JOEL WANASEK: The #NoSmallTime Mindset, Getting Hired in Music, and Weed vs. Productivity

Speaker 1 (00:00:00):

Welcome to the Unstoppable Recording Machine Podcast, brought to you by the 2017 URM Summit, a once in a lifetime chance to spend four days with the next generation of audio professionals and special guests, including Andrew Wade, Kane Churko, Billy Decker, fluff, Brian Hood, and many more. The inspiration, ideas and friendship you'll get here are the things that you'll look back on as inflection points in your life. Learn [email protected]. The URM podcast is also brought to you by heirloom microphones. Heirloom microphones are high-end condenser microphones with something that has never been seen in the microphone industry, a triangular membrane with our patented membranes and our tailored phase linear electronics. Your recording and live experience will never be the same heirloom. Our microphones will help you discover clarity. Go to E-H-R-L-U-N-D SE for more info, and now your host, Joel Wanasek.

Speaker 2 (00:01:03):

What is up, my friends? Welcome back to another epic soul crushing episode of Dear Joel, where I hit the mic, answer your questions, bring the fire, and all kinds of other awesomeness. Geez, I should start the podcast off. More like that more often, huh? What do you guys think? Well, you got to have fun with it. So if you guys got questions, I got answers. You got to hit up Joel at URM Academy. If you want to submit your questions to another episode of Dear Joel, right? Come on and answer your questions and talk about whatever you want to talk about as well is just a little bit of what I want to talk about. So without further ado, my friends, we are going to get into it and start Spining Fire tonight. Let's go. So the first thing I want to talk about here tonight is something that I think is a very, very important topic because a lot of you guys keep asking me questions about, Hey, I'm getting an internship or something like that, or I want to get ahead and I want to succeed.

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So I'm going to give you the point of view here of a business owner. If you're coming in to get an internship or looking for a job and you want to do something and you want to impress somebody and make a really, really good impression. So from the owner's side of the equation, as a business owner, I sit back and I look for people that stand out. So what does that mean? So when you meet somebody within 30 seconds, you can usually tell if they're a star or not. Some people just have it and some people don't. You just know, and I look for stars. I want people that are working for me that are on my team. They're going to roll with us, that are going to be stars. They're going to come in, they're going to blow us away. They're going to kick ass.

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I don't got to ask 'em to do something twice. They're going to take initiative. They're going to be way ahead. That is the kind of person I want coming in into my life to work on my team because that is the kind of person that is going to get shit done. They're going to do an amazing job. They're going to put in the hustle and work really hard for you. So how do you stand out? What makes somebody a star other than just having that non-tangible it factor that so many people, you recognize it, but how do you replicate it? How do you possess that? And I think it's important to analyze a couple of different factors here because there's a lot of different things that can make a person have that it factor, and there's a lot of different things that can really come up and help you.

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If you're in that position, get ahead. So you want to stand out. All right, so what's the first thing you want to do when you stand out? Let's break it down here on a micro level. So if you want to stand out, you got to be an initiative taker. You can't sit around and wait. Some of the best people that work for me were people that absolutely badgered and annoyed the hell out of me online. They're like, dude, blah, blah, blah, blah. I want to come work for you, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. They're like, nah, dude, blah, blah, blah, blah. I want to come work for you. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Then they asked the magic question, how can I help you? What do you need? And I said, oh, okay. Well, I need somebody that can do X, Y, and Z.

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And they're like, oh, I know a lot about X, Y, and Z. I'm like, oh, you have my attention. Talk to me about X, Y, and Z. And then I start asking them really difficult questions and grilling the crap out of them. And if I see somebody that is in there that is prepared, that knows what they're talking about, not only do they have the confidence they're going to come in and kick ass and do well, but they know their stuff. They did their homework, they studied, they researched, they know what they're talking about. That impresses me. For example, if somebody wants to come in and be like a social media manager or something like that, they better know a lot about marketing. They better know about a lot of social media, and I ask if I'm going to ask 'em about a certain course done by a guru or something I've read or something I liked and they haven't taken that, guess what?

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Boom, strike one. But if I come in and I'm like, yeah, blah, blah, blah, and they're like, well, I've taken this and I've taken this and I invested in this and I studied that and I did this and I read this and I've been doing this. Then I'm like, all right, now this is going to be a star. So I think it's really, really important. If you're going to go in and you're going to try to impress somebody and oppress upon them that you are the right fit, that you are there to kick ass, you are there to learn. The first critical step is taking initiative and actually learning about what that group of people that you want to work for, whatever they're doing, whatever job you want to get, what value you can bring to them, how can you create value for them? What can you do that's going to set you apart from every other person on the street that walks in?

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How can you be different? How can you be better? And how can you stand out? And like I said, that is all done through creating value. The most important. You want to walk in and just be like, all right, how can I help this person? What does it look like they need the most? Okay? And you can just do a little bit of homework on them and you can say, alright, they need X, Y, and Z. So if I can come in, I can assess the situation, I can bring in, I can acquire the skills and the knowledge and walk in the door and say, I noticed you need this. Let me show you and then back it up right away. Boom. That my friends is an absolute recipe for success. So aside from having amazing initiative and just really going out and being a starter and laying it out on the table right away that like, Hey, listen, I know what I'm doing and I'm here to kick ass.

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The next thing is you got to follow through. And this is the part where I think a lot of people get screwed on is it's easy to come in the door. It's easy to talk big. It's easy to walk in and be like, oh, look at me. I'm so badass. I'm going to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But you know what? Talk is cheap and it means absolutely nothing. So when somebody comes to me and talks big, okay, cool, they say all the right words, all the right things, alright, you have my attention. Now show me, because I do not give a crap what comes out of your mouth. Once the trigger in my head goes off and says, Hey, alright, this person's got some potential. I want you to show me. You come in, you're going to sit down, you're going to just grind it out.

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If I give you a ridiculous task that's completely unmanageable, you're not going to sit there and complain about it until boohoo, blah, blah, blah. It's too difficult for me. You're not going to sit there and whine about it and make excuses why you couldn't get it done, dude. You are going to put your nose to the grindstone, right into the fire, and you are going to triumph and you are going to excel and you are going to succeed because that is the kind of monster that you are. And if you can be that person who's got that follow through where you can just come in and you can just crush every single task and smoke it and take initiative and be like, and anticipate people's needs, be like, oh, I know you didn't ask me to do this, but what do you think about this?

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And the owner might be sitting back like, damn dude, this is a smart dude. This is a smart kid. That is the kind of thing that if you do, you will always have success. I'll go back and I will tell you a story from earlier when I was a young kid and I want to talk about online video games for a second, which is a pretty awesome topic for those of us who play video games. And for those of us too, cool for school. Now we don't like you anyway, so you can just turn this off. I'm kidding. But back in the day, I used to play a game called Quake One, and I was a little late to the party two or three years. I think Quake two or three was in full rage about to start coming out or something like that. But I was still playing quake one.

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And I got into it and I was four or five months into the game, and I remember there was this server that I always used to play on, and there was the best clan and everybody in that clan, dude, when they would come up, man, they would just light up the screen and they would just be like, boom, so-and-so's rocket, and you just annihilate everybody. It a free for all server. So you come in, you kill as many people as possible. Dude, these guys, when they came in, they wrecked the whole server and shut it down and everybody got pissed and everybody talked trash and you're a bot, dude, you guys suck, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they would just talk trash. And I sat down and I'm like, which side do I want to be on? Do I want to be with the badasses and learn from the best of the best of the best?

