So… yesterday I was approved and retained to mix a project produced by Grεtchen Wιlson. Last year I had the privilege of working on one produced by Dr Drε (character hiding those names because this is intended for you guys, not for the internet at large).
For anyone working in the pro/semi-pro scene now, or aspiring to open a studio down the road, if I can offer any advice for getting onboard with name acts like that its this: You will have to prioritize the time investment you spend building relationships. There are limited hours in a day. When you accept work, regardless of whether its for music, film, or video game audio, base that decision on your clients social circles and sphere of influence first before the caliber of their artistic skill.
As of last year, I began to realize that the less talented artists who have real, tangible, verifiable connections with anyone influential need to be kept at a ridiculously high priority level. Not that you would ever neglect the people who don’t. But …I had a hunch about this a few years ago, and now I hope (at least) that the high payoff for that is starting to show. Adequate skill + good character fitness + great connections is greater than extraordinary skill + good character fitness + mediocre (or no) connections.
I also realized something very important the other day when reflecting on this. The quality of loyalty is the one common thread between the opportunities I received as a bi-product of those relationships vs the ones I didn’t. It won’t guarantee you make it to the top, but it at least buys you the chance to move to the next level when someone you’ve been faithful to decides you’ve earned it.
To some of you, this is like ‘duhhhh’. And it should be. But the reality is that when you’re tasked with making career moves, in the moment, its very easy to get your priorities confused when what you’ve trained yourself to primarily focused on is your equity, income, and bottom line. And when your natural strength is not your people skills.
Thanks for listening… and happy 2019 to everyone here!
Hell yeah, you provide a readily available service. How do you best promote that service? By showing your talent and expertise to people with connections to others who are already succsessful in the business needing your services.
99 times out of 100 you’re better off taking care of Frank Sinatra Jr. than the next undiscovered Hendrix.
I believe the appropriate response would be “Hell Yeah!”
Great thread/post Jonathan, and kudos for the achievements! You could probably write even more about this in an IRD blog article, as you have obviously obtained many insights by putting yourself out there. It kind of reminds me of the old show business (or any business) adage “It’s who you know.” Especially when it comes to technical knowledge and skill, which is a different brain/personality development area than “people skills” in many cases. It takes some work to cultivate that for introverts, it can be quite outside the comfort zone.
Congratulations… and thanks for sharing your insights. The importance of the ‘relationship’ translates across most professional endeavors. ‘Who’ you know is typically more important than ‘what’ you know. This is not always a good thing, but it is human nature. If you’re skilled enough to cultivate both the ‘what’ and the ‘who’, you’re more likely to excel in nearly any field. This isn’t always obvious when we spend so much time and focus on building a technical skill-set. It’s easy to neglect the interpersonal aspects that facilitate success.
Congrats Jonathan! And thanks for sharing. In any line of work, building your network is one of the most valuable long-term career investments you can make. It makes total sense that it would be no different here. You need to prioritize the work with highest leverage (ie most likely to bring in more work). Hopefully down the line, this can pay for other projects that are more driven by passion/talent/personal chemistry etc.
