#974061 - 03/20/00 03:25 PM
What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Beanstudio Mastering
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Loc: Wayne, NJ USA
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Ed,
I appreciate that someone like you is here to share these aspects of our business. Some people think that guys at your level have nothing to worry about!
Hopefully, my advice will help people an their way up, or in the middle like me.
I think that my first real success was dragging my 4 track and compressors into another bands studio. I was really good at micing and keeping things simple. I built my way up from little four tracks to using Neves and SSLs with not too many steps in between!
I found that big studios in NY like Avatar have assistants that know more than almost any project studio owner.
If anyone wants to really learn how to remain professional and under composure, why not rent a big room out to mix your 16 tracks of adat in. For a few hundred dollars, the result will be shocking! You will observe an assistant who will write great track sheets, be prepared in ADVANCE to you getting there, and who will probably walk you through every step if need be. You take what you learn with you forever.
One should never be afraid to call the studio and speak with the engineer that he will work with. Be honest with him. If you are bringing a client into a studio that you are unfamiliar with this engineer is now your best friend! Tell him exactly what your level of experience is so he knows when to step in and help you. He will do it in a way that the client will not realize that he just bailed you out!
Because of my lifelong obsession with sound people started asking me to assist on their projects because they knew I wanted to learn more than I wanted air to breathe.
Ironically, now I do most of my work in two mastering studios that I am involved with. One of these is my own. I always thought I would keep working in other studios, and now I own my own, and am partner in another. No, I am not rich from this but I rarely have to go to the cash machine!
I think what helps me along is that I try to keep the ego out of it and never see myself as better than anyone else. So, I'm not afraid to ask questions, and places like these answer most of them! If I can't do a job, I refer it to someone who can, and it becomes a circle of referrals. It is important to give other people work when they need it as well. You will be rewarded gratefully in the near future.
If someone really loves to paint with sound more than anything else, then there will always be a way for him/her to make a living out of it.
Jim
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Jim De Salvo
beanstudio@hotmail.com
Beanstudio Mastering
Audio Editing & Sonic Restoration
http://beanstudio.homepage.com
"Nobody Hears It Better"
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#974062 - 03/21/00 07:05 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Ed Cherney
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It's funny, when you think that "guys like us" have nothing to worry about. Everyone that I know always worry's. I know I do (well, not as much as I used to). You never know when it's over. We all are still judged by our last success, or failure. I feel sometimes like I am just trying to make it through the next chorus, to just get over that far. I've seen top, top, multmillionare producers wringing their hands and pacing the floor, worried that they are about to be fired......you know...."We would like to speak to you out in the hall, and oh yeah, you better bring your stuff". We all are always on very shakey ground. A record executive thinking you are too this, too that, perceptions, many times false of what kind of music you are good, or not good at. We rarely have any control over the arc of our career, I do know that you should not get off of the merry go round while it is still moving. There is always someone above you that can "can your ass". I think it's the most fun when you are starting off, everything is new and exciting, and you have nothing to lose and are willing to try anything, (well almost anything).
ed c
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#974063 - 03/21/00 11:48 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Beanstudio Mastering
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Loc: Wayne, NJ USA
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Ed,
I think that worrying is always part of why what we do can sound so good. If we didn't sweat the details, the details would be no good! I just don't want to let it affect my health. Thankfully the budgets and finances I deal with are on a pretty small scale, but I'm sure most of the semantics are the same.
With mastering, the job is over quickly as well, so less people are breathing down my back! It seems the jobs I worry that something can go wrong with usually go fine. The more someone expects an independant ear from my mastering, the more they let me do my thing. The bigtime producers seem to sweat it less than the guys who want their demo to sound like "Slipknot" or something. Which reminds me, if we like the music, there is usually less stress than if the treble rips yer head off from 3rd generation samples!
Ed, can I ask your advice on simple recording contracts, (mastering for me) or maybe a onesheet that I could give clients before a new job? I have yet to have something come back and bite me, but I'd like to know your opinion of the subject.
Jim
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Jim De Salvo
beanstudio@hotmail.com
Beanstudio Mastering
Audio Editing & Sonic Restoration http://beanstudio.homepage.com
"Nobody Hears It Better"
=================================
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#974064 - 03/22/00 01:01 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Ed Cherney
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Yeah, recording contracts....I am not sure what you mean.....
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#974065 - 03/22/00 01:24 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Beanstudio Mastering
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You know...the kind a mixer or engineer would ask a client to sign as an agreement as to what both sides can expect. (Not a record deal type, if that's what it seemed like I was asking)
If you have a new job with an artist, mixing or whatever, what type of agreement/contract should be used to provide that he will be bound to actually pay you. Should money be expected up front. Do you ever let tapes go out when they say "I'll mail you the check".
Phil Ramone said he never works anything without a simple contract, I was just wondering if many others used this too.
Jim
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#974066 - 03/22/00 04:34 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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THE MIX FIX
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Loc: NYC Area
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Jim:
Why don't you just have an invoice with your terms and conditions on it, to be signed by the client, along with a, maybe, 50% deposit, or, if you don't know what the total will be, an estimated 50% deposit, before begining any work?