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Or do I want to come in and do I want to be with the little whiny pans that suck that are small time and are getting roasted every day and lit up by lightning guns and rockets? It was a clear choice to me. So I'm like, alright, how do I get in with the badasses now? At first, my gut reaction when I started playing and I got onto the server in the first week, you get roasted a couple times, you get frustrated, you get pissed, you talk a little trash, you piss a couple people off, okay, no big deal, blah, blah, blah. But fast forward a couple weeks later, I wised up. So there was this one dude in the server who was the best. He whooped everyone's ass. Everybody was terrified of this dude. Everybody was afraid of him. Everybody looked up to him because this dude would wreck anybody.

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No one could beat him. He was unbeatable. He was the champion, and he had been that way for a long time. And of course, every time the dude came in the server, everybody would sit there and they would talk a ton of trash. They would sit down and be like, dude, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then he would roast him and then blah, blah, blah, blah. So it was kind of annoying for him because he had no equal in terms of competition. The people that were close that would try to battle 'em in one-on-one were afraid to get their butts kicked and their ego smashed so they wouldn't do it. So I was like, okay, maybe I can get into this. Let me try an opposite approach. So one day he came to the server and then he is just like, oh, I see no one's in here.

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Are you going to quit and leave? And I'm like, hell no, dude, I'm going to kick your ass. And he left. He's like, really? He's like, all right, I haven't been challenged in a while. Bring it now. I was a noob. I hadn't been playing that long, but I just kept coming at him. He kept roasting me and roasting me, and I was just like, teach me. And he was like, piss off. I'm like, teach me. And I just kept coming and coming and coming. We sat there, dude, he wracked me for two and a half hours and I did not give up. I did not relent. I kept coming and coming and coming and coming and coming and he says, Hey, keep it up. Then he just pieced out. So that happened a week later, I caught the dude in the server again. I kept coming, Adam and Adam and Evan, and I was like, you know what, dude, I got a lot of respect for you.

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You're on top of the chain and someday I want to be you. And the guy was like, really? That's interesting. Then he kind of pieced out and left another time. About a week later after that, the dude walks in the server, he's playing, I'm playing. Everybody else kind of pieces out. He crushed the server and I just kept going and we just started chatting just casually and about stuff. I'm like, teach me one tip. Please, please, please, please. I've been following you. I'm trying to learn from you, but I can't even spawn because I'm always getting crushed with a rocket. Someone already gave me a tip. So then I just started talking and he gave me some tips and then I learned, and then he came in two weeks later and he noticed like, wow, this dude really got better. I sat down and I trained and I trained and I trained.

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And so then he kind of taught me a little bit more and a little bit more, and I kept training and training and every time the dude came in the server and he ran into me, I was always getting better and all of a sudden I was starting to light up the server and get really good. So then one day, maybe two months later, I was sitting down, he came into the server and he's like, you know what? Let me have a talk with you. He's like, you know what kid? You got some potential and you got heart and you're different than the other people. You don't come in and you talk trash. You come in, you show respect, and then you work at it. And he's like, that's a rare quality because 99% of the people that play this game, they come into this game and they talk trash.

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They get pissed when they get waxed, they challenge, they fight. They're like, it's not cool, but you come in, you're cool, you listen. You do what I tell you. You put in the work. He's like, that's impressive to me. So he's like, I'm going to train you. He's like, because I'm going to be retiring from this game in two months and I need a replacement. So I trained with this dude. I showed up every day. I worked and worked and worked and worked at the game, and in literally a period of three months since I started this process, I was then by working hard and studying with the best, I was able to get to the point where I was one of the top 5% in that service. So they let me in their clan, which is something that no one had done in a long time, especially with the amount of length of time I had been playing the game, they let maybe one person in every year or two at tops, and it's a big deal.

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So I got in the clan and I became one of the top players at that time for that game. And I mean, come on, it's a video game. It's not that big of a deal, but what's important about it is the approach, the life application and analogy for what I'm trying to explain to you here right now is that when you walk into a situation like that, and by the way, I've used the same strategy to get ahead many, many times in many different situations in business where you just walk in, you get that one little foot in the door and then you just show and then you follow through, and then you come up and you commit and you deliver and deliver and deliver, and you don't sit there and you don't argue, you don't complain, you don't show up late. You do a kick ass job and if you screw up, it's okay, you apologize.

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You learn from your mistakes and you don't screw up again and you keep going and going and going and going. Then all of a sudden, boom, you're the boss sitting in the chair one day. You know what I mean? So over time, I feel like that's the mentality you want to have. So if you're looking for an audio internship or anything in life, because this is an audio podcast, but going in with a mentality like that where you're going to come in, you're going to take a lot of initiative to learn as much as possible on your own. You're going to walk in, you're going to have follow through, and then you're just going to have flawless, brutal execution of the tactics and the training and the advice you're learning from your mentor that my friends will get you ahead in this life faster than anything else will.

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And what's so funny about this advice yet so frustrating to me is I have told this to many people in my life, lots of bands, lots of interns that you come in to intern with me the first day, I'm going to give you this exact same lecture and you're going to sit there and you're going to look me in the eye and you're going to be like, yeah, dude, I'm going to be badass. You just wait. I'm not going to be like all the other interns that are small time working at pizza shuttle, dude, I'm a badass. I'm going to rock and roll. I'm going to come in here, I'm going to kick ass. And you know what happens? Almost none of them live up to the hype. It's not hard to stand out. If you want to stand out and be a standout person, you got to acquire the knowledge, you got to put in the stuff and you just got to have balls of steel.

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You have to keep coming over and over and over, back up. No matter how hard you're pushed, no matter how much you fail, no matter how many setbacks you have, how many problems you have in your life, you will overcome all obstacles. And when people see that there are drawn to it because successful people like to be around other people that are really successful and they like to associate with them, they like to work with them, they like to find talent that has the potential to be molded into a lot of success, and this my friends is so important. It is such an important thing for you. If you are a young kid out there and you are trying to get into this business, all you need to do is stand out because most people are going to come in and they're just going to come in from a position of mediocrity.

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They're going to come in from a position of laziness. They're not going to show up on time, they're not going to put in the extra effort and what they do put in the extra effort, they're going to complain about it and they're going to be like, I'm not getting paid enough for this. Oh, these hours are tough. I've got this and every other stupid excuse in the world, who cares? Nobody. Here's the little world's smallest violin here played for you. Hop in the ambulance and go cry your way to the hospital. Or better yet a pizza shuttle near you so you can come deliver us fricking pizzas. No one cares. No one wants to listen to your bullshit. No one wants to listen to your excuses. All we want to see out of you is action. We want to see passion. We want to see delivery.

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We want to see follow through. We want to see commitment. We want to see stars that stand out. It ain't hard to be that person. You just have to try. And that is the part where most people fail at, and it's so unfortunate to watch because it's just like a lot of people can talk a big game, but how many people actually have the follow through? And that is the difference. Either you can deliver and you can keep delivering no matter what, and you find a way to deliver. Boom. I'll give you another example. All right, let's talk about mixing. So I was working with a close friend who's a producer, and I remember one particular month he slept 33 songs on my desk that needed to be mixed in about a two week period. And I said to him, I'm like, dude, this is before speed mixing.

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By the way, this is kind of like when I was really developing it. And he said to me, I'm just like, I don't know if this is humanly possible, but I bet you I get this done. And he's just like, we don't really have another choice about to go take a two month vacation. And he's like, I'm not going to do it, man. I'm too busy. I'm like, all right, so let's get this done. So I sat down and I remember coming in at four 30 on the day that I was flying, which almost cost me to miss my plane and turning in mixed revisions and getting it out to the bands to get the final approvals and then getting my ass in a car, driving down to Chicago and getting on a plane and making the deadline because that was what I had to do.

