How did you become a Remotester? (Or "Your First Eight Years")

[NorseHorse]

This thread has been brewing for a while. Instead of arguing about differences in rates, I thought it would be extremely helpful for those interested in becoming remotesters and entertaining in general to share stories about how we started our respective remote recording businesses / services.

How did you first start out?

Were you hitting start/stop on the ADAT for years? Did you record recitals for friends? Did someone ask you out of the blue? Find a DAT at a garage sale and decide to put yourself in the phonebook? Did you intern at a "remote" studio?

Who were your first clients? What were you charging them?

The most common response to newbies asking "How do I become a professional engineer?" is: a) record for free, b) start charging a little, and c) start raising your rates when clients start coming to you. However, the general disagreement / chagrin in the Portable Location Recording Rates? thread over newer engineers charging lower rates caused me to wonder if some other engineers had to go through this process. Did you have to climb the ladder? Did you start right at the top? Were you recording full-time when you first started out?

How did you get clients in your "first eight years"?

Plush has expressed the idea that to be a true professional at your job, you must have been performing your craft for at least eight years. If we take this as a given and also accept that serious clients want to work with professionals, who did you work with in your early years? I think this will be especially interesting for younger engineers to read / respond to. Generally speaking, all of the large, reliable, reputable clients already have contracted engineers who they've been working with for years, so the "traditional" avenues for work aren't necessarily available.

I realize that many (most?) of the forum members aren't full-time professionals. You are still welcome to share your "early years" experiences whether you record part-time or as a hobby. Thanks in advance for the enlightenment! I don't mind if this gives rise to some varied discussion.

For those interested in what our first recording rigs were, check out: What was your first (classical/acoustic) remote recording setup?

[bishopthomas]

Originally Posted by NorseHorse

How did you first start out?

I started out as a "taper." I had a Minidisc recorder, a set of miniature mics from Sound Professionals and the battery box to power them. Of course I kept moving up until I was using a Nomad Jukebox 3, RME QuadMic, and a pair of Earthworks mics. I finally decided to stop recording concerts and enjoy going to them, but I had this gear so I put it to use recording concerts that I wouldn't have gone to out of enjoyment.

Originally Posted by NorseHorse

Who were your first clients? What were you charging them?

I was working for a church as technical director when I first started getting serious, so I would record the major shows mainly for my own experience, never for a release. (Or so I thought until the official Christmas release we recorded and they decided to put my "bootleg" recordings on that.) I was paid around $350 for this first time at making money at recording and it involved mixing the 80 piece choir with pre-recorded tracks. There were also a couple of piano/organ/choir pieces that we recorded from the ground up. I had a sync problem with my MOTU gear where only during playback could you hear the nasty clicks and pops. We had to bring the pianist and organist back in to retrack, rather embarrassing.

Originally Posted by NorseHorse

How did you get clients in your "first eight years"?

About three years ago I moved across the country and had to start over with contacts and gear (sold a lot to finance the move). I have mainly been doing the freelance live sound gig since then but have been getting "serious" about getting back into it over the past several weeks. Working the occasional gig with Steve has kept me doing what I love and has definitely shown me a side of the business I never would have seen. It's given me the confidence to take on larger gigs myself, so now I just need to find them!

[Rick Sutton]

Been in the studio business forever. For the first twenty years when asked if I do remotes the answer was "no". Eventually I changed that answer to "If you pay me enough I'll do it". Now I do remotes in addition to studio work!

[c.gymer]

Well I'm semi-pro having gone back to university (studying philosophy if anyone is interested).

Started with a 4 track cassette about 11 years ago recording myself, then an 8 track reel to reel recording my band, then a little bit of live work, then lots more recording my own band, then lots more live sound, then some festival sound, then more live sound and now I'm doing a little bit of recording as well as live sound.

I guess it's the same path as a lot of guys on here. I hope by the time I finish my degree I'll be able to go full time pro and drop the live sound completely (I enjoy it, but I fear for my ears!). I do charge for most things recording wise but I'm looking at doing a pile of pro-bono work for local amateur choirs and chamber groups to hone my skills in that arena.

This could be a very interesting thread! More responses please!

[joelpatterson]

Well, I built my studio in '95 without credentials of any kind or really any conceivable prayer that I could persuade people to hire me. Miraculously-- I was approached by a local piano summer camp that was just outgrowing their 57's-hanging-from-the-ceiling-and-plugged-into-guitar-amps to see if I could do sound for their backyard concerts. I offered to record the shows as well.

