How to Make Extra Money
As an Audio Producer in 2022
January 7, 2022 by Adrian Milea
Make some extra money this year from your music production passion, either on the side or as your main business!
How?
I'm about to show you some ways ;)
From the beginning, I should mention that I already have experience with some of these ways, while some are on my to do list for this year.
Also, some of these ways can be more efficient, or they could give you results faster than others, but it is up to you to choose from the ones you want to experiment with.
Before we begin our list, if you want to improve your mixes and masters in less than 10 minutes download your free mixing and mastering cheat sheet:
1. How to Make Extra Money As an Audio Producer
If you are an audio producer, the first and most obvious way to make some extra money this year, is to produce music for yourself, and stream it on different platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and so on.
What do you need for this?
- Your passion for music production
- A MIDI keyboard and
- A DAW, or a Digital Audio Workstation
If you’re on a Mac you already have Garage Band that you can use, and start things going, but you can also find free versions of DAWs.
As a side note, I’m recommending Pro Tools because I have been using Pro Tools as my main DAW for more than 15 years now.
However, there are other very good DAWs on the market like Logic Pro X, FL Studio, Cubase, and so on.
Your job is to choose one or more and start producing music.
In case you want to record vocals for your songs, you will also need an audio interface and at least one microphone.
If you don’t want to produce music for yourself, and be out there as an artist, there’s an alternative for you.
There are lots of very good artists and vocalists who are searching for good music producers who could produce original music for them.
Furthermore, you may also consider ghost producing - that is, you may compose and produce original music for an artist who would release your song under his or her name.
In this case, you can opt for getting royalties on your song, or a one-time fee. You decide.
How can you find artists/potential clients?
One way to do this is by contacting singers who make covers of popular songs.
Most of them would love to sing original songs.
How do I know this?
I know this because I already composed music, wrote lyrics, recorded, mixed and mastered music for such artists.
Therefore, contact these artists and ask if they are interested in working with you.
But before you do that, make sure that you have ready your portfolio with your best work.
What if you don’t have any work or songs ready?
We all start somewhere, therefore, if you love music production and want to produce music - you need to start, today!
To make things easier - enroll in the Music Production Masterclass - where I show you step-by-step how to produce a song from an idea you have on your phone to a finished, mastered song.
In the Music Production Masterclass you will learn:
- How to compose music
- How to write lyrics
- How to produce music
- How to record vocals and instruments
- How to edit and tune vocals
- How to mix music
- How to master music, and more.
In the Music Production Masterclass I have covered pretty much all the aspects of producing music, that you can learn step-by-step.
In case you already know how to produce music, and you have your portfolio ready - it’s time to contact the artists, or your future potential clients.
How can you contact your potential clients?
Nowadays, the most simple way of finding and contacting your potential clients is through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, email, and so on.
Some of them will answer, some of them won't.
Also, be ready for receiving some rejections. That's called life.
However, your mission is to continue searching for clients who would be interested in your service as an audio or music producer.
Free Download: How to Improve Your Mixes and Masters in less than 10 Minutes...
Without Expensive Plugins or Hardware!!!
2. How How to Make Extra Money As a Music Composer
If you love composing music you have more than one way to make some extra money.
What do you need in order to compose music?
The obvious tool that you can start using for composing music is your phone.
First, you can record your ideas on a recorder app.
This way you can start recording yourself playing an instrument if you like to compose music, let's say on a guitar, or piano, and so on.
There are also applications for Android and iPhone that you can use in order to start composing music.
My recommendation however is to start learning how to use a DAW or Digital Audio Workstation.
Why?
Later on you will be able to share sessions with your clients, and it will make your life much easier.
I made a Pro Tools 101 video for those who want to be up and running with Pro Tools for example, but there are other DAWs that you can choose from.
By using a DAW you can also use a MIDI controller so that you can compose music in-the-box and experiment with different ideas.
How can you actually make extra money as a composer?
First, you can compose music for music producers or singers.
Why?
