Although some may be hired with a high school diploma or equivalent, they typically require a postsecondary education up to an associate degree, which is available from technical schools or community colleges.
Yes, a music degree is worth it for most aspiring musicians. Music degrees are essential for employment in the music industry as well as building well-rounded musicians. However, in some areas of music, a degree may not be necessary. Music Degrees really are designed to create the equivalent of an astrophysicist in music. Be the first to rate this post.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked. Share 0. Tweet 0. Pin 0. Table of Contents Show. Kamenmakesmusic: Professional Industry Audio Engineer.
Audioforyou: Platinum-Selling Mixing Engineer. Stringlight: Skilled, Creative Mixing Engineer. Joshbenzin: Mixing and Mastering Engineer. Kagenmusic: Trained Audio Engineer. Frequently Asked Questions. How useful was this post? Click on a star to rate it! You may also like. What Is a Staff in Music? His signature style has become so well known that in , Waves Audio released a series of audio plug ins based on his effects chains.
While originally an engineer and then producer, he began to realize that mixing was where his heart was. Like his older brother Chris, he is known for extensive use of compression techniques, as well as mixing with analog gear. He worked at Sigma Sound Studios in New York at the beginning of his mixing career, before going fully independent in He originally majored in composition at Berklee School of Music in the early s, but switched his major to Music Production and Engineering in when it was first offered.
While originally working on analog gear, he has since developed a hybrid analog-digital approach to use the best of both worlds. Having worked as a studio engineer in Atlanta in the s and s, he has been working out of LA since , mixing between to songs a year for a wide variety of artists. After working for two years at Trident Studios, he went freelance at He really broke through working with the KLF and developed a talent for remixing singles.
He is known for taking previously recorded material and giving it the secret ingredient it needs to truly shine. He sees his role as more creative, almost working as a post-producer at times. One of his trademarks is his focus on maintaining a sense of space in his mixes, where all the individual parts have their own space but work together as a whole.
He now mixes in London with his own facility and his own staff. Born in Guatemala, Manny Marroquin is an eight time Grammy award winning audio engineer. EQing can be used to bring out the best of a track or hide problem frequencies in specific tracks.
To make instruments poke out of the mix or to feel softer, to get more clarity or increase or decrease the perceived warmth or weight of a track. Compression is used in two ways. The most common use for a compressor is to level individual tracks' dynamic range. Imagine a waveform that has big spikes and deep valleys and ironing it out, so the soft parts become bit louder and the loud parts become a bit softer.
A good example is the human voice - a very dynamic instrument. Within sentences or even single words there are big volume changes. Since we listen to pop music on small speakers or ear buds, often in noisy environments, hearing all the nuances of dynamic instruments is difficult, especially if we hear them alongside a dozen other instruments.
Compression helps. It enables the listener to understand every soft syllable of a singer's voice, while ensuring loud syllables don't poke out to be harsh.
This is key for being able to enjoy a recording without having your hand on the volume knob, as well as for understanding all the lyrics even in the context of a busy mix and a noisy environment. Compressors are used to 'squish' and flatten out the roller coaster that is the internal volume of these tracks. The second way compressors are used is as a creative affect. A really cool thing can happen when you exaggerate a compressor's effect and push it hard.
It actually changes the feel of the instrument. It can make an instrument that sounded kind of wimpy feel strong or more urgent. It can literally make drums sound like they were hit harder than they actually were, or vocals sound like they have more urgency and pop than their original recording.
Compressors can be also used to make certain instruments feel like they are 'pumping' if used in a certain way and to 'glue' certain instruments together if they feel disconnected.
Compressors are magical sonic manipulation tools, and when used correctly, can add character. This is why engineers love them so much. A mix engineer's arsenal includes other creative effects for making songs sound more interesting and add 'ear candy'. Reverbs, delays, distortion, filters, chorus, flangers are all popular creative effects. Reverbs and delays are probably the most popular of the bunch and are used to add space and depth to mixes. Adding reverb or delay to instruments makes them sound like they are in a physical space.
Since most tracks these days are recorded with the microphone very close to the source, they end up sounding up very close and dry when played back. Reverbs and delays address this problem and psychoacoustically place that same dry recording in a lush space. There are different flavors of reverbs and some actually have names of spaces like 'small club' or 'large hall'.
