Before I open a client's session, I listen to my references. I've done this almost every working day for over two decades. I think it's good practice, but it all started with a school assignment.

Before I touch an EQ, compressor, limiter, or anything else, I listen.

That might sound obvious, but it’s worth saying out loud — because the first listen tells me more than any meter ever will. In the first 30 seconds, I’m not trying to fix anything. I’m trying to understand what the record is already doing, and what it’s trying to be.

Those first impressions set the foundation for every decision that follows.