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[mcsnare]

Jack my man! Well said.
Good to see you.

Dave

[jackthebear]

Thank you Dave.....my my my haven't we moved up in the world!!! Well done mate....thoroughly deserved my man.......

[Ed Littman]

Hey Tony,
Good to see ya. Your lip must be very red as thats what usually gets you back here

Josh's got the word. The same applies to music schools. Where are the jobs for Berklee,New England conservatory,& Boston conservatory Graduates?

I've had to do this twice. From Berklee in 1986 with my Bachelors degree....no job waiting for me. & then later with mastering,self taught...definitely no job waiting.

Ed

[bkuijt]

Macc wrote on Fri, 27 August 2010 15:49

bkuijt wrote on Fri, 27 August 2010 13:55 I really envy people that make it on strength and character rather than 4 ears of education. Having 4 ears would be a hell of an advantage if you ask me. (sorry)

 

Just listen twice  

[jackthebear]

Ed Littman wrote on Tue, 31 August 2010 22:33

Hey Tony, Good to see ya. Your lip must be very red as thats what usually gets you back here Josh's got the word. The same applies to music schools. Where are the jobs for Berklee,New England conservatory,& Boston conservatory Graduates? I've had to do this twice. From Berklee in 1986 with my Bachelors degree....no job waiting for me. & then later with mastering,self taught...definitely no job waiting. Ed

Thanks Ed......

I just find that talk of doom and gloom isn't helpful. I agree that there not ready made jobs as such...... but opportunities can be created when you look hard enough.

You are a classic case proving my point.

[Thomas W. Bethel]

We have had one of the best years so far. I had four great interns working here over the summer and we got a lot done and they learned a lot. Working with interns keeps me on my toes and keeps me young. They sometimes ask a lot of very hard to answer questions but are also thinking here now and not when and then which is VERY refreshing.

Our days of only doing mastering have long since passed. Today we multitask and do things in many different areas including video, post production, restoration, voice over work, on location recording and video taping and mastering. We also do short runs of CDs and DVDs for our clients.

I learned long ago to broaden my horizons and look for work that I have a background in. My degree from college is in Radio TV and I have a good background in Broadcasting having been a weekend news director for a small AM-FM station in Kentucky. I was a classical recording engineer for 26 years and this year we started our 16th year in business as a mastering house but we have really broadened our outlook in the past three years and serve and ever growing clientele.

I am really envious of all you mastering engineers that have enough mastering  work to support yourselves and wish you nothing but continued success in your endeavors.

Living in a small town in a corn field in Ohio has its good and bad sides but in order to make a living you have to do what people need and want you to do and here that means a very diverse audio video operation.

Today we are finishing up some transfer work for a client I have been working with for 30+ years, we are also putting the finishing touches on a commercial for a local church, in two weeks we will be doing a major recording session for an another church's choir 15 miles from here and we just wrapped up the post production and editing of a recording of a Requiem done for a local emeritus professor in memory of his wife and his mother.

It is a fun job and one that I can't wait to get to work in the morning.

My one only wish is that there was more opportunities to do mastering but around here the number of people who do "mastering" far out weighs the number of people who need or want it done.

It seems that everyone is having problems adapting to the new business model. I have watched some of the local business owners in town go from running very successful, very old school business to going belly up all within the last five years. They would not adapt to the new business models and the new younger entrepreneur who are coming into town are beating the pants off of them. These older business owners keep talking about the "good olde days" when they should be thinking about the present and doing business here and now and not 25 years ago. They are losing out big time and are always complaining. At the same time they refuse to change their ways saying "well it always worked for me in the past". What they fail to realize is that was then and this is now and if they don't adapt and change - life will pass them by very quickly.

Tony "Jack the Bear" it is always good to hear from you and I hope you stick around. You bring a very interesting perspective to this forum and I have always enjoyed reading your posts since you seem to be able to call it as you see it.

Take care and lets all get some interns trained to take over the reins when we are all in the home for old mastering engineers.

Peace!!!

[jackthebear]

Thanks for your kind words Thomas......

There is nothing for you to be envious of.....really.....the grass always seems greener right...??

You said yourself you're having the best year ever......despite being in a crippled economy so what's the worry?

Some of these graduates may become your competitors but then again many might become your future clients.

The future is looking good me thinks......

[urm eric]

jackthebear wrote on Tue, 31 August 2010 07:51

Ed Littman wrote on Tue, 31 August 2010 22:33 Hey I just find that talk of doom and gloom isn't helpful.

A propos sod all (honest):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7973276/The-Vic tor-Meldrew-effect-a-good-moan-makes-elderly-feel-better.htm l

Ho-ho,

Eric

[domc]

I have two pretty bits of paper on my wall from an audio school here in Australia.  I tried to get intern work in my final year of the school as a mastering wannabee - it was very hard in Brisbane to even get a response and even harder again to actually get in on a session to learn.  I was lucky enough to get a lesson from a seasoned pro.

I decided to bite the bullet and just do it myself - learn as much as I possibly can from forums such as this one and on-line resources and just by getting my hands dirty and doing it.  Now I have a studio and am getting work...but I still have a lot to learn.  Mind you there are plenty of other people from my degree doing various assorted audio gigs now - but finishing school and walking into a studio job is just not going to happen.  Most studios are run by the owner who spends their life there and cant afford to have a school grad walk in.  But some studios up here taken on students to help out with smaller gig for no pay and just the experience.  Pity there are no giant mastering houses up here that did the same thing a few years ago.  

But doing it the way I did is much more satisfying...and expensive...and stressful...and my wife is a very patient lady....

[domc]

to put some more information in on the original post.  The degree I did was done not for a job but for knowledge.  I would not be where I am today without it - but I didn't do it to get a job.  I did to learn more about music and audio technology and to become a better engineer.

[doctormillice]

My name is Dan.  I am new to this forum, and thank everyone for permission to rumage around on this site.  I recently graduated from Appalachian State University, Hayes School of Music.  I got a music degree, and emphasized in Recording and Production.  

Since then, I am living in NYC.  I interned at a very well known mastering studio here in Manhattan.  The trick to my internship: clean the bathroom better than any other intern in the history of the studio, make copies and file documents better than any other intern, and keep my mouth closed unless eating or drinking.

I humbly accepted an apprenticeship at the studio very recently, and am being groomed to be a mastering engineer here.


From what I have been told by my collegues here, the best way to get involved with a studio that is doing big things, whether mastering, mixing, post, whatever.... is to become an assistant or an apprentice.  

And the only way to become an assistant, is to be a kick ass intern.  Put everything you "learned" in college in the back of your mind somewhere.  Audio pro's could give two shits what you did in college.  But it does help to be knowledgable when the "time is appropriate." (emphasis on appropriate)

[JSam]

Barry Hufker wrote on Fri, 27 August 2010 07:13

Twenty years ago I started an undergraduate Audio Production at Webster University in St. Louis.  My philosophy then was "we're not teaching music recording.  Instead we are teaching audio production."  That means audio wherever it is found in media. As far as I know we were the first to offer this kind of education and remain the leader at it.  Of course music recording is part of the program but it is only a fraction of what is taught/learned.  I sleep well at night knowing we offer the best chance (IMO) for a graduate to find and keep a place in the audio industry. [snip - JSam] It takes guts, determination, talent, perseverance to pursue a job in audio.  The good ones always find something rewarding.  Many others continue to dabble in it semi-professionally while holding a job outside the industry.  But having received an excellent liberal arts education and having focused on something they love, very few regret this time in their lives and their choice of education.

Every time this topic comes up, I always think Barry hits the nail on the head.

[compasspnt]

Great attitude Dan.

You are much of the way towards success already.

Best of luck.

[dcollins]

doctormillice wrote on Wed, 01 September 2010 10:14

And the only way to become an assistant, is to be a kick ass intern.  Put everything you "learned" in college in the back of your mind somewhere.  Audio pro's could give two shits what you did in college.  But it does help to be knowledgable when the "time is appropriate." (emphasis on appropriate)

This is so true, and a lesson lost on many just starting out.  

"If you can't get the food order right, you can't touch the gear."


DC

[Barry Hufker]

Thanks JSam!

I also suggest every intern read all the equipment manuals.  Very few people read them cover to cover.  And if you know something from the manual no one else does, you can readily become "the expert".

My own method for trying to get into a studio was to hang around every place that would let me.  I was as helpful as possible, as friendly as possible, as thoughtful as possible.  They would either hire me or make it clear this was all it was going to be.  But in all cases I learned something.  I met people in the business (who I later hired as adjunct faculty for our Audio Production Program -- how's that for a twist of events?).  And looking back, all the places where I was dying to work and never found a job there, they are all out of business.  I was saved from a larger disappointment.

Barry