We recently connected with Kaj Falch-Nielsen and have shared our conversation below.
Kaj, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
I believe that my optimism comes from my love of music, and everything surrounding the creation of music. From a young age I have always been drawn to music, both as a listener and creator.
Since starting my own studio, Blue Light Studio, in 2010, I have been following a path that is in line with this passion, and I believe this is incredibly helpful for having an optimistic outlook. Alone, this is likely not enough, but I believe that it’s easier to achieve my goals, and have a good time along the way, if I keep an optimistic attitude.
I don’t believe I was always this way, and before I went to audio school I was slugging my way through cooking jobs, and construction jobs, which really weren’t my passion. During these days, I had times where I wasn’t very optimistic, and it never really got me anywhere useful, except in the same old situation that I wasn’t happy with. Somewhere along the way as I started doing more of what I was passionate for, and going to school for it, I saw how much more I could achieve with an optimistic attitude. This combined with the excitement from entering into the music industry in a way I never had before, led me to have a very optimistic outlook on life in general.
13 years later the studio is going strong, and I am very grateful for everything I’ve achieved getting to where I am now. I like to think optimism has played a role getting me where I am today.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My love of music started at a young age. This passion has followed me throughout my life, and today it is engrained in everything I do professionally.
I remember in grade one we played the recorder, and I was adamant that I would be faster than my teacher at whatever song we were working on. This passion continued on, and I played in several bands in high school and after. I toured a few times with a rock band, traveling down to LA and back.
In 2005 I went to the Art Institute for Recording Arts. I discovered very quickly that I understood, and was naturally good at recording and production, and quickly fell in love with everything about a recording studio. After school myself and a couple friends from school decided we were going to start a studio. With this Blue Light Studio was born.
Fast forward 13 years later, and Blue Light is thriving as an entrenched part of the Vancouver Music Scene. Today we have a fantastic team of professionals working at the studio, all with the same passion for music that I have. Something that sets us apart from many studios is the comfortable atmosphere all the staff create, combined with the homey feel of the studio (think lots of wood, lots of lava lamps). Recording music can be stressful and vulnerable for artists, and so often I’ve hear feedback from artists that they feel our studio fosters a safe environment for them to be open and vulnerable with their art.
Getting way more geeky, we have also made some significant studio upgrades in the past year which I am really excited about. The center piece of this is a Neve 8424 analogue console. This board has completely changed the game for us as far as the quality we are able to produce at the studio. Another pieces that I am really excited about are a Lexicon 224XL vintage reverb unit.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
This is a great question. The first and most obvious answer that I think most people starting out would assume, is being great at the technical side of recording (that could be tracking, mixing, mastering, editing etc). While this is still one of the 3 most important skills that you need and has served me well throughout my career, I don’t believe it is the most important of the 3. My reasoning for this is that there are so many people out there that have these skills up to a level that would be acceptable to actually record clients in a professional studio. However, there is so much more to it than that. At the core of this job, it is a service job. It’s like saying a great Server at a restaurant is great at bringing food out to the table and writing down what the customer ordered. This is kind of a base level of required skill, but definitely not the defining factor in a good Server.
The second quality I think that has served me well over the years, and is crucial to thriving in this business is a combo of people skills, and common sense. This might seem a bit broad but because music is so vulnerable, putting the artist at ease and building a relationship with them is important. Also the common sense thing helps in so many ways. A recording studio is basically just a pile of technical problems waiting to happen. An understanding of how it all works, paired with common sense makes you great at trouble shooting, which is a very important skill to have. Everything can be going really well, and if someone stops working, and you can’t fix it in a timely fashion, it can derail the entire session for the rest of the day.
The third area of knowledge that has served me well, and anyone starting should be thinking about is the business side of working in the music industry. Even if you’re not running a full on studio like I do, there is a big free lance component in this industry, and marketing yourself to get clients is incredible important. Having the people skills definitely helps with this, but the more you learn about marketing and promoting yourself in this industry the better.
I was lucky in that I am generally entrepreneurial minded, and I enjoy (not as much as actually producing music) this aspect of what I do. It’s just another skill that needs to be learned just like how to record drums, or how to mix.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
My ideal client is specific to me as a producer, because this is the part of my job that I enjoy the most. For me I am happiest when I am being creative, and because I play most of the regular band instruments,
Therefore, my ideal client is one where I am the official Producer, and I am filling in where needed with instruments and participating in the creative musical aspect of recording the song. What this looks like is most often singer-songwriters who can play guitar or piano proficiently enough to write great songs, but have no band, and need help creating a full production.
Characteristics that make them even more ideal than just fitting this profile is singing and songwriting talent, as well as a collaborative attitude where they are open to ideas when we are working on the songs, and are able to make changes on the fly when necessary.
I feel very lucky in the fact that I have many clients who fit this bill perfectly. If you’re reading this, you probably know who you are, and know that I am grateful to be working with you!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bluelightstudio.ca
- Instagram: @bluelightstudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blsvancouver
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BlueLightSessionsVancouver
Image Credits
All Photo Credits – Darko Sikman
