, think about how much better you’d become in an incredibly short period of time.
Use 20% of your time and get a copy of Joe Gilder’s Production Club.
It’s quite the investment, and it might not get you a gold medal at the Olympics.
But it will make any audio you touch turn to gold.
Guaranteed.
Click the link and start your training:
http://nanacast.com/vp/108720/219371/
Image by: Denis Collette…!!!
