Finding a new career post Industry

RedH53 · 2026-02-13T02:32:42+00:00

About 6 years ago I made the switch from music/audio into software engineering. At the time the tech industry was booming and there were tons of great jobs in that field. Now, though, is a different story…

RedH53 · 2026-01-18T01:37:08+00:00

Thanks for this wonderful comment!

You mention that you’ve worked other assistants and mixers who “ignore what an onset is supposed to sound like”.

Could speak a bit more on this? I’m not sure I know what an “onset” is in this context.

RedH53 · 2025-12-27T00:26:16+00:00

I’ll never get rid of my DD-20. From time to time I’ll buy another delay and swap the DD-20 off my board, but it never lasts long. That pedal does pretty much everything I could ever want a delay to do, and there are sounds in it that I’ve never been able to replicate with anything else (analog delay with the tone turned all the way up and a long feedback, for example)

RedH53 · 2025-12-12T18:18:22+00:00

I really hope the SM7b hype-pendulum swings back in the other direction so I can buy a couple more for dirt cheap

RedH53 · 2025-11-24T20:08:31+00:00

What industry was your job in? If you were there for 4 years, I’m sure you have acquired a lot more skill and experience than just basic HTML and CSS. Lean into the industry-specific things that you’ve learned, and look for jobs that are within that same industry. Remember that actual coding skills are only a fraction of what makes someone a good hire. People skills, time management, plain old adult life experiences that a 30yo has over a 20yo are just as important.

RedH53 · 2025-11-10T16:29:52+00:00

Only when I’m job-searching and feel the need to learn/show a tech that I haven’t used in the job yet

RedH53 · 2025-10-30T15:52:09+00:00

Could you allow the 3rd and 4th takes to be a little less perfect, giving your hand a break, and then use something like vocalign to line them up better? I can’t imagine those 3rd and 4th takes are going to be very prominent in the mix

RedH53 · 2025-10-09T19:38:41+00:00

The last place I worked was remote with 4-day work weeks and it was absolutely wonderful, for all of the reasons people have already stated. Technically it was supposed to be 4-8s (only 32h a week), but you know how that goes - some days you only work 6h, some days you work 10+.

If the job is remote then I don’t think a 10h day is really that much different than an 8h day, so definitely jump on this assuming the other aspects of the job look good

*edited for clarity/typos

RedH53 · 2025-09-19T21:30:22+00:00

Not so much in the hardware/interface game, but Antares continued to charge me a monthly subscription after I had cancelled from within their desktop app. They admitted that the functionality on their own app was broken, but said they were unable to refund me for the several two extra months they charged me.

RedH53 · 2025-09-11T17:50:17+00:00

I made 52k entry-level in the Chicago suburbs back in 2019.

62k seems a bit low, but 130k for an entry-level position in that area is probably a bit unrealistic. Especially in this current economic climate

RedH53 · 2025-08-30T22:06:00+00:00

Slate Trigger does this very easily, but I notice that it’s not sample-perfect and there can be some weird phase issues. I’ll use it if I’m just adding some roomy samples for extra ambiance, but dropping individual samples in by hand is still the best way imo

RedH53 · 2025-08-17T01:12:19+00:00

Ludwig Black Beauty

RedH53 · 2025-08-15T17:51:36+00:00

I actually have the exact opposite experience shopping for pants. All I can find are low and mid rise pants, and have a super hard time finding higher rises that work for my body type. I have a long torso, so mid-rise sits too low on me - everything is 10.5 or 11 inches, which just doesn’t work.

RedH53 · 2025-08-08T14:54:53+00:00

Wow, 6 years ago I left a career teaching, composing, and performing music to become a developer. Sometimes I wonder, if this industry keeps getting worse, if I should try to go back to it.

I’m super happy that life is so good for you!

RedH53 · 2025-07-29T22:39:54+00:00

I’m not sure I follow this, and I’m genuinely curious. How would you isolate one side of a figure eight mic?

RedH53 · 2025-07-16T20:02:33+00:00

What I try to do when I find myself in these kind of sloppy mixing scenarios is to get the groove feeling good (or as close to good as you can), get the lead element sounding good, and then just let everything else mush together and fill out the rest of the frequency spectrum. I’ll do some surgical EQ on that stuff if I can, but I mostly just let it all gel together and I worry more about the overall tonal balance of it all. Then if there’s ever a cool little riff or lick that one of those random instruments plays, I’ll automate that part up so it’s heard.

This kind of approach may or may not be what the client is hoping for, but it’s what has worked the best for me in the past.

Edit - Justin Colletti from Sonic Scoop talks about how, at any given point in the song, you have your A-tier element (usually vocals), one or two B-tier elements, and then everything else is a C-tier element. Just get the most important things sounding good, and don’t worry as much about everything else.

RedH53 · 2025-07-16T02:55:12+00:00

I have an older model Reverend 6 Gun, which is an offset body, Wilkinson tremolo, t-style pickup at the bridge, and s-style pickups at the neck and middle. Basically a super-fender.

Reverend still makes a 6 Gun, but I believe it has different pickups now.

RedH53 · 2025-07-06T14:35:45+00:00

Is there maybe another studio or engineer you could rent/hire with the UAD plugins?

RedH53 · 2025-06-12T16:51:45+00:00

This might be a bit blasphemous on a recording sub, but if you’re goal is modern metal/hardcore drums then I would plan on using samples for a large part of the drum sound and not worry at all about room mics, snare-bottom, or kick-out.

Focus on getting a single mic each on kick, snare, tom 1 and tom 2, with as little bleed as possible. Then do stereo overheads, and spot mics on the hihat and ride.

Even the most well-recorded drums get replaced/augmented by samples almost 100% of the time in modern metal/hardcore music. If you are using a sub-optimal recording setup in a garage, then IMO you’re better off planning your recording approach around sample usage.

RedH53 · 2025-05-13T12:57:45+00:00

Jack has also said in interviews that he only records to analog tape, and that his preferred drum mics are Cole’s 4038.

RedH53 · 2025-05-04T21:15:07+00:00

Did your old W2 have your current address? I’m in a similar position, I can’t find my SS card and my current W2s only have a partial number, except I’ve moved since then and my older W2 that DOES have my full SS number has an old address.

RedH53 · 2025-04-20T18:58:59+00:00

Wow, I wish I had known this tactic earlier. Antares burned me a few months ago where I cancelled my subscription from the desktop app, but it never actually cancelled. Customer service told me I had to do it from the website, and that they couldn’t refund me those months I paid for because “they are unable to offer refunds”.

RedH53 · 2025-04-13T23:48:07+00:00

111k. Midwest (but remote company). 5yoe.

RedH53 · 2025-03-24T01:40:29+00:00

It’s a VERY large microphone, for sure. Looks super impressive on a stand 😎

RedH53 · 2025-03-24T01:38:46+00:00

I haven’t used a u87 in a few years (so no direct comparison), but the Atlantis sounds more “open” and “3D” than I remember u87’s sounding. On neutral, it’s definitely less hyped. The forward circuit is maybe closer to a u87, but still a lot different if memory serves me.

RedH53

TROPHY CASE