soundboard episode 001

00:00 // introduction

[ soundboard is a production of the austin audio lab ]

Gabe: A journey into the business of making a business, and a journey into the woods. It’s all happening now, on soundboard, with Mark and Gabe.

[ opening track ]

Mark: Hello and welcome to the very first episode of soundboard, an audio production podcast hosted by myself, Mark Stelter, and my good friend and partner, Gabe Alvarez, co-founders of the Austin Audio Laboratory. On today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about starting out on this adventure of ours from both a creative and business perspective, and giving you an inside look at what we do and how we do it. Stick around, and we might just learn something - together.

[ piano transition ]

 00:54 // meet the austin audio lab

written by Mark Stelter

How does one even begin to start an audio recording business? Or really any business in a creative field at all? Why take the risk? I think the simplest answer is that you constantly feel a need or desire to create, knowing that if that’s not what you’re doing, something just feels off. More than that though, I think that drive needs to be tested. I can only speak for myself, but I know that one of the biggest reasons I decided to embark on this adventure is that I’ve worked my fair share of jobs over the last 9 years and at each one I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Like what I was doing didn’t match up with what I COULD be doing. Now I’m sure everyone has felt stuck in a career during their lives, and there are plenty of ways to fulfill that drive that don’t necessarily involve risking a good chunk of your savings. And there’s always the old adage, “Don’t quit your day job” that is told to pretty much anyone with a creative side. What I think that really means is, don’t quit your day job until you’ve really assessed the risk of what it would mean to leave it, the timeline to make your “not day job” financially viable, and being ok with the possibility that it doesn’t work. 

If that sounds daunting, it absolutely is. Which is why I would have never thought to undertake any of these things alone. I have been incredibly fortunate to not only have the support of my family and friends in this undertaking, but also in having a business partner who is equally, if not more passionate about this work than I am. Gabe and I have been playing music together for the better part of 8 years and through it all have been working day jobs only to meet up at rehearsal and wonder aloud, “man, what if we just did this for real?” Easy to say, and as we’ve learned, much harder to do. There are plenty of logistics to work through, meetings to set up, emails to send, LLC’s to establish, the list goes on. But hold up, doesn’t that sound exactly like the jobs that I left? What makes this different? I think the answer is that we’re doing this for us. For our passion, so that we can make every day creative and challenging. Not so something looks better on some report for someone we could care less about ten rungs up the corporate ladder. It’s personal, there’s ownership and a real drive to succeed. There’s no, “hey did you see that email I sent you?” Yes, of course I saw the email, but One: It didn’t say anything of substance and Two: it only results in more busy work for ME that YOU should have done in the first place. So, “oh no sorry must have missed it I’ll look right now.” 

I suppose that’s the “feeling” of starting a business, but what about the nuts and bolts? What about the specifics of how to make it actually happen? Well step one for us putting together a timeline of what we wanted to do and when we wanted it to happen. That way, we could work backwards to try and give ourselves reasonable goals to meet from business plans to web development. So it all starts with planning which we’ve been doing for quite a while, and was going pretty well until this whole 2020 thing happened. But that brings me to step two, rolling with the punches. We were certainly hoping to be operational well before now, but the pandemic changed our plans drastically as I know it has for millions of other people if not literally every person on the planet. But this at least gives us an opportunity to adapt and explore what kinds of work we can do remotely. Mixing, mastering, sound effects and our own recording projects we can all do ourselves without bringing anyone into a physical space. So we may not yet have a dedicated studio to record in, but we do have home offices that we can soundproof. That’s where I’m recording this right now. Now whether or not 2020 unfolded in the way that it has, there have been plenty of other challenges we’ve needed to adapt to that were not caused by Covid. For example, as we were in talks to move into a recording space, it turned out the actual building was over the property line and extended onto the neighboring property by two feet. When the owner of the building tried to solve the discrepancy with their neighbor, and keep in mind the property line had been this way for likely over 50 years without issue, they responded by trying to charge rent for the 2 feet of the building that was over the line. Not exactly what anyone was expecting and it forced us to begin looking into backup options months after we thought we had landed on a final location.

Beyond planning and adapting to different situations and challenges, I think breaking down a budget and division of labor is really important. Taking stock and being specific about what instruments and equipment we have, what we’ll need, how much it will cost, how much we can spend and who is responsible for what. Over the years of playing and recording music together, we’ve both acquired a fair amount of equipment so we’re not starting out with nothing. That being said, there are still plenty of start up costs and expenses that we need to account for ranging from setting up an LLC and soundproofing costs, to additional microphones and mixing boards. To do this, we have set aside a significant chunk of our life savings from our years working day jobs and are also working with investors to acquire the necessary funding to get off the ground. 

