The Music Production Guide
E-Zine

Issue# 007
Date: 11/26/12

THE ALL ACCESS ISSUE

The mission of The Music Production Guide E-Zine is a monthly (sometimes more often…) newsletter to discuss music production and engineering tips and techniques as well as career building advice to help you establish or enhance your music production career!

If you like what you see, forward it to a friend. If this e-zine was forwarded to you, sign up by clicking HERE and adding your name to the mailing list located in the top right column…

In This Issue...

1. What's New at music-production-guide.com
2. Music Production Tip: Opinions Matter
3. Engineering Tip: Your Opinion Matters
4. Career Building Tip: How Your Opinions Shape Your Career

1. What's New !!!

1. MPG Insider ALL ACCESS OPEN HOUSE

MPG Insider ALL ACCESS OPEN HOUSE starts Monday, December 3rd and open throughout the week. Check it out...!!!

The Open House will give you complete access to all the workshop materials that are only available to paid members. You will have access to over 100 videos and audio programs that total over 75 hours of valuable information about mixing, recording and music production.

The purpose of the open house is to help promote the website and the MPG ALL ACCESS Membership. There is NO OBLIGATION TO BUY ANYTHING, and you are completely free to browse and learn to your heart's content. If you like what you see, spread the word and let others know what I have to offer.

2. Waves Plugins Workshop

The Waves Plugins Workshop begins Thursday, December 6th with an introductory class and runs every Thursday evening through the month of January. If you are interested in joining up, now is the time!

The Waves Plugins Workshop is a comprehensive look at the entire Waves collection of plugins including individual instructional videos for practically every one of them. This is an 8 week workshop at an amazingly low price of $99 if you sign up soon. If you sign up for the Open House, you can attend the December 6th class for free!

Waves offers some of the most amazingly powerful tools for engineers and music producers and the collection is so vast that most do not get to fully understand their potential. This workshop will kick open that door and open your eyes to a new approach for using Waves plugins to their fullest potential

3. Master Mixing Workshop Replay Version now available

Now that the Master Mixing Workshop has come to a conclusion, I have made the Replay Version available at a discounted price. Click on this link: Master Mixing Workshop for more info. The next "Live" Master Mixing Workshop Class Will begin January 8th. If you buy now, you will get the Replay price and all the benefits of attending the live class in January. This has been the most requested workshop for new members and will be followed up with an Advanced Mixing Class in May of 2013

4. Social Media Links

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and You Tube.

5. Online Music Production Classes

The next Live Online Music Production Class is scheduled for Wednesday, December 5th @ 7PM US/Eastern time. If you are interested in attending, make sure you have created a free membership profile on the MPGInsider Membership Site for the classes. If you have already created a user profile and received email announcements for the classes, there is no reason to do so a second time.

2. Music Production Tip

Opinions Matter

Walk into any recording situation and you will meet people with big ideas and opinions. People want to look like they know what they are talking about, even if they are clueless. No matter what the opinion or idea is, it is almost always worth a listen.

Some of the ideas and opinions are valid while others are misguided due to lack of real professional experience or just plain lack of knowledge. Ultimately, the most valuable opinions usually come from those who make a career at it. If they are making a career, then they most likely are doing things that produce positive results.

Regardless of the quality of the information or the person it is coming from, there is always something to be gained by listening. The solutions provided may not have any merit for your current situation, but they offer something more valuable. A confirmation that what you are doing is not working. This motivates you to find the answers to making your music production work, wherever they come from.

The best measure for success with any music production, is when a casual listen is met with enthusiasm and interest instead of no response or a suggestion for what is wrong. Each song is a different work of art that requires unique attention. There is no formula that works for every song in all situations. So keep an open mind and listen to the message behind the opinions. You will make better music for it!

3. Music Engineering Tip

Your Opinion Matters

The worst situation to be in as an engineer is when you are asked to be the judge between conflicting opinions in a music production. First of all, you are being paid to engineer, not produce. Secondly, you will be forced into picking a side, thus alienating the other and potentially losing a client.

In the struggle between an Artist and a Music Producer over the direction of a production, there is usually the conflict of how the artist sees themselves versus how the rest of the world would perceives that artist. A good producer usually has to cut a fine line between letting the artist be themselves and making them accessible to the people who buy the music.

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution for the engineer who starts off watching this tennis match and ends up in the middle of it. Stay in the middle with no opinion and you will lose respect of both sides. Take a hard stance for either side and you can create distrust form the losing party.

So how do you proceed? There is a third solution, that involves lending a perspective to the situation so that the battling parties can come to a solution to the conflict. Honesty. Rather than take sides, express what you feel is missing from the production. Never point the finger or blame, but rather express your opinions in a non aggressive manner.

Whenever possible, attempt to strip down the production to it's most basic elements. Do your best to expose weaknesses and point them out if necessary. Show where there is conflict in performances and suggest solutions. If possible, try to set up a "shoot out" where each idea is given a fair attempt to see which is best. Whatever side the decision falls on, there will usually be a decision that is mutually agreed upon.

4. Career Development Tip

How Opinions Shape Your Career

In order for a record company, music producer or artist to hire you, they must first know who you are. The only way this is possible is for you to have a strong presence in the studio when you work with people. Sometimes this comes in the form of opinion, sometimes in facilitating the ideas of others.

Confidence, not arrogance is the key to making every production situation you enter work. Sometimes that means providing direction in a session if everybody is clueless or lost. Sometimes that means following the lead of others and giving them what they want quickly and efficiently. Ultimately, your opinions are best expressed by your actions.

There is an old saying "opinions are like @ssh0les, everybody has one..." But opinions alone will not make you a career if they are not backed up with substance and results. On the flip-side, no opinion at all turns you into a piece of furniture in a room. Functional, but ultimately disposable.

In order to find that balance, you must take everything you do seriously and pay attention to everybody's work, not just your own. Don'y get so absorbed in your job that you lose the perspective of the whole production. This way, when you opinion is called upon, you have an immediate answer. This simple bit of advice will help the artist and producer feel that someone is watching out for them and is not just "doing a gig".

Thanks for reading The Music Production Guide E-Zine! I look forward to hearing any comments or questions you may have regarding the content of this E-Zine and what you would like to see more of in future publications.

All The Best,

music-production-guide.com