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If I had to come in and I had to work 16, 17, 18 hours sleep on the studio couch and wake up at four 30 in the morning and repeat, guess what? I did it. I had to do it because dude, it was my business. No one else was going to do it for me. No one else was going to make, there was no excuse on the world that could have solved that. So you know what I mean? That is the kind of resolve and the kind of commitment and the kind of dedication that you need to have if you want to be a successful business person, if you want to get ahead, if you want to be even starting out a successful intern or anything like that, you got to just come in. Like I said, balls of steel, no fear, absolute courage, and just the audacity to come in and push yourself to do things that are not normal and outside of what people's expectations are because when you deliver and you deliver consistently over a long period of time that my friends is when you achieve things in your life that you have never thought were possible and you crush your goals and turn them into a little ball of dust so you can look back and be like, I remember when that was my goal, but that shit was small time.

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Now I'm doing this. You want to be in that position and you can get in that position. You just got to come in and you got to be fire. So alright, that's what I've got to say. You want to get ahead, you need to stand out. That's the bottom line. So let's move on. I just thought of something kind of funny. Sometimes people are like, man, you're so intense. You almost sound angry. And I'm like, dude, I'm not angry. I am fired up. I am jacked. I am excited and stoked to be here and it's just my personality. So what can I say if I sound a little intense to you guys or a little angry dude, I'm not angry, dude. I am jacked. I am living life. I am having fun. So feel that energy and you take that energy and you do something with it.

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So alright, first question is going to come from our subscriber Sarah g and Sarah G says, so many people embrace the no small time hashtag, but how many really know what it means? Can you rant some examples of common behaviors that you see every day by people that don't realize they are hashtag small time and holding themselves back? Fantastic questions, Sarah. So what is no small time about, and I've talked about this before and I'm going to talk about it again. No small time to me is an attitude, right? Small time is when you do something that's stupid, that's not going to get you ahead. Small time is when you go in and you talk real big about how badass your band is going to be, how successful you're going to be at this or that, and then you don't even show up to work and put in the time.

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Small time is when you're all talk and no walk. Small time is like when you have really big dreams, but you don't have the balls to go out and go after them and achieve them. You know what I mean? I'm all about no small time in my life and I want you guys to be about no small time too. And no small time is about absolutely not settling for anything less than your full potential. Waking up every single day and getting your butt out of bed and saying, alright, what am I going to do with my life today? I'm going to know what I'm going to do. I'm going to crush it. I'm going to do X, Y, and z. I'm going to go right down the line and annihilate that and I'm going to come up with 10 more awesome things to do because I'm not going to settle for anything.

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I'm not going to settle for the amount of knowledge that I have in my life. I'm going to go out and I'm going to improve myself every day. I'm not going to settle for the amount of achievements or the amount of success I have in my life. I'm going to go and I'm going to increase that. I'm going to bring and attract more of it. I'm not going to settle for where I'm at in terms of my dreams. I'm going to go take a step forward towards those every single day. It's just about taking yourself and trying to be the best version of what you can possibly be and who you want to be. It's like putting your best foot forward. So what are some things that people do that are obvious, that are really small time behaviors that hold them back? I think one of the first ones, and I've talked about this a lot, is self delusion.

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A lot of people work themselves up in their heads and they're like, oh, I'm so awesome because I'm really talented at writing songs and I'm really talented at this and really talented at that. But then they waste all their time doing something stupid, playing in a band that's completely dated that no one wants to listen to and they don't have the right image, but they're like, oh man, I'm going to be a huge rock star dude because I know how to write great songs and I can play six different instruments and blah, blah, blah. But the reality of the situation is they're not out there, they're not working it. They don't know the first thing about building a brand. They don't know the first thing about building a band that's going to be successful, anything like that, but they'll sit there and they're going to delude themselves like, dude, we're just going to get huge because I'm talented.

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Well, guess what, dude, there's a lot of talented people out there. There's so many talented people. I've literally seen more talent in my lifetime wasted than I could ever want to admit. To me, I feel like the world is almost like a scrap pile of wasted potential and talent by people. So many people that could have done so many amazing, thank God, especially in this business. The voices I've heard, the singers I've seen, the talent, the creative writing talent I've seen from some musicians, the performance, all of it wasted so many. Now some of them make it because smart and they go in and they're no small time, but it's just amazing how much self delusion can hold a person back. I mean the best example of this is that local band mentality and a lot of you young producers out there or even experienced with, do you know what I'm talking about?

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You go to the bar, you hang out with the cover band and all the local bands that are opening in the set and every single freaking one of them is talking big. They're like, yeah, man, we're like, fill in the blank. We're opening for so-and-so. It's a ion show. They're not actually opening. The agent didn't put them on the show, they bought on to the venue so the venue could sell tickets, but they're like, yeah man, we're opening for this and man we're working with a new CD or this and this. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm just like, yo, how many discs did you sell on your last effort? We'll call it an effort instead of an album or a single, if you're a local band, you haven't sold at least four or 5,000 in less than six months. Don't even talk about being badass if you can't go in as a local band and put 500 to a thousand people in your local market in a venue to come see you play.

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I don't want to hear you talk big if you're not a local band and your social media, I don't care how many followers you have, if you don't have a very high percentage of engagement with those followers, like 100,000 likes because you bought them oh, three actual likes on your post, zero shares, come on dude. That shit is small time. That is straight self delusion. Don't be walking around at the bar being like, yo, dude, we got like a hundred thousand likes dude on Facebook, dude, we're blowing up man. Our new single man, it got like 5,000 views, 5,000 views. No one gives a shit, dude, go look up Goman style by side. Dude, how many billion views does that have? Now tell me more about your 5,000 views. No one cares, so you know what I mean? I get it, man. I was in a local band for a long time, but we deluded the crap out of ourselves.

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We're like, well, we're a good band and we can play good and we work really hard, so we're going to make it right. Yeah, we're going to make it. We missed the whole part of branding and being relevant in the market and writing songs that people actually care about that react. So these are all small time behaviors. I'll stop making fun of local bands and actually no I won't. It's just frustrating because I see it all the time. I can't get away from it every time I go out, every time I'm in the studio, there's all these local bands and they all talk so big and they get in these arguments. I walk into the lounge to go grab some tea or drink some water and they're just sitting there and they're talking big like, man, we're going to be huge bro. And then I walk down the hall and I hear their song coming out of the thing and I'm just shaking my head and I'm looking at the way they're dressed and I'm just like, dude, what up 15 years ago?

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And I am just thinking to myself, and these guys actually believe that they're going to get big. They're going to kill it, they're going to go somewhere, they're going to get ahead, they're going to be the next band that in a generation of kids is going to want to strap across their t-shirt and say, this is who I am, this is my identity, this is me when they're at school. You know what I'm saying? Come on, let's get off the self delusion train. So it's really easy to dilute yourself and let the self sense of ego dilute your actual potential. You have to really, really be careful with that because when you start having a little bit of success, maybe your band achieves something, you get on a decent tour or something, you're like, oh, immediately, oh yeah, we're going to make it right away.

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And it's just like, listen, when you get signed, dude, the work is just starting, okay? Most bands think that as soon as they get signed, the magic boogeyman is going to come into their life and just roll up the red carpet for them and give them everything and drag them across the finish line and make them successful. That ain't the truth. You got to go out and make yourself successful first. So when somebody comes in and brings in a pile of money behind you that you can put steroids into that and you can take and amplify that so you don't, success is earned, man. It ain't given just respect. You got to go out, you got to earn that stuff. So you got to really get off the self delusion train. To me, self delusion is just one of the biggest killers of people in music and it is like cancer for the music industry.

