Life in the Entertainment Industry

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:13 am

spitfire3416 wrote:

i have 40k saved.

At your age, with 40 large...who needs any of this...you need to focus on making that 40K a 1.5M.

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:21 am

i've been second guessing myself if this is really what i want to do for the past few days now.. until i read your post bent.. thanx. i needed that. theres just so many people on here that knock going into this field as a profession its hard not to be leery about it. hey bent, how long have you been doing audio recording?

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:36 am

Well, truth be told, I went to a "recording" school, but recording has never paid my bills unlike a number of the folks on this site.

I've been doing both live sound and studio work for 15 years. I started working with local bands in the mid nineties, worked in every dark, dirty dive bar around Florida (FUN!).

In 1998 I got a job at Disney as an audio technician - kinda fell into that one, the school I went to, though very close to Disney World, never bothered to tell us that there were JOBS there for us audio folk... Imagine how pissed I was when I learned that... But, I was able to cut my chops on a shoestring 'budget' every weekend, so I guess that's where my real learning took place. A school only teaches you so much, but it's a good start - just don't let the fact that you've gone to school go to your head. That's the problem with most ARTI / FS / Valencia / etc. grads - they get out thinking they know it all, when more often than not they don't know squat...

Good luck in whichever path you choose!

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:53 am

nice man... i'm torn between sae in ny and arti in orlando. or if i should just get a job interning and learn most of what i need to know that way. then just read a shit load of books and put my money towards equipment. having gone to school and with your experience which route do you think would be best suited for me? i think school is a good idea because it gets you off to a good start but im not the kind of guy who stays set in his ways. im always willing to take on new advice and if i'm going for this i'm going balls out. should i go to school or just learn by interning and practicing?

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:56 am

No matter what you do you should properly cloth yourself...

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:27 am

If you have the money you could simply join your local IATSE and start pushing boxes on gigs that are set up through the hall, or you could go to SAE or ARTI (from ARTI you could put in a resume at Disney or Universal since you'll likely be in Orlando anyway).

You might be able to take a few live classes at FS in Winter Park and do the same as the ARTI route...

The recording side of the industry is HARD to break into, especially now what with the GC and MF box stores making it sooo easy for people to record themselves.

Live production work is all around and easier to find a job in, IMHO.
You can make a decent living pushing roadcases and prepping / striking shows - and you can build a resume a lot faster than working in a studio.
IATSE up north is pretty cutthroat, down south it's a bit more laid back. You could sit on the bench for weeks before you get called on to work a show in NY...

I think that studio work will come back, but it's gonna be a while before anyone new can pay the bills through it, 4 or 5 more years I'm guessing...

PS, I hope you don't mind but I changed the title of this thread to more accurately reflect the direction this discussion has taken.

And I've made it a sticky.

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:49 am

yea im actually more interested in doing live sound. i love music and going to shows so i guess that would be pretty ideal. do you have to pay to join this IATSE? what is it exactly?

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:52 am

http://www.iatse-intl.org/home.html

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:58 pm

Working for Universal sounds like it would be cool.. if you apply there do you get any special accreditation for going to ARTI? Anybody else here who has gone to ARTI and can share some input on their experience there?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:22 pm

I'm also in an extremely similar situation and I'm glad I found this website because it seems exactly what I'm looking for to find answers.

So I went to the university my first year of college with no set major in mind. Had no idea what I wanted to do, just knew I should go to college. Well, due to not being motivated in any of the general studies I was in (my 2nd semester schedule for example included Political Science, Philosophy, Astronomy, and Sign Language) my grades were not the greatest. In fact, I had below a 2.0 gpa both semesters and ended up getting dropped from school for a semester. I'm allowed to come back in the Spring 2009 semester, providing I show I'm dedicated enough, and I can never get below a 2.0 gpa for a semester again or I'll be kicked out of school for 2 years. But in all common sense, it doesn't pay much to be in school and getting below a C average anyways.

About my GPA... First semester I got a 1.5 GPA. My grades were an F, a D+, two C's, and a B+ (I believe). Second semester I only took 4 classes to try and focus more on classes, when in reality I think it made it harder for me to improve my GPA since doing poorly in one class weighted more on my GPA. I got a 1.875 for 2nd semester after I got straight C's in every class but one, where I got a D+. ...ing Astronomy. After the shitty 1st semester I really tried hard to do better but realized my non interest in my classes (and still not knowing what I wanted to do) led to poor study habits again and not cutting down on the partying. After being dropped for a semester this has been one of the hugest wake up calls in my life so I would be an IDIOT to .... up my 3rd and final chance and let my GPA get below a 2.0 again.

