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Make A Living As A Sound Engineer, Part One: How To Get Paid

By Steve Knots

sound-design-live-how-much-do-live-sound-engineers-make-thumbnail

make-a-living-as-a-sound-engineer-part-one-how-to-get-paid-stevie-weenieHello everyone! This is guest writer stevie weenie, coming at you from Prague. I went through audio engineering school with your indestructible host Nathan Lively, who asked me to share some thoughts about making a living as a sound engineer.

[block]The most important thing you need to learn about building your career as a sound engineer is how to recognize which situations will lead to money — and which won’t![/block]

PART ONE: HOW TO GET PAID

BE OBSERVANT

IDENTIFY SPECIFIC PROBLEMS THAT EXPLAIN BAD SOUND

Most venues with sound problems know that something isn’t right, but they have absolutely no clue what the problem is.  By the time they call you they’ve spent a ton of money on expensive fixes that didn’t help.  If you can find simple, cheap solutions that make a dramatic improvement in the sound, you get the cookie.  You would not believe how often a lovely pro audio system is spoiled by one weak link.

make-a-living-as-a-sound-engineer-part-one-how-to-get-paid-madnessexample 1: surround sound madness

Problem: DJ’ing a one-off gig at a new sports bar with a stage for live bands: it is a mess. The IT guy who built the sound system had the right parts but all the wrong connections.  The FOH sound goes from a mixing board up on the balcony, DOWN AN UNBALANCED RCA CABLE TO THE BAR,  into a surround-sound amp, through a digital processor (adding a 250ms delay to everything), then back to the speakers.  The stage monitors are basically a quarter-note out of sync with FOH sound.  Bands are physically unable to play their instruments because the FOH sound is so badly delayed.

Solution: Bypass the entire surround sound amp.  Send the main L/R mix back through the snake to the stage box, extend XLR cables to a line splitter, and run all six amps in stereo with a  mono sub.  Install an A/B source switch-box at the amp rack to choose between the bar’s surround receiver-amp and the live mixer sound as inputs.

Result: Regular job as house soundman.

example 2: gain staging from hell

Problem: “It always comes out at the wrong volume.” I look in the rack.  I see unbalanced Y-adapters plugging two sources into each amp input! They were amplifying an iPod with its volume at 15%, plus a Sky TV system with its volume at 85%, and asking me for a compressor to keep it at the right level. Oh jeez…

Solution: Plug only single balanced connections into the amps.  Recognize you are dealing with a human problem, not a technical problem.  Tell the bar staff “This big knob with the blue light is for the volume control, you don’t need to touch anything else.”

Result: Flirt with the blonde waitress and go home with money in your pocket.

example 3: surround sound medieval torture chamber

Problem: Basement restaurant has four small rooms and one surround sound unit to power them all. Their speaker cables are all pigtail spliced together and rammed into the speaker jacks. They are using the”Back Left” speaker jacks as a stereo pair for the back room!   They wonder why it sounds weird.

Solution:   Grab the receiver’s model number off the faceplate, download the PDF owner’s manual and look up how the LED display relates to the audio going out to the speaker jacks.  Set up the system to run in “all channels stereo,” tighten up the cable splices, and solve their problem.  Then I write notes for the bar staff about which button to press on the stereo to get it working again.

Result: They pay your invoice, offer you a free breakfast and call you back again next time they need something.  It might not be enough to live on, but this is building your network and in the end, that’s what keeps you alive.  Which leads us to the next point:

DON’T BE AN ARROGANT DICK

MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT PROVE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING

Usually the boss is fed up with getting ripped off, so he wants somebody who knows what is going on and he doesn’t want any questions. Your job is to fix the problem, then go away. If you start complaining, you become one more person on his list of useless people to fire ASAP.  You cannot survive in this business unless you make life easy and pleasant for your clients.

example 1: the soundman vs. “the architects”

Problem: An expensive hotel builds a music stage in the bar where there are flat concrete walls, ten-meter ceiling, hardwood floors, GIANT PLATE GLASS WINDOWS PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER. Check out the photos below. The complaint is that the press is giving them reviews of “bad sound”.  The owners have been asking their architects to fix the acoustics, the answer comes back 10,000€ for ceiling panels and one custom-stitched thin velvet curtain on the back wall of the stage.  You know this will not work.

