Pro Studio Live Business Skills and Mixing Techniques

Tune into this episode to learn some extremely valuable business and audio advice from DR Ford. He explains some essential advice, from tips on running your own studio, to advice on marketing, and how to price your services. He discusses what to look for in a client, how to get ahead as a music producer or engineer when you’re first starting out, and how he preps for his first meeting with a client. He also covers some great exercises for evolving and tuning your ear as an engineer, and gives us some tips for mixing. Tune in to learn some great theory about mixing, including how the golden ratio influences mixing, how human psychology influences mixing, and how he treated each instrument in his example mix for this episode. It’s an extremely informative episode for anyone looking to make a living off engineering or producing.

Also in this episode:

Business tips for running your own studio
Compression tips: how to make your mixes sound more analog and how to develop your ear for compression
The importance of having a relationship with your mastering engineer, as a mixing engineer
Ways to get ahead as a music producer/engineer starting out
Why you shouldn’t rent a studio right out of school
Defining your sphere of influence
Advice on referral business and the seasonality of your clients in the audio world
Importance of marketing campaigns: how to not be spam, but still get your name out
Tips for running a marketing campaign
DR Ford shows his marketing materials, and outlines the essential components, so you can understand how to put together your own
How to approach musicians to get business, and the importance of establishing a relationship
Establishing a dialogue with a potential/interested client
How we should adapt to changes in the industry
DR Ford’s formula for establishing your rates, and advice for negotiating with clients/potential clients
Habits to improve business as a self employed engineer
Things to consider if you want to build a good enough setup to work from home
What he brings to a meeting with a potential client, the prep work that he does, and how to conduct the meeting
Details on contracts and the importance of contracts
Controlling the mid-range
Calibrating your studio monitors and the importance of calibrating your studio
Picking a speaker that complements your room acoustics
The equilateral triangle and speaker position
Measurements to take to place your studio monitors and set up your studio
Free/cheap tools to use to tune a room (apps)
The Fletcher-Munson Curve
Working with transients and compressors, exercises to help you understand and develop your ear
The importance of constants when training your ears
Understanding the tone balance of your audio
Mid-side compression: understanding the stereo field and how important it is for bus compression
His day by day timeline when working with a musician on a track: what they do in which order
Vocal production tips
Organizational tips for your session
Rendering tracks tips
Efficiency tips so you can get more done in fewer man hours
Parallel compression advice and tips
Why he likes to use faders instead of wet dry mix knobs within plugins
Template advice, including making presets for your plugins
Why he likes to print things like drum sample tracks
How he treated the bass in this mix
How he treated the guitars in the mix: what he likes on guitar, and his decision making process for guitars
The 3 columns of sound
Advice on correctly utilizing width and height in your mix
The golden ratio and mixing
Listening for the “general” in your mix
Catering to the tastes of the genre’s fans, and the importance of keeping in mind the culture of a genre

Not convinced yet? Check out these free excerpts from the episode:

1) Using Parallel Compression to Exaggerate Ghost Notes

In this clip, DR Ford shows us how to use parallel snare compression to exaggerate ghost notes, and gives us some advice on using EQ [pre compression]. Watch this clip to learn more ways to treat drums!

2) How to Measure and Place Your Studio Monitors

Watch this clip for advice from DR Ford on how to properly position your studio monitors within your studio.

3) Experiments to Develop your Ear for Compression

Watch this clip to see just one of DR Ford’s compression experiments that help you understand how it works, and develop your ear. In this clip, he runs a blended click and sine wave through a compressor.