We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniel Sardi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniel below.
Daniel, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Becoming a professional in the music business involves taking a leap of faith. Nothing is guaranteed, but if your inner voice tells you that’s what you were meant to do, you owe it to yourself to pursue your dream. I’ve been a musician since since the age of 12 years old. I played the drums for tons of bands through my childhood and majored in band in a performing arts high school named Talent Unliited located in NYC. After high school i stopped pursuing music for a few years and went out into the world in pursuit of a good paying steady job. I ended up becoming an truck driver. I spent 5 years driving oil trucks in NYC. I was miserable the entire time. I knew it was not my calling. I knew i was destined for a career in the music industry. One day i decided it now or never and I completely changed my life. I enrolled in SAE Institute of Technology New York for a degree in audio production and engineering. The rest was history
Daniel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started out working as an intern at a major studio in NYC called Engine Room Audio. I spent my first few months being a runner for the studio. I spent long days and nights cleaning up after sessions, taking out the trash, and scrubbing toilets. I soon worked my way up to an assistant engineer where I was able to sit in on major label recording sessions. I spent this time absorbing as much information as i could about session procedure, proper recording technique, how to really work the board and put analog audio gear to use. After a year or 2 of taking on whatever sessions were thrown my way I worked my way up to top engineer. I had the opportunity to work with a lot of big artists, and began to build a reputation as a great recording engineer. I even earned a couple plaques most notably working on SZA’s debut Album CTRL which ended up being one of the most influential r&b albums of the past decade and went triple platinum. After a few years my focus began to shift to becoming a professional mix engineer. Most clients i worked with became return clients because of my ability to quickly turn their recordings into professional sounding finished products. I soon realized it was me that clients were returning for, and not the pretty studio or the gear. I decided at that point it was time to go into business for myself. I partnered with a close friend and fellow engineer and built a studio in Brooklyn NY called Blendworks Studio. Blendworks is a boutique recording and mixing facility that offers top notch audio equipment and experienced engineers at competitive rate. Going into business for myself gave me the opportunity to take on the projects i wanted to work on and the artists i wanted to work with. I’ve truly been able to sharpen my skills as a mixer over the years by taking on countless projects. Mixing became the driving factor in my career because i am able to contribute my artistic taste and creativity to help elevate music to its fullest potential.
I take on every project big or small with an intense passion and determination to be the best. a lot artists don’t fully understand what goes into making a professional sounding record. With my experience I am able to guid clients through the process of recording, mixing, and mastering and how crucial each step of the process is. Ever since i was a kid I’ve been fascinated by the sound of professional records. Its truly a blessing to have come this far in the industry and i look forward to what the future holds.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Word of mouth is the best source of new clients for me. i try to stay active on social media to promote myself, but the best way to bring in more clients is to do great work. i pride my self on good customer service, experience, reliability, and organization. This is why clients are happy to share my name or email address when their friends or colleagues for recording or mixing.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Getting into the music industry all odds are against you. it is a highly competitive field and truth be told starting off, you are not very good. Becoming a great engineer comes with time patience and experience. you can spend years feeling like things will never work out. there will be countless times where opportunities arise where you think this is going to be your big break and it turns out to be a let down. you have to keep faith in yourself. you have to love what you do. the payoff is not immediate but in the long run building a successful career in what i think is the coolest job in the world is the greatest reward
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mixedbysardi.com/
- Instagram: @mixedbysardi
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/blendworks-studios-brooklyn-3