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Talkback:
"Teaching Tomorrow's Talent"
What a broad article. The girl thing NEEDS its own whole ISSUE, not just the tail end of a talk on education by educators. I guess I'm aligning with the old fogies, but the old apprentice method presupposed that you were willing to forgo all else, throw away everything for your passion ...audio ...music ... transduction ...whatever. The comforts of "school", no matter how commercial or trade-oriented, do seem a bit sophmoric, but we older types MUST know that today's arsenal of gear REQUIRES so much more knowledge and book learning. I do believe, though, that the real stuff, the feel... intuition... ability to communicate with clients, artists, and LAWYERS, cannot be taught. It can be mentored, but either you CAN or you CAN'T, and no amount of "education" will help in these affairs. It can sharpen or focus, but ALL profesional schools could vet out more of their students, and do their prospective professions a favor.
This forum is wonderful, and I'm so glad you all are doing this. Thanx.
--Rom Rosenblum, romdeb@flash.net
Internship or Slave Labor?
I am very pleased that there is such an easy and effective way to get information to and from the people who really know what's going on. Anyhow, enough about how great S2N is and on with my opinion.
I tried to take into consideration the many facts and oppinons about audio education and apply them to my sittuation. I spent five years at Ohio University learning many technical skills while commpleting my Audio Production degree. My instructor assured me that I had the chops to be successful in this business and I was very confident in my own skills. I never had any misconceptions that I would stumble on to a job and make a million dollars, I knew I had much to learn.
I completed an internship in one of Cleveland's better studios. I was eager to learn, eager to please, and confident that my 3 months of free service would pay off. I spent the first month doing demolition and construction for a new live room. I did it gladly trying to see the benefit of my labor. I call it, euphemistically, a lesson in acoustics. The next two months I answered phones, waxed floors, cleaned, painted and a lot of other "studio" related work. Am I complaning too much?
I did get some benefits from my labor. I was in the right place at the right time twice to do some audio related work. I did it well. Sink or swim? I definitely swam. I don't believe they had any confidence in me at all, but I did prove myself.
What did this get me? Nothing. No job, no help getting a job, nothing. Only the offer to work for free as long as I wanted to make the 45 min commute. "Hey we're paying you in experience and knowledge." I am sure that is what many studio owners say to their interns all the time. I guess you could say I'm pretty pissed off. But I am willing to do what ever it takes. I am currently seeking another unpaid internship. And I'll work just as hard there.
This is an industry that eats its young. Only people who have a lot of money or too much time on there hands can work for free. I know a lot of people out there are in the same boat that I am. What do we need to do to get a job? I'm not asking to make a million dollars, enough money to pay my rent and by a six pack of beer every now and then would be nice. As long as there is an ample supply of free labor out there, people like me will keep getting screwed. I am dedicated, I am good. I have a lot to learn but that is to be expected right?
What do I need to do to find a paying job so that I don't end up like 99% of the audio students out there? Is there a head hunter organization for people like me? Please E-Mail me with any suggestions. Am I as likely to get a record contract as I am to get a studio job? At least club owners give the bands beer when they play for free. :)
Hope you editors don't think I'm bitchin too much or too long winded. But this is a very frustrating situation I am in. I hope none of you find yourself in the same predicament when you graduate.
-- Doug Liebler, DRLiebs@aol.com
While spending eight years as the chief technician and a staff engineer at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia, one of my many tasks was to interview people who were applying for internships at the studio. ("OK, Mark, talk to this guy and find out how much he knows about the technical side of our business.") In doing this I formed an opinion about how well the recording schools were doing at imparting basic knowledge that anyone who wants to work in audio engineering will need to know: not terribly well.
While you can hardly expect a recent audio school graduate to have the kind of knowledge you need to do component-level tech work on equipment, it would have been nice to be able to ask the question "What is the frame rate of NTSC color video? You know, our wonderful American TV standard?" without being able to count on getting a blank stare in reply 95% of the time. An awful lot of the people who came to us looking for jobs just seemed to be blank slates when it came to the kind of nuts-and-bolts issues that an assistant engineer has to deal with on a daily basis.
In self-defense then, since lack of knowledge is one of the main causes of problems that lead to the poor tech guy being dragged out of his shop (or worse, out of his session) to come deal with your session's bugs, here is my manifesto of stuff you should be learning:
Analog recording still exists! Learn to do a basic tape machine alignment! Get some practice at it! If you get a job in a studio using analog multitrack, you'll probably have to do it at the beginning of every session. If the school doesn't like the idea of students messing with the 24-track because they're afraid you'll bust the trimpots, remind them that assistants bust trimpots on a regular basis in the real world and demand that they teach this basic skill in a meaningful way--that is, allowing you to practice it enough that you have the chance to screw it up a couple of times, learn to recognize where you screwed up and how to recover from the mistake without having to yell for help as soon as you realize something's wrong.