Because not all audio producers or singers want, or know - how to compose music, but almost everyone is searching for original and fresh music ideas.
This is why you should search for producers and singers on social media platforms or even on niche forums, who would be interested in your music composing services.
In my case, I composed and produced music mainly for artists that found out about me online, or through networking.
Also, back in 2009 with my band we had our third album where it was mentioned that I composed, mixed and mastered it.
This way people started contacting me for composing services, and little by little I grew my portfolio.
So, start meeting people, online and offline, and get their contacts.
Why?
Because sometimes it takes only a good connection to find lots of clients - and your mission is to find the one that works for you.
Another way of making extra money as a composer is by composing custom music for YouTube Creators, Ads, TV shows, Games or even Movies.
In my case, I composed music for ads, for some clients but also for me and my channels, like this one for example:
We Are Creators
There are people who need your original composing service, but it is up to you to decide on the direction you want to take.
If you want to offer music composing services you'll have to search and contact the artists, producers, marketing agencies, games companies and so on, companies you think you could offer your services to - as a music composer.
3. How to Make Extra Money As a Recording Engineer
With all that happened in the world in the last couple of years - there has been some stress on studio owners who offer audio recording services.
But, little by little things are starting to get to the "new normal."
If you're passionate about audio recording - you can offer your services in more than one way.
What do you need in order to start offering audio recording services?
From my experience, you can start offering audio recording services by investing in a good audio recorder.
Why?
Because, for instance - there are people who need your audio recording services for recording their podcasts, online courses, webinars, voiceovers, and so on.
But why would I recommend you to record podcasts?
The podcast industry is booming and most of them need someone with a good ear in order to take care of their recording process and technical stuff.
Just a quick tip for you, search for people in your area who are making podcasts and see if you can improve their podcasts' audio quality.
If so, contact them and tell them how you can help.
Also, watch the job offers websites as often there might be demands for a podcast recorder available.
As I already mentioned, if you want to offer audio recording services you will need an audio recorder.
One of those recorders is the Zoom H5 recorder which I recommend, because I have been using one for a couple of years already.
You can use it multiple ways, even as an audio interface for your Digital Audio Workstation.
By default, it has 2 inputs and a stereo condenser mic capsule, but you can change it with different options.
Just a heads up, this capsule is very sensitive because it is made of two matched unidirectional condenser microphones.
It is perfect for silent environments, but you may struggle with it in noisy environments.
So, with the Zoom H5 you can easily record a solo podcast for example, or an artist playing guitar.
But, in case you need to record a podcast with more than one speaker, you’ll have to invest in some additional equipment, like microphones for instance.
And speaking about microphones, depending on your budget there are tons of very good options on the market.
Recently, I was in search for such a mic that would help me with some background noise problems and I discovered the Shure MV7x which is an XLR only dynamic microphone.
I almost bought it, but later, I found another option - the Shure MV7 which has both XLR and USB connections.
Then, after some more research I finally bought the Shure SM7B, which both MV7 and MV7x are based on, and I must say at the moment I’m pleased with it.
The voiceover I recorded for my last episodes was recorded with the Shure SM7B, on the Zoom H5.
In case you want to buy a SM7B, I recommend you to use a preamp - so that you can get the best audio quality.
In my case, I use a Dynamite preamp from sE Electronics to boost the mic gain, with a Mogami Gold Cable.
Here's the unboxing video:
Unboxing My New Voiceover Kit
Depending on your budget, there are more affordable microphones on the market that you can choose from.
It is entirely up to you decide which one to invest in.
My advice is, if you want to invest in microphones for recording podcasts, or voiceovers - be sure to invest in microphones that you could also use in audio recording studios.
Why?
Because another way of making extra money as an audio recording engineer is to offer recording services for artists, instrument players, bands, and so on.
Of course, this might mean for you to make some investments in better audio recording equipment and room - in case, let’s say you want to record artists, bands, but also different voice overs for audio books, ads, TV post-production, and more.
