Sound Design Live

Build Your Career As A Sound Engineer

Bobby Owsinski: Why Do Concerts Sound So Bad?

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In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with the the author of Music 4.0: A Survival Guide for Making Music in the Internet Age and Deconstructed Hits: Uncover the Stories & Techniques Behind Iconic Songs, Bobby Owsinski. We discuss concert sound quality and the three most important qualities for building a lifelong career in pro audio. I ask:

  • You recently published an article called Why Do Concerts Sound So Bad? in which you write, “The fact of the matter is that the majority of concerts really sound bad these days…” and that the biggest reason for this is that the vocal cannot be heard or understood. Is the solution as simple as turning up the vocal, or is there something more complex going on?
  • Are there any methods we could be using for building relationships and generating personal referral on a regular basis to be more in control of our future and getting more of the work that we really want?
  • Why aren’t artists and event planners streaming all of their events?

sound-design-live-bobby-owsinski-why-do-concerts-sound-so-bad-headshotA whole generation of sound engineers learned the wrong way. They tend to concentrate way too much on the drums and far too little on the vocals.

Notes

  1. All music in this episode by B1.
  2. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
  3. Products: The Presonus Studio Live Official Handbook, The Mixing Engineers Handbook
  4. Quotes
    1. It all comes down to attitude and perseverance and not so much on talent. You can have a lot of talent and if you’re no fun to be around, you’re not going to work. It’s always the case that the nicest person, the most fun to be around, get’s the gig.
    2. Things don’t happen over night. The person with the most perseverance is the one that will have a career.
  5. Big announcements
    1. LIFETIME SoundGym Pro Membership Giveaway
    2. Live Sound Summit

Get More Work as a Live Sound Engineer by Doing What No One Else Will

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There is a simple way you can get more work as a live sound engineer, which is by doing what no one else is willing to do.

Two words: cat circus! (Just kidding…mostly.)

Key Takeaways

  1. Be the go-to guy by continuing to build relationships with clients and referral sources outside of work.
  2. You can do this through systematic followup in 1 hour/week.
  3. Challenge yourself to build a list of 150 business contacts over the next 6 months.

Get the Valuable Contacts Spreadsheet

I don’t need an explanation, just take me to the challenge.

As an example, let’s look at two live sound engineers and their shared client.

Live sound engineer A and B are both great at what they do. They care about delivering excellent service and client C feels good about working with both of them. Every time client C works with A or B, she thinks, “I really like them. I hope I get to hire them in the future.” Cool!

Fast forward to the future

Client C has an important event coming up and needs to hire the right sound engineer. In an ideal world, she would compare all potential service providers and choose the best one for the job based on a barrage of highly accurate criteria. As we all know, that isn’t often how it happens in the real world.

In the real world, Client C is going to call sound engineer B because sound engineer B is the last person she talked to. For better or worse, the audio industry is based on personal referral. And personal referral is a fickle mistress.

You might be thinking, “I guess sound engineer B just got lucky.” Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t. Maybe sound engineer B was the last person client C hired, so they’re fresh in her mind. Or maybe sound engineer B understands that personal referral is a fickle mistress and can only be wooed through repeated memorable interactions, so they put a reminder in their calendar to follow up with Client C one month after the event. At that point she will likely still remember working together, but may have otherwise forgotten B‘s name and the project they worked on together.

Imagine if sound engineer B does that for every client they work with. What if they also do that for every colleague they meet and anyone who refers them for work? Over the next 6 months, B’s network would grow exponentially and they would create enough demand for their services that they can start saying no to some of the work they don’t like and yes to more of the work they do like.

Meanwhile…

Sound engineer A continues to do great work, but hasn’t moved beyond the twice a month gig at a local concert venue while continuing their part-time retail job. Here’s a surprising thing about sound engineer A: they feel like they’re hustling. They have been sending their resume all over town and applying for entry level positions at production houses and posting on Facebook: Hey everyone, I’m available if you hear about any gigs.

This is what one of my students recently referred to as the Baby Boomer Strategy. Think about your parents. When they were your age it may have been enough to simply drop your resume on a few desks and your phone would start ringing. You could get picked up for a tour because you were at the laundromat at the right time (yes, this really happened).

Back then supply was low and demand was high. As the industry continued to grow, so did the supply. Now there are lots of live sound engineers who want the same job. I really feel for sound engineer A. I think it sucks for someone to work hard to develop a valuable skill and not be able to use it.

What can you do to stand out?

If supply and demand have changed and it’s no longer enough to just send your resume around, what can we do? You could focus on improving your service delivery. That’s the first thing most people think of. Maybe you disinfect every vocal mike before putting it in front of a performer. Maybe you are super enthusiastic about helping musicians have a great time. Or maybe you do something more like sound engineer B. Something that no one else has thought of or been willing to commit to.

