Meet Young Guru, one of the most renowned recording and mixing engineers in the music industry today. He’s worked with artists such as Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rick Ross, Drake, T.I., Kanye West and Eminem. Young Guru brings his knowledge and expertise for aspiring audio engineers through two online Skillshare classes: Sound Check: The Essentials of DIY Audio Mixing and Capture Sound: Introduction to Audio Recording. We had a chance to sit down with Young Guru to learn more about his class and we’re excited to share his story with you here!
How did you end up teaching on Skillshare and what inspired you to teach?
Teaching has been something in the past few years I’ve found that I absolutely enjoy. I was looking for ways to get information out. Teaching at a University is great and I love it, but obviously a student has to be enrolled at that University to benefit from that program. Skillshare was just a way for me to get information out at a low cost to the mass public and I think it’s a great idea because the world is now filled with places where we can go for certain resources.
Tell us a little bit about your online Skillshare class.
I wanted to do a basic overview for mixing because that’s the question I get from a lot of different people. I think people have gotten okay with certain recording techniques and you hear when you make a mistake recording wise, but they may not know why. The mixing process has been a black magic that a lot of people don’t know – such as what tools to use or why you would grab a certain tool. That’s the reason I wanted to start a basic class.
Is there a track you’ve engineered that you’re most proud of?
The whole Grind Date album by De La Souls is the album that I’m most proud of overall. If you look at the quality of those mixes and the amount of things that are going on in there it’s just a great example of when everything matches – when the artist is extremely creative and when the engineer has a huge love for the group. I can just hear the love in those mixes.
Do you have any advice for other Skillshare teachers?
You don’t have to have a fully instructive skill. You can get on Skillshare and be as broad or as specific as you want. There’s always someone out there that’s looking for information to do what you do. Just get on Skillshare and actually get it done. You’d be surprised that all the people looking for information is definitely worldwide.
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