Post: #1

I've seen various threads about similar topics, so is anyone here an audio engineer or producer? I like to spend my free time recording people and make a few bucks on the side I also like to sing (reggaeton) and now that I'm graduating I'll be taking it 100% seriously as a career (I already took the first steps towrards it)! If so post up a link to some of your work so we can all hear it and maybe collaborate

Here's my gear list:
(1)Avedis ma5
(1)Avalon 737sp
(1)AT 4050
(1)Steinberg mr816x
(1)Mbox Pro 3
(1)Api Lunchbox


It would be nice to share stories and stuff like which daw you use, etc.

Post: #2

Hate to play devils advocate.

Good Luck bro, it is by far one of the most difficult profession to break into today, much easier 20 years ago. Expect a lot of sleepless nights bustin' your ass for minimum wage or zero wages probably the next 10 years.

There is a super abundance of talent with a very limited job pool. So, make sure you have something on the side to put food on the table, and keep the lights on in your crib.

Not to mention you will limit your travel experiences abroad as you will be broke.

How do I know? It took me 10 years to break-in. Yes, I had a room with milk crates for tables, 5 gallons of filtered water, potatoes and bread.....and 30 dollars in my pocket. I was 21 at the time.

I moved on to bigger and better things 15 years later, but make sure you truly LOVE music production! Even better advice: Make sure you know when to fold 'em if you have to.

Mixx

Post: #3

Mixx dropping some quality advice as usual. Is that where you got the MIXX name from?

I don't produce myself, but I have a good friend from childhood that has a studio in Toronto now. I DJ at weddings and small house parties on a pair of Numark TTX's occasionally but its mostly just a hobby. I don't like dealing with drunk people or playing Top 40 garbage so I never really decided to take it any farther. I find its a nice way to unwind and just enjoy music when I'm alone. I'm a painter too so I can appreciate where you are coming from.

Anyways back to my buddy. He works like mad every single day. He tutors students, produces for bands, and makes tracks for Mixtapes. He also takes on an intern with the school he graduated from too. It's a hard life, but he manages to scrape by and he's slowly starting to make progress now, after graduating a couple years ago. I remember a years back he would just fall off the grid randomly because he couldn't pay his phone bill. Be careful about burning bridges or pissing off someone too. Even in a city the size of Toronto the music industry is relatively small and word travels fast.

As an artist you already know its gonna be hard to make a living off of it, but if you are really passionate about music then none of that matters anyway. Congrats on graduating and best of luck.

Post: #4

Mixx dropped some solid advice as always.

I'm a producer and I agree with everything that he said ( damn mixx didn't know you had crates!). If you really want to do this all I can say is be prepared to be broke for a minute. I've been at this for about 7-8 years already and only now am I just starting to see some paper.

although I'll give you some tips that I wish someone would have told me.

1. Network is everything. This is how you get paid. The most talented cats never get co signed and that's real talk.

2. Always be on your sh*t, you never know when you'll get that call. The artist might want you to make beats on the spot in 5 minutes as a test.

3. Don't let yourself become bitter over certain shortcomings, artists can be flaky like chicks. Nothing is guaranteed.

there are a few other things I'd like to add but I'm in a rush right now. Best of luck though man.

Post: #5

(01-27-2012 12:26 PM)Khaleth Wrote:  Mixx dropping some quality advice as usual. Is that where you got the MIXX name from?

Yup!

As I approach 40 over the next 3 years, I'm changing my name from Mixx to "Sir Mixx" - earned that shit!


Sir Mixx

Post: #6

also learn to play some instruments, you'll kill yourself when it comes to licensing/publushing money if you only fuk with samples. Plus you'll have an up on some of your peers.

Post: #7

Now that I'm sitting down I can finally comment on this thread the way I wanted to initially.

If you really care about this, being broke won't really matter. What matter's are the actions that you take into making this goal become a reality.

It's cool too look at this as a hobby when your younger. Hobbies are there for cathartic purposes, but when it comes time to do this as a career you have to look at it like a job. If you look at it as a hobbyist viewpoint you will not get far. I think in this regard the biggest people who can hold you back are the one's who are most familiar with you. In terms of a career, as Mixx mentioned there's only a very small percentage that are actually thriving.

