I'm Derek Ali—aka MixedByAli—3x Grammy award-winning audio engineer turned entrepreneur and founder/CEO of EngineEars. I'm here with my team. We exist to make the music industry suck less. Ask us anything!

When Kendrick says "turn it up Ali" do you actually turn it up?

lmao .

This is awesome. How do you navigate the different sizes and types of creatives you work with to ensure their experience is equitable but fair?

Great question! The goal is to treat every artist with the same respect and put the music first. i've Done this since I started in 2007 with kendrick and it has proven to be successful through my own success.

Whats good man? So what are your thoughts on Spatial Audio and how important do you think it is to the way that individuals hear music

In the late 1960's, early 1970's STEREO was introduced to the world and implemented on released music. Before this all music was released in MONO. When you go back and listen to 'Abbey Road' by The Beatles, for instance, you can hear how they'd pan the drums to the far left, and percussion to the far right. This was The Beatles experimenting with this new STEREO format and implementing it into their music.

Dolby Atmos is the next evolution of that. I feel we are in the early phase where the creative community with start to create new techniques, creative processes and start to implement the same way the legends did in the early 70's. Im all for anything that is pushing the evolution and boundaries of what we can do in the creation process with sound and offering new exciting listening experience for listeners in all type of environments.

When you were up and coming, how often were you raising your rates and how did you decide that it was time to raise your rates?

I would raise my rates when I can see the demand for my services rising. When it comes to pricing, be practical with yourself and find a rate that you know will be attractive to grow your pipeline of clients, and as your bookings continue to grow and schedule filling up, raise your rates at a percentage that your comfortable with. And repeat.

What’s the most important thing to look for when hiring an audio engineer? And of all the famous artists you’ve worked with, who has been the nicest?

The goal when looking for an Audio Engineer is to find someone who truly cares about providing the best service for their client. Someone who's not the typical 'yes man', telling you anything just to get a sale. basically . someone who cares about the art.

Who's the nicest artist ive worked with? Too many to name . I dont work with anyone that I dont connect with on a personal level.

Hi EngineEars and MixedByAli. My name is Chris and im an intern in a studio and I want to stand out. What are some music related and non music related tips you recommend? Thank you

As an intern always add value in any way. Be the first one to arrive and the last to leave. Be helpful, listen, and most important WATCH WHATS GOING ON! Use the time as an intern to be a fly on the wall to understand how the industry works.

But also, give yourself a time frame to how long you are an intern before you move on. Never stay complaisant and always try to be better than yesterday. In business and personal life.

Is it up to the artist to find the engineer they believe will fit their style and goals best or are the engineers sort of grouped by music type or maybe past collaborations?

Artists now days have such Great artistic vision where at times they know exactly whom they want to work with from past collaborations and music type; But for the artists who might not have those relationships or access to great engineering talent, our platform EngineEars was designed to pair creatives together from all over the world to solve that problem.

What's one the biggest misconceptions most people have about audio engineers? Anything from "they just push two buttons and slap 'Done' on a record" to "they're all super audiophiles and make changes nobody can hear" are probably the biggest ones I hear all over Reddit.

probably

Those are all on point lol. But I think it's more just not understanding what audio engineers do in general; from Recording, mixing and mastering.

What problem was surprising that it hadn't been solved?

Net-payment systems. For years the industry was subject to creatives having to wait 30-60 or 90 days to receive payments for completed work. In 2022 its easier to receive a payment on cashapp from a stranger than it is getting paid for work thats already completed.

Another reason why we created EngineEars, to eliminate that problem helping getting creators paid instantly.

Out of all the artists you've worked with extensively, who would you say is the funniest?

Schoolboy Q for sure lol .

Is there an era/period of music where you felt the industry had it right?

Idk about 'had it right', But I feel the 2010's was a great time for music. Especially underground hiphop / rap.

Often in hip-hop amongst the elders it's frowned upon to sidechain the kick and bass. So I wanted to know specifically in hip-hop what should you do to make sure both the kick and 808 are felt and hold their appropriate spaces in the mix? Thanks for being here and sharing knowledge it's much appreciated.

You can also look for the peak frequency of the kick, and the peak frequency of the bass instrument, and then scoop out the respective frequencies on the opposing one.

So for example, let's say you have a kick with a peak at 190hz, and a bassline with a peak frequency at like 320hz.

You would scoop out the 320hz band in the kick, and scoop out the 190hz band in the bassline. This gives you more headroom to boost the overall kick/bass volume and make them "fit" with each other at the same time.

Exactly, this is great.

Mixing is relative to taste. When working on a 808/kick, at least in hiphop, side chaining does take away some of the overall 'Punch'. But every song is also different. Use your best sonic judgment to create the best possible product on a song by song basis.

What distinguishing factors did Mac bring to the studio? He's my personal goat and I've always been interested in his procees

Mac was one of the most creative people ive ever met. Long Live Mac Miller .

Do you still watch football? Or miss it? Who are you cheering for?

Man, to be honest Its hard to find time to dedicate to watch football at the moment. But it will forever be a part of me.

Being a LA native, I have to support home team! Go RAMS!

Any plans to expand EngineEars outside of the US?

EngineEars platform service providers are currently available in 61 countries Please see map! https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb8RHZHvF6O/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link

Can you dive deeper into what EngineEars does? It looks like a great way to match musicians with engineers — is that the main problem you see in the music industry?

Great question and thank you for asking! EngineEars is a product of all of the issues ive personally dealt with along my journey to becoming who I am today; From antiquated file transfer processes, getting officially credited (when our whole business is based on discography), and getting paid ON TIME amongst other broken processes our industry. Audio Engineers are at the core of music creation, but yet have been given zero tools to succeed in todays market. EngineEars aims to change that for the first time.

