One of Nashville’s most iconic and historic studios, RCA Studio A, on Music Row had a close call with closing its doors this month.
The RCA Studio A has been a recording space for countless major artists for 40 years. And last month, it looked like new developments on Nashville’s Music Row might see the historic recording space closed for good. Thankfully, the builders relented after an open letter was published by the studio’s main vendor, Ben Folds. But the event raises the question as to whether big studios are capable of surviving anymore in the digital age.
Here are the three main challenges big studios face in tomorrow's music industry:
Cheaper Better Gear
By far, the greatest threat to big studios has beenand will continue to bethe advent of recording equipment that is better sounding and more affordable. As artists producers are able to create great recordings and mixes in their homes and the cost of gear becomes less than the cost of renting a big studio space, it’s easy to see how big studios will struggle to attract enough business to stay viable.
Less Profitability in Recorded Music
Another challenge for big studios is the shrinking budgets for recording projects. This due to the fact that recorded music just doesn’t make as much money for artists and labels as it used to. While much of this is due to pirating, services like Spotify and Youtube have essentially provided free ways for fans to listen to music with very little kickback to the creators.
Better Samples
The proliferation of high quality samples, along with better MIDI programming interfaces, has also meant that some instruments can now be programmed where they would have once been only recorded. Naturally, as artists want to lay down a harp part, for example, they’ll be much more inclined to use a sample rather than book a musician and a recording space.
While these are three big obstacles in the future for big studios, it’s also important to recognize that there’s still a strong movement for bands to record live on analog gear. Because analog is more expensive and requires more skill to record with, this movement has found using professional big studios to be the best way to capture the real organic nature of what’s being recorded.
Moving forward it’s likely that many big studios will be forced to close their doors as the demand for big budget recordings drops off. But, there will always be a need for large spaces to record ensembles, bands and other artists who want the most human performance as possible in their mix.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
