Intro

[damienfleming1988]

Hey how's it going,
My name's Damien and I currently study sound production/engineering at Ayrshire College in Scotland. At this point I think I have it down on what I want to do when I leave education, just wanted to ask a few questions though.

Ok so, I'm geared towards sound engineering/mixing and I wanted to know how you started off with nothing to acquiring all the equipment, software and tools needed to pursue your career. At the moment all I have is a decent set of headphones, macbook, a midi controller, komplete audio 6 and free daws (ProTools First, Ableton Live Lite and Cubase LE)

As a student, money is a rare thing. I was wondering if there is anything I can do at the moment to make some cash using the equipment I have. I do have resources available to me at the college but due to copyright restrictions I can't 'work' with it.

Any tips on building clientele from this stage? My networking goes as far as the local rehearsal studio that usually only caters to small time local acts.

Thanks in advance, Damien.

 

[Milo Burke]

Do you aim to be a recording or mixing engineer for other people's music? Or do you aim to create music in one form or another?

I'm sure you'll reach a point when you need to buy a full DAW. I'm guessing most of the popular ones are popular because they're cheaper and because they offer a decent selection of stock plugins. When you're starting out, that's important.

Past a certain point, new tools are just toys, and it's more addictive to shop for audio software and equipment than it is to use it.


If you create music: your experience creating tracks, writing lyrics, and composing melodies will matter far more than whether or not you have this new synth or virtual piano. Practice, practice, practice. There's no substitute for practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDyg_41QF1w

If you engineer music: your experience using compressors, your taste with reverb and delay, and your ear for equalisation will matter far more than having the fanciest plugins or outboard gear. Practice a whole bunch, and use ear-training software. Harman makes a pretty good one that's free: Harman How to Listen


I can't help you out with networking. I'm asking the same questions myself. Anyone else?

 

[damienfleming1988]

Yeah I'm really looking into mixing. I'm have personality based on perfecting things and applying creative and technical ability. I find acoustics and sound production theory more interesting than creating music and quite fancy the idea of working in a studio mixing and mastering on tracks for music, film, tv or video game productions.
EDIT: And thanks for including that Harman How to Listen. This looks like a good tool to build on my listening.