Meet Paul Third | Audio engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paul Third and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paul, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve always felt that Tayside and Perth have lacked professional music studios. There have been a few rehearsal studios but never really anything that has been able to provide industry level mixes and productions. Audio education is very limited in Scotland and due to that, many local artists have been forced to travel further afield to Glasgow, Edinburgh, even England to achieve “industry” level.

Another problem that many artists have is that they feel confined in an outdated pressure cooker making music in a busy city or demanding environment.

Thats why I wanted to build a studio that solved these problems, whilst also embracing the modern audio technology of today.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Getting here wasn’t easy. I started out with 4 years of audio education which led to my audio production degree which was meant to lead to an audio career.

However, life had a different plan as my eldest Daughter was born not long after leaving university which forced me into a retail sales career so I could provide financial stability for my family.

Audio sadly became a part time focus and in reality devolved into a hobby which I never wanted it to be.

Thankfully though, the time off I was allocated during covid gave me the free time to dedicate myself back into audio which came in the form of my YouTube channel which at the moment has over 26,000 subscribers.

It was this dedication in growing an audio youtube channel that gave me the focus to learn more about professional mixing and mastering. I began to find the answers to all of the questions that once felt gate kept and out of reach, which was amazing for my engineering growth but also my networking opportunities.

Manufacturers and developers started taking notice of my tests and dedication towards providing honest and transparent audio education. This allowed access to equipment and software that was out of my financial reach.

Over time I built a name for myself among professional audio circles and that led to the possibility of building a fully purpose professional music studio on my doorstep.

I always pride myself when I look around my studio as it was all genuinely built on honesty.

My word and testing became a trusted asset to the community and as much as it took me 5 years of youtube grinding to achieve my goal of building a professional music studio, it was worth it knowing that success can be achieved without having to sell your morality and ethics.

I now have really everything I wanted after leaving university. I have a treated live room with some of the best modern microphones. I have an all signing and dancing control room that can basically do whatever I want due to the amount of tech in it. I’ve even got a fully treated and calibrated dolby atmos room for immersive work. And it’s all on my doorstep!

What I’ve learned the most throughout this process is that with enough patience, dedication and hard work, you can achieve anything that’s realistically possible.

This modern world has created a culture that seems almost allergic to giving absolutely everything to succeed.

“it’s too hard”, “it’s taking too long”, “I dont have time to learn that”, “Its too stressful”, “I’m not good enough”

I dont think like that. Some call it blind faith, but I just see what I need to do and just do it. The time it takes, is the time it takes. The only person to blame for your lack of success is yourself.

Life is very hard. It puts hurdles in front of you every day but just because it’s tiring and feels never ending doesn’t mean that you simply stop jumping or try to run around them. If you want to achieve your goals you have to keep jumping. If you fall at a few hurdles, it’s OK, just keep jumping and learn from the last fall. My studio and my continued audio career growth is down to me choosing to keep jumping. Looking for new hurdles to jump over when it seems like I’m near the end of the race. I don’t ever stop. I keep going with the belief that if I keep jumping and looking forward that I will eventually reach my goal of becoming a successful full time industry professional like so many of my peers and mentors

My career still has a lot miles left in the tank and a whole lot of hurdles to jump over. I am constantly looking at how to grow further and expand. The day I stop improving and jumping is the day I retire and hopefully at that point I can look back at a life where I’ve achieved all of my goals. Again, some call it blind faith, I call it an eventuality!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Taysound is situated in one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland. Errol is where my kids have been brought up and we wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. It’s quiet, peaceful, friendly and quite frankly inspiring due to its calm nature.

It has a story behind it and that’s the reason why I wanted to build my studio here.

The wee pub has tons of Scottish character. The cafe is locally owned and ran. The views are breath taking and it has places where you can just sit back and think crystal clear without the hustle and bustle of the world’s problems.

I want people to visit and enjoy the peace. I want them to just zone out and focus on their music. I hate busy cities as it creates panic, rush, rudeness and a lack of kindness towards eachother. I often visit London to network with the industry crowd and honestly I can never wait to get back to Errol. I love many of the people I meet in London, but I despise the city and culture they live in as it creates so much needless stress and distraction which is something I don’t really have in Errol.

Its not exciting and theres not really anything to do but THAT is what you need to be at your creative best. The headspace to just think is priceless for creatives like me and I do believe that it’s one of the reasons as to why I can come up with so many ideas and not feel fear of failing as I have nothing to compare myself to. No big studios, no suits, no competition, no ego. Just peace and community

Sorry, this is obviously not what most reply to this question but it is really a big part of what makes my business breathe. It’s not New York, London or Vegas but I’d argue it’s absolutely perfect for creating the next masterpiece

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have been blessed to share the learnings and teachings of many industry professionals who include Emrah Celik, MsM Engineer, Warren Huart, Turra Medina and many many more!

However I can’t deny the influence of youtube on my career as without the growth of my audio channel I wouldn’t have been able to access the opportunities that I have been granted.

Without it, I wouldn’t have started my Working Audio Tools audio podcast
with Ed Thorne which has pushed our engineering journey to new heights. Ed is my accountability buddy and without his support and friendship I definitely wouldn’t be at the quality of production I am at now. Without the podcast sponsorship I wouldn’t have been able to afford to build a studio that offers as much as it does.

Youtube has opened a lot of doors which have led to networking with many big industry audio engineers, as well as a lot of audio
manufacturers.

I would definitely say that without YouTube and an incredibly patient and supportive wife, none of this would be possible.

Website: https://Www.taysoundstudio.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulthird_uk

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@paulthird

Other: https://youtube.com/@workingaudiotools

https://youtube.com/@mixphonesuk