Assistants:

[BCains]

How do you get that assistants position!! arhh

I've been talking to local studios / keeping in contact, listening
out for that position that might pop up, but with no avail.

As an engineer that's really just starting out, i'd love to be able to just
work freelance or open my own small studio but with out that" name" and good client list it's hard to get clients.

What i'm looking for is a position with a studio or a personal assistant for
a freelance engineer; i'm willing to do the coffee duties no problem.


Any tips or job offers ;) welcome.

[toddd]

I hear ya bec, i've been wondering the same thing for a while now.

i think that we need to realise (which i'm sure you already do) that it aint gonna come to you - you gotta chase it, and hard. keep making a nuisance of your self with studios until they just give in! hehe.

but something i've come to realise in the past 12 months is that there aren't really any studios in s.e. qld who want/need assistants. my ears are being drawn south...

[BCains]

todd,

you're right, sometimes i feel like a real pain in the arse ringing/emailing them all the time.

yeah we just don't have the big studios like down in sydney and melbourne.
however theres a few nice ones, mostly owner/engineer being the same person.

the downfall with freelance thing is lower end budget bands would rather have one cheap fee
not engineer rates and ontop of that room rates.

[davemc]

I had a few freelancers go through my place before I closed up.
Basically I gave them cheaper rates and it was up to them what they charged on top. (If they did block bookings I gave them cheaper rates, just like bands doing many days)
Although I know other studios who just charge there daily fee if they have to be there or not for freelancers, as they could book the days themselves.

What a couple of freelancers did as they were trying to get there name going was they basically charged little to keep the costs down. I do not know if I would do this long term although it really is the chicken and the egg.

If you do not have a lot of work your done its hard to say you can do it, also if you have not done a lot of work sometimes you really cannot do it.
I had a few guys who did courses and had nice peices of paper although had no clue about things. I had to sit and help some new freelancers with things they probably should know if there running a session for $'s. The real world level of training in courses is very little from what I could see.

That is what I think people starting out really have to remember is that you need to offer something to the band and the studio.
As the Studio can make more money being there if they give you a cheap rate. Unless they have free days.
The Band can also get a more experianced engineer if they use the studio with the in house guy. So its hard to charge the same for less experiance, so you need to offer something extra. Which again is hard...

[toddd]

I had a few guys who did courses and had nice peices of paper although had no clue about things. I had to sit and help some new freelancers with things they probably should know if there running a session for $'s. The real world level of training in courses is very little from what I could see.
...

i did 'one of those courses' a while back dave, and i have to say i agree with you. (i'm not gonna sae which one i did though...). they teach you pretty much sweet fa about running a session (i've always had to rely on previous experience with how to deal with break downs and handling muso's) and come to think of it, pretty much sweet fa about anything regarding audio (it was a lot like uni in that way).

it still makes me laugh that the guy who ran my school swore black n blue that tape was no longer made and studios hadn't used it for at least five years (i dont have the heart to call him and tell him about the 8 track in my little studio now)..

ok, rant over.

[Jason]

Hi Beck,

This is a small bit of info that you may already know but I quit work as one of the in house engineers at Grevillea Recording Studios in December. I had been there for almost 9 years and learnt alot in that time. I am telling you this because I know they are keeping their eyes open for someone. Not sure if they have found anyone yet.

Problem with this is they only really do Jazz and Classical. You will get very little experience of other styles working there. But something is better than nothing.

If you want to give them a try, call and organise a time you can drop in and see them with your C.V. and demo. If your going to hand in a demo, make sure that the CD has no overloads or weird phase problems. Thats the first thing they will listen for.

Hope this helps if your interested.

Cheers

Jason Howley

[BCains]

thanks jason!

p.s how are you going by way?

also thats why our qld shootout out is on hold, i remember cris saying you and him were trying to get one organised at Grevillea.

[Guest]

Hey Jason

Hows it going. Are you doing the free lance thing now, or in a different studio?

Tony

[astrovic]

i'm not gonna sae which one i did though...

Hehe, nicely put

...assuming it's not a typo?

[chris p]

The sad truth about this industry is that labour supply exceeds demand, which is the reason why, for the great majority, the work is hard to find and the pay isn't all that great. Talent needs to be matched with commitment and a dose of "being in the right place at the right time" good luck.

There trick then is either to make sure you're hanging around the right places so you are there if that "right time" comes along, or else think outside the box as to what constitutes the industry. Are you talking to advertising companies, jingle writing and producing companies, TV studios, radio stations? What about local live sound venues, including theatres (not cinemas, theatres)? If you're not yet a Christian, think about becoming one - there is a boom in modern church worship sound and recording that is surprisingly professional to those who think church music is only played on pipe organs.

