One of the key components in creating an album/cd is the mixing and mastering process. You rehearse with a band, take them into the studio, and record their music. Once you are done recording, you go to the mixing and mastering engineer and they bring all of the files, and pieces of the puzzle together and create an album.
One of the mixing/mastering engineers I have been working with since the beginning of my career as a producer is a Genius by the name of Dave Darlington. Most of the music created in the last 30 years, Dave has been part of production team for many great artist’ and record labels.
He has been such a musical force in my life, teaching me the business of recording music. I feel like I’m in a masterclass every time I sit next to him.
One day, Dave and I were working on a mix and securing another engineer who had mistreated an artist he was working for. The engineer had not done the work from the right place, and overcharged the artist without a care. This same artist then contacted me, and I brought in Dave and a few others who rallied around the artist to make sure the album was what the artist had dreamed of.
I said to Dave, “What I don’t understand, is if this engineer didn’t believe in this artist, why didn’t he just not take on the project? Because I don’t believe in something, I am not going to waste my time with it.“
Dave said to me, “Ulysses, Music is a lifestyle for us; we didn’t start this journey because we wanted to be stars. We left our homes, our comfort zones, moved to New York City, braved so many crazy things, because music isn’t a job for us, it’s a way of life. “
That phrase hit me like a ton of bricks, because I remember distinctly making a decision to keep pursuing music, even though much of the material things I desired seemed very far from view. My goal, no matter the successes or failures that have happened to me over my 16 year career in the industry is to challenge myself daily to never forget that I will remain committed because the music is a way of life for me.