Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jeffrey Reed. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jeffrey, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’ve pretty much made my living solely on my work as an audio engineer for over 35 years. I ended up in the music business those many years ago as a result of taking my band into a small garage studio in Vicksburg, MS in the late 80s. I knew at the time I wanted to pursue a career in music, particularly on the tech side, but had no idea where to start. I didn’t even know at the time what a recording engineer even was, but when I watched the engineer recording our demo the lightbulb went off. That was it! Still not know where to turn, I began calling studios in the area looking for any sort of position. After many rejections, I was finally offered a chance to interview for a sales position at the world famous blues and gospel label, Malaco Records. Somehow I got the job with zero experience and managed to get my foot in the door and get to know the engineer (Jerry Masters). I guess he sensed my passion and took me under his wing and showed me the ground floor of being a recording engineer. After a couple of years there, I eventually ended up attending what is now known as Full Sail University. Mainly because I had promised my mom I would get a degree. I just didn’t promise where. Just after graduation I was offered a coveted job at the world famous Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN and worked there for most of the 90s, going from phone guy to assistant engineer and then on to engineering and producing. In the late 90s, I eventually made the terrifying decision to leave my coveted job and pursue a freelance career. Things went surprisingly well and eventually ended up partnering with a friend on an indy record label venture. That was going fairly well, but unfortunately we were on the rise at the same time as the likes of Napster and their ilk. I had come to a crossroads and the options were either 1) Move back to Memphis and try to get my old job back or 2) Start my own business. I chose the latter and formed Taproot Audio Design in Oxford, MS in the summer of 2002, focusing primarily on mixing and mastering. Although I still freelance here and there, this has been my passion coming up on 25 years now. It’s had it’s ups and downs and around 2012ish I figured it was time to diversify, as it was simply getting harder and harder to make a living solely in music. After some thought I went back to something that nearly changed my career path while I was still in school. I had considered getting into film audio and had made a couple of connections, but it would take a real moron to turn down the job offer I got right after graduation. I began learning more and more about film mixing. 5.1 surround mixing in general, which I had always been curious about. It turned out one of my best friends from the Full Sail days (Eric Fischer, Autumn Audio) had begun his own adventures in film mixing after departing a career in music engineering briefly. Over the course of a couple of years he showed the ropes of the process and it’s kind of taken on a life of it’s own. We’ve recently upgraded our facility to a fully calibrated Dolby Atmos mix room. Who knows what’s around the next corner….

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I formed Taproot Audio Design in 2002, focusing primarily on mixing, mastering and at the time CD duplication. A lot of this decision was based on a yearning to have a little bit more “normal” life. Like 9-5 hours. I had done my time doing the “go in at 11am and leave the next day, sometimes when the sun was coming up” routine. Only to turn around and do it again. Sometimes months at a time. Well, there’s nothing “normal” about what we do, but the hours sure are better. We now offer a variety of services. Mainly mixing, mastering and sound design for music and film in any format from full Dolby Atmos surround to stereo. We also offer dialog editing, voiceover recording, ADR, podcast editing and location recording services.

We are client focused and highly detail oriented. Our motto is “Focused Audio to Empower Your Vision” which pretty much sums it up.

Have you ever had to pivot?

So around 2010-2012 things weren’t going so well. I had made the heartbreaking decision that I was going just completely get out of the business I had worked so hard to get into. Once I got into the “real world” I found out very quickly that I was nothing more than entry level McDonald’s material, as far as employers were concerned. It shook me pretty hard and honestly scared the crap out of me! It turned out to be a good thing and made me wake up and realize I had fallen into deep rut (possibly depression) and I though didn’t even realize it at the time. I got my act together and began to stand up and take more pride in my work, my studio, my business and personal relationships and pull myself out of this slump. Things started to turn around. That’s when the idea to diversify into film mixing came along and what blessing it has been. Other avenues have blossomed from that and things are going along quite swimmingly. People in this business really have to take time to guard their mental health. While it can be extremely rewarding, it can be isolating at the same time.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It may sound corny, but for me, what I do is sort of like writing a biography. I find it very comforting and rewarding that some of my work will be around and hopefully enjoyed long after I’m gone.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://taprootaudiodesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taproot_audio_design/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taprootaudiodesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-reed-4a66a547/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jeffreyreed630