Breaking In

Mix magazine

November 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Blair Jackson

GETTING A FOOTHOLD IN THE AUDIO INDUSTRY IS TOUGH (BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE!)

You don't need us to tell you that this is a challenging time to be entering the audio business. Commercial recording studios have been vanishing ... The live touring industry has been rocked by increased expenses for nearly everything, ... And at the same time, there has been a boom in recording schools and audio programs in colleges and universities, so there are more talented, qualified people looking for work in the industry than ever before.

To get a better sense of the job landscape that awaits aspiring audio types, we talked recently with several studio operators and job-placement coordinators at audio schools: Kirk Imamura is president of Avatar Studios in New York City; Rose Mann-Cherney is president of Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles; Becky Sullivan is operations manager of of the Hollywood post facility Soundelux, and is a successful supervising sound editor; Chris Haseleu is chairman of the Recording Industry program at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro, Tenn.; and Jayson Khademi is the director of student services at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (CRAS) in Tempe, Ariz.

Paying Dues

The first illusion to be shattered is that a fresh-faced kid graduating from a recording school/program — much less coming off the streets without any training — can waltz into a studio, land a good-paying job as an engineer and in short order be setting up mics for Bono and The Edge. Much more likely is the prospect of working as an intern for free for a while and then getting a low-wage position as a runner (“go-fer” has such an unappealing ring to it), which might include helping with documentation of Pro Tools sessions in between getting coffee and bagels for the engineers. This naturally raises the question: “I paid x-thousand bucks for an audio education to do that?” ...

“So many kids today know a lot about recording even before they come to a school,” says MTSU's Haseleu. “They've all done recording at home, whether it's GarageBand or Cakewalk or something, and many of them are even at the Pro Tools LE level. There's good news and bad news with that. They come in conversant with the technology, but a lot of them have learned some really bad habits as well because they're usually recording in bad environments.

“But even with this base of knowledge and then with what they learn here, I think they understand it's going to be a tough road out there,” Haseleu continues. “They don't come in with high expectations about the job market. It's still one of those things where you have to have the passion to make it in the business. Nothing gets handed to you.”

“Our production assistant interns know that they're basically getting a runner position,” notes Avatar's Imamura, ... “But it's still important work for the studio, and you're in the studio, seeing what goes on and helping out however you can. We've found that the people who can't tolerate that fall by the wayside. ... There's nothing wrong with feeling that way about yourself ... but that's not what it's going to be about at the entry level.” Imamura says it typically takes two or three years to work up to the assistant engineer level.

Know the Basics and More!

... Although Haseleu agrees that traditional theory, recording techniques and knowledge still form the basis of a quality audio education, he says, “No one gives a stitch about analog magnetic recording anymore ... These days, the more different DAW platforms you know the better off you are because so much of the work is going to be platform-specific, ...”

Still, it's not an entirely digital world, particularly at the upper levels. ...

And Avatar's Imamura says ... that today's production assistant, rather than labeling and organizing tape boxes, spends more time keeping track of hard drives and what's on each of them. . “There's actually more documentation than ever before,” he says. ... And that's one reason Imamura looks for people “who seem to be really conscientious and detail-oriented because the job, whether you're a production assistant or an engineer, is very detail-oriented. ... We also look for people with good common sense, which can be in short supply,” he chuckles. “So it's not just about knowledge or ability. It's temperment and desire. They really have to want to do this.”

What intangibles is Mann-Cherney looking for? “Self-motivation, passion, patience, sense of humor and knowing how to be invisible.

“The business is changing,” she adds, “... [The] job of assistant has totally changed. Assistants need a strong knowledge of not only engineering, but music theory, the music industry and technology in general.”

Reality Check

No doubt, many students envision themselves working their way up the ladder at ... some ... glamorous major studio, but the odds ... are ... not in their favor. ... Well, you need to expand your horizons and be flexible.

Imamura notes that “some small studios provide a really good training ground. ... If you know where to look, you can sometimes find situations like that, and it becomes a good way to get your foot in the door.”

Another way to get some experience is to look beyond traditional recording studios. ...

According to CRAS' Khademi, “... I've seen more kids getting hired into live sound sooner than kids going into studios because the turnover rate in live sound is higher. There are so many more entry-level jobs there. ... But we encourage it, because even though it's not a studio, it might be right for you, or you could view it as a way to meet people in the industry and get paid a little bit while you're working toward a studio gig.

“There are lots of other places to look for jobs in audio,” Khademi continues. “We've placed people with the Library of Congress and in forensic audio. We've gotten people into game audio, ... so we encourage people to also get into post-production, ... We have courses here where students can learn some post basics, learn about commercial production, Foley, dialog replacement. Those are all possible job areas for some people.”

Becky Sullivan of giant post house Soundelux says that they very rarely hire people directly out of school: “... Sound editing is not just being able to run a Pro Tools computer. It's a real craft and that takes experience to learn how to do it well — how to layer the sounds and have it work for the emotion of the picture and work for the mixers and be good.

... Unfortunately, because of union restrictions, Soundelux does not currently have an internship program. “The union doesn't like free labor,” she says. “... But a lot of the smaller independent companies use interns.” ...

“Studio gigs are few and far between,” is Haseleu's sober assessment, “but our folks seem to be finding jobs in emerging markets, so we've had a number of people go into broadcast audio because there's so much more work in hi-def and broadcast engineers aren't sure what 5.1 is, and so on. Then also, new media like Internet companies and game support. A couple of people have gone to places like [Electronic Arts] and applied to the production department and gotten assistant gigs.

“One thing I would say about the more traditional recording studio career, though, is that it's maybe a little easier to make what I would call a ‘middle-class living’ for an artist, engineer or producer,” Haseleu adds. ...