Solution:

    • Be professional and don’t laugh at what other people suggested.
    • Suggest simple, cheap, non-destructive solutions that are easily reversible if they change their mind.
    • Put a carpet on stage.
    • Hang some curtains over those plate glass windows.
    • Get some portable acoustic absorber panels on the back wall of the stage.

Result:  In the end the bosses take your advice because your ideas made sense to them, you removed their fear of permanent damage, and your solutions are thousands of Euros cheaper than what the architects said.

sound-design-live-make-a-living-as-a-sound-engineer-venue-before

sound-design-live-make-a-living-as-a-sound-engineer-venue-after

example 2: overworked restaurant owner

Problem: A club owner spends 2500€ on expensive sound treatment for the room.  He goes on to connect a computer, satellite TV, unbalanced mics and a cheap four-channel mixing board through a DJ mixer, all buried under a pile of ashtrays in the DJ booth.  He uses booth/zone output jacks from the DJ mixer to control the different rooms in the bar.  He doesn’t know why it sounds like crap and wants to buy a subwoofer to fix everything.

Solution: In this case, if you tell the boss he’s an idiot for spending all that money on acoustics, you’re gonna have a problem.  What you do is quote him a price that includes the subwoofer and a new mixing board to unite all the sources.  Use the new mixer to feed all the amps and run the DJ mixer into it on a stereo channel.  Bump the price up enough to include balanced cables on top of your fees, and don’t say peep about the previous mistakes.

saxaphoneResult: They ask you to train the staff on how to use it, everyone likes it because it’s easier now, and you end up with another working relationship for ongoing tech maintenance.

(By the way: if you’re in the music business you are either working to sell alcohol or you’re working for drug dealers.  The people who think they’re gonna be on a Midas desk for a road touring company with Aerosmith are like saxophone players in music school who say they will never do a wedding.)

FIGURE OUT WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM

GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT AND SHUT UP

At every step the question is the same — where does the money come from? From people buying drinks at the bar?  Sunday brunch? Fast turnaround for video? A stoner dream of nonsense?

example 1: restaurant dining room

Problem: An expensive bar wants music 18 hours a day. It could be a DJ, playlists, anything; their clientele gravitate toward the atmosphere. Boss uses a battery-powered wireless instrument mic (TS unbalanced) going into the headphone jack of a DJ mixer and over to a receiver at the bar.  He complains that it’s too hard to set up and there’s too much bass in the ceiling speakers.

Solution: This one requires some finesse.  Dress clean when you go in to talk with them.  Seriously!  Make a service agreement with your friend who owns a record shop.  Your friend books classy DJs, you install a pair of wireless DI boxes with 12V adaptors, and you enjoy a nice working relationship with a posh hip new spot.

Result: The bar manager passes out free slivers of prosciutto, and the people keep buying champagne. Bingo. Your professsional network grows.

example 2:  dreamy video soundtrack

Problem: Video producer calls and asks, “can you make me a thirty second piece of music for a commercial soundtrack?  It should sound energetic and young and jazzy.  The budget for the music will pay half your monthly rent. Can you do it by tomorrow?” 

Solution: HELL YES!  You crank out an eight-bar piano loop with some minor seventh chords and a simple half-funky bassline, drop a beat loop on it from your sample library, hit some reverb, bounce out a stereo mix, and send it the same day for comments.  The producer asks for a few easy changes.  (THEY NEVER LIKE YOUR FIRST VERSION.)

Result: You make the edits, return it the next morning and get paid.  This falls into the category of “nice work if you can get it.”

make-a-living-as-a-sound-engineer-part-one-how-to-get-paid-climbing-trussexample 3: star-struck managers

Problem: Budweiser books your home venue to shoot a commercial. The boss loves it, he’s taking in two days’ normal income for what will become literally three seconds in a beer commercial.  He doesn’t know enough to ask if they plan to use location sound. He doesn’t know anything about lighting, one-day property lease agreements, or any of the stuff their crew expects to see in a normal day. Budweiser comes in with a generator truck, a million watts of lighting, catering, a pile of extras and a pro film crew.

