We recently connected with Joe Lambert and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Joe thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
The biggest challenge is there is just less money being spent on projects. Indie labels mostly just leave it up to the artist to pay out of pocket or out of a small advance. So if you’re a new artist starting out, it’s very difficult to come up with the budget. Even major label project budgets are far smaller than 25 years ago. As a studio owner you have to run much more lean. You can’t buy a large format mixing desk and every fancy piece of outboard gear, and hire staff engineers and assistants if your clients expect you to record and mix a 12-song record for 5 grand. Gear is more affordable for sure than in the past, but depending on where you are, rents are high and there are many expenses in any business.
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’m a lifelong musician and spent my youth touring with bands. I got a degree in Communications and after a major label deal fell through, I decided to get into audio engineering and enrolled in Full Sail University. I moved to New York and worked my way up at several studios. After establishing a client base, I was able to build my own studio. I’ve moved it a couple times and I think I’m finally in my forever spot! I’m now a Grammy-nominated mastering engineer and I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many great artists, a few of which I’ll list here: Moby, Animal Collective, City and Colour, Dirty Projectors, Deerhunter, Sharon Van Etten, Sofi Tukker, The National, Lindsey Stirling and of Montreal.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think it’s a constant commitment to just doing the work. I started getting busy when I stopped trying to impress people and decided to focus on helping them. It really helped me remember what the job is.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
At one point, I was the house engineer at an NYC studio that was about to build a bigger studio with a mastering room and a tracking room. I did a little of everything up to that point for them. My boss asked me which room I wanted. I went home, thought about it and decided that mastering fit my skill set best and then I was 100 percent committed to making that my career.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joelambertmastering.com
- Instagram: joelambertmastering
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joe.mastering
- Linkedin: joelambert