Jack of all trades master of none? What do you think?

[Gerax]

I started out the traditional way: musician (not professional) when I was a kid enrolled in a engineering school and soon landed an assistant job in a music facility where I learned the ropes of the job and got to work my butt off with some big names of the national and international music scene.
Later I went independent because the studio wasn't going well (in fact it went out of business shortly after I left), and made my way starting my own company, building my own project studio and getting busy most of the time.
A few years have passed and I can honestly say that things are going well for me, but a thing has started to creep in lately: several jobs have been offered to me in slightly different fields of the audio world, in that I've been doing sound (both production and post) for several video projects (from shorts to full lenght indie features) and some sound for television shows.
I got into this field for my love for music and in the beginning that was all that I wanted to do: a record after another, so that my skills would eventually grow and evolve over time. The thing I'm trying to explain is that though these jobs I'm doing in the A/V field pay some serious bills and are actually fun for me, I fear that spreading out too much will prevent me from getting real good in a particular thing, doing all jobs in a rather good way but not "great" if you know what I mean.
At the moment I'm splitting about 60% music, 40% A/V work, and this spring/summer I've been lucky enough to turn down work simply because I couldn't handle more, so you could think I'm moaning about an inexistent problem, but as we all know the audio filed is such wide that you cannot be fully proficient in all its applications...this is making me a bit worried.

I welcome your experienced opinions.

Thanx Slutz

L.G.

[Tim Halligan]

I feel your pain. I started out in a similar way to you...musician - recording school - live sound - corporate theatre - video dubbing - postpro audio...and yes, I'm still a frustrated music engineer. In my city, there really isn't a "high-end" recording market, so post is the only way to make a respectable living...

Given the parlous state of the music biz worldwide, I would grab these AV/TV jobs with both hands...as you know the money is good, you sessions are quick - compared to an album (hours vs. days/weeks), and you don't have to deal with people/music you don't like...for long. You can still do music when the AV slows down periodically.

Don't think that broadening your horizons will make you any less of an engineer...when the economy goes pear-shaped, having more skills makes you more hireable.
Approaching a music problem from a post point of view can sometimes yield interesting results, or a fast solution to keep the session moving...and vice versa.

Don't sweat it. More is better.

Cheers,
Tim

[Gerax]

Tim

Thank you for your words, that makes me understand maybe I'm not the only one doing it; as you said, my town/area too hasn't got a really featured high level music scene (or big feature films whatsoever) being Tuscany the region I live in. In a denser market diversity can kill your business, but I think that starting out my job here and trying to do just "music" would drive me out of business rather quickly (as I've seen some so called "engineers" lament about the lack of real job opportunities and then I meet them doing the clerk at some music store or other non audio related job).
Honetsly I can say that I'd like to have my focus on a handful of things (like DVD production that I'm trying to point my clients toward lately), but these A/V jobs allowed me to upgrade my studio, and do a decent living (heck, I just changed my car for a larger one so that I can get to the gigs with all of my remote recording rig preassembled in the racks ), so I just cannot quit them, and as I said they are actually fun and keep me from getting burned out too quickly from the record to record to record routine, sometimes having to sync to picture and keep my eyes on a screen is better than looking at those coloured waveforms in Pro Tools rolling by .

The thing I'm thinking over is, how do you present yourself to clients (those that don't already call me )? I mean I should just say I'm an engineer...not a music guy or a production sound guy or a post sound guy, you know...sometimes I'm a bit torn between declaring all of the services I can provide or hide them so that I appear as just the right guy for that job, and nothing more, you know what I mean...some people are interested in your other skills, but other just don't care, or actually find them to be detrimental to "the" skill they are hiring you for

I hope this doesn't make me a half formed engineer in the long run...or maybe it will make me better

Thanx for your words

L.G.

[Tim Halligan]

Maybe you can pitch yourself as a sound guy to the local video production houses/advertising agencies/AV and Corporate producers...offering them everything from voice-over production, jingles/custom scores etc, right up to full post-production. If you are not a composer yourself, at least through your music contacts you know who to call. These producers love the multi-skilling/one-stop shop approach, because they don't have to drive all over the map to get all of the components for their show together.

See...diversity is not a dirty word.

Relax...enjoy the Tuscan scenery, and thank whatever deity you follow that you don't have to live in one of the god-awful major cities...crime/pollution/high rents/extortionate prices etc.

Cheers,
Tim

[Inky Goddess]

Originally posted by Gerax
The thing I'm thinking over is, how do you present yourself to clients (those that don't already call me )? I mean I should just say I'm an engineer...not a music guy or a production sound guy or a post sound guy, you know...sometimes I'm a bit torn between declaring all of the services I can provide or hide them so that I appear as just the right guy for that job, and nothing more, you know what I mean...

gerax, since you're not hurting for cash, why don't you invest in several different sets of business cards, each highlighting a different aspect of your skills, and maybe a two-sided one that lists everything your studio does, with you listed as Owner/Engineer or something to that effect? this way, you can pull out whichever mini-billboard the situation requires.

my experience back in the analog days was such that the engineer, who is a ridiculously gifted musician, had worked into his wage agreement that he could record his own stuff when the sessions were done, and he took full advantage of that provision. inviting other seriously gifted musicians almost nightly to collaborate, some of the most wonderful stuff you never heard that came out of the eighties got tracked during those sessions. i have old cassettes of some of it, and the memories they bring back far outshine the drop-outs and noise on those decrepit tapes. you might keep your feet in the water by recording your own impromptu music with some of the people you've recorded and admire, if they're in the area. you never know what you might come up with, and it'll keep you recording new music.

hope my suggestions help.

p.s. ~ i'm so jealous...tuscany! it's so beautiful there. good for you, gerax.

[Jules]

I feel my small studio is perfectly positiond for the 'major lable collapse' or 'lower budget phase' we are entering... For music I suggest you seriously develop 'we don't need big budget' plans... I see that as the way forward in the future...

[Gerax]

Inky

The multiple business card idea is worth considering for sure, as is the web site of my studio that I'm developing with a friend of mine who's a webdesigner and webmaster. When it'll be ready I think I could point all of those clients to it and let it speak for me.
My studio is a small one man facility (me) and I sometimes hire help for those gigs where it's needed. The music side of things has been good so far in that I've been able to work with some major musicians of the classical/jazz italian scene, and I've developed solid relationships with them; I'd just like to keep it going and developing, but as I've said you can't just do music here if you want to have a decent business going: the return for your investments in this field is so low that the gigs should be around the clock to generate enough income, or I should charge way more to get the same return with the amount of gigs I get now (and this is not a thing I can afford to do now, maybe in a couple of years wether the gigs will be even more or I'll have a studio/experience that I can charge more for).

Jules

I think that's the way to go too, I've seen my fair share of "big" studios working with major labels and major budgets fall down face first (the one I was assistant in has been among them), and I think that by using a right dose of brain power and the right gear one can do such jobs even in scaled down facilities like yours or mine, so yes, I'm in for the "big project, not so big budget" policy, and we'll see how it goes.

Thanx everybody for your input so far

L.G.

[Audiomethod]

Hey Audiogenies, In need of 2 x 250w speakers with stands for hire near Poggibonsi, any ideas where the best place to pick up the gear is. Can't find nadda except in Florence. Shweet