I’m talking about making repeated, memorable interactions outside of the gig. We all know this works inside the gig. With clients that we see often the relationship grows naturally and we are top of mind with that person. But there is a systematic way for you to become more like sound engineer B, using only one hour each week, and I can guarantee it will get you more of the work that you want.

You already know doing the work that other people aren’t willing to do is a good way to distinguish yourself. If you are willing to push boxes, hang lights, gaff cables, stay late, arrive early, and get coffee, you’ll get more work.

Here are some real world examples:

  • Mike did this by working all night techno parties that no one else would.
  • Aleš did this by doing the first gig for free to test the relationship and generate good will.
  • Mauricio Ramirez did this by showing up early to test the polarity of every driver in the sound system before sound check.

Maybe you are doing something like this already, and that’s a great start. Now think about all of the time that you are not at work. If you are not seeing Client C regularly, they will forget about you. Why? Because you can only really manage 150 social relationships at a time.

Dunbars number

Have you heard of Dunbar’s number? Robin Dunbar is an anthropologist that has done research into the cognitive limit on relationships that humans can effectively manage. In short, you may have 1,500 “friends” on Facebook, but there are really only 150 humans whose names and qualities you have memorized and will come to mind quickly when you need them.

You need Client C to be one of your 150 social relationships and vice versa. You might think it’s magic, but it’s not. It’s a numbers game. The more meaningful contact you have with someone, the more likely you are to enter their top 150. You might still think it’s all luck, and I’m not going to fight you about it. I’m simply going to suggest that you do whatever it takes to expand your luck surface area. And one way you can do this is by putting in a little more work on the business side.

The two step process

  1. Create a list of 150 of your most valuable contacts.
  2. Make sure that your latest contact is never more than two months.

Let’s look at a couple of quick case studies.

  • Anthony M. dreamed of being on tour but he was stuck in a warehouse sorting cables. Starting in the fall of 2016 we embarked on a systematic process of research and relationship building, and six months later he was on tour with Cirque du Soleil.
  • Freyja L. was doing some pretty big one-off gigs hanging sound systems for tours coming through London, but she wanted to take it to the next level and be on tour herself. She had built a great network, but was waiting for the phone to ring (and hustling like sound engineer A). Through our work together she started following up with the people in her network in a systematic manner. One of the first people she reached out to offered her a gig, and this summer she’ll be on an international tour with Pearl Jam.

Building your list

Our industry is flooded with a lot of wanna-be rock stars. I’m going to suggest that you adopt a more pragmatic view of your career and go after what you really want. Maybe get excited about being a kick-ass entrepreneur instead.

Whatever you decided to pursue, you can do it by setting aside an hour a week to work on your list. That’s it. You’re not going to build a thriving business overnight.

Start by going over all of the events you worked on during the past 4 years and highlight the ones that you truly enjoyed. Identify who hired you for the events, who referred you to that person, and any colleagues, artists, and management you met along the way. If your answer is “I don’t know,” find out. Then reach out.

Up until now you have relied on chance to bring you together with these people again, but I want you to have more agency over the opportunities coming your way. I’ve been helping people adapt this system to their own business for a few years now and I can tell you this: when you start getting close to 150 contacts, things change. Not only do more opportunities start coming your way, but you start to really understand how the whole machine works. You’ll have created a system that you can tweak over time until it delivers results that matter.

The Challenge

Build a list of 150 valuable business contacts over the next 6 months.

Let’s review our assumptions:

  1. The audio industry is based on personal referral (for better or worse).
  2. If everyone in the world knew about you and your great work, you’d be booked solid.
  3. You can increase your likelihood of getting rehired and referred by continuing to build relationships outside of work.

You’ve already been doing this on accident your entire life. Now all you need to do is figure out a way to repeat it regularly. I’m not talking about turning into a robot. Don’t waste your time with fancy automation solutions and CRM software. Just set reminders so that you no longer rely on happenstance to bring you together with your most valuable contacts.

Choose your own adventure

Now you have a choice to make. You can either set out on your own, or I can help you. You have all the tools you need to go it alone. You’re smart. You know how to make a spreadsheet. You know how to pick up the phone. You don’t need me for that.

Here’s the entire plan laid out for you: over the next 24 weeks, once a week, spend 1 hour adding another 7 people to your list and following up with anyone you haven’t connected with in 2 months. You might write out a schedule for yourself like this:

  • Week 1 – On Sunday March 14 at 11am add contacts 1-7 (past clients) and follow up.
  • Week 2 – On Sunday March 14 at 11am add contacts 8-14 (colleagues) and follow up.
  • Week 3 – etc.

