"You can't do that, you're deaf."

[locokitty]

Hello everyone. Here's my story:

I've been 87% deaf since the day I was born. I'm told by a number of professionals that my hearing is declining, and that I will be 100% deaf by late 30's. It is my dream to become a music producer. Work all day in my studio with all these buttons. I want to have my own record label. But, my whole life, I've been told my friends, family, and now fiance and his parents, that I can't do it. I'm 18 now, attending the local college my first year. I want to go to Bard College, or another college that has Recording Arts, in NY. NY is my dream home. I've only been there once for a whole summer, when I was turning 13. Its the most beautiful place ever. Anyways, I've never been "part" of the deaf community until recently, when I met the first deaf/hard of hearing person I've ever met, just last week. The other day, I met another, her boyfriend of three years. I am incredibly excited with meeting these people who are just like me. My problem is, that with my dream of becoming a big time record lable/producer, I have so much negativity coming from the most important people in my life.. I'm starting to think I CANT do it. But I want to at least try, and if I waste $80 gs, then so be it, at least I tried..

What is your input on this? What do you suggest I do? Where do I even start?

Best Regards,
Katelyn

 

[DrPepper4ever]

Don't let your loved one's negative comments stop your dream. Show them that you can do it by doing the volunteer in the record label studios and starts it from there. Build it up. Maybe attend the events? If you can get into Bard College, do it :} If you can't have your own label, work someone else's company. Talk with your love ones and ask them for their support while you are trying/working on your dream. Better to try it once than do nothing and regrets that you don't do something.

 

[lumosxoxo]

I truly believe that you can do anything you put your mind into. People always assume that Deaf People can't do anything music related, but that is totally not true. Show all of those negative people that you CAN do it. Don't let the negativity get to you. Believe in yourself and follow your dreamas. If you shoot for the moon you'll land among the stars. Good luck and I wish you all the best.

 

[Anij]

Locokitty

I did professional mixing and mastering privately (sub-contract/ghost work) for a number of years ...
It's a VERY competitive field.

How much experience do you currently have working with the software and hardware (and what are you using)?

One thing to understand is that there is a LOT of "nuance" to mixing and mastering ... it's about tweaking very subtle things, making 1-3db changes to levels etc.

You can't use a hearing aid for most/any of the final mix/master, because the hearing aid limiter and processor change the sound. You have to be able to hear (without HA) all the frequency ranges at listening volume that won't crap out the monitors etc - because even if you're an expert at reading the meters and waveform, there's a lot you just need to be able to hear.
When I working I had to make some major adjustments to my set up to make it work for me (all my monitors on the left, because I have no hearing on the right etc).

I don't want to be negative, but honestly it's something that I stopped doing because it's really out of the realm of something that can be done professionally with more than a mild to moderate hearing loss.

You might want to look into other related fields - as there is a LOT of overlap in the music industry - you may also want to look at things like graphic designed (album covers) and video production (music videos etc).

 

[SneakerNet]

I know this will be difficult for you. Try to think of this way, Listening the music is like color blind. Whatever the sound come to your HA sound different than going through the ear canal. It's like color blind, when he see one color and it's not real color. He think it's blue, but it's not, it's green. Same thing with music. I'm HOH, and been attending live band and did work in back stage. Standing in front of all the speaker, when I took my HA off, I was amazed by the quality of the sound and I can tell the differences between the music and voice. When I put it back on, I only hear music and little bit of voice, voice is sound like a jumble to me.

 

[NitroHonda]

Tell your husband to stick it where the sun don't shine!

 

[VacationGuy234]

Having gone to school for one career and changed it to another here is my advice:

I originally went to school for a trade, Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning. I liked the work, but my co-workers were difficult. In addition, climbing ladders all day never did thrill me as I have a fear of falling(not heights). Eventually, I realized I didn't want to do that work during my later years. So I went to college for computer engineering and I like this career a lot better than the previous one because I don't have to climb ladders; the work is interesting and the co-workers are better.

Having said that, you need to realize that you don't have to stay in one career if it doesn't work out. And, you should look carefully at whether that career will be what you really want(music is a very competitive business). This includes the money you are going to spend on this career(unless someone else is paying for it).

What you do as a record producer depends greatly on how big a company employs you. In a small company, you might have to do many jobs that include being an engineer, musician, etc as well as producer. This situation makes the possible jobs totally different and there may be things that are much harder for a hearing impaired person.

Take a look at ALL of the things you might have to do:
What does a music producer do, anyway ?

You can do the work. There is a lot of electronic technology to assist you in your work so you can visualize music. Although, it is not the same as hearing music. At the end of the day, however, you are going to have to decide if that work is, "TOO MUCH WORK" because no matter how much you like your career it is not going to be your whole life.

Before you pay the money for college, remember, you are still going to have to pay the bill even if the career does not work out.

 

[NitroHonda]

Before you pay the money for college, remember, you are still going to have to pay the bill even if the career does not work out.

Great post... this is the MOST IMPORTANT thing throughout the entire post. You have to factor in cost if you're on a budget.

Unless you live in Texas... then you golden.

:angry:

 

[green427]

It is possible that your family & friends are not really saying "you can't", but they really want to say is "you may want to think of something else, since we don't want you to be unhappy if it doesn't work out".

Unfortunately, in the hearing world, we are guilty until proven otherwise. No matter where we go, we have to constantly prove that we can do things that people believe requires perfect hearing.

Music is all about how it sounds, so the idea of a deaf person doing music is baffling to most. Beethoven continued to produce music after he became deaf, and did so since he remembered which tone produced the sounds he wanted.

Will you be able to compose music as well as a hearing person? Maybe, maybe not. Only way to find out is to try. Be realistic with what you expect. If you can compose 75% of the music on your own, and need a hearing person to help finish the other 25%, that is still considered successful to many.

Have a backup plan.

 

[Journey]

Apart from the appealing image of "Work all day in my studio with all these buttons", why does this career appeal to you? What experiences have you had that makes you believe this is a possible and fitting career path for you?

 

[Anij]

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

Green427 - music composition is very different from music post-production.

Yes, Beethoven composed after he went deaf, but that is an entirely different situation (a matter of retaining music memory and music theory) than wanting to do music production and post-production (which is 100% auditory based ... meters help, but you can't actually do a mix and master off the meters).