Nashville's been known as Music City for some time now, but things have certainly changed from the old days. I'm not sure exactly how it used to work when folks would make a pilgrimage here to become the next member of the Opry, but stereotypically this involved stalking a drunk George Jones in the alley between the Ryman and the famed Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. Or something like that.
Today, Nashville is a major music hub for all genres, and people come here to pursue all manners of music careers, including songwriting, music publishing or, indeed, audio mastering. Not to mention that what you're likely to find in the alley behind Tootsie's these days is a frat boy puking – if George Jones was still around he'd probably be holed up in some swank green room somewhere taking shots of Geritol instead of shots of whiskey (his bad joke, not mine).
I say all of this because a new book purports to have the inside information on how to “make it” in Nashville. “Making the Scene: Nashville – How to Live, Network, and Succeed in Music City” hit shelves recently, and though it appears to be focused primarily on musicians and songwriters, the 300 page book says it’s for everyone interested in making our town the home base for their music career.
I haven't read the book, so this definitely isn't a review. I'm sure there's some good advice in there for those that are new here, as well as some insights on networking in general, but seeing the existence of the book prompted me to think about my own experiences when I was new to Nashville, and for what it's worth, I'd like to share them here.
- First of all this place can be intimidating. Very intimidating. When I first moved here I only knew a few people, and sometimes I would go out to small clubs during the week. And I found out that on any given Tuesday at any given dive, I might see the best band I've ever seen perform live, even if they're only playing to 15 people and were just put together as a one-off side project. As a guy looking to start a band at the time and not yet confident in my abilities, that can be a big shake-up to any confidence that you do have.
What I Learned : Turn that intimidation into inspiration, and use it to push yourself to be the absolute best you can be. This is advice you're likely to hear a lot from people that have been here a little while – don't just shrug it off just because you're tired of hearing it – it's important.
- Also concerning intimidation, the town can be very cliquish. Though it is a nice medium size city with friendly people that are easy to talk to at the tons of bars and venues, a great many of them are trying to make it doing the exact same thing you do.. So many times those that have become successful (no matter their careers) will stick together and try to attempt to “block” the competition (you).
What I Learned : The funny thing is, many unsuccessful people will also try to mimic this type of attitude, which is not only stupid, it's downright annoying. The best you can do is gather as much of that aforementioned confidence as you can, and if you are talented at what you do, many times you will become recognized. This of course is provided you also have a little luck (it's an unfortunate truth) as well as a lot of...
- Networking. You hear it all the time. It's what most of those 300 pages in “Making the Scene: Nashville” are likely about. Location, Location, Location? Nah – it's Networking, Networking, Networking. But here's the secret, it's no different here than it is in any other city, and the only secret is you've got to put yourself out there and shake the hands and go to the gigs and set up coffee meetings and etc. etc. etc. When it comes down to it, if you are not talented at what you do in Nashville, you will be weeded out because there are a lot of the most talented people in the music industry here. If you are talented, you can still get lost in the shuffle pretty easily, but eventually, having enough people know your name will begin to help lift you out of the crowd.
What I Learned : First of all, one great thing about Nashville is that networking often means you get to hang out late at bars and music venues, which admittedly is pretty fun, but it's also not an excuse to get wasted every night. I've seen people try that and believe me, they get lost in said shuffle very quickly. Also, depending on what career you're going for, that aforementioned bad word – luck – often has more influence than anyone would care to admit. Fortunately, “hard work” has even more influence.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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