Solution: You spend the day climbing your truss to turn off the moving gobo lights because their soundman can hear the fans. You silence phone ringers, printers, espresso machine steam hiss, and ice machine internal avalanches.  You crawl around under the bar to turn off the refrigerators because they buzz.  You turn off the fire alarm and illegally bypass it because their lighting rig sets it off every five minutes.  You smile at the extras and get dissed at the catering truck; you even find a color printer for the director’s PDF of the script for his next project.

Result: In the end, you prevent catastrophic failure and get ignored by the honchos.  One peon thanks you for saving his ass — it’s the location scout.  Anyway, you charge your boss triple your normal day rate and go turn all the refrigerators back on.

CONCLUSION: Please be mentally smart inside your brains and notice that in nearly every example, the goal you are going for is not quick cash, it is to grow your network.  Success depends on people; this is so obvious that most people miss it.  After the first few years, most of your new business comes from your network, by recommendations and personal contacts.  When you solve problems for other people, you get paid, and that’s the last word.

Next read Make A Living As A Sound Engineer, Part Two: How To Get Played.

The Best Search Engines For Sound Engineer Jobs

By Nathan Lively

sound-design-live-job-search-enginesIn the last post I showed you how to automate your job search. Unfortunately, the best search engines for sound engineer jobs do not allow this; either they are behind paid gateways or they don’t play well with RSS. Let’s take a closer look at those sites now.

I’ve been on the job hunt for over ten years – one of the perks of being an independent contractor who moves a lot. I’ve only ever landed two jobs from search engines, but they were a great national tour and a super fun play. So even though search engines only got me two gigs, but I still use them, for three reasons: 1) the chance that something will come up that I really want; 2) to make contacts; and 3) to share jobs with people like you! (Speaking of which, you should probably follow me on twitter.) I might not get hired for a particular job, but each post can be a great opening to meet the people producers and managers who will no doubt be hiring again in the future.

Artsearch

sound-design-live-tcg_artsearch

Paid ($40 for six months, $60 for a year)

Pros: All of the listings are real jobs in theatre; no internships or bar gigs. It seems to be well curated. Right now I see eight audio-related jobs listed across the U: six full-time, one part-time, and one seasonal. This site is how I landed a national theatrical tour.

Cons: Most listings are for the eastern half of the US & Canada, so the rest of us should be prepared to travel.

(While I don’t suggest abusing their excellent service, a birdie just told me that if you Google “artsearch login,” you might be able to get in for free. Seems like lots of schools and groups share their login info locally, possibly not realizing that it is public. Whoops!)

Off Stage Jobs

sound-design-live-offstagejobs

Free

Pros: This site is run by a lighting designer, Patrick Hudson, so it’s just for people like us. Mostly theatre, but there are some concert jobs as well.

Cons: The site has one major problem: I can never stay logged in! Every time I submit a query, I get logged out. I have been back and forth with Hudson on this, and we can’t figure it out.  Hopefully you won’t have the same problem. If you do, you can can still search the job listings, but you’ll have to log in again to see the contact info.

Local Listings

Depends

There are other national job databases, but most are not very good for finding sound engineer jobs. Your next best bet is your local theatre arts community website. In the bay area you can pay $70 to become a member of Theatre Bay Area and search their listings for a year. This is how I got my first sound design gig in San Francisco with Boxcar Theatre.

In Austin I used Austin Actors. Look under Cast and Crew Calls.

Have more local sites to share? Comment below!

Other

Depends

You might also try Music Jobs ($10/month) for concert, PLASA  and InfoComm for AV install, USITT for theatre, AACT for community theatre, Blue Room for backstage jobs in the UK, Playbill for theatre in NYC, and Cirque du Soleil. I’ve applied for jobs through several of these sites without much luck. Let me know how it goes for you.