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Literally every other local band I meet, probably like an 80% of them I've met in my life, has some form of ridiculous self delusion. I get it. As they say, dress for success, dream big, you're the car salesman. It's your first day. You go out and you buy the Lexus even though you can't afford the thing. You go buy the $300 shoes and a thousand dollars suit and you go to your first job and then you realize you haven't studied selling and you don't know how to sell a damn car and you just blew 40 grand. So I get it, you got to fake it till you make it to some degree, but there's a point where it's detrimental where it's just talk and talk is cheap. Everybody has a mouth and anybody can spit and spew that mouth. Anybody can sit there and just let it come out and just make verbal diarrhea.

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But how many people can actually take what comes out of their mouth and turn it into something, something that is good, something that is positive, something that other people react to on an emotional level that my friends is the difference. You got to do it. So self delusion, the number one killer of dreams and possibly the most small time of all small times in the whole world. There's nothing more small time than that. I mean that's a straight trip, right to the local pizza shuttle near you, even though pizza shuttle, I just buy that chain someday when I have the money and just make it a national franchise. You guys can all have one next to you so you can send all of your big talking self diluted local band singers and guitar players right there to pick up a fricking application. That's now my to-do list.

(00:28:00):

So alright, so the next thing I think that is a very, very important thing that people do is commitment. The C word commitment to me is insanely important because at the end of the day, all talk aside, there's going to be a point where some of us are going to actually sit down and say, no small time and we're going to start doing it and we're going to go and we're going to start going real hard, but then something's going to happen to us. We're going to be sitting back and then suddenly boom, setback problem, unexpected life event. Oh boy, the world is throwing a wrench and destroyed the wheels on your car metaphorically. And now what are you going to do? Now this is the part where we separate as we would say the men from the boys or the women from the little girls.

(00:28:48):

A lot of people, they get excited to do something and do something once or twice and if they get a little bit of a taste of success, they'll continue doing it. But a lot of people in the world, and I would argue the vast majority of them I believe will get excited. They'll start doing something and all of a sudden that first setback, no matter major, small little whatever comes and then crushes them and then they put their hands up in the air and they capitulate and they're like, pizza shuttle baby, I'm going to go get that application. It sounds pretty good right now because I just got my ass handed to me by life. Well, this is where commitment and discipline come in because if you are committed and you are savage as fuck and you're out to crush the game, you are a beast.

(00:29:31):

It does not matter what life throws in your way, my friends, you will overcome it, you will take it, you will grab the bull by the horns, you will jump on that thing and you will smash it into the ground and then all of a sudden something else will come and then four more bad things will happen and another setback. And another setback. Dude, you don't need to ask for permission to succeed in life. You need to completely ignore everything bad that happens to you, learn from it and smash through it like a semi-truck through a glass wall. And if you don't have that mentality, that type of commitment, I'm telling you, there is no speech, no motivation, no pep talk, no anything on this earth that is going to make you succeed. You need to go do it yourself. You got to get in that truck and smash right through that glass with a pedal to the metal.

(00:30:24):

And that is the only way a lot of people, like I said, they get excited, you get excited, they start doing something, then reality kicks in and they're like, oh, it's hard. I don't know what to do. Oh, I don't, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know if I can, this came up. Oh, I'm having this problem in my life, dude, screw all that bullshit. All that is is a bunch of excuses. Yeah, I get it. There's always exceptions to every possible thing you can ever say in counter arguments. Yeah, there's somebody out there that's just going forward and all of a sudden they find out they got a month left to live, they came, that guy's screwed. It's unfortunate. In that case you're in trouble. But as they say, if the sun is shining, there's no war and you're not dying from something, then life is good.

(00:31:08):

Go get it. Come on. Everything is temporary if it isn't going to matter in five years. So what, I'll give you an example. Subscriber of mine hit me up the other day and he was like, yo, I got this thing. I had a really big label potential and this and this and that happened and I screwed up the gig and I ruined the relationship and life happened and I'm terrified. I feel like it's ruined my career. And I'm like, dude, it doesn't matter if you think you ruined your career or not because one label, one band, one project is not going to make or break your career. It is going to be hundreds of projects over time that will make your career. You screw up, you do a record, it doesn't sell. That label blacklists you off, your producer, off the producers they're ever going to hire again.

(00:31:53):

Who cares? Dude, it does not matter. You will go out, you will find your thing. You just got to keep going. So you got to get with the commitment. The commitment is what really drags you over the finish line. So not being committed, fanatically committed, that is a common small time behavior that will get you a fast track to pee to shuttle. So get rid of that one, scratch that one off your list. Another massive thing that people do that's super small time is that they are afraid to ask for help from people that are more successful or knowledgeable or even slightly ahead of them in life. They come in with this know-it-all mentality like, oh, I know everything. I'm not going to listen to anybody. I mean, come on, this is like a total mid twenties male typical trait that so many of us have at that age.

(00:32:44):

We know everything about everything. You don't need to tell us anything, we're on top of it, blah, blah, blah. Show no weakness, maximalist, well listen that know it all attitude is absolute cancer for success. You need to know when to shut your mouth because maybe you've got some talent, maybe you're brilliant at some things, maybe you're really successful at some things, but dude, that does not mean everything. That does not mean you can learn something from somebody else. I mean, come on, you can't be a know-it-all. Alright? So you got to go and find people and learn the people that I know that have some success and become know-it-alls and then they never progress and they don't want to progress because they don't want to listen to anybody. I feel like that's almost the worst case to me. That's almost as bad as somebody who just sits there have self delusion and just blows hot air.

(00:33:36):

It's like you have somebody that figures something out, works hard, gets somewhere, and then they just can't get past that peak and they won't listen and you're just like, oh yeah, so-and-so says you should do this. You should listen to them. They're like, ah, blah blah, blah, blah, blah. They don't want to listen to it because they know better. That is also a very, very prominent form of self delusion and in my opinion, quite the small time behavior. So you got to really watch out for that one. You should always be learning, always be looking for ways to improve upon yourself, the way you do things, your methods, your tactics, your techniques in life, everything. There's always somebody out there that is smarter than you. No matter how good you are at whatever you're doing that you can learn something from, you would be stupid not to.

(00:34:22):

I mean I'm sitting here thinking like, okay, I mix at a pretty decent level and I've got some cool bands and I still sit there and I watch nail the mix and every month I'm learning from all my peers and it's really cool. Every time one of these guys comes on, I pick up something new and it's really, really cool and it's really exciting. You got to be a student, a perpetual student. You cannot be a know-it-all. And that's something that really gets me fired up because it's like you sit down and you see something where somebody, you make a comment, you're like, well hey, you asked my opinion, so here's what I think. And then they're like, yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then they don't want to listen to you and you're just like, okay, well that's fine. And then somebody else goes through the same thing with that person and then you're just thinking like, wow, that person's really screwing themselves.

(00:35:03):

So don't be a know it all. That is something that is super small time and definitely will hold you back from getting ahead. So Sarah, I hope that helps you and that gives you some things to think about. What I would consider people might be hashtagging, no small time, but those are some small time things people are doing that can definitely hold them back. So alright, let's rock onto our next question. Alright, our next question comes from Gerard. Dear Joel, I love your ran and advice. They always remind me to not be small time. Thank you. I appreciate that. The studio I've been working out of has by far the stupidest name ever and he says, I don't want to put the guys on blast, so I'm not going to mention the name. That's a good idea. We don't want to embarrass anybody, but if they have a crappy name, they should be roasted.

