DO THIS!

Ten years ago, Wietse uploaded the first video to his audio channel with an old iPhone, basic editing, and no idea where it would lead. A decade later, the channel is nearing 200,000 subscribers, alongside a mixing and mastering business, major studio experiences, and a lot of hard-earned lessons about building creative work.

Key takeaways

• Start before everything is perfect. The first video had rough sound, but it existed.
• Be careful who you listen to, especially when they dismiss your ambition.
• Use real feedback and data instead of taking advice from people watching from the sidelines.
• Improve by 1% each time rather than waiting for a giant breakthrough.
• Choose long-term trust over quick money.
• Build around the work you actually care about.

TL;DR verdict

The advice is simple, but it holds up: stop planning forever and put the work out there. Wietse’s ten-year reflection is not a polished business seminar. It is more useful than that. It is a straightforward reminder that careers are usually built through small, repeated actions, not one perfect launch.

The biggest point is this: if you care about audio, music, teaching, or any other creative path, you need to begin before you feel ready. The early work might be embarrassing. That is fine. It gives you something to improve.

What it does

This anniversary video looks back at the journey from a struggling audio engineer to an established creator and business owner. In the beginning, the channel was mainly a way to bring more people to a website and find clients. Money was tight. Even basic living costs were a problem.

The videos began gaining attention because they answered questions people were already searching for, especially around audio plugins and engineering. That small amount of traction became a real audience over time.

The channel is still not the whole business. Mixing and mastering take up most of the working hours, while YouTube brings in a larger share of the company revenue. That detail matters because it cuts through the usual “quit your job and become a creator” nonsense. Building a creative business is often messy. One part may pay the bills while another part grows slowly in the background.

For musicians, this applies outside YouTube too. You can release a rough demo, book a session, or share a song before you have the perfect setup. At Paradise Studios in Santa Monica, the goal is similar: make recording easier, with a room, engineer, and gear ready to go, so artists can spend less time worrying about logistics and more time actually making something.

The strongest lessons

Ignore the wrong kind of advice

Early on, Wietse believed 30,000 subscribers might be the ceiling for an audio engineering channel. Someone else told him that even reaching that number was nearly impossible. That doubt became motivation.

Not every opinion deserves equal weight. People who have built something similar may have useful advice. People who have done nothing but criticize from the sidelines? Their opinion is not automatically valuable.

This does not mean becoming impossible to work with. It means choosing your input carefully. Keep your principles, test your ideas, and let results speak.

Start with what you have

The first video was recorded on an old iPhone and edited with basic software. The sound was rough. If he had waited for an expensive camera, better microphones, or a perfect studio, the channel might have started years later.

That delay would have cost more than the poor production quality. It would have cost experience.

The same goes for music. You do not need a dream studio to write your first record. You need a song, a way to capture it, and enough nerve to let somebody hear it. When you are ready for a more focused session, a relaxed space like Paradise’s Rainforest room for vocals or Rock room for bands can remove some of the friction without turning the process into a corporate production line.

Chase small improvements

The goal is not to become twice as good overnight. Aim for 1% better each time. Improve the title, the mix, the arrangement, the thumbnail, or the way you explain an idea.

Small gains stack up. More importantly, publishing gives you feedback that private planning never can. You learn what connects, what falls flat, and what needs work.

Pros and cons

Who should buy into this advice?

This is for musicians, producers, engineers, and small creators who keep waiting for better equipment, more money, or the perfect idea. It is also useful for anyone trying to build an independent business without handing their entire future to sponsors, platforms, or whatever trend is hot this week.

If you want to release music, start teaching, or build an audience around your skills, the message is clear: make the first version, learn from it, and keep going.

Who should look elsewhere?

If you want a guaranteed growth formula, this is not it. There is no magic upload schedule, plugin list, or secret shortcut. The video does not promise overnight success, and that is exactly why it feels believable.

For more hands-on help, work with people who understand the craft. A professional mixing or mastering engineer can give your track a human perspective. A proper recording room can also help you focus, whether you are cutting vocals in Rainforest or tracking a full band in Rock.

Alternatives

You could spend months studying creator strategy, buy every new plugin, or wait until your studio looks impressive enough to share. Those are all options. They are also excellent ways to avoid finishing anything.

A better alternative is to make a small, useful project now:

1. Record one song or publish one useful video.
2. Ask for honest feedback.
3. Fix one thing.
4. Repeat next week.

That is not flashy. It is sustainable. And after ten years, sustainable usually beats flashy.

The final lesson is the one worth keeping: protect your passion, stay stubborn about the things that matter, and think beyond the next quick win. Build trust. Keep learning. Do the work.

Or get a human ear on it — $250/track mastering at Paradise, 3 revisions.