I also recently heard about Jooble, which appears to have quite a few listings.

To Sum Up

  • Artsearch and Off Stage Jobs are your best bets for concert and theatre jobs for sound engineers and sound designers.
  • Local listings in your city are the next best option. Often there are crew calls in the local theatre arts community sites.
  • There are lots of other industry and show specific sites that you should have on your radar, but they are hit and miss.

How To Automate Your Job Search

By Nathan Lively

sound-design-live-automate-sound-engineer-job-search-keyboard-thumbnail

sound-design-live-automate_all_the_thingsThis is my super easy guide to automate your search for sound engineer jobs (and sound designer, AV tech, etc.). I’ve used it to find some great sound engineer jobs and continue to use it to stay on top of audio industry demands.

Step 1 : Search for sound engineer jobs

If you live in the Bay Area like I do, you can search 9 counties (with 400 theatre companies!) all at once from https://sfbay.craigslist.org. But what if you want to search for sound engineer, audio engineer, audio technician, AV tech, and sound designer posts in every city within 50 miles? Time to setup that RSS feed. It’s easy, just make a list of all search terms and locations you would like to use, then input them one at a time, each in a new browser tab.

It takes a little while, and there are some sites like Search Tempest that automate this task, but I’ve seen sites like this go under and get boxed out by Craigslist, so I think the most reliable solution is to do the searches one-by-one directly from Craigslist. Don’t worry. You’ll only have to do this once.

If you are getting too many results with every query, try restricting the search. These will go directly into your RSS reader, so you don’t want 100 of them every day. Try searching job titles only and restricting it to contract and part-time work.

Step 2: Add to your RSS reader

Google Reader is dead, long live Google Reader. I use Feedly. It has a nice interface and is easy to use. Create a category called Job Listings. Go back to your job search tabs and at the bottom-right of the page you will see an RSS link; save that link. In Feedly, click on Add Content, paste the link, and add it to your Job Listings category.

That’s it! Every day you’ll get fresh results without running all over the interwebs.

Step 3: Setup alerts for Indeed and Simply Hired

I’ve noticed that Indeed and SimplyHired sometimes have pro audio jobs, so it might be worthwhile to add those to your daily search, but you will likely get some duplicates. Unfortunately, I haven’t found an easy way to add these results to Feedly. For each search, you will need to setup an email alert, which is easy enough.

Step 4: Commit to a schedule

Schedule at least 10 minutes each day to check Feedly and your email alerts. When you find good opportunities, apply right away or schedule time to come back to them.

Have any good tips to add for automating your sound engineer job search? Comment below!

Beyond FOH: Job Search Advice For Sound Engineers

By Nathan Lively

sound-design-live-wilson-orange-job-search-advice-sound-engineers

Subscribe on iTunes or SoundCloud.

In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with pro audio recruitment consultant and talent acquisition manager Paul Griffiths about job search and how to prepare for interviews. We also discuss lateral movement within the field of pro audio − for example, how a sound engineer or musician might transfer their technical and customer service experience into a tech support position or a sound designer could turn their experience into a project manager position.

I was really excited to do this interview, because I think as sound engineers we get trapped by the rock-star myth and end up working mostly at clubs and concert venues. The truth is that there are many opportunities beyond FOH for people like us who have experience in professional audio and live events.

[quote name=”Paul Griffiths” picture=”https://sounddesignlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/sound-design-live-paul-griffiths.jpg” align=”left”]It isn’t always the best candidate who gets the job; the best prepared candidate that gets the job. You need to convince them that you’re the best candidate for that job. If you don’t, you’ll never get anywhere.[/quote]

[one_half padding=”0 4px 0 0″]Podcast Details:

  • All music in this episode by The Riot Professor
  • Griffiths works at Wilson Orange 
    • Blog
    • Job Listings
    • Send your resume
  • PLASA = Professional Lighting And Sound Association
  • S.T.A.R. = Situation, Task, Action, Result
  • Allen & Heath, Midas
  • “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” -Confucius[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”0 0 0 4px”]Tweets by @WilsonOrange

[/one_half_last]

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