Career Advice and Mix Techs

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Hi,

Apologies for the anonymous posting but I have an existing job I don't want to compromise and I'm looking for some career advice. I am a contributor to GS so hope you will be able to trust me and read on.

I've been doing post mixing shorts, TV, docs, and a handful of lo budget indie features for a good few years. I know ProTools extremely well and Icon D-control well, I've done mixing for cinema in different formats, including routing and re-recording of multiple versions, stems, video satellites etc. I don't have any hands on experience of the Neve DFC.

I'm good, fast, I get return business and I've done the runner thing 10 years ago so I know where to park my ego (at the door). I was complemented on my skills and approach by an oscar nominated mixer on the occasion I worked with one. As objectively as I can be, I am a talented and committed mixer early in his career.

The geographical area I work in is outside of a major film market but like a lot of people, I want to progress to mixing larger budget features, and most obviously for me it would be in London. Freelance is out of the question initially because I have no London client base. I really need to go for a staff job for a while. As far as I can see, I have two choices:

1. Pursue a staff mixer position at a London TV mix facility with the hope of graduating to a large film facility in time as a mixer.
2. Pursue a job as a mix tech in a large film facility with the hope of progressing within that facility.

So regarding 1:

Do you think this is a suitable route or will I find it difficult to transition to film from TV?

Regarding 2:

What do Mix techs earn in London film facilities?
Are they ever recruited from outside of a facility or are they very much apprenticeship from runner to tech support to mix tech?
What hours are people doing as mix techs?
And looking to the future, do people think that the mix tech job is going to disappear?
Is this a good route to eventually becoming a mixer?

Hope you can help and any advice, (even warnings) is good. At the moment I think positioning myself as a mix tech is probably the way forward.

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