We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Todd Peterson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Todd, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Confidence and self-esteem is such a big thing, especially in music. Everyone in this industry knows that your success in music can greatly affect the way you feel about yourself if you let it. From a strictly audio perspective, I’d say my confidence comes from the work I put in to try to better myself, my business, and my craft as a mixer. I care a lot about the quality of my work and the value I bring to my clients. There are always things I can improve or goals I am still working towards, but those things tend not to bother me if I am actively working towards them. It’s all about taking action!
I think the same can apply to everyone in the industry, whether it’s a producer, writer, artist, session musician, or anyone really. If you always think about what you want to achieve, but aren’t actively taking action on anything, you’ll probably feel unsettled when someone asks you how things in your music career are going. You’ll lack confidence and not really know what to say. But if you are consistently putting time and effort into what you are working towards, it doesn’t matter where you are at in your career, because you’ll be able to confidently express what you’ve been up to and that you have been working hard towards your next milestone.
Even more important, I think everyone needs to have something to really live for outside of just music to have genuine confidence and purpose. I would say mine comes primarily from my faith in Jesus Christ. I believe we are all God’s children, and that every person is of infinite worth. It gives enormous confidence knowing that the most powerful being in the universe knows us personally and is here to help and support us if we put Him at the forefront of our lives. Knowing that changes everything. It helps me have the confidence to move forward in life, and in the music industry.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
As a mixer, my job is to add life to the music, bring out the best in each track, and enhance it so that it sounds the way it was meant to. There’s just something special to me about taking a great song, and balancing and enhancing everything so that it reaches its full potential and connects with the listener. People often really underestimate the importance of a great mix, and how big of a difference a few small moves can make to how the song sounds and feels. The mix can even be the difference between the listener bobbing their head to the beat or hitting the skip button on Spotify!
Though I’m a mix engineer now, I actually started out as a classically-trained pianist as a kid. I grew up in a small town in Arizona where nobody within hundreds of miles knew a thing about making records, so playing the piano was pretty much the extent of what I could do musically.
As my skills improved and I learned more about music in general, I knew I wanted to do something more with it throughout my life. I ended up getting accepted into the very competitive Commercial Music Program at Brigham Young University, which is where I got my start in audio engineering. I eventually became the head engineer and manager for the main commercial recording studio there, which was an awesome experience I’ll always look back on.
In addition to my work recording in the studio, I also started taking on freelance projects doing production work for local artists. As I continued working as a producer, I realized my real passion was in mixing. Fast forward to now, I’m in Nashville and I’ve focused all of my work specifically on mixing projects rather than full production. Focusing all my efforts on mixing has helped me improve at what I do while being better able to give my clients great mixes that bring their vision to life, which is the most important thing!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
One thing that has been big for my personal journey is collaborating with other people. So many people try to do everything themselves, which I understand because I used to do it myself. I would argue it’s often much better to focus your skill set on one area, and team up with other people for the rest who are experts at their craft as well. If you look at the credits of most big records, you don’t see the name of just one person. Most often, you see a lot of names of a lot of different people who played a part in the music!
If you think about it, when you have other talented people who you work with on a regular basis, it really takes a lot of pressure off of yourself because you no longer have to worry about trying to be an expert at everything. You don’t get lonely from doing everything by yourself, you have the ability to charge more for specializing in what you do, you get to form genuine friendships with those you work with, and the end product turns out better!
That said, are there some people who are great at everything and feel most comfortable doing it all themselves? Sure, and that’s great! But for most people, I would definitely recommend giving it a shot and outsourcing different parts of the process to others who are a good fit for your work. Making music can be so rewarding, and it’s even better when you’re combining your own talents with those of others to make something really special.
Another skill I think has been critical for me is self-evaluation. That might not seem like much of a skill at first, but I really believe that it takes a lot to constantly take a look at where you’re at in what you’re doing, and figure out how to adjust so that you can continually improve. Asking yourself questions after each project like, “What could I do better in the next mix that I may have overlooked this time?”, or “What music is really popular right now, and is there anything else I can do to have the next record come any closer to that, or beat it?” That is something that has been key for my progression as a mix engineer, especially when I was starting out. The moment we stop evaluating ourselves, I think we really hurt our chances at progressing.
One last thing that I’d say has been important for me is being ok with making mistakes, and choosing to learn from them. The music industry can be daunting because there isn’t a singular path to success that everyone can take and experience the exact same results. Everyone’s journey is different, which means we all make mistakes figuring out our own path. We all have to be patient with ourselves, and accept that falling short sometimes (or a lot of times!) is just part of the process for everyone. Choosing to learn from mistakes and experiences will make you better at whatever you do.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I’m always looking to serve talented, driven producers and artists who are serious about their craft. Whether you want a fresh perspective on a song, you just don’t care much for mixing, or you feel your own mixes are holding back your productions from reaching their full potential, I’m here to help. In addition to providing a killer mix, my top priority is to make sure the client loves the end result. I want to give the music its best chance at connecting with fans and listeners while making my clients’ lives easier in the process.
If you’ve ever considered working with a mix engineer, or just wanna chat, hit me up! If you’re unsure about reaching out, just do it! If we work together on something, great! If not, it’s still good to make new friends and hear about the cool things you’re doing. I’m very active on Instagram, so feel free to send me a DM there. I can also be reached via email, or through the link on my website.
Contact Info:
- Website: toddpetersonmixes.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toddpetersonmixes/