Also, you can make money from audio recording, like recording audio on TV shows, or movies sets.
In this case however, it takes more networking, but it is not impossible.
4. How to Make Extra Money As an Audio Editor
What do you need to offer your services as an Audio Editor?
In short, you will need some audio editing software.
You can use Pro Tools, but you can also use other software like Audacity for example, it’s your choice.
I mentioned the podcast business because I love listening to podcasts.
And you know what I noticed?
A lot of podcasts have good quality content, but poor audio quality.
Your mission - "should you choose to accept it" - is to contact podcast owners, and show them how you can help.
I personally discovered the need of an audio editor when I started filming and recording videos and audios for my own channels.
The reality is that it takes a lot of editing for both video and audio, and audio editing is time consuming.
Podcasts and audio books creators for example, and even YouTubers would definitely want to spend the editing time on creating something else than editing audio - and they, my friend are some of your potential clients.
So, the bottom line is - if you know and like audio editing - you need to find the right client who needs your audio editing services.
5. How to Make Extra Money As an Audio Mixing Engineer
Another way to make some extra money from your passion for audio is to offer audio mixing services.
There are lots of audio-visual companies who are searching for freelancers that can mix audio for their online streaming services, and usually they have their own equipment.
In this case you only need to know how to operate an audio console.
And this also works for live events, if you are into that.
But what if you want to mix music instead, when you have time, in your bedroom, basement, or studio?
In this case, you will need:
- A Digital Audio Workstation.
- A Room with some acoustical treatment.
- A pair of good speakers.
We have already talked about different DAWs that you can choose for your audio mixing needs.
Those are great to start with, because they come with different essential audio plugins like:
- Equalizers
- Compressors
- Reverbs
- Delays, and so on.
In terms of treating your room, there are different ways to solve acoustic problems.
You can find more information online on this.
While in our main studio we used different techniques for reducing the acoustic problems, in my home studio I use only some foam, and some drapes.
It is worth mentioning the calibration option on my monitoring system, which helps me a lot in taking care of the acoustic issues of this particular room.
And speaking of monitors, from my experience you can start with a pair of affordable monitors like the Yamaha HS8.
I recommend them because I used in the past, their previous version - the HS80M, but also the smaller ones the HS50M.
Nowadays, I use a pair of Genelecs from “The Ones” series - the 8341A + a Genelec 7360A subwoofer.
And I made a review of these Genelec monitors which you can check out, in case you’re interested in upgrading your monitoring system.
Let’s say that you took care of the technical stuff...
How can you find clients?
The first obvious move you can take is to find people who would need their music to be mixed.
You can search for clients offline through networking, but also online - because your potential clients are on YouTube, but also on Instagram, Facebook, and on different music production forums.
You will have to contact them and tell them how you can help.
Besides mixing music, you can make money from mixing podcasts, audio books, online courses, but also mixing the audio for videos of different creators, like YouTubers for example.
And when you do that, take the extra mile and recommend them another microphone, for example, or other services that you could offer.
If you notice things like maybe a noisy environment, or some audio distortion - you can approach creators by showing and telling them how you can help them.
You can maybe recommend a lavalier microphone, or a Shure SM7B which I recently bought, in case of background noise issues.
Make other recommendations that you know will help them, because if you do this, it will help them, but it will also help you in making your job easier, as their service provider.
Now, let’s address a key point here...
As it is the case with other audio services, if you want to mix music, people don't need to come to your studio.
You can start offering your mixing service online, because your clients can send their audio tracks to you - online, and you can mix them in your studio, at home, or even in your bedroom.
I have done it for years.
Now, do I mean here that everyone should mix in their bedrooms?
Absolutely not.
What I'm saying here is that, with the help of technology, nowadays we have more freedom and possibilities than we had let's say 20 years ago, when I started.
Therefore a lot of excuses you might have for not mixing audio, even at home - are not valid.
What if you don't know how to mix?
You can learn audio mixing step-by-step by enrolling in my Music Production Masterclass.
