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How to be Unstoppable

By Steve Knots

sound-design-live-how-to-be-unstoppable-colored

sound-design-live-how-to-be-unstoppable-coloredNathan has written a couple of things recently about the mindset of being unstoppable.

He asked me to pick up on the topic of motivation and share a few practical tips from my experience producing music, recording bands and doing audio for film, theater and video.

I’ll start with some general things and then we’ll get to something specifically music-related.

IN GENERAL

First of all, and this goes without saying, you gotta be in shape. Stretch, get sweaty, pretend you’re Bruce Lee for 25 minutes per day, keep your mind body and spirit clean clean clean. You will be amazed how easy your “problems” appear to be, after you whip off a set of pushups.

Second, your instrument is an extension of your body. It could be your musical instrument, your studio space, or even your voice on the phone. To be unstoppable you need your healthy exuberance to radiate right through the tools you’re using, to the point where stoppable people say “He makes it look so easy!” and “How did they DO that?”

Third, unstoppably practice extreme visualization of what you want to achieve.

By extreme I mean, see yourself already there achieving it. Fantasize, daydream, mentally drool, go through it a thousand times per day. As often as you can until you can taste it! You’d be surprised how well this works to remove subconscious blockages against success.

Now let’s get serious.

How do you motivate yourself, or a band you’re working with, to finish an album project?

ANSWER: THE UNSTOPPABLE TRACK SHEET

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You can use this as a studio engineer who’s keeping tabs on a session, as a musician, bandleader, or producer. This track sheet makes you unstoppable by giving you a simple way to manage a complicated project.

Remember, visual artists can hang a group of paintings in one gallery and see how they compare to each other. Chefs can see which plate is missing the garnish, and dentists can count the people still sitting in the waiting room.

Musicians can’t do any of those things because music happens only one song at a time. You can’t play a group of songs all at once, it would be chaos!

Because of this linear-sequential character of music, it is dangerously easy to begin one thing, leave it for later, and never return until it’s too late.

So let’s look at the track sheet in detail and see how it can help you avoid common mistakes such as publishing an unmastered song, leaving out a song entirely from an album, or losing a session when it gets deleted from the studio work drive.

I keep these blank track sheets in my google doc’s so I can review them anytime, from any place, especially during down time away from the actual studio work.

Let’s look at the fields:

  • TRACK SHEET: band name, artist, movie title, event, etc.
  • Project Name: the album or group of songs
  • Output: Describe the final delivery format you need to create and deliver. (DVD, songs for a live concert, CD, etc) Include the target date for completion!

These may seem obvious, but it’s important from the very beginning to be thinking of the finished product and deadline.

The heart of the process is in the checklist, so let’s have a look:

WRITING

  • Track title: or working title
  • Notes: good place to write the tempo if you’re on grid, and anything else that helps you remember which song it is
  • Lyrics: Do they exist? Where are they stored so you’ll know where to find them?
  • Key signature: Is is the right range for the singer? Does the band know what key it’s in? This is especially important for tracking soloists at different times, plus overdubs.
  • Song form: Do we know the layout (ABABC, verse/chorus)? Where are the solos? How long will this song be? Can the band play it all the way through? Can we print a lead sheet for the band?

Answer all of these questions before you start recording!!!

RECORDING

  • Basics: The basic tracking. Are all the instruments recorded into one session yet? Are you ready to do the mix session without emergency overdubs?
  • 2mix: A final stereo mix before mastering. Has this song survived the mix session without returning to any of the above stages? Do you know which version is the final mix, and is its file labeled properly?

DELIVERY

Now let’s organize our output formats. Each one of these should be a folder of files on your computer AND backup drive.

  • HQ master: Has the track been mastered in a full-quality version? What about mastering for radio, for vinyl, for digital?
  • 16/44: Mastering was probably done at least 24-bit depth and 96kHz sample rate. Have you down-sampled the HQ master to CD quality? (16-bit 44.1kHz tracks to send to the CD burning factory)
  • MP3: Has it been converted to MP3 and tagged with artist, title, etc? Will all the info show up correctly in an mp3 player?
  • Graphics: are they done? Are you using the album cover as the artwork for every song, or are there individual graphics for each song? These go into the MP3 tagging so people can see pictures in iTunes.
  • Backups: Think about it now while you still can. With all these versions and edits, have you put them into another place… or are they all sitting on one laptop?

Note: we’ve omitted video from this process, because that is a whole ‘nother ball of wax.

To Summarize — Organizing your work with a

Organizing your work with a track sheet allows you to see the whole project at once, and it leads you through the process of completion so nothing gets left out.

It will help you avoid the #1 pitfall of wasting time. Do not spend three hours making micro-edits on an automation lane while you’re sitting in a miked-up studio with musicians waiting! Likewise, don’t start mastering one song before you know what format they want to publish it in!

