My name is Ty, a current student at the Academy of Design and Technology. Graduating in March. My passion is music, but being in school made me realize, there are many fields that catch my eye, such as film production, radio spots, and sound editing for film.
Mixing, mastering, local studio time available, Audio editing
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Interview with Tazz Maineyak
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: My last recent project was for 2 artists from chicago. I was proud of the work I had done because my major role was being an engineer and producer, but I had also added the chorus into their song myself. They told me the name of the song so I came up with the chorus and recorded it. after it was finished they posted it on facebook, twitter, etc. A few days later, I had people left and right in boxing me asking how much I charge for studio time and to engineer for them, I knew they would brag about it.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: At this moment I'm working on a few projects, I can't really discuss them because they won't be released yet.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Brand new to this Sound Butter website, so I do my really know anyone but the person who recommended me to this site. His name is June.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: I'd prefer both. Sometimes you can't always rely on digital because of multiple reasons. In the analog world, yes things are a little longer of a process, but you can get good quality from it and it will always be more accurate and real time related. Digital can be a good thing for me because it keeps me up to date with the industry, so I'll always be caught up with what the standards are.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: My promise to clients is delivering satisfaction along with a good mix to brag about for a good price!
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I like the part when I can lean back in the chair and say, the project is finished. It's just the feeling of accomplishment and realizing I put the whole thing together.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: A lot of clients ask "How long will this mix take?" I always tell them as long as they want it to. I like to let them give me a deadline, but it has to be reasonable. You can't expect a good mix to be done in 10 minutes. I'm sure you've heard the saying good art takes good time!
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: Well everyone thinks because I compose beats, it makes me a producer. That is NOT what producers do!! It's recently become my pet peeve. An engineer is not a producer, just because I record vocals and compose instrumentals doesn't make me a producer. But I do wear many hats.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: Well my first question would be how did you hear about me? Then I'd ask what service would they need.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: If you want something done in a short amount of time and done precisely and accurately, I'm the one to count on
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Take the computer, keyboard, microphone, the hardware, and of course my synth.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: My career path is audio. I've been dealing with pro tools for a good 7 years now.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I would say my style is versatile, I'm goofy though. Every musician is crazy and have their own little odd personalities that separate them from the rest of the world. If you don't understand that, then you can't be a real musician! Everyone thought Beethoven was crazt, but he wasn't! He just had a passion for music.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I'm actually very open about who I work with, I'd work with anyone and everyone to build good relationships.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: The only tip I can offer isn't really a tip, but it has helped me come a long way. No matter how long you've been doing what you do, don't ever settle and think that the learning has stopped, YOU LEARN EVERYDAY, and that creates a better engineer.1
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: The typical music for me to work on is hip hop or rap, but I do a little R&B here and there. The projects I get from my school vary from rock, country, gospel, and sometimes even dubstep.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Strongest skills vary. The fact that I'm a lefty, makes creativity for me a lot easier. My clients tell me I'm a jack of all trades. I come up with choruses, move fast when it comes to engineering or mixing projects. I add verses to songs, I can change a verse to make it flow smoothly and connect better.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I can bring the catchy phrases to a song and actually put it into people mind. Crazy right? It's always that one song you have stuck in your head right? Because it's catchy! That's my job.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I like to hear what I'm working with first, so I'll listen/watch whatever it is, scope out what should be fixed and list it, then I'll present the list to the client and make suggestions, but not necessarily say that "I don't like this" just mainly saying what I think would make a better quality.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: A little basic, but if you ask me, I think I built it pretty well. Jus a garage. You know that reverb you hear in the garage? COMPLETELY GONE! If there's one thing school has taught me, that's no matter where your setup is, you have to make it work, it's always a possibility to upgrade, but for now, do what you can afford.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: My inspiration would have to be indie artists. I was first inspired by my father, but the drive that keeps me going is me. I want to be my own boss, and I believe you won't be happy in life til you have ownership. At least with my skills and accomplished projects, I can say I own something.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: The most common work in my field is the engineering, I am basically the producer of projects as well. Whenever a client is recording in my studio, I make sure I get the best sounding quality as possible, because the art reflects on me as an engineer as well, so if a mix is bad or the song is terrible, we ALL look bad, but my job is to keep that from happening.
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