On the other hand, if you have more time to invest, instead of currency - you can learn audio mixing on your own, as I did.
The key point here is - you need to start somewhere.
6. How to Make Extra Money As an Audio Mastering Engineer
What do you need for audio mastering?
I would recommend you to use a Digital Audio Workstation.
Next, I highly recommend you to invest in a very good Audio Limiter Plugin.
In my experience, I tested some limiters that are on the audio market at the moment, and I also made some videos that you can check out for more information.
Some of them are good, and others are very good.
And my recommendation at the moment in terms of audio limiter plugins is, in no particular order:
- Pro-L 2 from FabFilter
- Elevate from Newfangled Audio
- Limitless from DMG Audio, and others.
Why do I recommend this?
I recommend buying a good limiter because, usually the Digital Audio Workstations that are on the market have really good EQs, compressors, delays, reverbs and so on, but from my experience most of them lack in the transparent sounding limiters department, especially if you need loud masters.
Still, you can achieve very good results with stock limiters, from different DAWs, in case you know what you are doing and you don’t need loud masters.
Now, it is worth mentioning that I know people who master their music through online automated mastering services.
And that's totally fine because they like the results.
However, there are musicians who like human contact and care more about how their music sounds.
Those are the clients you should target.
Talk with musicians, producers, creators, podcast owners and artists, and tell them how you can help.
And now, I want to address something....
For some reason, Audio Mastering is still regarded as being some black voodoo dark craft.
And in case you are at the beginning of your audio mastering journey, you may have got in contact with different myths that many so called “audio gurus” like to keep alive.
Like - "you should master a mix in 30 seconds..." and other myths… like these ones:
This is why I created the PRO Audio Mastering program that you can enroll in, and demystify audio mastering once and for all, so that you can finally make your mastering projects sound professional and expensive.
7. How to Make Extra Money As a Beat Maker
Another way to make some extra income is making beats.
What do you need for making beats?
- A Digital Audio Workstation
- Audio Samples
- Virtual Instruments
- A MIDI keyboard or Controller - which will help you produce beats faster.
Before you decide to buy samples online, for making your own beats - make sure to search for free audio samples, and free virtual instruments, and start producing whenever you can.
This way you will become better at this and your beats will improve as a result.
Then you can set up a website for selling your beats online.
And by the way, building a website is really easy to do nowadays.
I actually have a course included in my Audio Business Academy in which I discuss in detail about how exactly to build your website.
In case you don’t want total control over how your beats are marketed and sold, there are online platforms where you can upload your beats and they will sell your beats for you, at a fee of course.
On the other hand, there are also platforms where you can host and sell your beats, but you pay only a monthly membership.
Whatever scenario you might opt for - inform yourself on this in detail, that is in case you want to sell beats online.
8. How to Make Extra Money Sharing Your Knowledge
If you want to share your knowledge with the world and actually want to help people - you can create courses on composing, producing, recording, mixing, mastering or even on how to make beats.
And I know that you might say that, well, nowadays everything is already online and people can learn on their own, for free.
And you are right, to some extent.
However, I would add something to this.
While there’s a lot of free information on the Internet, for some people it is really hard to filter the nonsense from the actual helpful content.
And from my experience, when people get something for free, even if that something is valuable, they don’t consider it as valuable, because of the simple fact that it is free.
In this way, they miss the transformation.
Why?
Because the transformation starts with the transaction!
If you get something without investing anything, even a small thing like giving your email address, or attending a webinar and so on, chances are you won’t use it.
Now, getting back to sharing your knowledge - you can do it for free, like I do on my YouTube Channels, podcast, blogs, and so on, but if you want to have a business, you need to sell something, be it a service, or product.
Why?
Because, if you don’t sell anything you don’t have a business - you have a hobby!
And you have to pay bills!!!
As an example, in my case, in the past I offered audio production and audio mixing/mastering services.
After I began my first online business, I needed more time, therefore, nowadays I offer only audio mastering services.