(00:35:50):

But anyways, let's get back to the question. And they want me to become a partner. It's a great opportunity, but I really don't want to be associated with such an awful name. It's not a very well known place and I'd like to try to get them to change the name to help bring in more bands and have the name be taken more seriously. How do I go about bringing this up to them? Thanks for your time. Never stop. Keep reminding me and everyone else to stay. No small time Jared. All right, sorry Gerard, not Jared, Gerard. Alright my friend. Listen, if they're asking you to be a partner of the business, to me that means one thing, they respect you and if they respect you, they will listen to your opinion unless they're a bunch of self diluted fools. I was just explaining. So Gerard, I think it's important to say, and you can do this in a non-confrontational lane, so let's say your partner's name is Billy, you could say, Billy, what do you think and how do you feel about this?

(00:36:44):

I've been thinking about our brand and our name and our value in the marketplace and I feel like it's really holding us back. And not only do I feel like it's holding us back, I've had some of the bands that have recorded with us and I don't want to say names, they feel sensitive about it and they didn't want to offend, but they sat back and they were like, your name, the peu name's kind of stupid man. It's kind of dumb. It's not that cool. It actually really sucks. And you can just say it in an non confrontation away and just be like, I think we could have a stronger brand since we don't have a really powerful identity that's really established that people know that's not a household name. What do you think about trying to find something better? Because I keep hearing this over and over and over and no one wants to say it to you, but I feel like as your partner, it's my duty to try to make a better business together.

(00:37:34):

And if you care about our partnership and our business, you'll listen to my feedback. You agree that that's a smart thing to do and then you'll probably sit back and be like, yeah, okay, I could see what you're saying. You could explain why you think it's a silly name and you'd be like, you know what? How about this? I've got five names I came up with right here. And what do you think? Is there any of those in there that you think is cool or why don't you tell me? How about you brainstorm something? So you got to just do it in a non-confrontational way. But listen, Gerard, dude, if you care about your business and you want to be successful, you got to have a rock solid brand. You got to have a cool name. You know what I mean? You can't have some bullshit.

(00:38:13):

Mickey Mouse, small time sandbox, pizza shuttle name dude, that ain't going to get you anywhere. That ain't going to get you ahead. You need something awesome that rolls off the tongue just like band names. No one wants to listen to a stupid sounding band. It's got to sound like a successful band. I mean, how many bands have come in, they play like light rock dude and they've got some metal band name or something and you're just like, yo, you guys sound like a local metal band, but you know what? If you listen to your name, but then you guys come in, you play the lightest, softest music, how about getting a name that fits for your brand? So sometimes people are really, they're very oppositionally defiant to that sort of suggestion, but dude, if you believe in it, man, you got to go for it because the worst thing that could happen is he'll just be like, all right, you don't know what you're talking about, blah blah, blah.

(00:38:57):

And then guess what? You're back to where you're at. Or if you really want to play hardball, he could be like, I want join your business and I think is a great opportunity, but I'm not going to do it with that name. We need to get serious, dude, do you want to be serious? I want to be serious. You agree with me that we should be more serious and we should be taken more seriously? I mean, come on. Who's going to say no to that? Let me talk to him. Put him on the phone with me, dude, I'll set him straight. You have him call me or email me if you get into this confrontation with him and I'll call him and tell him that his name is garbage because I've seen the band name and I agree. Or sorry, the studio name you sent it, he did send it to me in the email here and it's bad.

(00:39:30):

So it's got to be changed. You need a better brand than that and have 'em call me if you need some ammo. So I got your back, but I'm just saying as a general thing, this is how I would deal with it. So good luck with that. Do not take no for an answer, do it polite, do it tactfully, but get what you want. Alright, next question is from John. Hey Joel. I'm in my late thirties and I feel that I'm way behind the eight ball. I'm pursuing my dream of doing audio production and mixing this career change is both exciting and terrifying as hell at the same time. What is your advice for someone who is late in the game, so to speak? I spend my days learning and doing as much as I can yet I feel like it's never enough. Fire away.

(00:40:11):

Alright, John, here's what's up, man, it's never too late to be great. It never is. I believe this wholeheartedly I've seen it. It's never too late to be great. I mean, I didn't really start taking my producing until I was about 27 years old. That's when I really started taking it seriously. I mean, I was doing it for a long time before then, but I mean making money and stuff, but I wasn't like, even though I had quit my job, I was still playing in a band screwing around. I wasn't like all day, every day just balls to the wall. I'm going to be savage at producing. That's when I really got going. So I mean that's not late thirties, but I mean it didn't take long to get to where I needed to be is what I'm saying. So if you really want to do that, do that now.

(00:40:54):

Something you may or may not want to consider. I don't look at this as necessarily as an all in kind of thing, right? So I believe a good business is one that is calculated because we're business people. We probably want to take calculated risks. And what I mean by that is we want to sit back and we want to think about it and just take our time. So maybe you have a normal job or you had a normal job that allows you to go out and make some money and pay your bills while you're working on your career or your new career that you want. But let me paint a worst case scenario for you. And this is something to think about. This is important. Maybe you can find a normal job that you like doing or enjoy somewhat and that pays the bills, that gives you a little bit of flexibility and freedom.

(00:41:42):

And then on the side you can go and you can put in some time, you can record, you can make a bunch of extra money because I don't think it's unrealistic at all. I know from experience to have a day job and then be able to pull an extra 20 to 40 grand a year just producing stuff, mixing stuff, mastering stuff, et cetera, on the side, on the weekends, an hour a day after work or two hours a day, you can make a lot of extra money and you don't have to pressure, yeah, I'm going to lose my house. So you may want to transition into that. To me, in my opinion is your worst case scenario, finding a job that keeps you going that you don't absolutely hate. It's out there. You just got to find the right spot in the meantime, going out, building your business and stuff like that.

(00:42:25):

Now at some point you may want to jump off, but I would wait until I have a lot of clients lined up. I've built a lot of rapport, I've got a lot of repeat business because if you're going to jump off and you're going to go in the deep end, that's pretty risky and that's pretty scary and you should be terrified. That fear is what's going to motivate you and inspire you to keep going and put in all the extra work. So I would just be calculated about it. I wouldn't do anything crazy, but I would transition smoothly. Don't delude yourself. You'll know when it's really time. Your gut will tell you to take the jump and even if you fail, you can always go back to where you started. So you're really not losing anything. You don't lose anything by not doing it. So you got to go for it.

(00:43:03):

Now, to answer the second part of your question, I feel like I'm spending my days learning and doing as much as I can, but I feel like it's never enough. Well, John, my friend, listen, I feel like no matter what you do in this life, what goal you have, how you go about trying to smash that goal, it is never going to be enough. You are never going to ever feel like you have enough information or enough, just fill in the blank. There's always something that is going to be lacking no matter what you do. It literally does not matter what you're doing. There's always something that you're going to be doing that is going to feel like you're lacking, period. You'll never have 100% perfect information in any situation. If you don't have perfect information, then how can you feel secure? Well, a real entrepreneur, a real business person just gets that like 20 or 30% on that way in that gut, and they have just enough to know what they can act decisively and they make the decision and they go.

(00:44:00):

And if they crash and burn, they learn. If you're going to crash and burn, you're going to learn. But if they don't and they're right, guess what happens? Boom. They keep going. So either way, I see it as an upside. You got to take a little bit of stoicism, go read some Seneca, man, sit back and look at things as opportunities. Like, okay, I screwed this up. Next time I won't screw it up. Opportunity. Okay, I see a positive side there. I see a gain. Okay, well I tried this and then boom, it worked. Okay, great. So either way, I see only upside. You're either going to learn something which adds value or you're going to do something and achieve something which has value. Obviously you'd rather do something and achieve something, but the latter isn't so bad. So you got to think about it like that.

