I Went to School…Kinda
Let’s take a look at my journey of understanding the science of sound a little better and why I decided to nerd out in the first place.
Here comes our next daily dose of Dossas!
I spent a year learning at Colorado Sound Media Labs (CSML) where a friendly guy by the name of Kevin Clock has his engineers run classes out of his studio, Colorado Sound Recording (CSR). They teach software classes, mixed media, and audio from various Audio Engineering Society (AES) programs. They have a few different studios, a big studio A with a big old school analog recording console (Neve 5088) and a couple of recording rooms with tons of rare and highly sought after mics. They have a B room that’s nice ‘n cozy with all of the amenities of a high-end pro recording facility, but just one room. And then there’s the W studio which is a warehouse with a focus on live setups and video productions with big custom tuned PA speakers and a digital/analog console and tons of lights with a nice projector. All three of these studios brought so many unique lessons with them. All the sessions that I got to watch in the different rooms, and all of the different theory that I got to apply were memories that I’ll never take for granted. I’ll be taking time to share the lessons that I learned in more digestible tid-bits another time, this blog post will be focused on the story of WHY I wanted to learn how to record and mix music professionally.
As forementioned in my first couple of blogs, music has always been at center stage for me. I had my first experiences recording my piano performances as a tween and I had lots of production fun up until my 20’s. I had my Dossas project already established for a few years at this point. I was making cool arrangements, I had some recording skills, some mixing skills, so I decided to try and make some money from the project.
I stumbled across a sync 2020 class which was all about teaching me to prepare and pitch my music for licensing it to film and tv, video games, and any other forms of media. At the end of all of the courses and zoom meetings, our class had the opportunity to pitch music to 3 different music supervisors. These are the people who curate the music for movies and such, show them to the directors and others on the team, and do all of the paper work in between. All three of the music supervisors that I got to pitch to were very receptive to the energy in my music, they heard a lot of emotion which would pair great with media, but they also heard amateur mix quality and a product that couldn’t be shown next to the other more professional songs. So, as the class came to an end, I knew I had a long way to go until I would be able to reach a bigger audience through this media avenue. It was back to the drawing board for me, and I had to learn how to mix my music better.
I went down the rabbit hole of YouTube university, did some real-life learning by recording and mixing friends, investing in more gear, etc. And after getting a paying client I finally got a chance to put my skills to the test. I was nieve at this point only being taught by myself and some shmucks through the screen for free. I paid for some mixing breakdown courses and watched countless interviews with top engineers, but nothing quite prepared me for this new paying client of mine.
With my recording gear packed up in my car, and what little knowledge I had, I headed over to this one client’s house to record her vocals. She is used to being recorded professionally by an engineer over at CSR so, by the time that we were into our 3rd session, she finally accepted that the quality that I could offer her was way lower than anything that she’s had in the past. She decided it was best to stop working together so her project could sound as pro as her past ones, and she gave me the number of her engineer to talk to for some feedback. After basically crying myself to sleep for “failing”, I gave the guy a call and he was gracious enough to spend about an hour or so talking shop with me. He really went in on my short comings of my signal chain, and the recording techniques I used for her, also just the acoustic qualities of the space she was in. All of these things before that I heard from YouTube videos, but I didn’t understand the real-life application of it all. I over complicated things in some areas, and I oversimplified things in other areas. Basically after our chat, He recommended that I look into the school that the studio has, and then the rest is pretty much history from there.
I called the studio up and both the owner, Kevin, and the manager, Jess were so gracious and accepting. I had two teachers, different types of engineers there, both of which were so helpful, and then had some one-on-one sessions and shadow sessions with other engineers too. The main engineer I worked with is named Don. A literal badass who’s able to juggle so many different things at once. I did weekly lessons from the AES program to work on my understanding of the fundamentals of sound, recording, technology, history, and mixing / mastering. The book briefed over most of these things, but by even spending one chapter on these topics, it piqued my interest enough to then further my understanding in a more direct way on the YouTube university route. And then there were 24, 3hr lectures where I had the opportunities to get hands on with gear and my ears with those engineers like Don. He started with me for the first few and then he had a terrible climbing accident. This is why I had two engineers work with me. I had this Big Rob help me on my next leg which was great because he has a different perspective on things. He really started my gear nerding out and wanting to learn how to solder my own boards. But, after a couple of months I think, Don returned! This is where the badass part comes in. THIS MAN, literally taught me with a back brace on. He is so dedicated and kind to be able to still take time out of his day to teach me the way I liked to be taught. I’m a kinesthetic learner, so these few hours at the studio I really looked forward to.
It was great having a pro guiding me through the workflow of how the pros do it. It gave me the itch to buy gear and invest in my own project studio at my parents place. Now I have a project studio worth of gear spread out across three different places… 2024 I’m going to bring it all together again. But that’s just gear, all of this knowledge is why I’m able to stand here today with the confidence to share my music with you! I didn’t release any music while in school, and I spent a good chunk of my time after school too where I didn’t release anything. By 2023, as you know, I released a few songs tied to mix competitions. It was a good way to compare my results against others. I was very pleased to hear how my mixes compared to the competition. I knew at this point Dossas had turned into a one-stop-shop and it’s been ever since then I’ve just been curating music like a mad man.
I’m not claiming I have the best sounding mixes out there, nor would I ever, since mixing is still a somewhat subjective artform. But I know I don’t have amateur sounding mixes anymore. I’ve fallen flat on my face and will still fall again. I just know a little bit more about my field and I’m ready to keep learning as I share my skills!
So, with a toolbox filled up a bit more, I’m ready to re-embark on that journey that I started a few years ago in 2020, I will get my music into all kinds of media. You’ll hear my music in video games for sure, hopefully some cool epic movies and tv shows, I hope to see it behind any inspirational forms of media that can unite people’s hearts and minds. I’m excited to put all of the pieces together, because music with visuals is such a beautiful combination of artform. I believe that Dossas music could elevate so many projects out there. Now that I’ve put in the work to make professional sounding mixes, it’s time to get to making some pitches! Or, if you’re reading this and you have a project in need of some vibey music, reach out to me! Pitch done!
In conclusion, my short time at CSML really shaped me into a more driven, focused and professional individual. I take my work very seriously and I know when to step away from my music to maintain perspective. I finally know how to not let my perfectionism get in the way of my joy. What’s funny is I haven’t even picked up my certificate yet. It’s been over a year, I’m sure they don’t have it. I didn’t have the motivation to even pick up my certificate from them because of some life stuff at that time. And since my results speak for themselves, I don’t really need a piece of paper on my wall proving that I spent money on my education.
Between YouTube, my mentors and friends, and failing a lot… I learned so much! I learned even more from CSML’s amazing staff, and they had a great opportunity to intern there after I ‘graduated’ but I needed to get the hell out of there before I got sucked into the engineering scene. I’m not a recording engineer, and I’m not a mix engineer. I’m a world-class producer and performer. You see, I have to remind myself sometimes that I’m an artist first, and an engineer second. I like mixing because I have the brain type and sensitive ears to make it work, but I have the soul and desire to perform for you all, and I can’t be doing that behind a computer screen recording other people. I can’t be doing that spending long hours mixing other people’s music. And I can’t be doing that interning for another studio. I need to stand on my own two feet and just allow the internet to weave a beautiful web. I’ve got something to say, and I know pretty damn well how to record myself saying it.
Thank you for joining me on this wild ride, and until next time,
Dossas
