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Last
month we sorta had an "alert" about possibly faulty
connections to the recording industry through nationally advertised
programs allegedly "mentoring" a newbie into becoming a
"recording engineer." The "alert" data
was offered by a former employee of the questionable
enterprise. To read the whole story - go
here. |
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If
the reports are to be believed, I had to ask myself, "Does a
"recording engineer" certificate from this questionable
connection mean anything? Another question immediately came
to mind: "Couldn't a person do it on their own for 1/10th of
the cost and with better results?" It didn't take me
long to answer this last question with a resounding,
"Yes!" |
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I'm
all for training oneself. In the end you will train yourself
in the field by practicing your profession. I taught myself
how to master and record. In this issue, I've
published my story on how I trained myself at mastering - it's
called "On The Job Training."
After my initial training, I kept reading the books mentioned in
the article and become an "expert" at my craft.
After 8 years I felt that I was one of the top five mastering
engineers in the USA and many professionals agreed with me.
Although it took time, I trained myself to be tops in my
field. So training yourself is a valid approach to entering
the field. |
| Looking
over this situation, I
acted. Overnight I have started a better connection -
recordingjobsconnection.com.
The questionable connection will charge $4000 for their services
(discounted to $3000 if you pay up front). Our
connection is better - it's free. You are going to have to
spend some money - anywhere from $300 to $1800 - but you'll spend
it well and on training yourself. We're going to give you
the formula - our advice and services are free - our services will
be many when we are fully operational. |
| Let's
Start With Step 1 |
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One
of the disturbing points of the connection story last issue was
how little the graduating "engineer" was expected to
know. The American Heritage Dictionary we checked gave
the fourth definition of "engineer" as "A
person who
skillfully or shrewdly manages an enterprise."
How can one
be a recording engineer without knowing something about
recording? The article's account of questionable connection
testing of student knowledge is as follows: |
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"the
worst form of testing that I can imagine...filling in the
information that was given in the book...an open-book
test" - e.k. |
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A
better connection is called Alexander
MagazineTM
where you can get a source of recording knowledge. For a fee
of under $300 you get two years to study 4000 files on recording
including recording theory, audio demos, interactive study modules
with tests, etc... If you pass the online study module tests you
are a world ahead of passing an "open book" test.
So far we've saved you $2700 minimum. |
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Is there even a
less-expensive way? Maybe! You could study a bunch of
good texts on recording until you knew them backwards and
forwards. If you went to buy these texts new, they may well
cost over $300 - but by borrowing, use of the library and perhaps
shopping used college bookstores, you could shave a few bucks off
this cost. Personally, I think the interactive study modules
at Alexander MagazineTM
are a
lot faster and better. |
|
Step 2 - Real
Studio Exposure |
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Once you have a
command of the theory behind recording you want to have some
exposure to the real world. You would like to get the
following happening during this period.: |
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1. You
want to work with a good engineer who uses recording
knowledge to get out of difficult situations and to get an
excellent sounding product. |
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2.
You want to be able to ask questions after the session or
in-between sessions. |
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3.
You want to be able to apply the skills you learn (e.g.
setting up microphones) rather than always making coffee
or running to McDonalds. |
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Probably the way you
will gain this experience is through an internship, where you do
not receive pay for your services but experience and expertise in
exchange for services. If you get a good internship at the
right place, it could well lead to a job offer. Studios and
engineers often accept interns as a way of screening potential
employees. The "employer" gets to see what a
person can do, how fast a person can be trained, and how well the
intern follows directions without committing to employment.
A good intern will make oneself so valuable that the employer does
not want to lose the intern's services and therefore must begin to
pay for them |
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Our
www.recordingjobsconnection.com
service should be a very valuable resource for you to find some
place to intern. You should, however, seek out your own
place to intern. Part 2 of this series will give you more
specific advice on how to get a good internship and how to make
sure that the internship gives you the best learning
results. |
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Step 3 - On The
Job Training |
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If you got your
internship really working for you, you may get a starting job
offer. Don't expect that what you start with is where you
wil wind up. You are entering a phase where you will be paid
for some services you will perform, but the majority of your time
is still learning. You will essentially still be studding
full time but also working part time. |
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The following
example demonstrates how a studio owner may work you into the
staff of a multi-room studio operation after interning. The
following quotes Greg Reilly, president of The Disc Ltd
recording studio in Eastpointe, Michigan: |
| When
I hire an intern, I will pay two different rates,
depending on the functions that our new employee
will perform. The "General" rate
will be at about 1 1/2 times minimum wage. I
will pay "starting engineering rates"
(slightly under twice minimum wage) for services
performed on a paid recording job. I will
offer a guaranteed minimum paid hours between 10 and
20 per week (depending on current studio conditions
and my confidence in the ex-intern's abilities). |
| General
work could be cleaning the studio, taking inventory,
running out to pick up stock, formatting tapes, and
even reloading the pop and candy machines (in fact
the newbie is often nicknamed the "candy
boy" during the first month on the job). |
| I
am very willing to pay for recording services once
the new employee can competently perform them and
satisfy the client. Initially there may be
things like running duplicates (cassettes or CDs),
assisting other engineers. Later there may be
more significant functions like the
engineering of less-critical sessions or working
"swing shift." |
| To
be successful the newbie must learn a lot, a lot of
equipment and a lot of different techniques.
Recording is not as simple as it was when I started
out in the field. The new employee can book
in-house time after client hours and use that time
to get good at the equipment that will be needed on
paid sessions. I encourage them to do a
production of their own music in the studio to get
their chops up. I will also have training
sessions for engineers on new equipment and will
include the newbie in these staff training sessions |
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If you work this
part of employment correctly, you will get more and more paid
session hours until you don't really have any time for that
"general" work and the studio manager has to hire
another "newbie." A story of RID graduate Andy
Toth progressing on the job to full-time engineer can be
found here. |
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The Result |
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If you get each of
the above steps working for you, you have become a recording
engineer and it cost you $300 or so. Is this the best way,
the fastest way, the right way? We will explore how you
could spend another $1500 - $1800 to make the steps I outlined
above work faster and better for you beginning in the next article
of this 3 part series. |
THE CREATION OF
RECORDINGJOBSCONNECTION.COM