So after finding out I was getting kicked out, I decided I needed to decide what I wanted to do in life and major in in school. Music is a huge passion of mine and I wanted to involve my life in it's business somehow, so I found the closest Audio Engineering school (in Madison... Madison Media Institute). I realized that this might be a great thing for me. I liked the idea of Audio Recording but I'm a lot more interested in the Music Business aspect of it. I looked into it and decided I could get my 2 years at MMI in Audio Recording, then hopefully go on for more schooling and get a Music Business degree. The 2 year teaches a few biz classes so I figured going there would be a great start and get me experienced in the field.

After constantly looking online at people saying it's an extremely hard business to prosper in, make money in, etc, and after telling more and more relatives who arn't too thrilled, I've began to reconsider. I've realized that if I'm already at a university now, I mine as well take advantage of it, APPLY MYSELF, get good grades, and get out of this bad grade rut that I'm in. I know 99% now that I want to get involved in the Music Business somehow, and someone on another forum suggested just getting a general business degree at my uni because I could apply that at record labels or get internships with my level of education.

The school I attend[ed] (UW-Milwaukee) doesn't have any Audio Recording or Music Technology classes, just performance and education majors. However they do have a very nice business school, and a degree available in Business Marketing.

My question for you guys is, with my situation, which would be the best route for me? Should I go to the Audio Recording school, get the 2 years, and try and go on for more schooling? Or stay at my current uni and just get into the Business Marketing and hopefully be able to apply that the direction I want to (which is musically)?

Pro's and Con's of the Uni

Pros:
-Better degree? (Depending on if the school I choose after the 2 year Audio school isn't somehow better for the type of field I want to go into. However I haven't even asked for a list of schools that my Audio Recording school might transfer credits too, which I'm kind of nervous about. The recruiter said there was schools out there but didn't give any examples. Obviously the more well known the school the better chance of the job.)
-Get to continue where I left off (During my first year at college I had a blast, made a lot of friends, and I really hate to see my first year blown like that, as in having to start over somewhere new, new location, meet new people, etc.

Neutral:
-Either direction I go, me and 3 other guys got set up with a house for 1 year that I'm not even going to be living in anymore. Since no matter which happens I'll still be taking the semester off (as in not starting school again until Spring 2009), I still have to find a replacement to live in this house for me. I didn't sign a lease but it's still an obligation for me. I mean, it would be nice to live there when I went back to school (because my dad only pays rent for me while I'm ATTENDING school) but I cannot afford that place living there or not. I'll be at moms house for the next 5-6 months.

Cons:
-Not as much focus in the field/industry? (Considering the business classes at my general university would focus on a much more broad range of topics, I'd have to do a lot more work that's unrelated to the specific field of interest.)
-Money (While the Audio Recording school isn't cheap, the University costs way more. And I'm unfamiliar with how most financial aid works, but since my cum GPA fell below a 2.0, I'm pretty sure most financial aid will turn me down. If I didn't understand the policy correctly, then I believe if your GPA were to fall that low, you had to pay for an entire semester of schooling yourself to show your dedication to school before being able to receive financial aid again. And I do NOT have that kind of money. A semester off is necessary to give me time to think about what to do in this situation, but it's mainly for getting cash together. Looks like I'll need to make at least $6000+ [probably more] in the next 6 months. Which I could make on my current job, but I have other expenses as well, so overtime will be necessary)

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:40 pm

Let me see if I got this straight: Astronomy and Sign Language?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:48 pm

Welcome to RO, Memorex.

Please do not double post, it serves no purpose but to bog down the server and anger the natives...

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:57 pm

I'm sorry, this section of the forum didn't seem as busy as the others and figured the double post would get faster replys. I'm sorry.

But any input?

And yes, Astronomy and Sign Language. All uni's require a foreign language, and German was the class I failed first semester. I got sick of trying to learn a language I was going to forgot, and Sign Language only met twice a week while every other foreign language met every day. Astronomy was just for one of my required Natural Science credits.

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:00 pm

Where are you located?

Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:00 pm

From me...that was input Smile

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