And for heaven’s sake don’t let the mix engineer start mastering a song when you already booked a mastering house to do it next month.

Finally, in personal terms, a track sheet helps to keep the momentum moving towards finishing what you’ve started. Nothing is easier than sitting down to noodle around and come up with a million great ideas… but nothing is harder than putting it all together into a finished result, especially when everything is all over the place.

It is all too easy to fall into a slump and feel like “nothing is ever gonna happen with this.”

Track sheets are one more tool in your creative arsenal to help you get out of that slump.

Remember up top, we talked about visualizing success? The track sheet is essentially a visualization tool. The more often you review it, the more powerful it becomes.

Finally, the essence of being unstoppable is simply to succeed in creating something, where others do not.

Good luck!

Pro Audio Workshop: Seeing Sound

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Welcome members of Audio Issues!

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Insider Secrets to Quickly and Effectively Maximize Sound System Tuning In Any Room

with Nathan Lively

⇒ Improve your confidence and consistency

⇒ Get more freelance work

⇒ Have more fun!

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Already after the very first lesson, I can tell you that the course is worth every penny. I love all the input from other members, both in the forum and on the live lessons. –Martin D., AV tech, Bulgaria

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Struggling to create a consistent mix? Guess what…

You’re not alone!

“During most of the one-offs I do, there isn’t enough time to set up Smaart. To make it worse, I might not know what gear I have until I’m on site.” -Chase B.
“Sometimes it’s kind of ‘throw and go’ without a lot of time to really dig in and fine-tune each room. I would like to be able to pinpoint my speaker aim to get the best coverage because I really only use Smaart when I have 2-3 hours to tune.” -Nick E.
“Meyer Sound is too expensive. I have to use generic or DIY speakers without technical specifications. How do I work with this speaker if I don’t know anything about it? It’s frustrating! -Rene

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Intention

A fast and comprehensive method to make a room, convention center, theatre, or arena sound good, despite time restrictions.

Understand system tuning intuitively so you can run on auto-pilot.

Who is this course for?

Audio engineers, sound designers, and AV technicians who care about having great shows and want more confidence and consistency in their work.

To be recognized in this industry the one thing to do is to have consistency from night to night and show to show. -Buford Jones

I’m a pretty big deal.

I know this page looks very business-y, but I promise that I’m neither a Nigerian prince nor a robot; I’m a regular guy. I put my pants on one leg at a time, just like you.

It’s just that after I put my pants on, I have:

  • sound-design-live-nathan-lively-headshot-large13 years of experience in pro audio in 7 major cities across 3 countries
  • Interviewed 35 sound engineers (including Ken “Pooch” Van Druten with LinkIn Park, Bob McCarthy from Meyer Sound, and Dave Swallow with La Roux) for my podcast, Sound Design Live
  • 150,000+ plays on SoundCloud
  • 100+ articles in Pro Sound News Europe, LinkedIn, and Sound Design Live

Basically, I’ve spent my entire career as a guinea pig for this program. I bring years of experience to the training environment to create specific advice and guidance for the next steps in your career. Also, I make a mean cup of hot chocolate.

What’s Included?

✓ Fast paced lessons

✓ Design examples, recordings, and transcripts

✓ Templates, worksheets, FAQ

✓ Unlimited* support over Slack

✓ Tips, tricks, hacks, and more…

*If you message me a hundred times a day like a crazy person, I will kick you out.

Speaker placement:

→ Generic or DIY speakers
→ Where is the crossover?
→ How do I maximize what I have?
→ Basic subwoofer arrays

Speaker aim:

→ Aim for best gain before feedback
→ What are XOVER points?
→ Critical distance – vertical/horizontal
→ Combining speakers without comb filtering

Phase alignment:

→ Align mains to subs
→ Subs on an aux?
→ Time alignment for monitors?
→ Under-balcony, front fills

EQ and listening:

→ Tuning vs. toning
→ How to stop using a graphic EQ
→ How many filters are too many?

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Why did I create Seeing Sound?

I believe that sound system tuning should be the first thing people learn when they start studying audio, not something that gets misunderstood down the road.

There are lots of audio forums out there where people argue for days about the best microphone for this or that, but few talk seriously about the physics of audio and how to build a system you can rely on.

My vision is that Seeing Sound will be a place for people like you and me to come and learn about sound engineering and system tuning, share ideas about what is and isn’t working for us, and give each other feedback when we need it.

What are people saying?