Now I must confess that my paying job is NOT in the music industry, but I am an employer and have been the manager of decent sized operation (like 120 people). Every graduate who asks me for a job is sufficiently bright to have completed 5 years of university, and they all could do the job. The ones I consider are those who have some real world smarts as well, and that only comes through actual work (whether well paid or not, and whether directly or only tangentially related).

[Kris]

If you're not yet a Christian, think about becoming one - there is a boom in modern church worship sound and recording that is surprisingly professional to those who think church music is only played on pipe organs.

Ha! That's brilliant.

Actually it's true. Modern churches are some of the best equipped venues in town. My church is equipped with a 96 channel Yamaha PM1D rig at FOH and a M7CL for monitors. It's been designed so that when we're ready we can hook up a DM2000 for broadcast and all 3 desks will feed from the same set of pre's... all at once. Don't even get me going on Hillsong and Planet Shakers, they have amazing set ups. Of course that's all for live work.... Album wise we still use local studios. Although, our new album was tracked at Henson Studio B in Los Angeles. Quite a bizarre mix... studio A was Velvet Revolver, Studio B was a church music team and Studio C was Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey. Hillsong do all their work at The Grove as it is owned by a member of their music team and Planet Shakers is mixed at The Cool Room, an SSL equipped home studio of the main singer/producer.

But you needn't be a Christian to mix there....it does help though! We may have the gear but we also have a shortage of competent operators. Want to see something funny? Go to one of our youth meetings and see a 14 year old kid running FOH on a state of the art console.

In regards to getting work, the advertising and film areas are booming. Ad agency work is VERY lucrative if you can get it. Agencies think nothing of paying $350 an hour for an entire day to mix tvc's or record voice overs at quite small studios, usually a fairlight or euphonix or even just tools. For them it's all about the perks, coffee, food, comfy surroundings... and a quick can ride back to their office. Film wise, Happy Feet was mixed in Sydney and that was a massive job. More jobs will follow, just not necessarily rock bands. Classical and Opera are genres where live recordings are common (the opera house has a great studio) too.

Sydney and Melbourne seem to be where the bulk of the work ends up but I'm generalising. All you need is a George Miller or Peter Jackson and Dubbo could become the new Hollywood.

[Sheer Noise]

hahaha... I came from dubbo!!! Hollywood in the west... hahaha... stop it - you're killing me.

Dave

[Mark Bassett]

....from and old post I wrote on the topic

Sounds like we have a similar evolution - I too studied audio at a 'school' I won't mention here. The only advice I can give is from my own experiences. While at ### studying audio I landed a job at the now defunct Milkbar Studios. Management gave me a free run of rooms after hours, unpaid, to basically learn how it all works. I remember reading through the Euphonix manual at 2am trying to get my head around the board. So I wasn't actually employed per se. They were interested in hiring some more assistants, but few can just walk straight into a commercial session with well known bands and producers and be an asset not a hindrance. Anyway, I just spent all my free time there, being around, hanging out on a few sessions with unknown engineers and shitty bands that didn't care if I was in the room. I just tried to be a useful person, who was always there ready to go, looking enthusiastic. I was totally aware of how rare the opportunity was and I stuck to it. Eventually they threw me in on a session and I ended up working with the biggest producers in the land on some very memorable sessions.

In the midst of the second Milkbar auction I was thinking about taking Rick O'Neil's offer to leave Milkbar and come and work with him. So I had Milkbar management and Rick O'Neil pretending not to fight over me. After my head deflated, I chose Turtlerock, and a week later strangers were walking out of Milkbar with outboard gear in their arms.

The way I see it is there's two things you need to get hired and one of these things can be learnt if you're not fully up to speed, and without the other I can't see you making it.

Number One attribute: Audio Skills
It's not hard to learn how a studio works, how to patch gear in and you eventually learn how engineers/producers work, how many sugars they like in their cap. The point is these skills can be learned - by almost anyone who's interested.

Number Two Attribute: Attitude
I'll write that again A T T I T U D E in case you missed it cause it's THE most important thing you can have and by the sounds of it Darren, you've got it. I mean I'm the second person who's said that, sometimes you can just tell someone's got the right vibe about them. You can't easily learn not to be a wanker if you know what I mean.

I've witnessed studio managers throw resumes in the bin after laughing at the "High Distinction Average at ### Audio School" the hopeful applicant quoted on his CV.

I've seen potential studio assistants come in who just graduated from ### audio school having done work experience at ###### studios who think they know it all, perhaps they do, but I haven't seen them since.

They all had a "I know everything attitude" an unless you're Nigel Godrich - and even if you are, having a pretentious vibe about you won't help. There's a big difference between the "can't wait to get a chance to show you what I can do" attitude and the "I deserve this job - I know it all" attitude.