In my experience I had to nearly get rid of all my friends because they kept referring to what I felt serious about as a hobby. You know that saying about a man's friends, if you want to see where he's going look at who he keeps as his company. You need to build a network of friends and connections who are as serious about this as you. In time you'll start to see people in your network grow, gain new opportunities and if they're reputable and in your trusted circle they will shoot some opportunities your way from time to time. This is why you need to be ready.


This industry is small as Khaleth mentioned, small enough that word travels quick even internationally due to the internet. Reputation is everything.

There's so much that I can say but i'll keep it to this for now.[/b]

If your down to flip some samples/etc in this thread, why not? i'm down.

Post: #8

(01-27-2012 10:16 AM)MiXX Wrote:  Hate to play devils advocate.

Good Luck bro, it is by far one of the most difficult profession to break into today, much easier 20 years ago. Expect a lot of sleepless nights bustin' your ass for minimum wage or zero wages probably the next 10 years.

There is a super abundance of talent with a very limited job pool. So, make sure you have something on the side to put food on the table, and keep the lights on in your crib.

Not to mention you will limit your travel experiences abroad as you will be broke.

How do I know? It took me 10 years to break-in. Yes, I had a room with milk crates for tables, 5 gallons of filtered water, potatoes and bread.....and 30 dollars in my pocket. I was 21 at the time.

I moved on to bigger and better things 15 years later, but make sure you truly LOVE music production! Even better advice: Make sure you know when to fold 'em if you have to.

Mixx

Thanks for yor advice, I appreaciate it.

Yeah, I'll graduate next tuesday with a Bachelor's on IT so I have something to fall back on if music doesn't pan out. But music has been my passion since I was 12, I went to college because my parents wouldn't pay my education if it was music related. I had to have a "real career", even if I didn't like it. I was 16 so I did what they wanted to avoid losing their financial help. I regret it now, but gotta look forward. I don't really care for the money (even though I like it) as long as I'm doing what I like.

(01-27-2012 12:26 PM)Khaleth Wrote:  Mixx dropping some quality advice as usual. Is that where you got the MIXX name from?

I don't produce myself, but I have a good friend from childhood that has a studio in Toronto now. I DJ at weddings and small house parties on a pair of Numark TTX's occasionally but its mostly just a hobby. I don't like dealing with drunk people or playing Top 40 garbage so I never really decided to take it any farther. I find its a nice way to unwind and just enjoy music when I'm alone. I'm a painter too so I can appreciate where you are coming from.

Anyways back to my buddy. He works like mad every single day. He tutors students, produces for bands, and makes tracks for Mixtapes. He also takes on an intern with the school he graduated from too. It's a hard life, but he manages to scrape by and he's slowly starting to make progress now, after graduating a couple years ago. I remember a years back he would just fall off the grid randomly because he couldn't pay his phone bill. Be careful about burning bridges or pissing off someone too. Even in a city the size of Toronto the music industry is relatively small and word travels fast.

As an artist you already know its gonna be hard to make a living off of it, but if you are really passionate about music then none of that matters anyway. Congrats on graduating and best of luck.

Thanks!! yeah, I know it isn't easy, but I feel so good when I work with music.

(01-27-2012 12:49 PM)sine wave killer Wrote:  Mixx dropped some solid advice as always.

I'm a producer and I agree with everything that he said ( damn mixx didn't know you had crates!). If you really want to do this all I can say is be prepared to be broke for a minute. I've been at this for about 7-8 years already and only now am I just starting to see some paper.

although I'll give you some tips that I wish someone would have told me.

1. Network is everything. This is how you get paid. The most talented cats never get co signed and that's real talk.

2. Always be on your sh*t, you never know when you'll get that call. The artist might want you to make beats on the spot in 5 minutes as a test.

3. Don't let yourself become bitter over certain shortcomings, artists can be flaky like chicks. Nothing is guaranteed.

there are a few other things I'd like to add but I'm in a rush right now. Best of luck though man.

Thanks! I need to work on the networking part..

(01-28-2012 01:48 PM)sine wave killer Wrote:  Now that I'm sitting down I can finally comment on this thread the way I wanted to initially.

If you really care about this, being broke won't really matter. What matter's are the actions that you take into making this goal become a reality.

