5 tips to succeed as a Freelance Sound Engineer By

Introduction “How do we build a successful career in sound?” Being around students and interacting with aspiring engineers from various academic institutions, I’ve realized that students struggle to find work in the Indian Media Market. Let’s understand that people often get confused about the idea of working with music as having a career in music. The path to become a successful Engineer is not a simple one. Here are some tips to succeed as freelance sound engineer.

1. Develop your Skills : Are you dedicated to put it this amount of work on every project? No matter how small or large? No matter how finicky and nosy the client is? Everyone is aiming to provide a service which is as good as their competition, but trust this won’t get you far.

No matter how much you’re getting paid for your first project, you goal should be to deliver quality of work that is attest 5x of what your competition delivers. When you’re client hears the mix they should be left with a feeling of complete satisfaction.

2. Look for Clients : Considering that you’re going to be new audio engineers just passing out of an Institute it is good to start with small clients, these maybe Youtube Artists, your Local music community, Church Choir et all. Compile a list of Musicians and people you know and get in touch with them. Do research about the clients you are contacting and how you can help them become better at what they’re currently doing.

3. Level Up your Clientele : As you start working with new clients, at some point of time you might feel that give your skillset you can upgrade to a better level of clientele. This step means that you would like to work with bigger artists and bigger projects which will also pay better.

Every client that leave the studio becomes an evangelist of services, one would do anything possible to ensure that they get everything that they want from the service. Out of the 10 Average projects you do 1 Project will stand out and you can leverage this to get better clients.

4. Inbound Business : Once you feel like you’ve reached a certain quality of work that you’re proud of, start putting this work out as aggressively as possible. Put together a good Website, get yourself some visiting cards printed. There are two things that you require to be a successful Mix engineer a. Be good at your job b. Be noticed.

5. Be HUMBLE : Nobody likes to work with a cocky producer or a mix engineer. The saying client is always right couldn’t be truer in this scenario. This doesn’t mean that you do exactly what the client says, of course you have to take chances and have a creative discussion with your client, but don’t go in assuming that you know best. If someone isn’t asking you to do the impossible then you’re not going to break new ground. If someone doesn’t hate a choice you’ve made then you’re not taking enough chances.

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