And for the Artists; EngineEars enables access to quality engineering globally, along with financing thanks to our Klarna partnership, helping artist afford to work with great talent without having to sign to major labels.

I dunno anything about audio engineering but i dig monopoly. Best properties to own?

Boardwalk for sure .

Love the shades! Could you give an example of a 'corrupt process' that negatively affect artists? Thanks in advance

Access for one. How can an artist truly create to Sonically Compete with some of the top talent in the world, if access to collaborators is being gate kept or bound to relationships? EngineEars aims to level the playing field.

What's your favorite 2pac song?

Hit 'Em Up!

Can you rap? Spit something for us real quick?

Traffic, traffic lookin' fo my chapstick, feelin' kinda car sick, there's a Ford Maverick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecgtb2UA4Lo

What’s your chain setup for recording to a 2 track? Like what plugins are you using to open the beat up for vocals + do you mix the vocals any different than normal?

I would duplicate the 2-track beat a total of three times. Separate each one by isolating the High/Mid/Low Frequencies. This will give you a little more freedom to give you some separation. But also there are tons of great Stem Separation tools you can use now days to isolate and make elements of the record available.

Once I have what I need from the productions perspective, I would then mix the vocals as I would any other record.

you have an incredible story! What challenges did you have to overcome at the beginning of your journey?

Thank you! Honestly, it was just belief in myself. Overcoming the mindset that I wasn't capable to accomplishing or achieving anything outside of the neighborhood.

What was you're favorite record to mix on mr morale?

'We Cry Together' was the only record that I mixed that made the album .

Hey! Big Fan of your work!! Have y’all considered creating an app for Engine Ears?

Absolutely! Thats Definitely on our roadmap.

Do you see a future where automatic AI mixing coexists with independent audio engineers?

automatic

No . Im 100% against AI Mixing / Mastering or anything that takes away the ART and money from creators families.

What are you doing to help fight the “loudness wars”? Using less compression? Better separation of dynamics? Anything?

Personally, I send it to Dep! very talented mastering engineer at MillionDollarSnare.

Any plans on the horizon to develop any educational/commercial products with EngineEars? Seems to be a real lack in solid educational material for engineering--YouTube is often the best place to go. Would love to see some literature produced (blogs, short brochures/zines) breaking down and giving useful visualization (like the EngineEars Audio Effects t-shirt). As well, seems like y'all have the heads to design and the community to test and give feedback to a plugin/app that targets engineers/producers...visualization tools, file management tools, remote mix, etc. Feels like you are well positioned to develop a tool in this arena. I really liked Steve Duda's thoughts on working at the meta-music level, and how that gives you the opportunity to touch so much more music surface area in a positive way. You guys are right there with him, keep up the awesome work!

Yes - and thank you! As we are building out the platform - we definitely see a need for online educational material. SeeingSounds was a workshop that we held in 2019 where we essentially toured 4 countries around the world - teaching audio engineers tips and tricks, and we are excited to bring this content (+ a ton more) to our site very soon!

How long to get verified? 🙃

We do verification checks weekly so after two projects have been completed , you should hear back with a status in 1-2 weeks depending on when the work was completed!

Hey Ali, how do i access my membership plugins from izotope? I got the email and all for the launch box. Just a little confused on how to get it to my izotope account.

Hey! Make sure you're using the same email address you're using on EngineEars. If you still have issues - reach out to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])! The team will get you set up.

How can I become a verified audio engineer with Enginears?

I'm verified on the platform! You just have to book 2 projects through EngineEars and I heard back like a week after with a badge on my profile!

Cool. How did you get booked? What would you do?

I used the script Ali gave us on the onboarding call and literally DM'd like 100 random artist a week. By the end of 2 weeks - had like 5 potential new clients! The EngineEars team was also really helpful with giving me tips on how to brand myself to get new clients! USE THEM!

I went to the website. I set up my account. I don’t remember seeing tips on how to properly brand myself. Do you have instagram

Shoot an email to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) - Our community team will get you set up with the script, assets, and tools on how to be successful on EngineEars!

Do Engineears have their own pluggins?

Soon Come :)

I subscribed early to you on twitch and I haven't checked it out in a while, you still going? It was amazing just to observe dynamics and creative input with those there.

Bringing this back hopefully next year. So much going on right now honestly.

Can you share some specifics about how the music industry sucks that may surprise those of us who aren’t in the weeds?

Can you share some specifics about how the music industry sucks that may surprise those of us who aren’t in the weeds?

Music creators are often chasing payments and begging to be credited on work that they've completed, just to name a few. Outdated business practices, antiquated processes, the list goes on. EngineEars goal is to create a new standard operating system, shifting the power back to the creators for a more equitable industry for all.

What's your philosophy when it comes to picking different reverb types for different sounds?

I ask myself what am I trying to accomplish when adding any verb; is it depth / space, warmth, vocal effect, etc. Then apply what I know will achieve that sound.

The real goal is to know your tools. dedicate some time to understanding how ALL of the verbs you have available in your toolbox sound, so when you are asking yourself what you're trying to accomplish when adding any verb you know exactly what plug in/gear to use instantly.

Very cool & unexpected Mr. Ali!

From my understanding Enginears is mainly for studio tracking/mixing/mastering engineers. I do alot of live sound/dolby atmos/& foley. Is there any market on Enginears for this type of work?

Not currently, but as we grow and expand we want to offer tools for all engineers!

When will the next Dolby Atmos certification course for platinum subscribers be?

We have a cohort that runs every month! Reach out to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) to sign up for the next cohort.

on a scale of 3 to 7, how much do you love Rick Astley?

7, Definitely .

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Who hurt you.