It's cool too look at this as a hobby when your younger. Hobbies are there for cathartic purposes, but when it comes time to do this as a career you have to look at it like a job. If you look at it as a hobbyist viewpoint you will not get far. I think in this regard the biggest people who can hold you back are the one's who are most familiar with you. In terms of a career, as Mixx mentioned there's only a very small percentage that are actually thriving.

In my experience I had to nearly get rid of all my friends because they kept referring to what I felt serious about as a hobby. You know that saying about a man's friends, if you want to see where he's going look at who he keeps as his company. You need to build a network of friends and connections who are as serious about this as you. In time you'll start to see people in your network grow, gain new opportunities and if they're reputable and in your trusted circle they will shoot some opportunities your way from time to time. This is why you need to be ready.


This industry is small as Khaleth mentioned, small enough that word travels quick even internationally due to the internet. Reputation is everything.

There's so much that I can say but i'll keep it to this for now.[/b]

If your down to flip some samples/etc in this thread, why not? i'm down.

Yes, I agree with that. Right now I'm working with a friend and we sing as a duo and I produce the stuff too. We reached an agreement and we split 50/50 all the expenses. But lately he's been talking to me about making collaborations with friends and people who aren't taking music seriously so I feel that working with them would be like taking a step back. As we have already recorded 3 songs with semi-famous and famous artists from our genre (not cheap, we've spent about $3,000).

What do you think about that?

My opinion is that, while these other friends may have talent, I've poured too much money into the collaborations and expenses just to throw away my time by making music with cats that don't take it as seriously as me. Especially as I asked them to collaborate before and they ignored me. As soon as they found I had done collaborations with those artists, they suddenly wanted to work with us.

Post: #9

There are so many resources online that I feel one can learn a lot them selves by just reading and working for free at a lot of places. The 15-30K some of these audio schools charge now is not worth it. My homie just finished last year.. 25k, shes unemployed after the label she worked at went underwater. She admits she could of taught herself everything for free, if your passionate enough self-study is easy and if your good at networking people will take you under their wing and teach you a lot of short cuts. Good luck tho, I love music but its not something I could do as a career.. strictly hobby.

Post: #10

First off, congrats on your degree brother. That's an accomplishment in itself.

If they aren't taking the music seriously then don't work with them. You'll save yourself a lot of unneeded stress.

I know how it is spending $ on recordings. I've spent thousands alone on instruments and various things throughout my studio.

I know it's a partnership but just be wary of splitting expenses. When I was younger I was in a group and we did the same thing but one cat who wasn't serious had some emotional problems and killed the buzz (as well as trying to sell off our work as his own). If you do go into a partnership business with someone in this industry, I would say don't let it be a friend that you've known for years. Partnerships can work out but it must be explicit in what both of you are bringing to the table.

Its good that your working with people who have a name/rep, it's something that looks good on your resume. Learn from their habits, you get to see first hand what made their success.

Let me ask you a question, would you withdraw money from your bank account just to throw it in the garbage can? Probably not but that's exactly what happens when you deal with people or friends who don't have the talent/drive. Time is money.

Don't be a cheerleader for motivating the friends without and lack of drive. You have to put yourself in networks with people just as driven (if not more driven) as you. This is the way you'll see the business deals being made, what goes on behind doors. Really if you have the talent, it's not hard but you have to be on your hustle 24/7. It's always going to be like that where they get off there ass when they see that your making moves and accomplishing things. I know i've been in that same situation (and i'm in it right now). Those spurts you see them have are only temporary, they'll fall back into their lazy habits. Take precautions as well, these "friends" are the same one's that will try to throw a monkey wrench in your success, don't take my word for it just be very observant and you'll see/know.

I've spent the better half of my twenties chasing after this dream, and I'm almost there in some regards. Best of luck to you with all regards.

*** Also never work with someone who you consider garbage. If they are bad, garbage let them know, some of these guys are like fat chicks who've been told that they aren't fat. It also cheapens the brand that your building as well.

Post: #11

I'm in a band. Not into the engineering at a technical level but when we record me and the guitarist do most of the mixing. I play bass and sing backing vocals. Fender Mexican Jazz Bass and a hartke HA4000 amp.

