I realized that I don't know where to get clients for mixing online. Finding work (and money) locally isn't panning out for me at the moment, so I decided to try my luck over the Internet, but where to go for this? Are there any established platforms? If so, what do I need to have on my profile page and in which way should portfolio be handled? I suspect it might depend on a platform.

On a related note, what are the broadcast standards for EU, UK and US? Loudness, dynamic range, stereo spread, true peak levels, file formats, etc. Where to look up this information.

 

Hello @justwannadownload, here is a small contribution from me, i wish you success and good luck:

How To Get More Clientele When Selling Weed

How To Get Clients Mixing and Mastering?

How Can I Get More Mixing Clients?
https://homerecordingstudiosetup.com/how-can-i-get-more-mixing-clients/

 

Most of this information is covered by the AES and the EBU.

The answer to this question is complex, as there is unfortunately no one-size-fits-all recipe for client acquisition. The best way to acquire clients depends, for example, on your personal skills, your past performance, your salary expectations, your network and your personal interests and goals. There are several platforms where you can create a profile as a mixing engineer. Unfortunately, these platforms are saturated, so it can be difficult for clients to take notice of you. You can try to get your face out there and make a name for yourself by producing audio or video formats on YouTube etc., but this is not for everyone. You can go to music fairs and tech conventions to show your face and make contacts. Etc, etc, etc. You see, there are many ways to reach your goal. But what exactly is your goal? What kind of clients do you want to have? Do you want to work in a genre-specific way or across genres? Do you want to work in a distanced way or do you want to establish a personal contact with the clients? Do you want to produce/mix on mass or concentrate on a few quality productions? These are some of the questions you could ask yourself in order to find the most suitable ways to achieve these goals, depending on the answer. You have to find your niche. Good luck!

 

Look for artists that have a mix sounding like shit and have more than a million streams (believe me, there's a lot) and ask for them to mix their songs for free (some ones won't even have a person to trust at this part, so probably they will be interesed). If they send you the files, and you do a proper job, they will remeber it and potentialy call you to mix some future job with earnings. As @Sinus Well mentioned, try to find a niche, because it will be harder to fulfill all the tastes when you don't have a strong name.

 

For loudness there isn't really a "regional standard" other than the -23LUFSi recomended by EBU which is used mostly in films, TV and radio related stuff. All the regions you mentioned have somewhat adopted that recomendation. There are more specific ludness levels but that's really up to broadcast companies (intead of mastering engineers) because it relates to the broadcast itself and levels over entire sections of the day, that kind of stuff.

The real requirements you should worry about are bradcast/streaming service specific, you can ask them for a requirement sheet if they don't have them available for the public somewhere already. That goes for loudness, dynamic range, and other more fancy stuff if they want to.

 

Last edited: Jan 18, 2023

Thank you all very much for your time and insight!

My goal right now is to have food and medicals on the table, as it starts becoming a problem with all the prices going up and all the aging making people being less able to work. Honestly I'd gladly find something else I can make money (and not kill myself) with, but mixing is all I know and I'm 30 years old already.
I live in Kyrgyzstan, there are no music-related fares that I know of. Entertainment is struggling here across the board, unless it's done for ideology purposes. I'm also autistic and fail to do many jobs that "don't require experience" (because they require social experience I don't have and nobody expects you to be lacking in *this*, or better yet stress resistance to things people don't even consider to be *stress*). So I thought maybe going international is one way out of this.

When it comes to my mixing niche, it's definitely about fewer but more nuanced projects, preferably elctronic music, but I also have a lot of hands-on experience with Hip-Hop and feel like I can mix Rock or Metal adequately. When it comes to the distance, I'm somewhere in the middle. Open for communications and feedback, but need my own time and "headspace" to actually do the job.

 

Last edited: Jan 19, 2023

Okay, I get that. But what I meant was: Where do you want to be in 5 years from now? The more specific you can be about that, the more specific you can choose the actions that will get you there.

 

You mean 30 years young... all the doors are still immaculately open for you. Try the same at 50.

You should have no problems for as long as your attitude is right and you meet your deadlines for as long as I can tell. You haven't presented any of your mixes. That's the first thing people will ask for.

 

Ideally as a dedicated recording/mixing engineer in a big studio, genre doesn't matter, so I work with professionals and my only responsibility is the quality if my work and my work ethics, while deals are being dealt by people who are good at it.
The thing is, I might not be in five years at all if I won't find something in coming months.

 

Ok, let me say one thing first: I am not a job advisor, I don't know anything about your situation, I don't know the labor market in Kyrgyzstan, nor the prevailing social system there, if there is one. So I can only speak from my own position.

Are there recording studios nearby?
If so, apply. Even if it's just for the receptionist job. Get your foot in the door.
And if not, find another job. Save some money and move to an area where there are recording studios.
Make a plan.

 

You don't need to move away thanks to the internet, you need a meaningful logo and an easy to remember name of your company / service and a website where you also list sound samples and bands (i.e. references) that you have already successfully mixed / mastered and where you introduce yourself, tell a little about yourself and your motivation.

Above all, an email address that works and a phone number where you can be reached quickly. You need to build a customer base to convince the potential new customer that you can do your job. You can also mix bands/artists for free in order to cite these bands as references.

