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

Cooper, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)?

I had 2 internships. They were both very memorable and meaningful to my career, and I keep in touch with both of the main people I apprenticed with. The first internship was at a post house in NYC that recorded audio for Nickelodeon by day and hip hop for the likes of Kanye West by night. Working here taught me to navigate different personalities in the business and learn to serve at the highest level. The second internship got me a lot of credentials and I ended up working there for 12 years. I was able to build my business from the “leftover” clients at this studio, and my credits are still valuable today.

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 started playing in bands in high school and needed a demo tape to get gigs. I was the one who ended up recording and mixing the demo’s and I joined the first vocational music program in a public school in the USA in 1997. Then I went to Berklee college of music in Boston and after that got a job working for a freelance mix engineer in NJ in 2005. I stacked up a bunch of credits like Kanye West’ Gold Digger and Fun.’s We Are Young. in 2009 I started my own business, and in 2017 my first daughter was born. Then came covid and divorce and now I’ve reinvented myself as a full time mix engineer/producer and educator.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I love the concept of proving ownership of intellectual property, especially these days with generative AI. I think for it to be implemented it needs to be simple to use and easy to understand for everyone, and I would love to see that happen as I think it’s a more fair concept than the current model of at best having a legal contract and at worst a verbal misunderstanding.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Having major label credits definitely built my reputation. Audio schools crank out new graduates every year but it’s harder and harder to get a gold or higher selling record these days. I think that’s an important opportunity that every engineer/producer should take if it presents itself. You can make a living without it but if you’re working with independent artists or even other major label artists it is easier to convince them that you know what you’re doing if you can tell them about other artists (preferably bigger than them) that you’ve worked with.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://platinumrecordmixing.com
• Instagram: coopss
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cooper-anderson-44329338/

Image Credits

Phil Silverberg