You can listen to us if you want: http://facebook.com/dizzytales

Post: #12

I've done some mixing in live venues, comedy shows ect and bands, some nights it's shit easy and others a piece of gear plays up and causes a shit ton of stress, I've had amps play up minutes before the show starts... not fun.

I've mixed for a short film for a tropfest which got into the finals, that was okay but director came to my house/bedroom for 3 days, that was for free as well. yeah the gap between it being a hobby and career is huge, different beast. I'm moving on.

Post: #13

If you want to do anything with digital media you should probably learn how to systematically back up, to multiple locations, before you do anything else.

And don't tell me about DIT, I know who they are, we're talking not having enough money for pay toilets here. You have to make sure you protect your shit like a mother bear and only delegate when you know that sucker isn't a worse idiot than you are. Ask his/her procedures for backup and verification of backup. Encourage and see if they will stand up to pressure and back up correctly even when the directors, actors, and/or musicians are saying they've got to go. The director or producer should have to sign off on hard copy that the additional backup is not needed if they want to erase something without 2 backups .

If it doesn't exist as verified in three places, it doesn't exist.


TRUE STORY:
I scheduled a microbudget shoot on a ferry, no permits, guerrilla, just me, DP, and the actors, wild sound.
We got the takes with the ferry crew barely at the edge of stopping us, and later the DP slipped the tape into a sleeve on my shoulder bag.

Only problem was the "sleeve" was just that-- not a POCKET but a sleeve meant to slide over the handle that comes out of the top of a suitcase, so you can stack the bag on top of a wheeled suitcase in an airport.

So the tape fell through, was lost and the whole morning's shoot was gone. He felt terrible, I lost an important part of the shoot.

TRUE STORY 2: (You're going to think I'm dumb, but think how many people this happened to but they NEVER tell to preserve their reps.)

Microbudget shoot in desert in a location house doubling as lodging for cast and crew.
Had 3 CF cards ( Yes should have had more) . Evening, still shooting, had to erase one card after downloading it to shoot more.

Well, distracted by the dinner break with cast and crew, guess which genius erased the wrong card? Me. A week later at the end of the shoot, I realized I couldn't find some scenes ( should be checking every night as well as after each offload) . I was ready to reschedule the whole day, but after a day with some file recovery software I was able to recover enough to reconstruct the necessary scenes. Dumb, dumb luck.

1) Doing sound for low/micro budget movies (be the guy with the zoom and the boom) can be a way you make money, most of them won't work for free, at least 100 per day is the norm.

2) I would also learn Final Cut Pro X if you don't know video editing, you're going to need videos for your songs or band, and editors also are cranky geezers who don't want to work for free. I shot a sci-fi pilot 3 years ago and have just got around to edit it because people either couldn't do it for cheap or were trying to learn and gave up. I wasted a lot of time learning the older editors but they were hopelessly slow, just shortening a clip could take 2 minutes to render during which you were dead in the water.

FCPX has made all that much, much faster.
Many seasoned pros hate it, it is democratizing video editing.

Get used to buying endless, endless 3-4 TB hard drives. And make time for backups and be organized, I've lost priceless footage-- most people have, they probably just don't talk about it.

Crashplan has saved my ass a couple times, it's slow but as a tertiary last ditch backup it can help if you're lucky.

Basically my computer is backing up to the cloud all the time it is on; and it's only something like $55 per year and they've got like 4 TB of my footage up there. It is NOT good for immediate backup, because a big project could take weeks to upload unless you have fiber internet or similar. It's for hosting the shit you worked on three months ago and can't find. By that time the slow backup will have worked.

Of course guys with money will say, well just hire some storage place, it's only 200 per month etc, but I'm talking when you're first starting out and don't have money for the DIT at 150 per day or the storage place for hard drives at $200 per month or whatever. Everybody will always tell you the solution costs more money but of course they never are going to GIVE You that money, so you have to figure out how to be organized on your own.

Post: #14

I went through a recording engineering program. It was good, worked in a studio for over a year. You got some decent gear, all you need is an acoustic environment for your monitoring.(http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb06/ar...diosos.htm) and depending on what sound you want on your recordings, noise isolation for said recording. I use logic pro 9 and abelton 9, i find logic is great for everything..production, engineering, mixing. Abelton too. Protools is great for recording but is annoying if you want to make beats..I say if this is what you truly want, and you are talented( can't be delusional in this game) go for it.