I knew guys who were far far more knowledgeable than me, really knew their stuff but no one wanted to work with them. I had big name producers requesting me by name to be in the room with them, and I knew the least out of anyone there - but my cup was empty.

Every now and then the producer/engineer would give out pearls of wisdom and I lapped them up cause I was genuinely interested. There was of course one well-known producer who didn't want me in the room at all, ever. I didn't care, didn't let it get to me, I got paid to read manuals was the way I looked at that week in the studio.

Your question was how to get in the studio in the first place. One of my lecturers (who later became a close friend) knew the manager at Milkbar. Milkbar had rang the audio school and asked him to send down a few students for interviews. I walked in to the manager's office and he was on two phones at once, juggling session dates. He put down one phone and said, "who are you?" I said, "I'm here for the interview". He said, "Did Luke send you?. I said "yeah". He said "you're hired, head into the studio and introduce yourself".

[Jason]

[quote="Tony"]Hey Jason

Hows it going. Are you doing the free lance thing now, or in a different studio?

Tony[/quote]

Yes.......the free lance thing. ( I am thinking that choice was rather stupid!! ) but I do have a small following.

I have put together a small 2 room home studio for doing small recording jobs and mixing things that I have recorded at bigger studios. I have also hooked up with some live acts doing there FOH sound.

BUT........

when it comes down to making money, I have started working part time at a Q-Ride motorbike training facility to pay the morgage & bills. This allows the money I make from sound work to go back into the studio. The plan is to build up the business enought so I can drop the Q-Ride job.

Yes, the reason the gear shootout got put on hold was because of my leaving. Thought it would be a good oppertunity to play with some new gear and met some new people whislt get people into the studio to check it out. Oh well...thems the brakes

Cheers

Jason

[headman]

"If you're not yet a Christian, think about becoming one"

I don't know if I should laugh or cry. What in God's name has Christianity and recording expertise/equipment have to do with each other. Bach on a Pipe Organ is a religious experience just leave it at that.
t.h.

[astrovic]

Mark - that was a great read. Any chance we could get all those ego-inflated sh!theads coming out of school/uni/etc to learn it off by heart? (And I'm not just talking about audio engineering either - a fair chunk of those grads chrisp was talking about could do with it as well).

Cheers mate

[BCains]

Thanks for everyones comments, and to quote astrovic that was very helpful, mark.

[Howard Jones]

"Number One attribute: Audio Skills
It's not hard to learn how a studio works, how to patch gear in and you eventually learn how engineers/producers work, how many sugars they like in their cap. The point is these skills can be learned - by almost anyone who's interested."

I would modify this point somewhat. There are some people who, no matter how many times you show them something or explain something to them, will not develop the necessary understanding of what is required. I have encountered this phenomenon in this and other industries. Sometimes such people have nevertheless managed to get a certain distance up the totem pole.

So, sometimes you meet people who are quite interested or even enthusiastic who just aren't going to make it because they don't "get" it.

[Peter Knight]

Am I the only one who thinks that Bec is possibly looking at things from the wrong angle?

Like everyone says, there are no "jobs" in this game. But there is work for people who can take charge of a project and successfully manage it from start to finish. Problem is, you have to have a reputation to get hired on that basis... how do you get the reputation? Just keep plugging away until your break comes I guess.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that looking at this problem from the "safe, secure employee" viewpoint is not going to get you far. But if you're your own woman (or man!) and can take the call from a band, meet with them, fix any problems with the songs in pre-production, track the songs with a vision of the final mix in mind, and deliver them killer mixes at the end... you'll be living life the way you probably envisioned it to begin with. Who wants to be an employee anyway?

Oh and another thing - don't feel like you have to do everything yourself. If you know that the drums will sound better recorded at someone elses studio, take the band there. If your Beat Detective skills aren't the best, handball that job to someone who kicks arse at it. Because at the end of the day the record will sound better - does anything else matter? Not to me.

[Martin]

so much of working in audio has nothing to do with audio

i've learnt this the hard way by missing out on two jobs that would probably have left me higher up the food chain than i currently am... not so much because of attitude i think than because of circumstances.... (would you leave $50p/h enjoyable audio job to go work for free, with the possibility of getting paid?) okay so maybe that is attitude, but stick with it, do as much work as you can and try and see the value with whoever walks through the door in this industry because while there are a good share of nob heads, there are also a lot of like minded, interesting and knowledgable people, and the relationships with those people are worth more than your super duper class Z double tube preamp and the sound it just pulled.

when you do actually land a studio job that pays your bills (just) and someone cares that you used a 4:1 ratio on that voice, its a great feeling and it can happen... it is not without its annoying-ness-ess and the fact that everyone has an opinion the "i played guitar in year 8 at school so i know better than you, career muso-audio-nerd!!" syndrome! which is my personal favourite