Dealing with frustration

[professorlamp]

I suppose audio engineering is a pretty solitary thing so maybe lay off it for just a week and get intouch with old friends, go cycling (I ALWAYS did this when i was pissed off). I also recommend workling out because you feel like god afterwards and just stop worrying about everyone around you, it's only you that's making these problems so it's you that can solve them

 

[Force666]

The way to deal with frustration is to learn to deal with it. Life is exactly that: an endless pile of frustrating events that keep you from achieving what you want to achieve. The only way to deal with frustrations is to learn that they are inevitable and are part of life.

Fucking, hitting things, drugs, shooting, etc. won't remove the source of the frustration. Only adjusting your attitude can do that.

Also: achievement kills frustration. You're an early-20s, have-nothing (in the sense of equipment), work-from-home, no-experience, no creds, no connections BEGINNER. What do you expect to happen? You simply can't be Randy Lord-Wallace, no matter how much you would love that. I mean this in the most positive sense, because comparing yourself to the top is a good thing, but also futile. You have to achieve first and beginners start at the bottom and work their way up, regardless of your apparent skill!

Everyone in the music business is frustrated a lot of the time. Most people quit because of that. Those who do it for the love of it usually stick around. So instead of being frustrated, adjust your attitude and be prepared to go the long road cause otherwise you'll work in a bank or in IT sooner than you think.

yup and FAPPING!

 

[Ermz]

so something along the lines of, "the state of music production is horrible, and almost everyone's work sucks and steals the life and vibe of the music, and i want to change that single-handedly but don't yet have the connections/skills", etc. et al, ?

Thanks for your advice James, and everyone else of course, especially smy1 again - but it's not so much that. I've come to terms with where music/production is, if I hadn't I'd have quit the industry a few years ago.

The issue is that I'm simply running out of places to record economically. BOTH studios I started to establish long-term relationships with last year were sold/went under within 6 months. Everything is closing over here, and in order to simply record drums, vox, reamp etc. I have to drive for an hour in each direction to get to the studios. It's the inconvenience of it all that's killing me, and costing me a lot of clientele.

The rest is about where I currently live, but of course that's been too well treaded lately.

 

[James Murphy]

ah ok... well, i'm in a similar situation.... i have to drive an hour to get to the studio i do drums in... luckily it's residential, so both myself and the band's stay there during the sessions. i take it that's not an option for you, perhaps either for financial reasons or lack of residential studios?

if i were you i'd continue to do as much tracking as i could, while attempting publicly to focus my business on mixing. at your level you'll meet alot of resistance from the recording engineers, who'll be making a case to the clients to also be hired as the mixer... but when confronted with this, or suspecting it, just offer a test-mix scenario... best mix gets the job. it may be rough going but if you are, or can become, the best man for the jobs, you'll get them... or at least enough of them to eventually build up the rep, client base, and cachet to make your mark and move further along up whatever path you're forging.

a nice side benefit of reaching that point is that the strong resistance of local level recording engineers to have their work mixed by the "outsider" will melt away, and most of them will become quite happy, or at least much more willing as a matter of practicality, to have you mix without trying to interject themselves. in fact they'll boast on their website CV's about how they tracked this or that album that you mixed.

so knuckle down and get to work.

 

[lolzgreg]

I was going to suggest that. Smart move James. Everyone here knows a talented mixer can make magic with good tracks. Ermz, you definitely have talent when it comes to that, so just keep at it. Impress yourself. You hold yourself to a level that even your client likely do not.

 

[Machinated]

http://tv.hexus.net//show/2010/01/NSFW_-_AEE_2010_-_The_World_s_first_sex_robot/

kev, that has me literally pissing myself.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4-rwk44qGI&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4-rwk44qGI&feature=related[/ame]

check that video, you basically see her flaps hanging out. that guy must be seriously lonely.

and so that post isnt completely off topic, ermz have you thought about maybe travelling for a few months? maybe see if you can get some studio based work with some bands in other countries and see how you fare there?

 

[smy1]

Ermz: how about finding a garage or similar and converting it into a small tracking facility? Nothing special, 2 rooms, self-made room treatment, no fixed gear installations except maybe a snake and some mic stands. Should run you a small investment first and then just monthly rent of 200 bucks or so ...

Look at how Joey is tracking stuff. It may not be optimal but it may work for now if you know what you are doing?

 

[Jevil]

Mixing can drive me nuts, but to actually sit down and compose music is, and always have been, the best medicine to deal with frustration in my case!

Agree.