Post: #15

Does anyone in this thread make rap beats?

Post: #16

several buddies went to the Recording Workshop and Full Sail. One is unemployed looking for work in LA for the last year with a 3 mo old. The other runs A/V for a small college in Ohio. Both of these guys were going to be fucking rock stars. I am glad I didnt shell out the dough for that..

I feel like this whole business has changed completely. When I was interested in this, digital was just starting to come in. You went to recording school to learn how to run analog equipment, which was like driving a space ship. You were an actual 'engineer.' I feel like now with the digital stuff so easily available and cheap, what you really need is experience and recording time. Anyone can record these days, your work is what sets you apart. Just go outside with an ipad and some mics and start recording everything. Find artists and record them for free. Turn your bedroom into a studio, spend a little money and build a decent studio. The barrier to entry in this business is completely gone. Degrees dont matter anymore, just start learning and doing on your own, and I guarantee you will have much more experience than a degree will provide, and wont limit your potential and end up in a bs job or saddled with crazy debt.

Anyway I have an Mbox 2 I want to sell, barely even used, $300

Post: #17

(07-04-2013 07:45 AM)puckman Wrote:  several buddies went to the Recording Workshop and Full Sail. One is unemployed looking for work in LA for the last year with a 3 mo old. The other runs A/V for a small college in Ohio. Both of these guys were going to be fucking rock stars. I am glad I didnt shell out the dough for that..

One of my friends went to Full Sail and now he delivers Chinese food for a living. I'm glad I didn't decide to go with him, that's a bullshit school.

Post: #18

I produce music, mostly some EDM/house stuff. haven't done too much lately though, as I"m working on getting my life back together. but once I do Ill just do that a lot more and get better and better at it.

All I use is Ableton live, my computer, and monitoring headphones (ill have to get speakers later). I DJed for a bit a couple of years ago (CDJs not vinyl) and might start up again, but just DJing my own stuff. I had been trying to find out to make some money with this, but didn't really find much. So I just do it when I can. I learned from just getting some tutorials and looking up stuff on youtube. There is still a lot for me to learn though. but Ill get there eventually...maybe.

I feel eventually I'll "make it" but it may take me a little time, once I get out of the rut I'm in at the moment.
Here's something I made (it seems that people like this one the most out of all my stuff):https://soundcloud.com/xodinx/a-stardust-embrace-ii


I wish I could have gotten into writing instead of music (my B.A. Degree is in Music), then I could have been on a beach in Thailand somewhere, typing up some awesome 500 word whatever for $1,500 that took me an hour to write hah. . . .

Post: #19

Recording:
Mac Pro 12 Core with 32 GB RAM
Logic 9 Pro
Live 9
Sibelius 8
8 TB Storage across four drives
ProjectMix I/O
Mackie 626s
Akai APC 40
Neumann, Rode & Shure mics

Hardware rackmounts that made the "cut":
Roland V-Synth XT

AUs:
East/West (complete set)
Spectrasonics (complete)
Arturia V
Komplete 8 Ultimate
Izotope Plugs

(have a bunch more, but use the above primarily - all hardware synths, effects, mixers, etc. now in storage)

Keyboards:
Nord Electro 2/76
Nord C2D (just got - gnarly) & Motion Sound Pro 140
Mellotron 4000D
Korg Karma
Mini-Moog Voyager XL

Other MIDI Controllers:
MalletKat Gold (with internal Kurzweil sounds)
C-Thru Axis 64
Akai EWI
Yahama WX7 & 5
Roland V-Drums
Roland HPD

Woodwinds:
Powell C Flute
DeMedici Alto & Bass Flutes
Jupiter C Flute (electric)
Bb Clarinet
Alto Clarinet
Soprano Sax
Sopranino Sax
Alto Sax
Other ethnic winds, including: pan pipes, penny whistle, shakuhachi, Irish flute, harmonicas. etc.

