What we're Worth

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2003 2:34 am

I just got the weekly e from another "entertainment jobs" site. I sorted through all the internships and "non-paid" positions. I couldn't help but notice the "Aministrative Assistant" positions as well.
Are we that useless???? Why does Word and Excel merit a paid position and ProTools does not?????? Trust me, it's not fun, it's not glamourous, but somehow working in audio is supposed to be worth NOTHING????

I don't understand. Surprised

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2003 8:52 am

I found major difficulty trying to find a job in any part of the audio business right out of school. Studio staffs are full, live sound companies only have about 18 hours a week for a newbie, and you can't find anything that will pay more than $18,000-20,000/year! You almost have to stumble into a job that will pay you enough to live on and not have to have a second or third job. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. hehe
Just my story. I don't know about the rest of the world.
Jason

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2003 11:46 am

That is just the state of affairs for this business right now. With the proliferation of home studios, many recording studios have lost clients that now can produce CD quality masters and even distribute CDs right in their garage. There are some local studios here that only charge $15@hour for rehearsal time, something I never thought would happen. Unfortunately, our Gov. does not patronize the Arts as in other countries which have a stipend for musicians and free Conservatories (like in Sweden)... But if you can make an Excel spreadsheet, you are gold in the US. Go figure....

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2003 12:39 pm

TAKE THE MUSIC BLINDERS OFF!!

I've said this several times here. Just the fact that this website exisits as a place where bedroom musicians can ask industry veterans how to get the most out of the gear they (we) bought at Guitar Center is indicative of the state of music recording now. Think outside the boundaries of a music studio when thinking about audio. There are plenty of areas which are FAR MORE PROFITABLE than a job in a music studio right now. I'm sure there are at least a few duplication houses in Knoxville. Try to get on with one. In doing so, you'll slowly get a feel for who's doing what in town. I work in a production house with a voice only studio. I do that full time. Yesterday I was on location doing audio for some corporate webcasts. Tomorrow I may edit a VO for a video we might shoot. Tomorrow night I'm heading up to Invesco Field to start playing around with the audio setup there, as I'll be doing audio this year for the Rapids, our local pro soccer team, and the Broncos in the fall. On top of all that, I have my own mic's and mixer and DAW which I use to record music in my off time in people's garages and living rooms. It ain't so bad out there. Just be realistic and think outside the box. Sure, we'd all love to be doing music all the time and getting paid well for it, but the bottom line is it's hard as hell to fall into a job like that right out of school. Gotta pay the dues first.

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 4:16 am

Quote:

Gotta pay the dues first.

I've been doing this post-production/audio stuff for 9 years, and I think I'm still paying...
Sad

but I love my job Very Happy

Hugo de la Cerda
Re-recording Mixer

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2003 6:11 am

Hello. Captain it depends on if you are talking about entry level positions or more experienced positions. Any entry level job will be paid very little, if anything. However, a position requiring more expertise will pay accordingly most of the time. The distinction being for independent projects with no budgets, mostly movies. In those instances, the professional may do it to fatten up the resume, or for love of the project or both. But even in those cases, most experienced professionals have an agreement in place that if the project ever makes any money, they are entitled to a percentage.

Look at it this way. You own and/or operate a music recording studio. You have a fairly big client coming in next week. Are you going to stick a kid fresh out of school in the control room? More than likely that kid will be good for rounding up lunch, and that's about it. With that same scenario, but say you want an experienced engineer. Your regulars are not available. You ask around town or put an ad. Either way, unless the engineer has some known credits, you are taking a big risk using someone you don't know for a fact can handle the job. And how can you know for sure? Try them out first on some other non critical session, or one where you can easily have an experinced hand as a backup. A lot of times these sessions are done on spec just so both parties can see if the relationship will work. Of course, if it's a big record label more than likely they will bring their own crew, but we were just saying for the sake of argument.

It's the old you need experience to get a job, but can't have experience until you get a job. Hence the preponderance of the gigs on spec.

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2003 6:40 pm

You aren't worth a dime, until you can make an artist millions.

This is nothing new. It has always been this way. Studio rates have not increased since the 60's. Anyone that says that they make higher than the national average is doing something illegally to suppliment it.

Since recording budgets have not increased on average, realestate has, equipment has, insurance has, taxes have, workmans comp, OSHA, ADA, building and fire code regulations have....man, there just isn't much at the bottom line for a legit business. Then you have to advertise, pay utilities, etc.....Gee, I wonder why nobody, except the big boys make 80,000 to 140,000 per project, and the studio owner nets nothing.

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