We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elaine Rasnake. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elaine below.
Alright, Elaine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
It all started during the pandemic. Daughterboard Audio had technically already existed prior to the quarantine as my “full spectrum” recording/mixing/mastering business. However, it really took its final form when everything shut down and I had to make a choice: go all in on the mixing side of things or go all in on mastering (since having people over to record was not an option). Thanks to my short attention span and level of perfectionism, I wound up going all in on audio mastering and completely dove into the craft. I spent every day reading, researching, talking to other engineers, and listening to music for hours and hours. I was extremely lucky that I had made a handful of musician friends during my performance/touring years who let me master their music during this time since we had already built up a level of trust and community with each other. So this combination of community and free time to perfect my skills helped me realize that this could turn into something really successful.
Elaine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m Elaine Rasnake and I’m the owner of Daughterboard Audio, a queer-owned and operated studio in Philadelphia, PA. I studied audio production at Bloomsburg University and, during the pandemic, ended up niching down to just focus and specialize in audio mastering.
Community is really important to me and I feel like we can all learn so much from each other and work together to make something really incredible, especially in the music community. It is an absolute dream that I get to spend my days being someone who helps elevate people’s music and provide a sense of reassurance that their music will sound fantastic everywhere.
I’m really proud of the fact that I created this business from the ground up, during a time where it felt like everything was falling apart, and the fact that I never gave up when times got tough. And things are only just getting started!
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Word of mouth has been such an incredible source of new clients for me. Whether it’s musicians making recommendations to each other when it’s time to make a record or when someone releases new music and tags me in their social media posts, these are all easy but really powerful ways to spread the word that I exist and that I’m someone who is reliable and trustworthy.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
While working on a project, we will communicate via email, text, and/or phone calls in order to stay in touch and ensure that we are on the same page throughout the entire mastering process. After the project is done, I will often follow my clients on social media. This allows me to help spread the word when their music has been released and it’s also a great way to keep in touch and strengthen our newfound relationship.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://daughterboardaudio.com/
- Instagram: @daughterboardaudio
Image Credits
Elaine Rasnake