(00:44:38):

You know what I mean? It's like I would be careful. You're never going to have all the information that you're going to need or want at any given time in the moment when you're making the decision. But dude, you got to make the decision. I've always kind of been just like a throw myself in the fire guy myself. Half the time I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. But you know what? I try my best and damnedest to learn and that my friend over time is the only skill that you need is the ability to acquire the information, to execute it and to stay committed to doing it. So John, good luck to you. Crush it buddy. Alright, our next question comes from son. He says, Hey Joel, I'm on my last year at Berkeley. I want to go out with a hashtag no small time bang and carry my passionate work ethic into the music world with me.

(00:45:25):

I've been a lazy stoner for the past three years, so I've been struggling with the resistance I face as I sit down to either mix or practice guitar. Last month I've improved slightly with my work habits, but recently I've talked myself out of working. It is really getting me down. I've gained so much from the LDFC training and gut training, these referring to the speed mixing course. And I'd hate to see my routine fall flat just because I don't feel like doing it. So my question is how do you get out of bed even when you don't feel like it? How do you love the work when you don't feel like working? This is a great question, son, and this is going to be a pretty damn controversial answer and it's probably going to piss off a lot of my stoner friends, and I'm just going to preclude this.

(00:46:07):

I'm not into drugs. I've never have been. I'm not a fan, I'm not an advocate of them. I'm very, very opinionated on this. So tune out if you're easily offended or if you want to reality check, keep fucking listening. So here's my stance, son. I feel like you need to lay off the green bullshit, okay? Because, okay, I get it. For some people, marijuana, whatever you're on, it can help you. Some people, some people, a lot of people in my experience, and I've seen a lot of potheads in my days, it has a very detrimental effect on their productivity, their habits, their ability to, as you say, get out of bed and make you feel like it because all they do is sit around and roast and roast and roast and roast and it makes you a lazy fucking worthless sack of shit. That's what it does to people.

(00:47:01):

And you know what? I don't want to feel like a lazy, worthless sack of shit, and I don't want to watch somebody who I know has incredible potential, that has heart, that has fire, that has the drive and the determination to go out and conquer the fucking world, sit around and be held back by a little fricking recreational plant. So you know what, son? I think it's time for a day of reckoning for you. You need to cut the green bullshit out of your life, take control of your life and man up and do something. Now here's the thing. Like I said, I get it. Some people, weed or whatever, they have this fantasy, or I shouldn't say fantasy, they have a love affair with it and they think it's a great thing for them. If that's you, good for you. I am not saying, I'm saying do whatever you want to do with your life.

(00:47:45):

I'm not here to judge you, but in my experience and my opinion and what I've seen in my life, I think for most people it has a very detrimental effect and they need to cut it out. So here's my opinion on substance abuse and things like this on, I think this, anybody out there in the world can go and get high. It doesn't take any effort. It doesn't take any initiative. It doesn't take any dream, it doesn't take any commitment. It doesn't take any struggle. All it takes is 10 to 20 fucking dollars USD to go buy your pot bag so you can go smoke it, which is fine, whatever, suit yourself, do what you want to do with your life. I'm not here to tell you how to live with your wife, but you asked me what my opinion is, so I'm going to tell you what it's any person can go out and get high.

(00:48:32):

But you know what, dude? Not many people can go out and have a fucking dream, a big dream and go out and crush it and achieve it. And you know what? Anything in my opinion that holds me back or anybody I know back from achieving that goal, and like I said, because I'm being careful and I'm being polite that this doesn't pertain to everybody, but from my experience, the vast majority of what I've seen in society, not many people can go out and they can get what they want in life and achieve that. And anything that prevents you from reaching your full potential to me is a waste of fucking time and a waste of energy. So I think you throw that shit out, cut it out of your life, cold Turkey, pick yourself up out of bed in no small time and man, go out and do something with your life.

(00:49:25):

Wasting your time and your potential getting high is pointless to me. Sure, maybe it brings you some enjoyment, but you're just telling me about how you're sitting there at school and you have all this passionate work, work ethic, but then some days you don't even feel like you want to get it out of bed and you're talking yourself out of it. Like dude, the word passion and work ethic and what you're telling me, do not go together, cut the catalyst. You got to get rid of that crap, man. It is holding your asset back. So you know what? Like I said, do what you want to do with your life. But at the end of the day, I think you need to quit the green shape. It sounds to me like it negatively and adversely affects you. I would rather stay clean and stay focused and put all of my energy into what I'm doing and my passions and being the best version of myself that I can be every single day than I would sitting around in my room with fucking tie-dye t-shirts, black lights, lava lamps, chilling, going dude way.

(00:50:27):

That to me is not the kind of person I want to be, and it's not the kind of life that I want to live and just, I think some people need a wake up call. And again, like I said, I've seen some really amazingly successful people that have regular substance abuse habits, but I have exponentially seen so many more people where they had so much energy and fire and passion in their life, and then as soon as I got on the green shit, it just killed it. It absolutely took it away and it just changed them mentally. It made them lazy and made them entitled and made them just out of it all the time. It controlled their life. Maybe that's a personal problem. I don't know, dude, I'm not an expert on addiction and substance abuse. I'm not a doctor. I don't claim to be.

(00:51:15):

I can only go off things that I've observed in my life. So dude, I would get off that shit. That's what I would start. That's number one. The second thing you got to do is you got to find a way to get yourself motivated. Obviously you went to music school, you love music and you appreciate music and you enjoy music. Obviously you're there doing this stuff right now. You're watching podcasts, you're subscribing to nail the mix. You're taking speed mixing because you want to do this. So the passion is in you, man, it's there. You don't need me to tell you that it's there. You know that it's there. All you need to do is wake up in the morning and just be like, what kind of person do I want to be? Do I want to be the person that lays in this fucking bed and is miserable because he's not getting what he wants and he's not any closer to what he dreams or do you want to be the person that goes out and is fucking savage and gets it and puts the hustle in and sits up and goes and fulfills and self actualizes during the day because they are achieving what they're achieving, man?

(00:52:11):

Okay, I'll tell you another story. I was at the mall today picking up some stuff, some clothes I bought for a special occasion coming up here, and I ran into these sales guys and they were trying to hustle me on some shoe polish or something, and I like when people try to sell stuff and 19-year-old kids, man, and this one kid had a lot of fire and he's just going on and on and on and on and on about this and that he's trying to sell me and I mean, come on. I have some sales experience and stuff, so I'm grilling him, I'm playing games, I'm having a lot of fun. Then we started talking about business and stuff and I gave him some advice from an old man and I said, listen dude, here's what's up. Then he started talking about, oh, he likes to sit around and smoke.

(00:52:50):

I'm like, how much time do you sit and smoke pot all day? Then he told me, I'm like, now imagine if you took that time and apply to yourself. Maybe you wouldn't be sitting at this kiosk pedaling bullshit, making no money, sitting there pissed off about how your life isn't going or how you want to, as you're telling me, maybe you would be able to sit down, take all of that time you wasted smoking, being lazy ass, and apply it to doing something actually productive. Imagine how that would change your life. And that kid sat back and he was like, man, no one has ever had the balls to tell me that before. And he's like, dude, you're right. I'm like, good. So grab your pen. I'm going to give you some books. Here's my Instagram. You read these books, you hit me up and I'll give you some more. You do that. You'll change your life if you have the follow through because you're bright, you hustle, you've got work ethic, but you don't got time to sit around and just be stoning all day, man, go do something with your fucking life.

