So, how much money do live sound engineers make? As you can imagine, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Instead, I'd like to show you a few profiles that represent a cross-section of the industry. Keep in mind that the numbers included below are very specific to one location and person. Before we get started, please take 30 seconds to fill out an anonymous salary survey and I'll share all the results with you at the end. PROFILE 1: San Francisco Bay Area Nathan … [Read more...]
Silence: The secret ingredient to sound design in advertising
Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Stitcher. Support Sound Design Live on Patreon. In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast I talk with Munzie Thind, post-production sound designer at GCRS in London. Thind received the Creative Circle Silver Award in Sound Design for the project National Autistic Society: Sensory Overload. We discuss the career path of a London sound designer in the advertising industry, and the production process of TV commercials. If I can get silence into a piece … [Read more...]
One Critical Skill You Need to Get Stage Theatre Jobs: How Surrey University Is Training Audio Engineers
Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Stitcher. Support Sound Design Live on Patreon. In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with Paul McConkey, the sound module coordinator at the University of Surrey, about the most important skill you need to get stage theatre jobs in the West End of London. We talk about his career path, from earning a record contract to building a recording studio, touring with rock bands, and finally teaching the professional production skills course at … [Read more...]
Get Ready! Slow August Is Right Around The Corner
This article was originally published in Pro Sound News Europe. You can read it here. It happens to me every year. Come August, work slows almost to a crawl. Suddenly, I'm in survival mode. I hate it, but it's not always a thing born of sloth. This year, for example, I've been so busy focusing on future projects that short-term cash flow went way down on the list of priorities. Unfortunately, money is something that can't be ignored for long. Unless … [Read more...]
Learn from the Sound Engineers for Tori Amos, Prodigy, and The White Stripes Online
Subscribe on iTunes or SoundCloud. Support Sound Design Live on Patreon. There's one obvious way to fix live audio education, and Darryn De La Soul figured it out. In this episode of the Sound Design Live Podcast I talk to the owner of SoulSound, Darryn De La Soul, about her life's mission to help sound engineers improve employability and find work. We also discuss emotional intelligence for audio engineers, the difference between a career ladder and a career web, why universities … [Read more...]