No one orders a roofer who does not know his trade, first the roof collapses and secondly you are out of money. Create a folder for yourself: Name and logo of your company, customer contacts - completed projects. Always remember that your data can be lost in the computer and Internet, secure your data 3 times.

 

Last edited: Jan 20, 2023

Unfortunately, work in a studio is a social job at every level. It has to be because of a number of reasons. If you are a studio owner, getting and keeping clientele means that you have to be likable to be employable. Independent artists are trusting you with their money and their brain children, so they need to feel supported, understood and catered to. If you want to be employed at a studio, you need to get your foot in the door, as stated before, and to start to go up the ladder as an employee, you need to be likable again. The fact is that major studios tend to work with people they know and trust, and a lot of times, that trust is earned through networking and being there, hanging around and --once again --being social.

What I mean to say is that you should not expect the quality of your mixes alone to land you a job. That's just one piece of the puzzle. There are countless stories of successful mixing engineers and producers who were "at the right place at the right time." The only way for that to happen is to be socially active and be at the wrong place at the wrong time for so long that you'll finally nail it.

If social skills are off the table, maybe your option is to get a big studio or producer to hire you for specific tasks that don't require you dealing directly with others. You might become an editor, quantizing drums and tuning vocals for professionals who are so busy that they need to outsource those services. That market is limited but maybe there's an opening there. I myself work with clients but I don't have that much work to hire an editor myself, and I think that's true for the vast majority of people in the trenches of the industry. When you pitch for a job like that, lead with your autism. Autistic people tend to be creative, driven, detail-oriented, and passionate for the things they do. Am I right? Those are great skills to have for audio engineering.

 

I've been working in a couple over the years, as a recording and mixing engineer. The first one is "conserved till the better times". They promised to contact me should these times ever come, I check with them periodically and they're still conserved.
Another one we parted ways when I temporarily lost any ability to do any job, even remotely - I had to care for my grandma 24-hour, and they were barely afloat at the moment, so they found someone else. Instead of me, they now work with a composer who shares profit with them and, funnily enough, is my main recurrent client nowadays.
Other local studios I reached out to are in similar positions - "we have nothing so far, we'll call you if it changes".
My foot is out the door locally, as you say. One of the songs I mixed was even featured as a soundtrack at a local TV show. But local opportunities at the moment are very scarce.
I still have to care for that old wench. She has Alzheimer's, is half-paralyzed after a stroke, and her pancreatitis attacks end up in her not being able to walk for months, so I have to look for her diet. And here's tha kicker. My mother gotten seriously ill and under threat of losing her health, but also the only job that keeps the family afloat. I have to look out for her as well. Oh, and my father also had a stroke, got both his knees damaged and recently had a hernia removal surgery. I can't move to another place, this is simply not an option.

ALL THAT IS TO SAY that my initial query was very precise. How do I get clients and hence money remotely? I have the skillset and experience to deliver, I have noticeable works I can put in my portfolio, the question is, where and how?

 

My apologies. I never meant to be disrespectful. You are well in control of your social skills, and you've got the experience and expertise. From reading your posts before I assumed otherwise. There's one thing you can you if you have time in your hands: You could start a tutorial channel to publicize your brand. Create a brand and make it grow. If you are not comfortable in front of the camera (I am not myself), you can publish videos of your mixing/editing screen and use text to voice software for explanations, like a gamer. That way, you might grow a reputation out there that will surely land you international clients.

 

• ProCollabs
• Kollab
• airgigs
• SoundBetter
• Fiverr

Plus what @Riddim Machine said: Self-initiative!
BandCamp, soundcloud, etc, would be good sites to start with.
Or get in touch with artists on Insta.

 

Last edited: Jan 19, 2023

Not really, as you can observe. Meaning, I didn't find you disrespectful at all but my answer gave off that impression. And similar things happen regularly, but with audio I can quickly coat it in technical jargon with a bit of flattery to disarm the situation.

Now, from the way people try to find other ways to make money, I assume the solution I came up with is practically unfeasible, right? And I have to think about something else, including the options proposed here.

@Sinus Well Thank you, appreciated! Didn't know how to look for them myself, seriously. Any advice on how to approach them?

 

I'm not sure what you mean?

 

I never did anything like this. Thought there's something I might need to know.

 

I have a song i am totally convinced that it would be a Mega-Hit if i would find someone who can mix it right!

 

It's going to be a challenge to stick out in a saturated market, so I am not going to sugar coat that.

There are opportunities though as you live in one of the least understood and least exposed parts of the world. There is value in that as people are always curious about things they don't know.

Consider that Netflix's most watched show a few years back was about Kok-buru, people are curious about the central planes, a region most people forgot for a long time. You could probably easily sell a well recorded and gently treated collection of old Kyrigz/Turcic songs to world music labels at a reasonable price and install same tracks into streaming services. Do a documentary, you could sell it to a streaming service. When you find it hard to sell the service, sell the product this day and age the outlay in recording equipment isn't the main roadblock. The knowledge of how to get a great sounding recording that is treated with respect and translates well though is still a rare and worthy quality that too many recording lack.

Take advantage of your strengths, that might also mean that you might have to do a bit more than your are used to.

Good luck.