Archive for September, 2012

I recently read a fantastic article in ProSound News. Thought I would share my own thoughts here regarding “WHAT’S IMPORTANT IN A STUDIO?”

For some people, Pro Quality Gear is what they tout as being the most important element in their studio. For others, the quality of the sound, mix, mastering, outputs, and finishing is most important. For others it’s “who” worked on the project for you.

To all the above, I say, “yes – that is important… but it’s not THE most important.” Okay, so what is most important, sir? Great question. For us at HyperThreat the most important thing is Customer Service. What difference does it make to have great gear if no one is coming in to use it? What good is the best mixing and mastering if no one is having your business mix and master? Great having some industry superstars working in your studio, but if no one is coming to your studio – what difference does it make?

Here’s the bottom line… and this is with any business, not just the audio business. Your first line with customers is “CUSTOMER SERVICE.” That means from the advertising, to the initial contacts, to the working relationships, finally to the finished product or service. If your customer service sucks… I guarantee your business will suck too… I can also guarantee that great customer service will also keep customers with you rather than going to those other places that have great gear, great work, and hero engineers (or whatever your business is). Why? Because people want to be treated with respect. They want to know you care about them first before your own profitability. I’m not saying your business and profits aren’t important… quite the contrary, I’m saying you WILL experience profitability and a booming business IF you treat your customers well. Listen to them. Help them. Make them feel like they are the most important people who have ever walked through your doors.

I find, in today’s world, that customer service in most places sucks. Seriously. I get waitresses that role their eyes at me. I’ve had phone service people treat me like I was stupid because I didn’t understand what they were saying (not going to mention AT&T). Do you think I’ll ever go back to these places? NO! So – make your customers know they are the reason for the season and your business will grow. Might even make it past the spooky “Within 5 years most business fail” stage.

At HyperThreat Studios – our customers ARE NUMBER ONE! We treat everyone with respect. We offer our professional experience, but at the end of the day, whatever you want – that’s what we’re going to deliver. Our goal is that your experience with us goes beyond the Professional Gear. Beyond the Quality. Beyond the sound. All starts with our intentional relationship with… you.

HyperThreat Sound is a professional recording studio in Denver Colorado. We are a full service studio offering recording, mixing, and mastering. We offer instrument and amp rentals for sessions as well. HyperThreat – Recording Studio Denver.

My guess is, and it’s only a guess, that 3 out of 5 people have said at least once in their lives, “I want to be a singer.” I know I did. Fortunately I got the opportunity. Sure, it’s in the Christian market, but still… I was able to be on 6 albums (do we even call them albums anymore?).

What about you? Do you have a dream? That’s where it all begins. You know, one of the things I’ve learned over the years is that the older you get, the less you dream. The less you dream, the less creative you become. The less creative you become, well… you get the idea. I think we, in the artists community, need to be really actively involved in encouraging dreaming again. Without dreams, we really have nothing to attain. Nothing to look forward to. Nothing to gain.

With schools taking more and more money away from “the arts” in education, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for kids to have creative outlets. Remember all the concerts, plays, art shows we did/had when we were in school? It seems to me we had at least 3 activities every month at the schools I attended. Even more when I got into middle-school and high-school. Not so much today.

There have been scientific studies done on the impact of music in individual’s lives. Mozart, for example, has a unique way of teaching infants perfected incremental discernment. Mathematics. I can say in my own kids lives, because we constantly played Mozart and other classical music when they were infants, we have seen a propensity towards math and higher function skills. I’m not saying it’s a “wonder-drug” and that it is a perfected science, but I will say this… It has a profound effect on humans in general.

My goal growing up was to be a music therapist. I know the power and impact music has over our lives. Like smells… certain songs, lyrics, licks, can take you to a place in your past that brings a very full and real memory to life once again. That’s power! So, my question is… why do we abandon our dreams? Why do we give up on those hopes that “someday”… which never seems to come?

I would suggest that the first thing we need to do is… Commit. We have to commit to supporting the arts. We have to commit to supporting our own childhood dreams of perhaps doing something beyond the norm or out of the box. So what if it’s a hobby? You never know how a hobby (which will make you happy) could turn into a career (which would also make you happy). I have to ask… a real question – think before you answer… “WHAT’S STOPPING YOU?”

Don’t give in to the world’s view that, “why bother… it will never happen.” when that is a lie… It will happen, IF you want it to. It CAN happen, if you want it to. Why not be that singer? Who knows, you may be the next Adele…

HyperThreat Sound is a professional recording studio in Denver Colorado. We are a full service studio offering recording, mixing, and mastering. We offer instrument and amp rentals for sessions as well. HyperThreat – Recording Studio Denver.