We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chandler Dixon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chandler below.

Chandler, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

In 2020, I was supposed to be out on tour for two months, but everything was cancelled as the world was shut down. I figured that with all of the recording studios being shut down and every artist in the world cooped up at home, this would be a great time to teach myself how to record. I bought some simple gear and started on my path to 10,000 hours. I watched several master classes and spoke to mentors and friends asking them incessantly for feedback and tips. I had hit a creative wall at one point and found myself completely stuck.

One day my friend Matthew Wright (Sarah Barellies, David Ramirez) called me out of the blue to play on a song of his at a studio in town. I had very little information about the song, and no time to prepare, so I just grabbed a couple of things out of my basement drum room and jumped in his car. He told me on the ride that we were heading to Tyler Halford’s (Frank Ocean, Foster the People, etc) studio. I had a picture in my head of what I thought the set up would look like based on the “rules of recording drums” and from pictures I had seen from other studios. I thought there would be tons of microphones set up everywhere and a separate control room and all sorts of other fancy things that were “necessary” to make good music. What I found there could not have been further from my expectations. The studio was in a barn next to a house. As I walked in, I felt like I was in somebody’s home and surrounded by very select pieces of beautiful old gear. There was a chair with a mic set up and a drum kit in the corner. Tyler greeted us barefoot and with a smile and offered us a beer. I got set up behind the kit and was anticipating the usual 16 mic set up. He set up three mics. One in front of the drum kit, one for Matt’s vocal, and one far away in the room. I was perplexed, but got set up. Matt played through the song to give me a general idea of what we were going to do and we played it three times. During playback, Tyler made two very bold and intentional choices. He only used the microphone far across the room, and Matt’s vocal, and didn’t do anything fancy to the two tracks. The result was magic. A live performance with imperfections and innocence with microphones in all the wrong places. Creaking chairs, wrong parts, uncertainty… and the result was perfect.

I learned that I could make music with my heart and ears, not the rules of how you’re “supposed” to do things. I also learned that the music I truly love is not perfect, because as my mentor Aaron Redfield said,” Music at its best is imperfect”. Now I approach every situation with this in mind. I have microphones in weird places, and use the “rules” of recording as guidelines, and make decisions with my ears. I have completely let go of the illusion of the polished professional and have fully embraced the “mad scientist” that lives inside of me. This isn’t every artists cup of tea, which is totally fine, but my experience with Matt and Tyler has informed every musical decision I have made since that day. From how I built my studio, to how I interact with artists and clients.

I am glad that I learned this lesson when I did. I was able to learn the rules, and then learned how to break them as an artist to achieve the result I have in my head. Being stubborn and thinking I knew it all would have completely hindered my learning. Individualistic pride is the eternal obstacle, and this can only be overcome by collaboration and sharing. There is enough “success” for everybody, and more than enough if we work together and share and listen. The best way to get better at something is to work with people who are better than you at what you do. Thankfully I get to do that each and every day.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have been obsessed with the drums since I came out of the womb. My parents are both musicians and I grew up sitting on my father’s piano bench watching the drummer on Sunday morning church rehearsals with wide eyes. I grew up between Anaheim, Nashville, and Seattle. After college, I moved to San Diego where I met many brilliant musicians who embraced me with love and acceptance. I recently built a new recording studio out of my house in Oceanside where we specialize in recording drums, but also serve other recording needs. I offer remote and in person session work, production, and mixing services.

What separates me from the pack is that the first song is free. Although this policy seems like a terrible business decision that costs a lot of time and money, it is how I have earned the trust of my clients that keeps them coming back over and over again. If I am not the right fit, I will call the right person for the job. The song is king, not my ego.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I have grown my clientele by word of mouth, my website, and social media. I always offer the first project for free and offer discounts the more songs there are (bulk ordering style). I find that these organic methods establish long lasting relationships and a group of people who will advocate your service more in the future.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I ensure to follow up with the artist and send updates as the project is coming along if it is a remote session. I love to make sure that they feel involved in the decision making process. Additionally, I like to follow up with an artist after the session or gig to see how things went in their eyes, to see what I can improve on, and to make sure they were happy with the outcome. Again, relationships are everything.

Contact Info:

• Website: chandlerdixon.com
• Instagram: @chando.dix
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Collin Crown, Catherine McGrath, Makenzie Madden