If you are going to go it alone, you can go ahead and get started and I will be happy to hear about your progress by commenting on this post.

But if you’d like a little help getting started, you can download the valuable contacts spreadsheet here.

Get Booked Solid in Pro Audio

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sound-design-live-get-booked-solid-in-pro-audio-studioHere’s how it’s done. The process is simple.

Step 1 – Build relationships (aka networking)

“I need to get myself out there.”

People say this all the time, but many of those same people stop short of taking action. Maybe they don’t know who to talk to or what to say. They might not even know how to talk about what they do.

Don’t be like them. Develop a system to regularly and systematically build relationships. Learn how to talk about your work in ways that people will understand.

Step 2 – Get referrals

Turn those relationships into referrals.

I think we can all agree that if everyone in the world knew who you were and what you were good at, you’d be booked solid. If you had a million bucks you could afford a media buy-out, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Building your network slowly and intentionally will give you much needed insight into your place in the industry.

Every time I become more clear on who my ideal client is, I’m able to get more of the work that I really love. –Kai Davis

Most sound engineers are just waiting for the phone to ring. Don’t do that. By building relationships and asking for referrals you are generating an unlimited supply of opportunities.

Step 3 – Get the gig

If you are doing the first two steps well then you are staying top of mind with potential cleints and referral sources. But if they are not hiring you and referring you, that’s a problem. New audio professionals on the scene have so much optimism and enthusiasm, but that can quickly turn to panic, fear, frustration, and burnout when they begin to understand the realities of running their own business.

Get to bottom of this problem as soon as possible. Here are some common mistakes:

  1. You are not following up. Sending out your resume once a year is not good enough!
  2. You don’t know how to talk about what you do. “I’m up for anything” is the quickest way to nothing.
  3. You are unclear about audio industry demand in your city. There is always a need for audio. Find it.

Step 4 – Deliver awesome service and be remarkable

If you are great at your job, but people forget about you immediately, you’ll have a hard time moving forward. Even if one client hires you again, they won’t remark about you to other people, which is what you really need to grow your business.

One of the keys to being a successful freelancer is finding an abundance of opportunities to distinguish yourself. This can be difficult in audio when we are the ones in the control room, backstage, and in the dark at FOH. In fact, having a successful event usually means that nobody knows we are there at all. But there are ways that you can be remarkable and still do a great job.

sound-design-live-get-booked-solid-in-pro-audio-purple-cowWhat does a remarkable sound engineer look like to you? Is it mixing naked or adding sound effects or making the sound check really fun or lifting weights before the show? What’s unique about you that you can use to add value to your service? Your skills, your sense of humor, your values?

Focus on being remarkable instead of great. What are your personal super powers? How can you bring surprise, delight, shock, and awe to your work in an authentic way that would make it impossible for people not to talk about you afterward?

Most of my personal examples are subtle. A Portuguese band started hiring me because I was the first engineer to let them do crazy things with microphones. I said Yes where others said No. A San Francisco sound designer referred me for great gigs because I was the only one who asked for them. A concert producer hired me because he liked my wireless mix system.

The first one was a coincidence, but the second two were planned. Try to get an outside opinion to help you generate some ideas. For the price of lunch you can set up a market research interview with someone who is in charge of hiring people exactly like you.

If you’d like to get my opinion on your business and what you can do to be remarkable, sign up for my 30-minute Get Booked Solid in Pro Audio one-on-one strategy session.

Sign up now

During this powerful one-on-one session, we’ll work together to:

  • Identify the key relationships that you need to get the best gigs.
  • Uncover the communication breakdown that is sabotaging your success.
  • Create a next-step action plan.

If you’d like to take advantage of this very special 30-minute Get Booked Solid in Pro Audio private workshop, sign up now.

How Anthony Went From Warehouse Tech to FOH Mixer For Cirque Du Soleil

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In July of 2016, Anthony Murano hit a wall. The production company he worked for had just entered their slow season, which meant warehouse maintenance and half pay. Anthony wanted to be working on big national tours, making a decent living, and creating an emotional impact mixing for large audiences; instead, he was bored out of his mind and could barely pay his rent. Something had to change.

After a month of stress, Anthony decided to apply for graduate school.

He was rejected.

At first he was upset, but then he realized that maybe grad school wasn’t really what he wanted. Maybe there was another way to create the career he was after.

Anthony had been listening to the Sound Design Live podcast for years and knew that I did some kind of career coaching, but he wasn’t sure what to expect. He signed up for a consultation and during our first meeting came up with a bunch of ideas to move Anthony in his desired direction. We weren’t sure exactly which ideas would work, but we decided on the top ones to test out first.

Here are the main questions we wanted to answer:

  • What job would be the best fit?
  • Who can we talk to that does that job?
  • What is their day like? Do you enjoy the work?
  • What are the pathways to employment?

