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

Alright, Joseph thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us 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)?

In truth, I will never stop being an apprentice to my engineering mentor so long as he continues to be willing to share his expertise and experience, however, now that I am capable of going out on my own and finding small successes, I am able to look back on the time as a beginning apprentice that got me here. Kevin Pergantis is my engineering mentor and is the sole reason as to why I have any sort of chance at a successful career in the recording industry. With that said, I have assisted Kevin on the majority of his projects during our working relationship and by far the most memorable one was an orchestral recording for what is now going to be the new national anthem sign off for all “Gray Television” networks. Kevin and I had been working together for a while, and while I had decent experience at this point, it was still a privilege for Kevin to entrust me with this assisting role. Orchestral sessions have no room for error and Kevin made sure I was aware of that. However, he also made it clear that he was on my side should anything go awry. The first big half of lessons came from the session setup. It was during this setup that I got some of the most invaluable engineering information I have to this day. The next big half was of course the session itself. It was an early morning and it was nonstop focus the whole day, however, no matter how stressful it got, Kevin made sure to ease any tension or worries I had. He had plenty of scoring experience and knew how overwhelming these sessions can be so he was sure to ease any unnecessary stress. With that said, the most important thing he instilled in me during this session is the necessary stress and the necessary sacrifice I would need to accept if I was going to be working this caliber of session. It takes more willpower than most people think to stay focused and on top of things while running a scoring session, and through trial by fire, kevin showed me what I would be getting into both mentally and physically. It’s this session in particular that helped me have a better mindset with my own personal sessions and allowed me to help other people in the studio learn the ropes the same healthy way that I did.

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.

My name is Joseph Price and I work as a recording and mixing engineer. I primarily work out of Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta Georgia and I have been in this line of work for about 7 years now. As a recording engineer, it is my job and passion to take whatever the artist and producer have in mind and capture it with the most amount of accuracy and efficiency as possible. This includes things like knowing the right microphones, preamps, and general techniques to help accomplish my main goal. However, the part most people don’t talk about is the hospitality and leadership role that the recording engineer must have. While the technical part of of course important, so is your ability to move the session forward in a efficient and pleasing manner. Learning where and when to make sacrifices and when and where to step in and help is such an important part of what I do and can be the reason a project gets done sooner than expected or ends up delayed. As a mixing engineer, I get the pleasure of taking what is recorded, whether by me or someone else, and bringing all the different elements into a balanced and coherent atmosphere. My job is done right if I am able to convince the listener that the song is taking place somewhere very specific and that it never leaves that imaginary location for the duration of the song. I love working with any and all types of music and artists, however, my bread and butter is definitely in the band realm specifically indie rock bands.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

The ironic answer to this question is that the part most people tend to struggle with understanding is the struggle of being a creative. With that, there are two different avenues to explore. The first is the struggle of dissatisfaction. Most people only see the end result of a creative work, and unless you involve yourself in the process, you never see the difficulties of allowing your vision to come to pass. Specifically in my line of work, it is so much coordination, communication, late hours, and tedious work to get to the point where both me and anyone else involve are equally pleased with a project. Once it is out, it is time for celebration and appreciation, which is the part most people see but that is only a small part of the actual process. The second thing to consider is the general struggle of living a more creative and less structured life. For me personally, it is hard to have a five year plan because every month is so drastically different (in either a good or bad way) so there is the great struggle of uncertainty. The general outlook on a creative career already has a negative stigma where people think what you are doing is a waste of time so it gets hard during difficult moments to convince yourself that you are not in fact wasting your time. Overtime both of these struggles get easier, and there is nothing else I would rather be doing, but I would be lying if I said its purely all fun and celebration the whole way.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

If you are doing it even partially right, the end result of creativity is something new. Following the definition, you have created something. The realization of a vision combined with the fact that what you have done is, in some fashion, brand new is easily the most rewarding part. Now my job is not quite as creatively involved as the artist who does the hard work of bringing in the idea having the ability to lay it down, however, I get the joy of applying my personal taste and methods to the idea to help bring it to life. To go back and hear a demo of a song and compare it to the final master is really when the realization hits that the amount of time, thought, and dedication you put into a project was, without a doubt, worth it because of the brand new piece of art that the collaboration brought into the music world.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/price_audio/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-price-14357a283/

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