Dave how did u get your foot in the door?

[silver_shake]

Hey Dave!!!

I was wondering how you got your foot in the door for mixing and producing for some really big name artists?
Was there like one thing that really helped u get in the biz......... or was it more like meeting people and networking......and then knowing someone who knows someone and then being in the right place at the right time?
I'm very curious!!!

I know its a pretty blunt question but hey thats me.....

[Dave Pensado]

...My mom was a great guitar player/teacher, and was an artist in every way. She was named after the opera AIDA, and music was and is a passion in my family, who immigrated here from Spain. I started playing in bands at an early age. Some successful, some not. I was in a band with Bob Burns (1st Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer--Free Bird, 3 Steps, Sweet Home Alabama etc), and was getting a little tired of the road. The guitar player in that band, Larry and I decided to build our own studio, and become a studio band. Around that time an artist and Producer in Atlanta met me and just gave me a shot, Phil Benton, and Paul Davis (several #1 records). I mostly did everything from cleaning toilets to recording. It was great! OJT is the best (on the job training). I just recorded everyone I could find, mostly for free. I didn't have debts because I didn't own ANYTHING, and what little I had was always in the pawn shop. Perhaps this would be a good time to get tissues to wipe the tears and snot......OK back to story. It was never a plan, just water rolling down hill. I am, and have pretty much always been a hippie, and it just worked out. The one thing that seemed to separate me from other engineers was I was and am obsessed by the studio and music. Engineering was a means to this end. Without music, and the making of it, life is a lot less important.

[Jalabodu]

Very cool man!

There's something to be said for cleaning toilets!

Do what ya gotta do!