As far as division of labor, we are only a two person business so we are both heavily involved in all aspects of running the laboratory, but it’s been very helpful to examine our individual skill sets and break down some of the responsibilities accordingly. The way I sort of think about it is that my primary focus is on music performance, logistics and editing while Gabe’s primary focus is on music composition, sound engineering and directing. We both do all of the things, but when there’s something more business or logistically oriented I can take the lead, while when it comes to really getting the best sound and having a creative ear, I defer to Gabe. The point is that our skill sets complement one another in a way that makes us greater than the sum of our parts. 

They say luck is when preparation meets opportunity, but before you even get to that preparation there has to be a part of you that is willing to take a chance on yourself and your drive to be creative. To take a chance on what could truly make you happy not only in a career, but also in what you can make and share with the world. So this is us taking that chance. Time to do some experiments. Stay tuned!

08:15 // what i heard, vol. 01

written by Gabe Alvarez

[ sfx: babbling stream ]

My name is Gabe. At the beginning of October, I took a trip to Pedernales Falls State Park. And this is what I heard.

[ guitar transition ]

[ sfx: a solo hiker walks down a gravel trail carrying a heavy backpack ]

Pedernales Falls is just a few miles outside of Johnson City, Texas. I’ve been there, a few times. I grew up in Central Texas, in the Hill Country. I’ve always loved being outside, ever since I was a kid; hiking, canoeing, camping. So I grabbed my bag and, naturally, it being October in Texas, it was 95 degrees (F).

[ sfx: cicadas in the brush ]

Maybe it’s the solitude of it. Or the physicality. Or the silence. Even though it’s not really silent. I had only planned for a quick overnight. Spend the day hiking the more technical back trails that I could find, then a quiet evening in camp. I had it in my head that I was training up for some kind of grand backpacking trip, but I wasn’t. I’d like to be.

[ sfx: birds chirp in the woods nearby ]

On the way, I found a spring. It was marked, so I didn’t stumble across it. It was quiet. It was gentle.

[ sfx: a spring bubbles and a stream trickles down a limestone channel into a small pool ]

And I saw ferns like I’ve never seen before.

[ sfx: the hiker zips their backpack shut, birds call out ]

And, finally, it was evening.

[ sfx: crickets chirp at dusk ]

I was convinced I wasn’t going to make it. I can’t remember the last time I ever walked so far, in one go, with no training. It’s kind of a problem of mine.

[ sfx: tent door is zipped shut, a sleeping bag rustles, a creek bubbles in the distance ]

[ introspective guitar cue ]

Finally, the stars came out. And the Milky Way reached across the sky. And a satellite passed. And a shooting star.

[ sfx: tent door rustles open, birds sing at dawn ]

In the morning, I made my way back. To see the falls themselves.

[ sfx: hiker crosses the gravel trail alone ]
[ sfx: footsteps navigate loose river cobbles ]

I’ve seen them plenty of times. From the overlook, from up close. But, this time, I listened.

[ sfx: sounds of rushing water over the falls swell, then fade ]

Everything you just heard in this episode of What I Heard was recorded in the field or produced in-house by us. You can find more detailed information and links to the actual equipment used in our show notes, but, basically, it comes down to a field recorder, a directional mic, an 8 foot long XLR cable because I didn’t think to get a shorter one, and batteries to run the recorder. And every time I came across something I thought sounded interesting, I pulled out my recorder, pointed the mic at it, and recorded it. Whether it was cicadas in a juniper grove, or water rushing out of a spring, or just me stumbling across river stones.

If you’ve ever been intimidated by the idea of field recording, then this might seem reductive or condescending, but it really is that simple. And obviously there are a lot of different technical details you can dive into - different microphones, different recorders, techniques, gear, blah blah blah - and we’ll get to those - but, to get started, all you need to do is hear something you like, point a mic at it, and record it.

14:32 // closing

Mark: Well that’s all for this episode of soundboard, and I hope we didn’t sound bored. Get it? Sound… board…?

[ sfx: polite applause ]

Mark: Anyways, we’re looking forward to sharing more audio production insights with you in the weeks and months to come.

Gabe: Find links to the gear we used in today’s show notes, or, on our blog post at austinaudiolab.com.

Mark: This is the Austin Audio Laboratory signing off for now.

[ music fades out ]