I employed the remarkably portable Ramsa W4416 board into a Porta-dat and ran off cassettes, and then in '98 the resident computer guru at the camp installed a CD burner for me to use, in '99 I got an HHB 850, and it turned out there were lots of local choruses and orchestras that could afford the paltry couple hunnerd bucks I was asking at the time. Whom I called on the telephone to plead my case.

Also I got into the habit of scannng their programs into Photoshop and churning out booklets and artwork for the CDs that had all the program notes and bios and long, tedious discussions of the music that these things typically include.

I still have the underlying feeling that all of this stuff I'm involved in is like royal courts of old... you have the many kings (the music directors) and I am but one of the milling minions, and so long as you enjoy the life of the court, its intrigues and spectacles, it sure as hell beats working the fields with a scythe!

[MaTr1x2051]

I suppose I'm still in the early stages of starting out... this also comes as a nice opportunity for an introduction as this is my first day posting here!

I've done location recording for 2.5 years, mainly at the local university's music school. Nearly all of my work is classical in nature, but now and then I'll have a few jazz gigs and the occassional band. Business definitely started off slow, but has been steadily growing. I don't advertise; everything is word of mouth. As I'm still a student (classical piano performance major), also working 2 other jobs, I don't have a ton of time to devote to audio work. That being said, I am quite happy with the amount of work I get in and am almost to the point of being consistently booked.

My first session was done straight into PTLE. A friend of mine needed a classical piano recording. Needless to say, the recording didn't sound all that great. There were plenty of hiccups during the session too. I brought on an Alesis Masterlink and did live mixdowns to stereo for awhile. That was a bit too nerveracking, so I now use an HD24 when I need more than just a pair of mikes.

PTLE is still my daw, although with quite a few new plugs.

I must be doing something right or people wouldn't keep hiring me. I've also done collaborative work with one of the biggest studios in the area. No... not just assisting, but actually running sessions alongside the other engineer. Plus, recently been hired by the classical radio station in town to engineer some of their on location gigs.

If things keep going the way they have, I'll be a pretty happy camper after another 2.5 years

Would I say I'm pro? Ya, I think so, and my clients think so. My gear list is pretty conservative, but that doesn't mean I can't make great sounding recordings. Everything I know has been self-taught through experience (I've been making recordings myself for a good 4 or 5 years prior to starting the studio here). And it definitely says something when I've only been in business for a short time, haven't advertised, and have still done professional recordings for national release and broadcast.

8 years to be called pro? Eh, I think results can stand for themselves. If you make make pro sounding recordings after 1 year... you're a pro.

As far as what to charge? Every area is a different market. I started off and still charge less than half of what the other engineers in the area charge. I've gotten business because people have seen I can do the job well and they don't have to spend as much. But every situation and location is different. There isn't one rule as to how to do it.

[boojum]

I have been fascinated by recording since early in HS. But I did not do anything about it until I became a ROF - Retired Old Fart. I started with a SONY MZ-N1 and then a SONY MZ-RH1 with a SONY ECM-MS957 MS mic and a pair of Soundman OKM classics omni's

After recording, badly, a show in Portland in early '07 I started getting interested and moved up in gear and started recording local bands out here on the coast of Oregon. No schools to go to, no one to apprentice to as a gofer, so I am my own gofer and am learning the ropes. I still do bar bands but also do chorales and chamber quartets. Still gratis. The chorale is grumbling that I take no pay for what I do, but I will keep them as a pro bono talisman. They were the first real gig to put their faith in me. I get liner notes credit and that is enough, for now.

I hope to someday cash a check, but will not stop if I do not. No one else where I am has the experience or gear to do the work. Some of the attempts I have seen are not good ones. These folks had not done their homework, and the recordings sounded it.

Eight years? Well, I have heard 10,000 hours to excel. That may equate. Truth is that it takes time and repetitions. Hopefully I am repeating the right things. For me what is really important is that I am learning something I enjoy and having fun doing it. And I am very grateful to this board as a stream of knowledge I can dip my cup into and cannot find anywhere else.

Cheers

[Shadow_7]

I have this hobby. It's expensive to do. So much so that the performers PAY to do it. One year I opted to do it with a group far from home at a much greater personal expense. Which just happened to coincide with a hurricane year. It's pretty hard corps so the show goes on regardless of the conditions. Long story short, the pictures that always happen DIDN'T happen. The video is very ARTSY? I guess that would be one interpretation. At least for the 60-ish percent of the event that got recorded. And the audio sounds like the stadium was recorded from inside a broom closet.