(00:53:47):

It gets me riled up and pissed. I'm sorry guys, I don't want to get everybody fired up here on team. Let's get high every day. But I have watched so many of my friends growing up during my life waste all of their talents and potentials on shit, doing drugs, sitting around all day, getting high. And it's sad to me. It's really fucking sad that I have to sit here and I think looking back and see how it panned out over 20 years, and I get to look at them and I think to myself, all you had to do is apply yourself. That's all you had to do. Instead, it was more important for you to sit on your ass and now you are a miserable asshole 20 years later, not fulfilling any of your potential, completely unhappy, and your life sucks and you're unhappy and you tell me this and I'm thinking to myself then like, dude, when I told you when we were sitting there in ninth grade not to fucking choke up and to do something positive, then you laughed at me and said I was the fucking moron and now you're asking me for advice.

(00:54:42):

So you know what, dude? Come on guys, get your shit together. It's a waste of time, okay? If you want to do it recreationally a little while you got to party, you got to have a little bit of fun. Sure, if you're that kind of dude, go do it. But wasting all of that time and energy all day, come on, you guys know who you are, man. I don't know many people like that that can sustain that level of drug use and it's a good thing for them. I really don't. I know a few, but it's a very, very small statist number. It is a standard deviation from the mean, it's way outside the norm from what I've seen in my life. So I don't know. Like I said, I don't claim to be an expert if you can't handle it off the get off the ship.

(00:55:25):

So alright, next question comes from Jay. I'm one of those awkward people you see standing alone at metal concerts. But recently that change when you gave me some pointers on how to approach people, I've been stepping outside of my comfort zone in general and doing things I'd never thought I'd do. For example, recently I've been offering rides to people I've seen at shows and waiting for public transportation. Now I have one problem, I'm actually having a hard time connecting with some people here. I didn't realize that there were groups out there that are crews or collectives and if you are moshing and accidentally bump into one of these members, their friends would try to lay you out in the pit. I'm trying my best to stay positive in a neutral light, but it seems that if you go to one promoter show you are affiliated with one crew and vice versa.

(00:56:10):

Is there any way I could still be a part of the scene without picking sides? Thanks for all your tips and pointers. Best, Jay, that is a really interesting topic, Jay. I mean, I feel like this, if you're going to shows where it's like a gang where you can't go to somebody else's show without being affiliated with one group or the other, that's pretty stupid. You need to find a new fricking scene, man. Seriously, I would not associate with people like that. I mean, come on, we're trying to build clients and stuff like that. So what does that mean? If you get one band in the studio, then all of a sudden like, oh, 16 other bands in the other club aren't going to come and work with you because you did this band. You know what I mean? That's where that goes. You either have to pick a side or you need to stay the hell out of the stupid mosh pit.

(00:56:58):

Why don't you just go and make friends and hang out with the bands and stuff like that and focus on growing your business instead of focus on dancing around like an idiot and throwing fists, you know what I mean? We're supposed to make the music for those people to go and mosh you and we're not supposed to be moshing to it, you know what I mean? So all you need to do is get clocked in the ear or something like that and have traumatic injury to your eardrum or something like that and you're screwed. So listen, I think it's best to play neutral. It's best to stay out of the stuff like that, work on making relationships and friends with the bands and stay out of the crews and collectives club because dude, that sounds like it's a complete waste of time. But more importantly, dude, you should probably go out and start meeting some other people in some other scenes.

(00:57:43):

You know what I mean? Where you're not going to get beat down because you worked with some band or something stupid like that. Man, seriously, that's like infantile bullshit. I mean, it's hard for me to understand a 16-year-old kid mentality like that, you know what I mean? I dunno, it's dumb, but I get it right? So I would find a new scene and try to pick the best stuff you can out of that one. Alright, our next question comes from Iran. It is dear dark Lord of no small time. I always seem to be struggling when mixing backing vocals that supposed to sound glued together. Usually they end up sounding too defined and clear, which isn't always the approach the client wants. What is your approach to backing vocals and do you have any advice for me dealing with this issue? Alright, so here's what's up man.

(00:58:31):

Backing vocals are kind of interesting. I think part of it is production and part of it is mixing meaning that they're not produced correctly, they're not going to mix correctly. So that's something to first off take into consideration. So I like to do a lot of layering. If you're going to have a lot of backing vocals, for example, for me it feels weird to have just one centered main vocal or something like that. I think it's important to at least double your Maine or triplet or something so you got some size and then maybe throw in a whole gang choir of backing vocals around it so you can kind of get everything together and make it sound glued. So that being said, predicating that with a little bit of producing. Let's talk about actually mixing it. So backing vocals are interesting because I feel like if they're too dark and too warm, what happens is you lose a lot of clarity and they can add size, but if they're too bright and too separated, what's going to happen is they're not going to gel and they're not going to sound crisp or sorry, they're going to sound crisp, but they're not going to sound like it all fits.

(00:59:28):

So you got to find the balance between getting something that's a little bit warmer in the backing vocal but still has some clarity because it can get really muddy on the sides and it can eat up a lot of frequency headroom, especially if you have a lot of guitars. So for example, if you've got a split harmony, a third and split octave down and then a split fifth up or something like that and you've got a three harmony stack, there's a lot of low end energy and stuff that can really accumulate. So I usually kind of group them together on a vocal bus, compress 'em, whatever, limit 'em, whatever I'm going to do and eq them together and kind of try to get them balanced in there with the vocals and then kind of play with the eq, like maybe rolling off a little bit of top, maybe carving out some lower mid range or something like that and trying to find the spot where kind of locks into the main vocal in it.

(01:00:15):

Add size. And the thing you got to think about and realize when you're mixing backing vocals and harmonies and stuff like that is are they meant to support the vocal melody? Are they meant to just kind of be heard and add ambience in size or are they meant to be upfront and in your face almost like a dual lead? You have to establish that. That's the first question you have to establish. So once you've figured out what the role is, so if you want them to be super loud, maybe they need to be really bright and disconnected, but if you want them to be a supporting element where you can hear 'em or lower in their adding sides, then you probably got to go a little bit more glued. So I think you can get 99% of the way there With eq, you might need to in some sort of dynamics like limiting, but you might also need to concentrate on getting your effects.

(01:01:01):

So for example, your backing vocals may need to be drier. If you want more clarity or if you want more ambiance and size, you might want to make them wetter. So you got to just balance these things are on, you got to go in and you got to just think about what am I trying to achieve and how can I get it there? So if you're getting stuff that's too clear and defined, I would definitely just add some mids, add some bottom end to them or maybe take off a little bit of top and maybe mix them just a little bit lower and see if it sounds a little bit warmer and a little bit better and it gels better, but it's like a fine line, you know what I mean? It's a lot easier for me to show you and to sit down in a session than it is for me to sit here and get on the mic and be like, yeah dude, you got to do this and this and that.

(01:01:43):

So those are all things that you need to take into consideration. So hopefully that helps you. Alright, and our last question of the gamut here comes from Jesse. He says, dear dark lord of no small Tom, I love hearing you talk about business because being a 16-year-old who currently runs a full-time studio and someone who's looking into investing into other businesses in the future to have multiple sources of income in the coming years, I've heard you talk about having multiple businesses and I was curious if you could talk about those and maybe even introduce how you came about starting or buying those businesses and how it affected your work life so far. Thank God I joined speed mixing because you made me a freaking monster. Thank you, Jesse, I appreciate that. And thank you so much for taking speed mixing. I just want to say thank you personally to all of those of you who have taken speed mixing because speed mixing has been a tremendous success and the amount of feedback I've gotten, it's really changing a lot of people's lives and it's so humbling for me to hear that from you guys and to see what you guys are doing and I'm just overwhelmed with it.