Misc. Plucked:
Grand Harpsicle electric/acoustic lever hard
Lyre Harp
Lute Harp
8 Course Lute
Indian Banjo
Hammered Dulcimer
Wildwood Dulcimer
Mountain Dulcimer - electric
Five String Banjo
Mandolin
Electric Sitar (Jerry Jones)
Sitar - electric
Kalimba - electric

Guitars:
Les Paul 50s Reissue
Telecaster
Fender Precision Bass
Dean Resonator - acoustic/electric

Percussion:
Musser Vibraphone
LP Congas
Assorted Latin Percussion

Misc:
Moog Big Briar Theremin - signed by Bob

Post: #20

I'm a guitarist and have recording my own material for years. Pro Tools never tickled my fancy. I'm a Logic man, all the way.

Post: #21

(07-04-2013 07:45 AM)puckman Wrote:  several buddies went to the Recording Workshop and Full Sail. One is unemployed looking for work in LA for the last year with a 3 mo old. The other runs A/V for a small college in Ohio. Both of these guys were going to be fucking rock stars. I am glad I didnt shell out the dough for that..

I feel like this whole business has changed completely. When I was interested in this, digital was just starting to come in. You went to recording school to learn how to run analog equipment, which was like driving a space ship. You were an actual 'engineer.' I feel like now with the digital stuff so easily available and cheap, what you really need is experience and recording time. Anyone can record these days, your work is what sets you apart. Just go outside with an ipad and some mics and start recording everything. Find artists and record them for free. Turn your bedroom into a studio, spend a little money and build a decent studio. The barrier to entry in this business is completely gone. Degrees dont matter anymore, just start learning and doing on your own, and I guarantee you will have much more experience than a degree will provide, and wont limit your potential and end up in a bs job or saddled with crazy debt.

Anyway I have an Mbox 2 I want to sell, barely even used, $300

Degrees mean shit. I got friends who have 'em and I know much much more than them.

It's also a myth that just because you went to audio school you have a guaranteed job. You gotta hustle. You gotta do free shit, eventually those people you made favors for will help you get real clients.

Post: #22

(08-06-2013 04:41 PM)StudebacherHoch Wrote:  Recording:
Mac Pro 12 Core with 32 GB RAM
Logic 9 Pro
Live 9
Sibelius 8
8 TB Storage across four drives
ProjectMix I/O
Mackie 626s
Akai APC 40
Neumann, Rode & Shure mics

Hardware rackmounts that made the "cut":
Roland V-Synth XT

AUs:
East/West (complete set)
Spectrasonics (complete)
Arturia V
Komplete 8 Ultimate
Izotope Plugs

(have a bunch more, but use the above primarily - all hardware synths, effects, mixers, etc. now in storage)

Keyboards:
Nord Electro 2/76
Nord C2D (just got - gnarly) & Motion Sound Pro 140
Mellotron 4000D
Korg Karma
Mini-Moog Voyager XL

Other MIDI Controllers:
MalletKat Gold (with internal Kurzweil sounds)
C-Thru Axis 64
Akai EWI
Yahama WX7 & 5
Roland V-Drums
Roland HPD

Woodwinds:
Powell C Flute
DeMedici Alto & Bass Flutes
Jupiter C Flute (electric)
Bb Clarinet
Alto Clarinet
Soprano Sax
Sopranino Sax
Alto Sax
Other ethnic winds, including: pan pipes, penny whistle, shakuhachi, Irish flute, harmonicas. etc.

Misc. Plucked:
Grand Harpsicle electric/acoustic lever hard
Lyre Harp
Lute Harp
8 Course Lute
Indian Banjo
Hammered Dulcimer
Wildwood Dulcimer
Mountain Dulcimer - electric
Five String Banjo
Mandolin
Electric Sitar (Jerry Jones)
Sitar - electric
Kalimba - electric

Guitars:
Les Paul 50s Reissue
Telecaster
Fender Precision Bass
Dean Resonator - acoustic/electric

Percussion:
Musser Vibraphone
LP Congas
Assorted Latin Percussion

Misc:
Moog Big Briar Theremin - signed by Bob

Nice setup!! I also got a mac pro but it only has 6gbram and it sometimes slows my workflow. Imma have to get a few more gb.

Post: #23

Korg:
Electribe MX
Microkorg

It's a small setup but the variety is amazing.

Post: #24

I have a brand new AKAI APC 40 if anyone is interested... Unboxed, plugged in but never used.

Post: #25

The APCs are sweet!