Today we’d like to introduce you to Trey Hodge
Hi Trey, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started a life in music when I asked Mom for guitar lessons way back in high school. I did this primarily because my best friend started playing and I noticed that girls seemed to, quite suddenly, like him more. I took to music very quickly, grew out of lessons, and started dedicating an immense amount of time to music. I tried to practice constantly and play everywhere. I started gigging in small rock bands, garage bands, cover bands, you name it. I eventually started doing studio work in local studios, and really enjoyed being in an environment so primed for learning and creativity. I went to a brief stint in music school, but decided that was not for me (as I’ve always tried to be very mindful of excess debt). From leaving music school, but not wanting to give up on working music for a living, I began working for Carnival Cruise Lines as a ship-bound guitarist. That was quite the experience, but it made me way better at all aspects of music as a job.
Once I left boats, I found myself working back in the regular live music circuit of bars, casinos, studios, churches, and musical theaters. Before long I was married (to a fantastic and beautiful symphony violinist) and working a day job on the road.
The different day job couldn’t kill my desire to work in music. My wonderful wife encouraged me to pursue music that could travel with us on the jobs. So I remembered how much fun I had doing all that studio work, and invested in home studio gear. We continued to grow that passion for years until we settled down in one location. And now, after a decade of home studio use and experience, I get to work out of the house and support my family with my love of music through recording, mixing, and mastering services. I provide consultations for mixing and feedback for productions. I also work as Worship Director for my church. And I get the pleasure of teaching individuals and groups, with classes on guitar, mixing, mastering and live sound.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it has not been smooth. Trying to get music jobs required extended time to learn new skill after new skill; sometimes just agreeing that I had a skill that I almost had to learn overnight just to get a gig. For example, I was turned down for my first cruise ship audition because I was not terribly good at sight reading. So I spent the next couple months sight reading everything before reapplying and passing. Sometimes life can get really tricky when you achieve a goal, and then are forced to be honest and realize that it wasn’t really what you thought you wanted. Then you have to change course again, and learn new skills, and rethink what your long-term goals really look like. This is especially true when you want to work in something as wide and vague as music. I never planned on working in mixing and mastering, but here we are and I love it!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
These days I primarily work remotely. I specialize in remote mixing and mastering services. I also provide guitar recordings for artists and producers. In my mixing and mastering work, which began as a necessity to just release my own music, I’ve been very fortunate to work with many artists and companies. Mastering in particular has become quite a passion, and I’ve been lucky enough to work on major releases from companies like Disney and Universal, and various video game soundtracks, particularly releases for Minecraft (which makes me the cool uncle since my nephew can’t get enough of that game.)
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The barrier for entry in the music production world continues to be lowered. I love this. It should only continue to be easier and easier for young musicians and artists to release more and more music, faster and faster, without having to rely on any major company to back them. This has already been the case in recent years, with music becoming and more viable career path thanks to the ease of entry. That gets me pretty excited for opportunities that simply were not available 25 years ago when I started in music. The advent of the Internet has opened myriad doors and paths to success. It’s very exciting to be able to collaborate with people across the world, and with translate functions, language barriers are becoming less of an obstacle to collaboration. It’s a hot topic right now, but I’m not particularly worried about AI advances in music. For some genres and purposes, it seems a little scary; but for original artists who write and play their own instruments, the human element is not easily duplicated. So, I encourage young musicians to keep pushing, writing, releasing, and making connections.
Pricing:
- Pricing usually occurs on a project basis, so all projects are weighted differently based on volume and size of the projects, but I’ll list a couple of single item prices.
- Mixing (50 tracks or more): $400/song
- Mixing (49 tracks or less): $300/song
- Mastering: $100/song
- Guitar lessons: $65/hour
Contact Info:
- Email: treyhodgemusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/treymixes1
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6PBU6O1pLbVvgUixCHTqQ0?si=tgqwqaWwThCMLNLa8aYgHQ
