In the last week, I talked to two college kids who want to work in music. Both came to me for the same reason: they heard I was an audio engineer, and they’re attracted to the life in the industry. They’re hungry and curious, but they don’t know what to do. Talking to them, I...
Education is expensive, but knowledge is free. You can get an education at a top-tier university, but it’ll cost you an arm, a leg, your firstborn child, and your soul. If you can’t swing that, don’t worry. You can find everything you need to know on the internet. The internet has everything: Free courses from...
Once your tracks are “mix-ready” mixing becomes easy. Simple as that. In the last two sessions of the Mix-Ready Roadmap we’ve talked about: How to make sure you have the best ingredients to create Mix-Ready songs How to create Mix-Ready arrangements to make your mix come together with ease Today, we’re tackling the final piece...
Welcome to the third part of the Mix-Ready Roadmap, where I show you how to improve your mixes before you even play with a single plug-in! Yesterday, you learned how important a good song is to your final mix. No plug-in will make your song sound better, so start with the best ingredients if you...
If there’s ONE thing I’ve learned in my fifteen years of experience working in audio, doing live, broadcast, and studio mixing, it’s this: When a song is “Mix-Ready” it’s EASY to mix. So if you’re a musician and you want to release better music… …or if you’re a producer who wants to create better tracks…...
Chances are, if you’re making music in your home studio, you want to share it with people. You might not care about becoming a Grammy-chasing artist (but all the power to you if you do), but you at least want people to hear your music. And if you’re a musician, you’ve spent most of your...
If people were to ask me about the secret behind becoming a career creative… The definition of a career creative is someone who makes a living from their creativity, whatever field they’re in… I would paraphrase and expand on John Green’s advice, illustrated by Gavin Aung Than of Zen Pencils, right here. (I have this...
One of the biggest mistakes my audience of musicians makes is thinking they can go it alone. The fact is, as highly as you may think of yourself, you’re probably not the best: Drummer Bass player Keyboard player Guitarist Vocalist Mixing Engineer Mastering Engineer And and and and…ad nauseam. So, if you’re releasing your own...
A few months ago I told you a sad story about an even sadder song of mine. Trigger Warning: Read the email here, but you’ve been warned about its contents. Since writing that email, I put a rhythm section together and went into the studio. Drummer Gary Mackender and bassist Karl Hoffman have been played together...
In the last 15 years of working in the audio industry and helping thousands of musicians and engineers create great music from their home studios, I’ve seen every mistake in the book. Here’s one of the biggest. Honestly, if your mixes don’t sound as loud and competitive as your reference tracks and the pro records you...