In today’s blog, Gary tackles the number one question he has been asked, and continues to be asked by musicians, producers and engineers as they seek their dream to make a good living by getting their music on TV, in films, in commercials, on video games, and on the radio:
“What Should I Be Listening For While I’m Mixing?”
Over to you Gary. . .
Thanks Aaron!
Before I get into the blog, I wanted to share some GOOD NEWS with anyone wanting to succeed in music licensing. I teach a technical subject and it does require persistence and dedication.
However - and here’s the GOOD NEWS for anyone involved in music licensing: You don’t have to know much at all to get started. If you can produce a track that sounds good and catches the ear of a publisher or music supervisor, you’re on your way. You can study as you go. You can learn as you earn. Take advantage of Aaron Davison’s incredible website HowToLicenseYourMusic.com. When it comes to your music production, find a teacher, a mentor. It can save you months, even years of
rejections and frustration.
Also, you can delegate yourself while you educate yourself. If you have the resources, you can hire a producer or engineer while you learn how to do it yourself. There is no reason to wait until you “know everything” in order to get started. If that were the case, I would still be waiting!! In fact, that was one of the successful strategies employed by Eddie Grey. At the beginning of his
studies, he hired me to arrange and produce his tracks. Now, he no longer needs to hire me as a producer, but uses me as a mentor and a teacher to get him up to more advanced stages of composing, arranging, recording, mixing and mastering.
As you read today’s blog which covers several technical points, remember, you don’t have to be a “certified pro” to get going and see some success. Stay hooked up to Aaron (info@renegademusicmarketing.com). Email me if you have any questions along the way (gary@LearnAudioEngineering.net). We’re a community and our success has been the result of working together to pull each other
up.
Ok, now for today’s blog: In the first blog of this series, I covered a technical area of mixing, and dismantled the lie, “Pay extremely close attention and keep your eyes on individual meters and fader levels and ‘headroom’ while mixing or quality will suffer,” and stressed LISTENING to your mix instead of watching your mix so much.
I also pointed out the
importance of improving one’s knowledge of music theory as a vital tool in order to create recordings that can compete and win in the marketplace. In case any readers didn’t see part 1, I also included three brilliant resources for improving one’s knowledge of music theory, especially for anyone wanting to crack the lucrative end of music licensing.
Here are those links again for anyone who wants to immediately start improving the
quality of their productions:
In the second blog of the series I covered a simple but very important question: “What’s more important when it comes to producing music tracks for licensing – Quantity or Quality?”
I went on to uncover the fact that the question above itself is flawed, and the key to getting at the right answers in any field is to ask the right question -- which led to this question, “How many tracks minimum do I need that are fully produced to industry standards in order to open doors and create momentum for my career?”
The surprising answer was revealed as the result of a recent real life
story whereby I personally watched one of the most powerful publishers in Los Angeles, Joe Rangel, CEO of Hitcher Music, audition 12 independent singer/songwriter/producers in his office.
The answer?
One.
In fact, that’s exactly how Aaron Davison started his career in licensing. And how I did as
well.
(Hint: Be able to follow up with at least five or six more within the next several months!)
In today’s blog, we tackle a question I get asked more than any other question while teaching and mentoring songwriters, producers and engineers when it comes to creating music for licensing opportunities:
