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Being a professional means making a living from your profession full-time. Which is what I do. I make a full-timne living from being an Audio-Engineer. And from various facets of Audio-Engineering and music production.
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Obviously the cats at Cello and The Hit Factory are no longer professional.
Some of the best records made as of late have been done by what you would classify as "hobbyists." i still find those albums to be important.
OTOH, i'm not defending Curve, I'm simply stating that in this climate "you gotta make what you can get."
I consider myself a factotum, something that comes in quite handy in the studio environ.
Looking back on last years stats (at tax time) i made 14 albums last year; not including EPs, demos and other crap. If 60% of my income comes from another area am i a hobbyist? All That Jazz said (in december) one of my productions was one of the top ten productions of last year. WTF?
Living in a small market has forced me to think outside of the box, it also keeps me fresh and safe from burnout.
That said, competing with amateur blowhards on a daily basis is frustrating because the people are getting dumbed down due to the overuse of words such as: Pro, professional, first rate, high quality or whatever. Words mean nothing anymore, i live and die by my work and I expect others to do the same.
Keeping, diversified, a competant staff, decent gear and a strong work ethic has worked for me. Having to turn tricks on the street to pay the huge nut of a giant room/console/mic locker would still put me into the "hobbyist" category 'cause that shit is pretty hard to fly; look at Cello and T.H.F.
BTW i'm not attcking or defending either of you, merely stating a point of view.
Hobbyist out...