Over the next six months, Anthony used a process of diligent industry research and relationship building to expand his network and focus in on three touring companies he wanted to work for, including Cirque Du Soleil. When it came time for Anthony’s interviews, he not only had the confidence that he was the best fit for the job, he also had the background knowledge to impress the interviewers.

warehouse-tech-to-touring-with-cirque-du-soleil-sound-engineer-anthony

Fast forward to today: Anthony’s not stuck in a warehouse making minimum wage. He’s on tour around the U.S. with Cirque Du Soleil. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

(P.S. At the same time that Anthony got the Cirque tour offer, he was also offered two other, shorter tours that he’d applied for earlier. In Anthony’s words, “I guess when it rains, it pours.”)

UPDATE: 1 year later, Anthony continues touring with Cirque du Soleil as part of the three-person audio team for Luzia. In his own words:

This job is fantastic. The cast and crew are great and take good care of us with the food and housing. I have started rotating into the FOH position and I’m learning a ton of new things.

This Marketer Will Make You Look at Your Career Totally Differently

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In this episode of Sound Design Live, I’m joined by the world leader in marketing education for freelancers and consultants, Kai Davis. We discuss the biggest mistakes new freelancers make, how to start your first outreach campaign, a simple process to conduct market research, and the Outreach Blueprint.

sound-design-live-podcast-episode-103-marketer-will-make-you-change-how-you-look-freelance-audio-career-kai-davis-headshotThe most impactful marketing tool is repeated direct personal contact.

Notes

  1. All music in this episode by The Riot Professor.
  2. Books:
    1. Outreach Blueprint
    2. The Positioning Manual
    3. Start with No
  3. Two of the best decisions Davis made to get more of the work he really loves:
    1. Being clear with himself about who his ideal client is (industry, field, problem, solution).
    2. Being ruthless about letting go of projects that are not a good fit.
  4. Biggest freelancer mistake: You are undifferentiated from your competitors.
    1. You need to specialize. “I have 5 years of experience solving this issue.” This will help make the value clear for your clients. Can you narrow the market so that you are one of the top service providers just by shrinking the pool of people you are marketing to? Try to specialize until it feels a little uncomfortable. You can always adjust from there. When we reach that level of specialization, ideas start coming to us. You’ll know when you are starting to have the right positioning when someone responds positively with understanding and action ideas.
  5. Outreach: Any mode of communication that helps us stimulate a conversation and build a relationship with a prospect or a past client or referral source in our target market. Alert them that you are available and here to help.
  6. For the price of lunch you can set up a market research interview with someone who is in charge of hiring people exactly like you.
    1. Can I take you out for lunch or coffee near your office and just learn more about the events you’re producing?
    2. What sort of events are coming up over the next 6 months?
    3. What technologies or equipment are you looking for people to specialize in?
    4. Where do you hire consultants? Where do you need help coming up?
    5. Now you’ll be able to reach out and continue that conversation in the future.
  7. Steps you can take now
    1. Make a list – Start small so you can experiment in a confined area. Past clients, colleagues, and industry contacts.
    2. Use a schedule – When will you reach out?
    3. Plan what you will say – Assume that people will not respond to your first email. What will you say in your second, third, and fourth email?
    4. Repeat. Change the list of people.
  8. Quotes
    1. Email humans to start conversations with them about their business, their pains, and their problems.
    2. Outreach to maintain your relationships doesn’t have to be hard. You need a list of people, a schedule, and to know what to say.
    3. I discovered Seth Godin’s blog and read the entire archive twice.
    4. Every time I become more clear on who my ideal client is, I’m able to get more of the work that I really love.
    5. Clean your client list and over time you are able to move from where you are today to where you want to be in the future.
    6. Just by having that metaphorical shingle out there that says, “I work with this specific kind of client to get the best results,” people would start approaching me and I would start getting more referrals.
    7. The people who emailed me once and never followed up, that signals to me that this isn’t really a priority on their side.
    8. If someone isn’t responding, it’s not because they hate me. It’s because they are busy. So let me find a way to follow up that finds value.
    9. Continue following up until you get a yes or a no. Otherwise, we don’t have any data with which to move forward. No response is not a no.
    10. If it’s a coin flip, what are ways I can use a weighted coin? What are things we can do to maximize our luck surface area?
    11. Asking for the No lets us get to the objection. Once we understand that objection we can refine our marketing to better address it.
    12. I credit a large majority of my success over the last four years to mastermind groups that I have joined.
    13. Working with a business coach is an incredibly valuable experience to help you set goals, understand what you want to achieve, and move towards that as a destination.
    14. Nobody accomplished it on their own. The truth is, everyone is a little bit broken and that’s ok.