(01:02:45):

The progress that people are making, when somebody comes and tells me they spend three to four days mixing and now they can knock out a song in five or six hours, or they were supposed to spend a whole day mixing a track and they're ripping the best mixes of their life and like an hour to two hours, I'm just like, hell yeah, that equals a lot more dollar bills in their pockets because they didn't got to sit there and screw around and waste time. They're more confident, they're kicking ass. So Jesse, I'm glad to hear you are one of those people. So to answer your question, I need to introduce you to an economics topic that's very important when starting a business. If you have too many irons in the fire, dude, you're going to burn out and you're not going to have any fire.

(01:03:21):

There's not going to be any room for any fuel to burn in the fire. So you need to take some of them irons out. First things first, build one successful business. Learn the principles and the mindset, the philosophy behind building a successful business. So when you start a second business or at least have a good idea of what is going to work or not work, I think you're too young to have so many things in the fire. So first I would concentrate on what's working in your life and build and take that business which is already full-time and grow it and scale it and turn it into even a better business. So when you're 25, you've got a lot of money and you're doing well and you're making a great living. If you're really good at something, do that. And starting multiple businesses is a little bit tricky because it can bring in different sources of income, which is nice, but the reality of the situation is every minute you do spend doing something different is a minute that can be spent doing something that you're already great at.

(01:04:20):

So you really need to weigh the economic factors of this decision if you're going to start a business. I mean, how many songs could you mix at the rate you're going to be at in a couple of years from now and could you go and how much money could you make versus the amount of time it takes because it might take you 3, 4, 5 years to get a business really going off the ground to see if one of your ideas is even viable in the market. Now think about how many songs you could have mixed if you were focusing on that. So you got to think about the trade-offs. The real cost of doing something is the alternative costs of the usage of that time. Do not ever forget that, Jesse. It is so important. You have to be careful with that. So if you want to try other things, go ahead and try them.

(01:05:01):

But you need to realize that every business that you start is a full-time job and that you are going to have to make real sacrifices in these businesses at certain points as one thing picks up and another slows down and then that switches next month or next week or two days. It's a pain in the ass to have multiple businesses. Sometimes I wish I had just one, but at this point I am so committed into several different things that I do and invested that it doesn't make sense. So you have to be absolutely savage at time management. You got to be absolutely savage at outsourcing and managing a team and stuff like that. But like I said, to me, the most critical thing for you to do is to learn how to build a single business, especially at your age into something successful and viable that's got some long time, long-term standing.

(01:05:49):

And from that you will learn the principles because going in failing five different ventures isn't necessarily going to help you, but if you can learn all of the lessons in one and then you'll have a much better chance of starting the other ventures. So just don't get too big for your britches, man. It's not a race. I mean to some people it is, and I may not being like an ultra competitive person myself, I get it. But at the end of the day, it's not a race. It's not about how much you have, it's not about how much you gain. It's not about how much compared to somebody or something else. That's not important in life when you get older, what's important is that are you doing something that brings significance and fulfillment into your life that you love doing that makes impact for you?

(01:06:31):

Are you balancing your life? Are you having a good social life and good relationships or family and things like that? You need balance in your life, dude. And if all you're doing is playing ultra entrepreneur, you don't have time to have a life. It doesn't matter if you're on a private jet or a fricking yacht or you're drinking a $200 bottle of fricking wine and paying a thousand bucks for your dinner, it isn't going to make you any happier than you are already right now, except the setting's a little bit nicer and maybe you're sitting in more comfortable clothing or you drive in a slightly nicer car. It doesn't matter. It's bullshit. Alright, you got to understand that. So just don't be greedy, be smart, take your time. Do it because it's fulfillment. Yeah, diversifying your income of course can be important. It could be useful and it can be smart, but like I said, don't bite off more than you can chew.

(01:07:21):

And given that you're 16 probably tells me you're still in school. So go build what you're good at and excel at that. And then if you have time and passion, put it into something else and do multiple things. But just be careful because like I said, you can really run into a lot of problems with opportunity costs and it can really cost your businesses and all of your businesses can suffer and they can all fail if you do not balance correctly. It's a very dangerous tightrope and it's easy to admire people that own 400 companies and things like that. But at the same time, these people are freaks of nature. They're unicorns, man. They're not the normal people and I get it, dude. Everybody thinks they're the exception. Everybody thinks they're special. I've got news for you. None of us are special. None of us are the exception.

(01:08:07):

There's only one person that gets to be one in a billion. So just be careful with that. I'm not saying don't do it. I'm saying if you're going to do it, do it smart and do it right. Because even somebody like me who's a very high performer, struggles with it, man, it's fricking hard. It's hard to keep up with everything, especially when things really start growing and popping. Like dude, one business can grow to the size where you as an owner can barely know everything going on and see everything going on. You are like, what? That guy works for us. I didn't even know when did we hire that person? Oh, that person works for holy crazy shit Like that happens man, and it's reality. There's a point where it grows out of your own control in your small little world. So you need to be prepared to be able to handle that.

(01:08:50):

If you want to run more than one business, dude, it is tough, tough, tough, tough. And what's even tougher is if you screw up your personal life because you're spending too much time doing that crap. So you know what? Keep that stuff in mind. So Jesse, my friend, I hope that helps you keep putting the hustle in. No small time it crush it. Just be smart about it and be patient. Patience, my friend. You have a lot of life left in you. You got a lot of life ahead of you. So my friends with that, I am finished here for tonight. I'm going to rock and roll on and go take care of some other business. So if you've got questions you want to be on an episode of Dear Joel, shoot me, it's Joel at your M Academy. I just want to take a second here to remind some of you guys that are really, really serious about audio.

(01:09:32):

The premier event in audio education is going down this year in December. We've got the first ever annual URM summit. We've got Master Minds coming in. We've just got an all-star cast. We've got Finn McKenzie and Kane Chico and Billy Decker and Brian Hood and Andrew Wade. Me, Al and Joey are going to be there. Dude, we have got an all-star team of dudes coming in that are going to teach you some amazing stuff. You do not want to miss this opportunity. The summit is going to be like nothing else in audio. It's nail the mix.com/summit. Go and check that out. It is going to be like nothing else. I think speed mixing has changing a lot of people's lives. I feel like the people that go to the summit, it's just going to be the next level. It's going to be crazy. I'm so excited about the things that we're planning. It's, it's going to be awesome. So you guys get over. That's nail the mix.com/summit. You checked that out. Thank you so much for listening, hanging out, love answering your questions, love doing this. I hope to answer more of your questions on another episode of Dear Joel. So I'm going to sign out and just be like, yo podcast theme, go boom. The

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):

Unstoppable Recording Machine podcast is brought to you by the 2017 URM Summit, a once in a lifetime chance to spend four days with the next generation of audio professionals and special guests, including Andrew Wade, Kane Chico, Billy Decker, fluff, Brian Hood, and many more. The inspiration, ideas, and friendship you'll get here are the things that you'll look back on as inflection points in your life. Learn [email protected]. The URM podcast is also brought to you by heirloom microphones. Heirloom microphones are high-end condenser microphones with something that has never been seen in the microphone industry, a triangular membrane. With our patented membranes and our tailored phase linear electronics, your recording and live experience will never be the same heirloom. Our microphones will help you discover clarity. Go to EHR LD SE for more info. To get in touch with the U RM podcast, visit urm.com/podcast and subscribe today.