HOW TO BE A SUCCESS STORY IN THE AUDIO INDUSTRY
This morning I was thinking about a recent post where someone asked folks to stop gatekeeping and just give away the secret to making it in the music industry. It made me go back through Notes, and I found something I wrote last year. Reading it again, it’s still accurate. This is the result of hours of coaching people how how to make waves in their audio career and doing it myself.
I’m just going to be real about this: this is my approach. You might look at this and think it’s overthinking, or too strategic, or unnecessary. But understand - this was written by someone who wants to do nothing else with his life besides make music, help artists get where they’re trying to go, and build a community where people support each other instead of competing for scraps.
Know who your client is. Know who you are serving.
Specialize in something. A genre, a function, a vibe, a skillset - not everything.
Who hires you for that?
Who resonates with how you approach problems?
Knowing who your people are makes everything else frictionless.
Effective website that converts visitors to clients.
This is harder than it sounds. When you’re trying to get work, you overdo it—I’ve overdone it MANY times.
When you’re established, you can get away with three pages and a contact button because people already know who you are.
But when someone lands on your site cold, it should tell them what you do and give them a giant button that says CONTACT ME.
Consistent social media presence / Engage with your community.
Consistency beats perfection.
You see this every day: the people at the top of your feed show up repeatedly.
Also - engaging with your community is not just DM’ing. It’s showing up physically where your people exist.
That means going to events, shows, hangs, talks, fundraisers, studio openings - whatever the community cares about, you need to show. up.
Tips, exhibits of expertise, humorous content.
People are saying educational content is “over.”
It isn’t.
Deep insight signals generosity and competence. Yesterday I posted 27 screenshots from the Guinness Who’s Who of New Wave & Indie Music (1992) just because it delighted me—and a ton of people messaged me.
That connection matters.
You have to be able to transmit joy, curiosity, or perspective.
That is value.
Join a professional organization and participate.
AES, The Recording Academy, studio hangs, workshops, neighborhood groups, creative meetups—participate in the ecosystem you want to be part of.
Meet people.
Contribute something.
Think about how to strengthen the industry even on a tiny scale.
Most people you meet are pretty fuckin cool.
Positive (Google) reviews and testimonials.
Let other people tell the story.
Social proof is the fastest conduit to trust.
Make sure when people search you, the first thing they see is someone saying you’re good to work with, easy to hire, and worth it.
Presence on hiring platforms like SoundBetter and Enginears.
I don’t invest tons of time here.
I keep them updated so that spillover traffic lands somewhere.
In the summer I’ll get 8–12 SoundBetter inquiries without lifting a finger.
But the real value is someone finds me there, then Googles me, and ends up hiring me directly.
Unique selling points.
Do you have an actual offer?
Or just a list of skills?
Mine is pretty simple:
I’m emotionally tuned into what artists are trying to express.
I can translate the emotional architecture of a song into something clear, intentional, and impactful.
My entire editing/mixing/mastering approach is about removing friction between an artist’s inner vision and the version that goes out into the world.
That’s what I’m good at.
Success stories, awards, recognition.
This isn’t about awards being “the thing.”
It’s about letting people see that someone trusted you, and something meaningful came out of it.
Case studies matter.
Credits matter.
Press matters.
They externalize the work.
Be okay with your clients working with other engineers and studios.
That’s not disloyalty.
That’s supporting their growth.
Artists evolve. They explore. Sometimes they need space you don’t have. Sometimes they’re trying something experimental, or working with someone who specializes differently.
None of that is a threat.
If you support them anyway,
if you root for them even when you’re not involved,
you build actual longevity.
Clients remember who treated their artistic identity with respect.
Engineers remember who collaborates without insecurity.
Studios remember who lifts the community instead of hoarding opportunity.
There isn’t a secret path through this industry. There’s just this:
show up, make art, be excellent at what you say you do, continually contribute to the community, remove friction from the creative process, and treat people like their art matters.
Okay, full disclosure on this post since there is a lot of self-promotion going on. I have spent thousands of hours and dollars accumulating all of this knowledge and frame work to share with you for as close to free as possible. I have coached and been coached, I’ve created, refined, and revealed frameworks for building a career for all kinds of folks. I’ve gone through the bullshit and distilled down what I’ve learned into something that hopefully resonates with you no matter where you are in your career.
I do it because I had struggled myself for years on what the “right way” was for making a career in the audio/music industry. The truth remains it is very difficult but not impossible to do. Some folks are transparent about what it takes and others make it look like a mystery that only they know the answer to. Both positions are VALID. I choose this path.
So heres my hard sell. If these essays resonate, join as a free or paid subscriber—your support helps me keep making work worth reading.
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Whatever brought you here, I am thankful for your attention and feedback!
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You can hire me for Recording, Mixing, Mastering, or Coaching at https://www.quiethouserecording.com
