ON WHAT HE GETS PERSONALLY OUT OF BEING A MENTOR:
“Having the chance to mentor students who have come in, it gave me a sense of kind of [how to] organize my thoughts, and think about how I came upon the knowledge that I have through just blind stumbling or reading, and then attempting some techniques based on what I was reading. Gave me a chance of kind of formalize and relate to them, ‘This is how I discovered that it worked and why it works for me,’ and let them make that same discovery.”
ON WHAT CAUSES HIM TO BE IMPRESSED WITH A STUDENT:
“Anticipating what needs might be in place for a session. Helping set up microphones or moving microphones on the drum kit or checking where they are located in the middle of tracking…just the transparent things that need to go on, and if they can see that that needs to happen, if they take the initiative to do that, that impresses me.”
HIS ADVICE ON HOW STUDENTS CAN GET THE MOST OUT OF THE PROGRAM:
“Go home and learn these skills and the things you see me doing repeatedly, go home and master that…How many hours does it take to become an expert? They say 10,000. If they go home and start doing these things, then they gain ground for understanding how to interact with the software, how to physically do the operations that render the sound, to have a sound they want to help close the gap between imagining what they want with the sound and actually making that sound come out of the speakers.”
HIS ADVICE ON PROPER STUDIO ETIQUETTE:
“It’s a business practice of mine that I just never will use profanity in front of my clients. After a couple of sessions, I’ve called a couple of my students aside when they got a little casual with them. So you know, be above that. Just speak in a way [that] you represent the studio, you represent the school, and don’t get too casual with your speech with them. Be professional. Don’t use profanity. That’s a particular of mine.”
CAREER ADVICE FOR NEW AUDIO ENGINEERS:
“You’ve got to be driven and you have to take the steps with as many people as [you can]…I stumbled into it, and basically people find out you have some recording equipment and then, ‘Hey we’ll re-record it for free or for low charge.’ You can start off doing that, but when you start turning out recordings that are of a better caliber and look like they could command some amount of revenue, you’ve got to plan your business as you start into it and set goals for where you want to be. And you have to actively market yourself…They’ve got to establish their name quickly, they have got to network, they’ve got to be professional in the way they interact. Can’t be known for being arrogant or difficult to work with or sloppy with their work. I have been very calculated over the years with being timely and friendly with all the people I work with, and you win people with a good personality that way…Just chase the passion.
Chase the hobby until it becomes a new profession. It’s the best way to work because it never feels like work. The students that I have can discover that for themselves, discover how to turn what they love into a way that they can make a living. You can’t ask for more than that.”
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