4 Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming A Music Producer Full Time

Mixer Joel Wanasek breaks down some of the critical lessons he's learned after 20 years of doing music production for a living.
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🔴 LEARN TO MIX: nailthemix.com/
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Production Credits: credits.muso.ai/profile/fd4b5...
Ranked in BOTH the top 1% of Mixing and Mastering Engineers on the MUSO.AI credit charts.
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📲 INSTAGRAM: / joelwanasek
📲 TIKTOK: / joelwanasek
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ABOUT:
Hi! I'm mixer in the music industry, known for my work with various artists and bands such as Machine Head, Scott Stapp, Ellise, Sleep Theory, Rain City Drive, Attila, Vinyl Theater, MIYAVI, Nano, Keith Wallen, and many others. I've got 20+ years of professional experience in making records and have worked for labels like BMG, Atlantic, Universal, Fueled by Ramen, Thriller, Epitaph, Rise, Napalm, Century Media, among others.
Additionally, I'm one of the founders of Nail The Mix (Alongside Joey Sturgis / Eyal Levi), an acclaimed online music production school tailored for rock and metal producers. Nail The Mix has garnered a significant following since 2016, aiding tens of thousands of producers worldwide in enhancing their production and mixing skills.
I'm here to share my passion for audio production with you. Thank you for watching!

[@pastilance1]

Seeing that L1 in the thumbnail pinned to -30db threshold really brings me to the first Nail The Mix session, haha.

[@joelwanasekurm]

Lol 😂 the good old days

[@joefh1985]

Thanks again for the straight talking, ego free content. You have a good knack for not insulting the intelligence of your audience.

[@BrofUJu]

Bang on with gear. Great headphones, great midi controller, and great audio interface. Legit all I need for what I do, writing music for tv. Don't even think about upgrading stuff now, only plugins that do stuff I don't already have, which is rare.

[@gabriel_facedown]

Everything Joel is saying here is so much more valuable than just giving an EQ tip or compression tip

[@jasonclark6058]

Great video as always

[@ericthemaestro]

thanks for the insight joel. you rock, as always

[@joelwanasekurm]

Thank you

[@CicconeRitchie1]

This is great Joel👌🏻

[@oleskiyashko2901]

Thanks, very frankly!

[@grizzli1994]

Amazing video Joel. Saving to rewatch this over again and keep myself on a clear path, point no 4 definitely hits hard. Really hope to find some people to collaborate and grow with in the URM community!

[@joelwanasekurm]

Thanks for watching

[@necroticpoison]

Your sm output is a damn diamond mine. Thank you for putting out all of the stuff that you have. Seriously thousands in courses equivalent in just a chunk of your info

[@joelwanasekurm]

Thanks for watching

[@chiefindisguise]

4 gems of wisdom

[@DrMikeMetal]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience, Joel! This video has been super encouraging as I've recently started to collaborate with an editor, where I've outsourced session prep and drum editing mainly. This has been a godsend, allowing me to focus on the important stuff. Moreover, it seems like I can give back a lot of value to my team member by doing some mix crits and career advice to them. Cheers and let's keep growing together \m/

[@joelwanasekurm]

Wonderful!

[@AxellBrooks]

Point one is me right now, so this resonates a lot with me. Thanks for this Joel!

[@joelwanasekurm]

Glad to hear it!

[@n1tr0sys09]

Man, that intro is soooooo on point, sometimes things just click and suddently you're aware of a lot of stuff you didn't hear before...

[@joelwanasekurm]

🙌

[@meaputrefactio]

clickbait title but absolutely many gold thoughts in a video. Thanks Joel!

[@Shazr0]

Cannot tell you how much this video helped me. I'm at my plateau and this is what I needed to not give it up. Thank you, Joel.

[@joelwanasekurm]

Keep grinding it. Progress will come.

[@robertkent4929]

That click at 1:03 Great message, Joel!

[@JohnRegansReviewsTutorialsMore]

The one thing I hate about the sudden explosive growth is I rarely know what got me there

[@NevvSoundStudi0]

I would love to only mix for people. problem is. they all do it themselves

[@trulyintense6613]

👍👍👍

[@roberteismann1929]

Your first point is very similar to practicing and trying to improve on an instrument.

[@JacobraRecords]

Important: Expensive doesn't mean better. You can pay $10,000 for a C800g, or you can spend $600 on Slate VMS that models the C800g (that several professionals have claimed an indiscernible difference) that bit about focusing on one thing is the way, the truth, and the life. Another huge benefit of outsourcing is that your name is on those people's work and they end up talking about you to other people and spreading your name.

[@joelwanasekurm]

You are right about price. But VMS is not that good and isn’t close to a c800. That’s a marketing fantasy. VMS a low /mid tier mic at best. I’ve shot them out. It doesn’t hang w the heavy hitters.

[@oscar.rangel]

First point for me

[@joelwanasekurm]

First!

[@eyeque7]

You forgot one point. Don't bother becoming one because Ai can do it better and quicker?

[@peto.kelbel]

Best value content ✌🏻 thanks for sharing it with us 🤌🏻

[@joelwanasekurm]

Glad you enjoyed it!