By adding reverb and delay tracks sound 'farther away', providing an awesome way to give the mix depth. Keeping certain instruments 'close' dry and others 'far' wet , creates an illusion of space between them. Too much or the wrong type of reverb or delay will quickly make a mix sound cheesy or amateurish. When used well, they can be beautiful and moving.
You can use short and minimal reverbs for an intimate sound, or big ones for a dreamy or stadium effect. Reverbs and delays are sometimes used to soften particular tracks that otherwise sound harsh and dry, and other times to glue instruments together and make them sound like they were recorded in the same room when they were not.
Some popular uses for delay include slap delays think Elvis or John Lennon vocals or echo repeats synched to the song rhythm as you can hear in many pop productions.
These echoes can be made to sound washy or well defined. Mixing is about skill, taste and knowing to serve the song. The same song can be mixed in many different ways. Mixing entails many creative decisions and skilled 'moves' and when done well it can truly make a song shine and be interesting. There are many mixing engineers out there with varying styles, experience, expertise and levels of customer service. Here are questions to ask and things to look for that will help you make a decision about whether a mixing engineer is the right partner for you.
There is nothing more helpful to understanding an engineer's style and skill than listening to previous songs they've mixed. A sound sample can speak a thousand words and you should trust your ears. One thing to keep in mind is the tracks they worked on might be different than yours in style or recording quality and that can make a big difference.
It's fair to ask an engineer if you can expect similar results after you discuss price and send them a rough mix or your tracks. At that point they should have enough information to tell you if you can expect your mix to be in the ballpark of the samples in their reel. Every engineer has a different mixing style, and that's natural. This is no different than musicians who are more connected with and have more experience in a particular genre.
A mixing engineer's style will often depend on what music they like, what they work on most often and their abilities. Really 'getting' the nuances of a any genre is key to nailing that sound.
There are engineers who are eclectic and work on a wide range of genres, but finding a specialist is often helpful. I recommend listening to an engineer's reel to get an idea of what their style is. If an engineer really connects with your genre of music, that will make a huge difference. Mixing engineers are geeks and if for example they like EDM and work on a lot of EDM, they will already know how to get that pumping sound you might be looking for and won't have to start experimenting. The approach for EQing a kick drum or bass for a Jazz track is totally different than for a rock song.
If you don't hear a track in your genre in the mixer's reel you can always ask if they have one that wasn't included. This one is obvious. Mixing engineers work with a wide range of budgets, like everything else in life. Be realistic about what you're willing to spend and what you're expecting in return. Tip - Some engineers will cut you a deal on the per song rate if you pay for multiple songs in advance.
Some of the things that determine an engineer's going rate are their years in the business, their credits this is a big one , reviews, their skills, their gear and their availability. Some mix engineers want payment upfront, some half upfront and half on delivery and others are willing to receive full payment on delivery and only when you are happy as long as you fund the job to SoundBetter so they know you won't just disappear.
You can choose what you feel more comfortable with; just make sure you understand what payment term a proposal includes before you choose your engineer.
If you really want to work with someone but you don't feel comfortable with their payment term, you can ask them to change it and they might agree. Be fair and sensitive to the engineer's time spent on your music. World-class engineers rely on their credits to speak for their ability. If you've heard songs they've mixed on the radio you know the level of skill you can expect from them. For engineers with fewer or lesser-known credits, reviews are a powerful alternative.
By reading what other clients have to say about working with them, you'll get an idea of whether they delivered on the clients' expectations. All musicians are emotionally attached to their music. If numerous musicians gave a mixing engineer a great review, you know that not only the engineer delivered on expectations, but they likely also gave good customer service. Finding an engineer that will take the time to realize your vision is important. An engineer might have skills, but if they aren't open to accommodating your feedback you run the risk of having an unpleasant experience or not getting a mix you are happy with.
You can read reviews for engineers on SoundBetter. Verified reviews are ones who's authenticity we guarantee. By hiring someone through a platform like SoundBetter you have some extra leverage because you will give the engineer a review at the end of the work, and they know that. This helps ensure they go the extra mile to make you happy. The gear an engineer uses is less important than the other things above. There are awesome sounding radio mixes that were done all 'in the box' i.
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