Sound Engineer

Mfortune92

Alright Lads,

Heres the deal. I have just finished my 2nd year in Pulse Recording College and I am desperately seeking work/experience. I have tried nearly everything. I have shadowed live sound engineers and done a lot without any luck. I was wondering would anybody out there give me some sort of trial run or experience I could use.
I'm desperate here.

TroutMask

Find out who is doing sound and/or production (like staging) for the regional festivals and grovel for *any* kind of position - like stage crew, set up/tear down. Show up with your gerber multitool, headphones, Port-A-Sol, LED Lenser and your roll-o-gaffa. Interns that keep hassling crew for Sharpies/gaffa/tools etc. are a major source of irritation. If you can solder cables - all the better. Make sure you know how to dress cables and coil them neatly and in the correct manner. Make cards and hand them out to everyone you meet.

PeterR1016

Thought after paying pulse and the other robbing "sound" schools out there, they are supposed to have contacts to help you get employment. Exactly why I didnt bother going to one....

wonski

Mfortune92 wrote: »

Alright Lads,

Heres the deal. I have just finished my 2nd year in Pulse Recording College and I am desperately seeking work/experience. I have tried nearly everything. I have shadowed live sound engineers and done a lot without any luck. I was wondering would anybody out there give me some sort of trial run or experience I could use.
I'm desperate here.

Not exactly what you are looking for, but if you are into this kind of project why not give it a try?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057002195

wonski

PeterR1016 wrote: »

Thought after paying pulse and the other robbing "sound" schools out there, they are supposed to have contacts to help you get employment. Exactly why I didnt bother going to one....

Regardless of what I, or anyone else think of prices of courses, calling them robbers is a bit harsh. It is, and always was difficult to get into this business. At least these days you can learn a lot before you even try. It costs a lot, but you could say that about any course really. And getting proper job, or even experience is even more difficult these days.

studiorat

PeterR1016 wrote: »

Thought after paying pulse and the other robbing "sound" schools out there, they are supposed to have contacts to help you get employment. Exactly why I didnt bother going to one....

So in addition to deserving your degree because you paid for it. You expect the colleges to find you a job as well.

I see.

PeterR1016

No, I don't. But any person who is in this business knows that getting a job in this industry is who you know. I would expect that paying that amount of money to them the least they can do is help with introducing you to contacts they may have or at least set you up with some work experience.

It's all well and good that they give the knowledge in editing music however what they lack in is actual event running/rigging/setting up sound systems etc. This is something crucial that I found a AV company looked at more. Is this person going to be more of a hindrance and slow down set-up or do they have experience and not need to be babysat.

I saw a first class example of this in a venue and many companies actually, a student from one of these colleges asked one of the sound engineer's did they do work experience while they were helping out for a charity gig. The engineer said no. I then asked him why they don't offer free work experience aka free help form these students and the reply was "because they haven't a clue. All they know is how to use pro tools. No actual experience in rigging etc."

PaulBrewer

The whole 'who you know' thing I don't accept .
The solution then would simply be to get to know the 'right' people.

The nature of the business is social so people who have people skills have an obvious advantage, but that's life.

When I started in the 80s there where no courses - there weren't even any bands in my town so I didn't even know any musicians . There weren't even any accessible magazines !

The music biz is the same as it always was - ever changing and the ones who adapt and are driven and do 'it' themselves succeed - most don't .

TroutMask

When a student takes a course, the only obligation the institution/staff have is to deliver the course content and to ensure that the equipment/labs/IT is all working properly so that the students can do the assignments. They are not under any obligation to give you referrals/placements unless this is written into the syllabus.

Like Paul, I got into pro-audio when there were no courses. In those days, if you wanted to learn about a piece of equipment, you called tech support for that company and politely requested the manual and the schematics for the gear. There was no internet. Since manuals in those days were written like textbooks, you could build up quite a bit of 'audio acumen' if you added a couple of trips to the library (to read acoustics, electronics and staging books) to these informal 'lessons'.

So, as I see it, 'who you know' is determined by 'what you know'..... and also by how willing you are to pull your weight in a given production scenario. As far as rigging/staging goes - most of that stuff is common sense - and the legal reqs are readily available. When I was green, I was impressed by those guys/gals that could coil large and small cables neatly and quickly. I hid for a weekend, practicing coiling cables - sounds funny now but I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing when I was at a show.

TBH life in production is not for everyone. Some just don't get it, and, as Judge Judy advised John Lydon's former drummer, they should find a different line of work.

hallymusic

hi,
Can u pm me a copy of your CV or a list of your skills pertaining to studio work. I am opening a recording studio in the coming weeks and I looking for an engineer looking for experience and also interested in developing his/ her production skills.

regards
hally

woodsdenis

Ha, I wont even begin to tell you what was here when I started !!!!

TonyWindmill

http://www.audioprointernational.com/news/read/rising-stars-brian-sheil/06252

sagem

Hi ,saw your post,we are an 8 piece tribute band to pink floyd and our bass player is our current sound engineer,this is not ideal.We are interested in a sound engineer joining our band for the long haul,we have been together 4 years and are beginning to make an impact so we need a guy out front who knows exactly what we need and when,so you would not be expected to know it all straight away but you would be required to show that you have the interest and intent to get it !!
If this interests you please feel free to contact me,regards mark