How do you find location work?

[deve]

To find work, who do you talk to? What are your strategies to convince people to hire you? What are the good sources of location work? thanks

[Studiodawg]

Word of mouth has been my only source of recording jobs. It is by far the most effective way to establish credability and confidence in maestros and conductors.

[tnjazz]

yup, pretty much word of mouth.

We hooked up with a production company here in town that does video work, so that help us a good bit. The gigs we get outside of them are all referrals/word of mouth though.

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by deve

To find work, who do you talk to? What are your strategies to convince people to hire you? What are the good sources of location work? thanks

It finds me.

[Thom]

I network with other engineers. Occasionally, they will have to sub gigs and I get the call. I do not steal jobs, but it gets my name out there. I also pass work onto others if it is not in my forte.

I have also started cold-calling (colleges, community orchestras, etc.). It is not the greatest thing. But, I just relocated to a new area and want to keep working, so you do what you can.

Originally Posted by deve

To find work, who do you talk to? What are your strategies to convince people to hire you? What are the good sources of location work? thanks

[bishopthomas]

Oh, the cold calling! I HAVE to do that but am terrified of it. Any tips you can give the timid?

[videoteque]

One tip: Don't be terrified!!!

If you are good at recording, you will be a blessing for the musicians!

[joelpatterson]

Originally Posted by bishopthomas

Oh, the cold calling! I HAVE to do that but am terrified of it. Any tips you can give the timid?

You've got to keep in mind... and maybe play a little mind game to remind yourself...

Some of the people you're calling have been DREAMING of getting cheap but excellent recordings of their group, but they think it's too expensive or they just don't know anyone.

You could be a GODSEND to them. They have been WAITING for your call forever!

And THERE YOU ARE, CALLING! Well, hallelujah!

[Thom]

Originally Posted by bishopthomas

Oh, the cold calling! I HAVE to do that but am terrified of it. Any tips you can give the timid?

I am by no means am an expert on it. In fact, there have been some great suggestions that I am going to use.

I play the odds. Sometimes, I am going to get told no. But sometimes, I will get a yes.

In fact, I just got caught up in the "name-game". One of the cold calls I made was to a small choral society. I did my thing asking to speak with the director and was referred to the executive director. No big deal, I told the possible client what I did, how long I had been doing it and who I was referred by (a larger group, that I worked with in the past.) The first thing out of his mouth was about what gear I was providing. I told him that for this particular scenario I would be using a set of 4 mics, 2 on the group and 2 for the soloists. He then proceeded to ask about the names of my equipment. This is where I tend to draw the line. But, I told him I would be using DPA mics, DAV pres and Sonic Studio AD/DA converters. This is much more than I should have, but I thought he was interested. It just turns out he wanted to know, because what they used in the past were Schoeps and Millennia pieces. After all was said and done he told me that unless I could provide what they were "used" to, then he could not use my services.

So, I said thank you for your time and proceeded to make another call to someone else.

Thom