Turtlerock Forum

For the past 8 months I've been getting 15-20 emails a week from people looking for work experience, offering free assistance, coffee makers etc. I used to try to answer them all but it's become a bit of a chore now. Where do you send these poor sods ? I've tried taking a few on but realistically it doesn't work out. What they learn is it's a hard way to make a living and it scares most of them off. Pretty soon the streets are going to be jammed with wandering Audiocentrics looking for a place to apply their newly found skills. Being a knower of the knobs does not translate to work. It has to be a secondary skill. Nowadays you must be a Musician or Producer first & then hire yourself as an engineer to yourself. This past year I've seen more people chuck it in than ever before. Trying to maintain a work/pay flow has been really hard this year. And what do we do with this flood of newbies? Encourage them? Discourage them? Ignore them? rant over

go to SAE (insert other audio colleges) and and throw eggs at it. I'm sick of seeing those places promise careers in audio, only to spit out graduates who cant find work, it's pathetic, and borderline fraudulence.

got any volunteer jobs jim ?

I'm in need of a skilled audio engineering graduate to climb up a ladder and pour sand into wall cavities.

Pay - a wealth of experience!

(Slight caveat - as soon as we open and start recording we'll need you to leave, sorry about that).

It's the same now as it was when I was a lad - studios are a magnet - one can canvas every listed studio and/or go to an audio school but there never has been the jobs to supply the demand. It's flattering that someone would seek you out for a job - rejecting them is not easy.

I don't know what SAE or their competitors tell students nowadays, but when I did the course in the late '70s Tom never said that any of us were going to get a job out of the course - in fact he said quite clearly at the outset that some may get work as a panel operator at a local radio station, or perhaps some live gigs with smaller bands etc but no-one was going to walk into a studio and be snavvled up.

I get an average 3 or 4 calls/emails a week asking for the same thing. I could offer it but unfortunately I don't keep the regular hours that would be needed for the school kids asking for it. It would mean I'd need to be at the studio when they needed to be there. Not going to happen.
I generally pass them on to bigger facilities (further away from where they live). If they really want to do it, they'll do it.
I agree with Jamil, Audio schools shouldn't be hyping up or promising job placements as an in to do their courses. I don't understand how that can be reality.
Best thing to do, or what I do is encourage them in a more self employed way. I tend to say, save your pennies, buy some gear that will get you started, hang around your friends bands and make recordings, read and ask questions (my phone line is always open), get interested in the craft of audio recording, if you find it's not what you expected then you haven't wasted $20K at some audio school.
I offer courses at the studio because I'm a certified trainer but I wouldn't consider the studio an audio school and we certainly don't charge those sorts of fees. It's more about discovering if this would be the right career for them. It's also mostly government rebated so it's close to free for them.
Good topic Jim.

cheers

I answer every genuine email i get , i always have
I figure it comes with the territory
I alway use their first name in the reply
Give them a short thanks cant help you
Keep at it email

Over the years every know and then somebody
Shows up and brings me work
During the session they tell me i responded to them
Many years earlier , and that they remember that no body
Else bothered
A grand or two once every year or two more
Then covers my email time
And tying in with my thread on integrity in audioland
I think its important to say no thanks to these guys
They dont need a long explanation
But they do need to know there are real people at the
End of the internet that bothered to read their request for help

Some of these guys and girls actually do get good jobs in the industry. One I used to teacxh guitar to is now in comercial radio doing audio production and the otheraudio production in TV. He was the son of a music teacher here and i showed him how i work during a demanding school musical i was working on... things like coiling leads, and laying them safely...on to gain structure and mix tecnique. I told him that work in the industry is hard to get etc but he already knew that...so did his parents , both musicians. I remember telling him anyone doing these audio training coarses, their greatest assett is themselvs. He went on to SAE and now he runs a good studio in a warehouse where he lives with a few mates and the TV job is his big dollars.