The Dark Side of Audio Engineering

Don't sacrifice your life on the altar of your studio career...

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MY FAVORITE GEAR:

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[LexBravary]

To be fair this story could be any job. Eating crap food, overworking, and poor life balance isn't limited to the audio world. Thanks for sharing!

[GaryBradleymusic]

This is when a studio becomes a coffin. Been there. But there's no dark side of engineering. It's just understanding work-life balance, quality of life, and better business sense. Fully appreciate you sharing it. Others need to hear it. 😊

[wattage]

You've pretty much just described my life for about 10 years. Running a small studio, doing 10 hour days, 7 days a week and starting to dread sessions. About 7 years ago, I took a step back, did fewer sessions, ruled out ever working with rappers and became more picky about the jobs I took on. I can now have a life again.

[perfectlygoodslouch]

This is great advice for all small business owners, I went thru all of this as well, as a Plumbing Contractor

[dfnymusic]

This video is pure magic! And these standards go alongside almost any business. I was in the same boat as Jordan yet in the fitness business. I worked from 5am-9pm almost every day, I started hating exercise. Hating interacting with people and had no life. That’s the definition of a struggle. Not success Boundaries are the key to a happy life of longevity!

[angermanagementstudios]

So so true mate. 5 years ago I cut my working hours down by half. I only work with artists who I want to. I spend lots of time walking and cycling. I eat healthily and never, ever spend more than 8 hours at a time in the studio.
Granted; I don’t make as much money but I’d much prefer good health, happiness and time with my family than more money!

Great vid as always.

[IlhanYondemir]

"I was living the dream but it wasn't fun." I feel you man. Hope things get better for you. At least it's good to be aware. Just do what works out for you the best.

[chrisgreen]

Completely agree with all of us. I recently left a job at a studio due to similar reasons. Working 12-16 hours a day for 7 days a week for the past 5 years. Sometimes we get caught up in the end goal we want but don’t look at the life we end up creating. Leaving that job has brought me clarity and fun back to music. I love audio engineering and music production. But, I love the feeling we get from music even more.

[smartfacemusic]

I'm there right now. Was dropped from my label/publisher some months ago. Have been producing music full time for six years and I no longer have the motivation, drive or even desire to make music anymore. It's been incredibly hard to accept this burnout and I'm now stepping back from music for a while. Will get a "normal" job and have music as my hobby, until I have that fire and drive back. I'm scared it won't ever happen again, me working with music this way, but I know nothing is impossible and my main focus now have to be stability and health. Really sucks tho since I always identified so intensly with being "the producer".

[cf]

In my mid 20s I had my studio essentially bought out by someone with access to millions and was tasked to run a multi-million dollar studio. I hated it. I worked all day, everyday, had no friends or personal life, and was surrounded by messed up people who just tried to take advantage of me. I walked away and have never regretted it.

[NisGaarde]

All the stuff you describe has nothing to do with audio engineering. It's just being over-worked and not taking care of yourself. This happens in almost all lines of work. Good to see you got better!

[DavidPalmer_blinder]

as someone who over the last 2+ years have been on a journey to fix a lot of stuff that went wrong because i only focused on my career, all of this is just so critically important. i let myself get to 300 pounds, worked 14+ hours a day. Now today, i'm 130+ pounds lighter, i work no more than 8 hours, 5 days a week, workout regularly, eat actual real food! And by talking about any of this stuff is NOT showing you as a hypocrite. No, in fact it's demonstrating strength, and the ability to change course which so many people just refuse to do. The fixation on doubling-down on mistakes, missteps and miscalculations is quite disappointing to see in this time we are in. So yeah, eyes open wide and right the ship! Good for you! More people *need* to hear this from more people. Over and over again.

[MrNelsonpinto]

I totally agree ... I lost my family to studio life because I simply did not have the time for them... Strangely today at 56 I still go for it, make a lot of money and donate most of it to the needy.... I simply love, what I do... there is no dark side for me today... just a shade of Grey.... But a super video Bro...the younger generation needs this ... in this fast paced world ... (wish I had this advice 20 years ago) thank you.

[TheSafetysheep]

This is my story exactly. I was playing in 2 bands, recording bands from all over the USA. I didn’t know how to manage the business side of it well, but I loved what I did. The money never equaled the amount of hours I put in because I was obsessed with quality. Making people play well and doing everything awesome upfront. Anyway. I feel ya man. It made me age 20 years 😂

[DBellondatrack]

This is dope because I just went through a major crash mentally due to burnout a couple months ago. Dealing with majority rap/hip-hop acts, tracking everyday for 5+ got pretty mundane especially with the state of music quality today. I’m still recovering from the guilt of leaving so many of my die-hard clients hanging, but the tips you’ve provided helps me see foresight getting back to doing what I love eventually.

[shadimax]

Well done! a very important video also for music producers & artists

I recently walked out of a 3 Years career as a "Ghost producer" for other DJs. Also after doing a "jerk move" on an artist while working on his project (it was around 70 % done) because i had a burnout and couldn't even force my self to complete the project. after losing the passion for what i thought my dream job would be, I had to move on to a different career. I'm currently studying to become a programmer. and now after taking a break from music and starting to look at it as a fun hobby and an art form instead of a way to make a full time living, i'm starting slowly to enjoy making my own music and performing live again. I feel other artists who want to make their art a full time career need to see this, be careful of what you're getting into, for me often working a boring part-time job with a stable income was less frustrating than doing projects with wrong-fit clients who request endless revisions and drain your mental & creative energy. You just have to find your own balance.

sorry for the long comment and bad English lol

greetings from Germany 😀

[QuincyKane]

Thanks for being open; there's a lot of value to learn from your story!

[dyrkeschaefer]

I graduated from School of Audio Engineering in the early 90s. At the time, I was already working in the music industry ( not as an engineer ) and the only gigs were unpaid internships. I had bills and a paid job that I liked. So, I never ended up working regularly as an engineer. At a certain point, I was asked to help re-mix an album that the label I was working for had ready for release ( or so they thought until I listened to the final mix that the band delivered ). That was a great experience. I spent an entire week in UB40's studio in Birmingham working with a mix engineer as his assistent. By the end of the week, I had no idea what time it was anymore ( and only barely what day it was ). The studio had no daylight. That experience made me realise that, if I did ever get regular studio work, I'd have a very hard time grinding it out for 12 to 14 hours a day for days on end.

Unfortunately, I never have been in a position since to even try to make a living mixing and / or recording. It's all just a pretty elaborate hobby for me.

[kelvinfunkner]

I crashed hard about 15 years ago...booking the studio up to two years in advance...but through that I also realized that the world doesn't stop if I need a break, and although lots of clients have hard deadlines that need to be met, many just created false deadlines to get their project fast tracked, which meant I lost sleep and family time, but in the end, after they got their masters, they would sit the project for another six months while they figured out artwork and release strategies...that lesson alone allowed me to relax my schedule, be selective about clients and ultimately be able to do my job again.

[harishparekh]

I graduated from a film school in India in sound engineering in 1977. In last 45 years I have worked for 12 or more hours for almost 30 years.Now i have my studio just for Passion.It is irrelevant whether I make money from the studio as my passive income takes care of all my expenses but I can't live without my studio.I want to run it till I am fit to run it.Audio engineering has given me name fame and fortune.I have 3 kids but myself and my wife consider the studio as our 4 th child.I have got the greatest joy more than any carmal desire when I got the mix right, appreciated by one and all and made money in the good old times when audio was more of a business and less of a promotion.If i have a rebirth then also I would do audio engineering only in my next incarnation.