On the other hand, I offer online courses or programs for those who want to learn music production, audio mixing, audio mastering, marketing, branding, and so on.
And in case you want to learn exactly how to get into the Online Course Business, and learn how I’m doing it - check out my Course Business Academy.
As a side note, in case you don't like marketing your online courses - you can place them on some free platforms - and they will take care of marketing them, while you will control pricing to some extent.
But if you want to be in charge of everything - platforms like Teachable and Thinkinfic can help you with that.
Again if you want to learn how to actually set up that step by step - check out my Course Business Academy - where I show you everything you need to do in order to start your online course business.
Now, let's address something...
The majority of people who recommend you to start your online business to make some extra money, tend to make it seem easy.
This is the exact feeling I had when I started my own online business journey.
However, the truth is that people need your services and products - but, if you are at the beginning, people usually don't know that you and your business exist.
And this is valid whether you offer audio mixing, mastering services, or even online coaching.
The “Built It and They Will Come” motto - maybe worked a couple of years ago...
Nowadays, you should get out there and tell the world that you actually exist.
Why do you think I create videos, blog posts, podcasts, email newsletters?
Just for fun?!
I would love to produce some music instead because I love audio and music.
But, I have a business to run and to find more people that need my products or services, people that I know I can help!
I have to be strategic because some of you already had some contact with me in the past.
Maybe you saw a video or a post with me, then maybe you enrolled in some courses of mine, and then maybe we worked together on some projects...
What I'm trying to say here - maybe your clients will discover you and your business by accident - but you still need to be out there.
You can start for free using platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and so on.
Later you can experiment by running some ads on Facebook and Instagram.
And I have a video that can help you with that:
How to Promote Your Business on Facebook and Instagram in 2022
If you plan to start your online business, one my essential advice is to start building an email list as soon as possible!
Start networking!
Ask for help.
And start moving.
Everything you need to know you can learn almost for free.
But if you want to stop wasting time and find how to run an audio production business online - you need to check my Audio Business Academy, because that is the program where - besides learning how to produce a song from start to finish - you will also learn how to market your services and products.
9. How to Make Extra Money Offering Coaching Services
While you can offer your knowledge to the world through your online courses, you can offer coaching services.
Why?
Because some people prefer personalized One-on-One coaching instead of self-paced learning.
What do you need for a Coaching Business?
You can start by building a place, like a website - where people can find more information on the coaching you are offering.
There are also platforms like Teachable where you can set up your coaching business, as they offer such products on their platform.
10. How to Make Extra Money Selling Your Merchandise
If you want to make some extra money you can sell merchandise online.
You can sell T-shirts and hoodies with awesome designs related to audio production, audio mixing, audio mastering, mugs, and so on.
And there are established e-commerce platforms out there that can help you in setting up your business really quick, like Shopify, for example.
Of course, as in the case of other businesses you will have to invest with currency, time and awesomeness!
CONCLUSIONS
I could definitely continue this list - but I tried to make it as short as possible and hopefully you found some value in it.
To recap, in this post I showed you and talked about some ways you can make money from you audio production passion this year.
And to help you even further, at the moment of creating this post, I plan to create an ebook that I will continue to grow by including other ways to make extra money from your audio production passion and exactly how to do it.
To get the ebook, be sure to be on my email list and when it will be ready - you'll receive it for free.
Free Download: How to Improve Your Mixes and Masters in less than 10 Minutes...
Without Expensive Plugins or Hardware!!!
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If you need help, contact me on Facebook, Instagram, and let's talk and share ideas!
In the end, I hope you're having a great day or night but, don’t forget …
Until next time, stay cool and make great music!
-Adrian Milea
Adrian Milea is the owner of Adoriany Music and co-founder of Adoriany. Since 2000s, Adrian has been producing, mixing and mastering music, while also helping audio producers to upgrade their skills. In 2013, Adrian with his brother Vlad - were part of the finalists of the Academy of Electronic Music. Their music was released by Armada Music, and they were featured in Dj Mag.
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