Also, you are correct. Most assistants know more about the rooms they work in than the engineers do, since they work the same ones every day, and those of us that freelance may travel from studio to studio.
I TOTALLY depend on my assistants to get me though a session painlessly, since they know EXACTLY where on the patchbay outboard gear may be, which input may have a bad fader, etc.
Also, since, and I know this is hard to believe, it is extremely difficult to know EVERY piece of software, equipment, and operating system in EVERY studio one may go to, asking an assistant to "increase the delay modulation depth a bit" may take 1/100th the time of hunting and pecking those tons of menus on something you are unfamiliar with, when they could "hot key" it in 2 seconds.
A fellow engineer once told me "the secret of being a good enginner is having a good assistant".
While this may not be ENTIRELY true, it sure helps.
Let's give a big hand to all the GREAT assistants out there!!
(Of course, there are a lot of shitty ones, too.)
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Bob.
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#974067 - 03/22/00 05:27 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Ed Cherney
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So,
How many engineers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
None......the assistant did it the night before.
Oh, and what's the trouble with recording engineers?
Everybody else.
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#974068 - 03/22/00 02:09 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Beanstudio Mastering
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Bob & Ed,
Thanks alot! I have good advice for others, but sometimes get stuck in my own "box"!
Bob,
The terms advice is great, I will put it on the invoice. It is the best way to do it because when the job is done, all I have to do is update it. And it doesn't involve a separate contract so to speak to make anyone nervous, but it makes the point obvious.
Great idea,
and I always enjoy your posts.
Jim
=================================
Jim De Salvo
beanstudio@hotmail.com
Beanstudio Mastering
Audio Editing & Sonic Restoration http://beanstudio.homepage.com
"Nobody Hears It Better"
=================================
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#974069 - 03/22/00 03:09 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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THE MIX FIX
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Jim:
Why thanks so much for the kind words!!
I hope the invoice/term idea hepls. It's always soooo much better to not have to talk $ with the clients.
Your manager, or the studio, or someone else, can be the "bad guy" and collect the money, while you can just be on the client's side, and befriend him/her.
And Ed, you mean light bulbs as in your house, right?
NOBODY seems to change them in any piece of equipment in the studio.
AND, everybody else (besides engineers) ARE wrong!!
:0
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Bob.
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#974070 - 03/22/00 08:16 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Ed Cherney
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Jim,
In terms of a contract, here is what I always do. This is just for engineering or mixing (We go to the lawyer for production gigs). We generate a deal memo, which lays out the fee (we try to get half up front) and the general particulars, period of time, general responsibilities, etc. and have the client sign it. That way, there is rarely a problem later on. When you are dealing with an established label, it is pretty straight ahead. When you should really cover your ass is when you are working on spec, with an unsigned artist. They will be the first to forget you when they get signed, or have some success. Hope this helps.
ed c
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#974071 - 03/22/00 08:36 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Beanstudio Mastering
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Thanks, that is exactly what I was looking for!
Jim
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#974072 - 03/22/00 10:45 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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THE MIX FIX
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ED:
Does "Spec" still mean "Spec" to get paid, someday?
Bob
[This message has been edited by THE MIX FIX (edited 03-22-2000).]
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#974073 - 03/23/00 01:56 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Ed Cherney
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It means spec to never get paid.
ec
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#974074 - 03/23/00 11:28 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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alphajerk
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i thought it was: change a light bulb? why, it doesnt make a sound....
_________________________
alphajerk FATcompilation "if god is truly just, i tremble for the fate of my country" -thomas jefferson
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#974075 - 03/23/00 02:45 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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THE MIX FIX
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I never spec to get paid unless I change the light bulbs.
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Bob.
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#974076 - 03/24/00 11:25 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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THE MIX FIX
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I really don't have anything more to add.
I just like to see the little fire on the file, and this thread needed one more reply for it to happen.
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Bob.
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#974077 - 03/25/00 02:11 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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THE MIX FIX
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Actually, it needed two.
:0
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Bob.
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#974078 - 03/25/00 06:46 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Ed Cherney
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Jim, I almost forgot.....in your deal memo, you should also spell out how and where you are credited. You should try to get your credit on the outside (recorded and, or, mixed by, etc), and also be credited in print ads that are more than a quarter of a page. Most artists and labels rarely have a problem with this, and it is important for you to get recognition for your fine work.
ec
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#974079 - 04/21/00 12:13 PM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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Oli P
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I guess this one is old...anyway:
How many drummers does it take to change a lightbulb?
10....one changes it...the others discuss how Steve Gadd would have done it 
I find it very useful to negotiate deals via e-mail. Keeps a perfect history on who said what when etc.
We all know A&R people have no ears....they are low on memory too.
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#974080 - 05/12/00 08:03 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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gdubbs
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contracts are based on "what if??" and "will be done". we wrote ourown and had an attorney check it out. but remember, if you have any doubts or a bad gut feeling about the gig...dont do it.....
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#974081 - 05/15/00 11:43 AM
Re: What it takes to become successful (as per Ed)
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ketone
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My question is : How does an aspiring engineer become an assistant and how difficult is it to be accepted as an assistant to gain this training??Im talking without pay of course 
ketone
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