Don't just learn to run the school's chosen console by rote. The really important thing is not that you know exactly what buttons to push to route a signal from point A to point B on a Nobbledecker 89.95+, but rather that you understand how the signal gets from point A to point B, what the building blocks of your Nobbledecker are, and how it fits into the continuum of console organizations (split, classic in-line, in-line with global signal path switching etc.), so that when confronted with an unfamiliar console you can use your generalized knowledge of basic console design to learn the new unit by relating its design to how the Nobbledecker worked.
This applies to things like automation systems, too. Rather than being content with being a trained operator of Airborne Objects 6.6.6, try to get a general view of the basic functions that all mix automation systems must perform. Functions like Fader Write, Fader Update, Mute Only Write, nulling and various off-line mix edit operations exist in just about all systems, though they might be called by different names. A feel for the basic features that are common to all moving fader systems, or all VCA systems is the thing you most need in order to be able to adapt to whatever system your job throws at you.
Learn about microphone basics and classic mic techniques. This doesn't mean learn to imitate the way someone got the snare sound on some record whose 15 minutes are almost up, but the old methods that are in the textbooks. If you're setting up for a session and the engineer says, "Put two 87's here in a Blumlein pair with the stereo center pointed at the drums" (direct quote from some live band date I did last year), you shouldn't have to ask what a Blumlein pair is.
Get some basic computer literacy. Not to become a guru on one particular system, but again to develop a "feel" for the way current operating systems work. If you know one GUI-based system, you can probably learn to run a different one quickly. The same goes for command-line OS's, if there are any left.
I was once awakened at 3:00 A.M. by an engineer who had just had the mix automation system inexplicably stop working altogether. After a lot of talking him through various screens, I discovered that the problem was that in trying to clear some disk space by deleting previous mix files, he had inadvertently renamed the file containing the executable code for the automation system, so that the command to run it came back with a "bad command or filename" error message. This sort of dumbnitude is grounds for homicide in some places, so for heaven's sake get comfortable enough with a computer to avoid such a stupid mishap.
Read. Read, read, read!. Schooling can't just present you with all the information that you will find useful; some of it you have to seek out for yourself. Use the printed page as a means of making Viking raids upon the stock of knowledge that others have. Haunt libraries and bookstores looking for anything that relates to what you're trying to learn. Read the trade magazines too, but be careful: there's an awful lot of myth, half-truth and just plain horsefeathers floating around this industry (e.g. the current "vintage" gear craze and some of the stuff that gets said on the subject of vacuum tubes). Don't let an article form an opinion for you, rather, use it as a source of ideas to try and of issues to think about.
Personal note on reading: the major part of the technical knowledge that has made it possible for me to continue eating (and learning) for the last twenty years came not from a school, but from the public library.
Experiment with what you're learning as much as possible. The time you have available for "hands-on" work at school should be supplemented with your own pursuit of your interests: working in a basement with a four-track or running sound for a local band can be a good way to learn to apply what you've been studying and is also likely to provide opportunities to learn problem-solving skills. It can also tell a prospective employer that here is someone who has the initiative to try to make their own opportunities. "I can create, and I will use the means and knowledge I have available to do so, whether or not it fits into someone else's program," is not a bad motto to have.
Last, please learn the difference between a balanced and an unbalanced line. PLEASE!
-- Mark De Martini, ktesibios@hotmail.com
Hi Folks!
My name is Joshua Martelli, greetings from sunny San Diego...hope allis well. First off a big thank-you for the original article pointingtowards your GREAT site. It's nice to finally access real informationand commentary without any underlying financial agenda! Keep it up!!!
My reason for writing is this: I am an aspiring engineer who hasdeveloped a passion for music and recording that so far, I feel isunequaled by any of my contemporaries. (True, most 23 year olds arestill wavering in confusion over their now worthless Bachelor'sdegree's.) I however, have been most fortunate to find a niche in thewonderful world of music, that I can fill well, and really enjoy too!
Here's my problem!: I am a graduate of The Recording Workshop ofOhio,(Tech school) and a current intern in San Diego's only trueprofessional full time studio, StudioWest (visit StudioWest.com fordetails) I am also on the verge of completeing all of my undergraduatework at a local community college! My professional goal is to A: own andoperate my own project studio B: Retain employment at a major studio aswell,(for larger more lucrative projects) AND C: Augment my engineeringcareer with a teaching position at the college level or private Techschool.
I am having the hardest god damm time finding out information oncompetent Bachelor's programs in MUSIC PRODUCTION at a university thatalso offers Master's degree's in STUDIO ENGINEERING! I'm really at aloss! Is our field so small that I am bound to have to leaveCalifornia?
I have tried accesing AES's list of schools with little luck. If you oranyone you know can recommend a decent program in a university settingPLEASE drop me a line! Sorry this is so long...but I really am losingtime fast! My ears only have 15 years left in em' and I want to reachall these Goals....I'm Fired up Dammit!!!!
Rockin in San Diego
--Joshua Martelli, boogie7713@aol.com