To grow in the music world you must turn down negative static and allow yourself to find beauty in both musical and non-musical pursuits. An engineer will find themselves lost at sea if they cannot navigate a genre that they have not developed an appreciation for. Clients come from varied musical backgrounds, and in order to fulfill their needs, an engineer must mine a touchstone from the elements they are presented with. It is a more straightforward task to work with music you have grown up with, music that has laid the foundation for, and inspired your artistic pursuits; as opposed to music that is foreign to you. Comfort is alluring, it asks you to lock yourself away at home, and embrace the familiar. While you may succeed working only within your own musical tribe, you will shut yourself off from the kind of exploration that shocks the mind out of stagnation and into growth.
An engineer can create a touchstone within a genre they are unfamiliar with by drawing from genres that are familiar to them. One of the first steps to finding common ground is by taking the music you are unaccustomed to and stripping it to its essentials. Is the music melodic, or dissonant? Atmospheric, or jarring? Does it possess a complex, or basic rhythm? How does the vocalist present themselves, as a crooner, screamer, poet, mimic? You must then ask how these essentials correspond to music you find kinship with. For example, a gruff blues voice is only steps removed from a screaming metal vocalist. The verse, chorus, verse structure of a punk song can be related to the skeleton of a pop song. Country music slide guitar leads are shades away from thrash leads. By identifying the shared components from genre to genre, and by keeping an open mind, a respect will form and a bridge that joins worlds will be constructed.
To move the aforementioned concept forward, there is a greater feeling of ease when working on music you enjoy. It creates an excitement that fuels the session. So why not find a way to enjoy all music presented to you? This is achieved by sifting out the positive elements of the music, focussing your mind upon those moments, and letting them run on a constant loop in your head. As those selections loop, acknowledge that they are the fine points of the piece. Then begin to coax that acknowledgement into excitement, letting yourself feel proud for the musician who attained that moment of skillful achievement. And whether these moments are few, or a great many, every song possess at least one. They are the points in time when a young band has locked in with each other, when a seasoned band has broke new ground, when a master has executed an unwavering one take. By granting prominence to the positive an engineer cannot only put their mind to work for their client, but their heart as well.