Using old DAWs, $300 Speakers, And Winning An Emmy

If you feel like you don’t have the right equipment or enough money to actually make the records you want to make, this post is for you.

Today I want to share with you three different examples of people who are getting a lot done without trying “keep up” with the Jones’s of audio.

From not upgrading their DAW for years, to mixing radio singles on $300 speakers, to even winning an Emmy as a home studio mixer, there’s a lot to be encouraged by here.

A Weekend Full Of Surprises

I just got back last night from a quick weekend trip to Nashville – primarily to do dinner with a select group of our Dueling Mixes members. It was a total blast meeting them and getting to know their stories.

I also have a lot of friends in Nashville and so I made a few stops around town to catch up with them.

My first stop on Friday was a “little” studio just outside of town, where the talented Kevin Ward was producing a record being played by some killer session players. Boy that was a treat to listen to monster musicians crushing it on the first take.

What I didn’t realize was that I was about to witness the first of three surprises during my weekend in the Music City.

Why Upgrade Your DAW?

As the band was playing I walked around the control room just checking out the setup.

It was pretty standard for a pro Nashville studio: Pro Tools HD rig, big control surface, a few GML EQs, some Distressors, and some API lunchbox preamps.

But as I walked closer to where Steve, the engineer, was sitting I took a look at his computer screen and noticed something right away – he was using Pro Tools 10!

Why is that a big deal?

Well it’s not – if you are fine with running your sessions on a 5 year old piece of software.

And to be honest – all I know for sure from looking at the screen is that it wasn’t Pro Tools 11 or later (since they re designed the mixer interface). So in reality Steve was using Pro Tools 10 or older!

Here I am – in a pro session, with top tier talent, and it’s all being recorded on a (gasp) 5-8 year old DAW.

In reality – this is super common among pro studios. I actually know a guy who still mixes on Pro Tools version 6 (which came out in 2003!!!)

But this is in stark contrast to many of the home studios I know of. Many of my readers are running the up-to-the-minute latest version of their DAW, or at least something from the last year or two.

Certainly no one would consider making an album on 5+ year old software, right?

Well – the pros do!

If an outdated version of my DAW is good enough for them, maybe it’s good enough for me.

These $300 Speakers Sound Great

The next day I had some time to catch up with one of my mixing heroes, Jacquire King (James Bay, Mutemath, Kings Of Leon).

He invited me over to his house and I found myself sipping some sparkling water, sitting poolside with the “king” and talking music making, his new studio, and mixing in the box.

Speaking of mixing in the box, last fall Jacquire had called me up to ask me a few questions on how I approach mixing (kind of humbling considering he’s the guy with the Grammy’s) as he was transitioning from a hybrid approach to entirely 100% in the box.

Since then he has setup a small mixing studio in his house so he doesn’t always have to go in to Blackbird to mix a project.

I kindly asked if he’d be willing to show it to me. He obliged. But I was in for a total surprise when I got upstairs to the “studio”.

Tucked away in a room full of stuff piled on stuff was a little desk with a super typical home studio rig: an iMac, Apollo Twin, and – get this – a pair of KRK Rokit 5s. My favorite little speakers, priced at $150 a pop!

And Jacquire had just mixed a new radio single on that rig.

In reality, I already knew that he worked on those KRKs in other studios – but to walk in and see him using them as his only pair of speakers in this little upstairs room just floored me.

In Jacquire’s own words: “These KRKs just sound great!”

So if a pair of $300 speakers are good enough for Grammy winning mixer Jacquire King, maybe they are good enough for me too.

From Home Studio To Winning An Emmy

Finally my weekend of surprises came to a close as I was about to board my plane for home when I got a tweet from one of my students, Adam Taylor – he had just won an Emmy award!

Adam is a musician and producer from Oklahoma City who wanted to transition from his day job to making music full time in his home studio.

He took my Audio Income Project course and then kicked things into high gear.

From mixing bands, to connecting with all the local music venues, to working on audio post production for video projects his friends were doing – Adam jumped in head first.

Turns out all of that hard work (and connecting with other talented people) paid off.

As of this weekend Adam is now an award winning mix engineer for his work on Parker Millsap’s performance of “The Villain” at the Queen of The Prairie Festival (below).

Congrats my man!

No More Excuses

The reason I shared these three examples with you is that I want you to see the writing on the wall, that there are literally no more excuses for not making the music you want to make.

No longer can you blame an outdated piece of software, budget studio monitors, or where you live for the lack of progress or “success” (however you define it) in your music making journey. And don’t listen to people who tell you otherwise. They’re just trying to bring you down.

There has never been a better time to make great sounding music and share it with the world than right now.

Just ask guys like Steve, Jacquire, and Adam.

Instead of “hoping” something cool will one day happen, they are getting to work and putting in every ounce of effort then can in their season of life.

Remember – you already have enough gear to do what you want. It’s simply time to do it.