I have improved my approach to and quality of service tenfold! –Simon Fernie, FOH for theRGPshow, France

wills_photoI have achieved really good results, to the point where, due to this course, my current show is probably the best sounding show I have done. –Matthew (Wills) W., Sound Designer at Clwyd Theatr Cymru, UK

sound-design-live-pro-audio-workshop-john-aDid the show last night with the set up you suggested, and with much headroom left we received nothing but praise for the phenomenal sound as well as the clarity. –John A., live sound

sound-design-live-seeing-sound-michael-mooneyhamHaving a community of pros to talk with is invaluable! I’ve never before been able to text a teacher about direct action of course concepts. This class has paid for itself already. –Michael M., live sound, California

sound-design-live-pro-audio-workshop-AndrewSugdenI’ve considered other courses, but this is the first one that I’ve felt deserved the time and money. -Andrew S., audibility expert for conference sound, UK

sound-design-live-pro-audio-workshop-seeing-sound-andy-lipnickI looked at classes at Meyer Sound, Rational Acoustics, and SynAudCon, but none of them fit the bill in terms of schedule. –Andy L., corporate events, California

Case Study

sound-design-live-seeing-pedro-headshotPedro blasted into the course with a lot of questions. “What’s all of this phasey sound in the audience? Why don’t we hear it at FOH?”

sound-design-live-seeing-pedro-array-calcThey were having a lot of annoying comb filtering at the theatre where he works in Sweden and he was trying to figure out how to improve speech intelligibility for their plays and overall sound quality for their modern dance events.

sound-design-live-seeing-pedro-fftOver the course of the first two lessons Pedro was introduced to new techniques in speaker aim that influence linearity. He shared some D&B ArrayCalc predictions with our private group and from the feedback, decided to adjust the L/R array aim for less overlap and install a new center fill speaker.

I asked him what his advice would be to future students and he said, “Try to use what you learn as soon as possible.”

sound-design-live-seeing-pedro-case-study

When does it start?

The course is six weeks long and starts on May 2.

Why should I invest in this course?

A sound system technician can make $500+/day, immediately returning your investment. Less tangible, but important, will be your improved consistency, which will make your clients happy and keep you booked solid.

System techs are really well paid and never out of work. –Darryn de la Soul

How much is Seeing Sound?

$497 private training

$197 group training

Update me about the next enrollment

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FAQ

Is There A Guarantee?

You bet there is… and damn good one!

I created Seeing Sound because I want to help you improve your confidence and consistency as a sound engineer, make more money, and have more fun! The course is setup to produce results immediately, within the first two weeks. And that’s why I’m going to let you try it risk-free for 15 days. By then you will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, whether the training is right for you. If it is and you are delighted, simply continue gaining all of the benefits of the course… but if not, and you find that you are unsatisfied for any reason, just send me a message before the start of the 16th day, and I’ll process a fast, friendly, no questions asked refund of your purchase price.

How long do I have access to the course?

How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like – across any and all devices you own.

Can I download the videos?

Absolutely. All audio, video, and cheat sheets are completely downloadable.

Who do I contact if I have a question?

Me!

The bottom line

sound-design-live-be-unstoppable2I care deeply about your growth as an audio engineer and your satisfaction with your work.

This is the only program of its kind and I work every day to drive the strongest results possible.

I urge you to make a commitment today to go after what you want.

Update me about the next enrollment

Decimate Obstacles like Top Touring FOH Engineers

By Nathan Lively

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Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. -Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States

sound-design-live-be-unstoppable2One of the key lessons I’ve learned on the way to becoming a successful sound engineer is: Be Unstoppable.

It’s more important than any technical training or piece of gear, and it is one of the most important topics I work on with my clients.

[Originally published in Behind The Mixer on February 12, 2015.]

It’s always a little bit of a letdown to ask a successful sound engineer how they got to where they are today. They usually guess at some combination of passion, hard work, luck, and pixie dust, but nobody ever says they got there by design. It’s easy to look back from a successful point in your career and say, simply, “follow your passion”; it’s a lot harder to give that advice from the most painful and challenging points of your career. That’s why I’m so fascinated with people like Dave Swallow and Ken “Pooch” Van Druten, who were able to push through those obstacles and follow their passion even when things were hard. There is a quality of attitude and a level of skill that they posses, whether they know it or not, that have made them successful.

One of the most important qualities you need to be successful in pro audio is to be unstoppable.

What does that mean, exactly? Should we be rude, pushy, and inappropriate to get what we want? Or should be be committed, but unattached?

Don’t accept no answer for an answer. –George Kao

The secret is to move like a river. When mountains are in your way, learn to flow around them. –Daniel Scott

thought-provoking-quotes-to-get-you-motivated-40Building a career in audio is challenging because it’s not a centuries-old trade with a proven career path. It requires daily, creative action to achieve your goals.

Stoppable: I applied for a job. They didn’t call me so I gave up.

UNSTOPPABLE: I applied for a job. They didn’t call me so I applied for another job, connected with two people at the company, sent my resume and show reel to two colleagues for feedback, and made a date with a friend who has had the same job before to ask them how they landed it.

Pro Audio Business Blueprint – Zero to $4K in 6 Months

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