Maybe I was just trying to find a way to cope with / forgive the media entities. As I looked at various options for coping with the weather. Ziplock Bag, UV filter, Rain-X on the cheap for video. They didn't have most of that, if any of it. Rain Cape or Under Water enclosure, none of that either. A rag to wipe the lens, maybe, but they didn't use it. Factor in the current technology where they seem to be making waterproof camcorders, obviously none of that either. In combination with what appears to be 1980's video tech still in use in the 20xx's. And such love for the activity from said entities that they author DVDs without menus. I mean it's not like a hurricane jumps out of nowhere, and if you're a remotester who records majority of your events outdoors.... WTF?

So here I am figuring out how I can do what they should have done better. I've been tackling the audio side first. I've been an instrumentalist since 11, almost 40 now. I was even making a living at it in the Army Band at one point. So my ears and experience are highly biased to hearing what it sounds like in real life. So my audio rig is focused on reproducing that perceived sound. With whatever compromises in price points and environmental specs needed to make it happen for me. High humidity, high heat, high winds, yes please. It's a summer thing, so I don't need to deal with that other side. Although I'll likely want to include it in my goals since there is a winter variant. I'll be moving on to paralleling these efforts with video gear sometime soon.

So here I am, a remotester (in training) of sorts.

[fifthcircle]

How did you first start out?

Think I explained this in another thread, but here goes... Did my undergrad work at the Eastman School of Music where there are probably upwards of 2000 concerts per year. During my freshman year, I saw a business opportunity. Buy a set of mics and a DAT machine and record recitals. Had no real training, but I used my ears. I bought a Mackie 1202 and a pair of SM-81 mics (with a Panasonic DAT). People liked my work (in some cases more than the school's department- mostly because I could move the mics to where they sounded good. The recording dpt. had so many shows to record, documentary was it). I also did work study at music festivals recording where I started to use better gear and learned about multiple mics. By the time I graduated, I was also working in the school's recording department watching and helping with everything that I could.

Moved to LA in 1997 for my Masters and started to do the same thing. Upgraded to KM 184 mics and apprenticed with several engineers for little or nothing to learn more about high-end audio.

Who were your first clients? What were you charging them?

First clients were Eastman Students. Because the recording dpt basically recorded for free, I charged little (usually between $40 and $80 per concert) and gave a cassette of the show.

Once I moved to LA and didn't have to compete with free, I charged a lot more.

How did you get clients in your "first eight years"?

The big ones were from covering a show for another engineer. Eventually people at that level started to know who I was and I got hired for more important shows. My work stands for itself and people know that I'm pretty easy to work with. It took me about 6 or 7 years of working in LA for me to start getting the "good" work on my own. If you add the time at Eastman, we're looking at 10-11 years.

Even with that, when the economy took a dump, I lost a lot of work. To make up for it, I've been working doing more staff work at venues (mostly FOH mixing). Whatever it takes to pay the bills.

--Ben

[Corran]

Originally Posted by NorseHorse

How did you first start out?

Who were your first clients? What were you charging them?

How did you get clients in your "first eight years"?

I began writing electronic-based music in high school, at which time I bought a 57 and a mixer, etc. I felt I had some "proficiency" at it so when I got to college and heard the "recordings" of our concerts/recitals I was appalled. It sounded terrible! For reference, they were running two Neumann TLM-70s in some semblance of X-Y but in omni mode, into a DAT and CD burner for backup (?), and way too far back and high for the auditorium. The school had a portable minidisc and a Rode NT-4 so I started messing around with it and eventually started recording me and my friends' recitals with it, as well as running the recording booth.

Then one summer I said heck with this I'll get money for it so I bought about $1500 of stuff in addition to my gear already and started recording for roughly $50/hr. My clients were mostly students and some faculty at my college.

Within 2 years I had a major contract with the local symphony (who I play for, so they knew me) and my business was doubling or tripling every 6 months. The clients were almost all people or ensembles playing at the college. I started to branch out and do things in the community (churches, schools).

I am now in my 4th year with a very respectable gear and client list. I have a 5-year plan for how I want to grow and what I want to be recording, with my first major step being next month when I will be recording a large band festival. My rates are currently $75/hr, but that's more for quoting purposes - big jobs get double or triple that rate. I feel I am doing especially well for being my 4th year. If my 5-year plan works when I hit that "9th year" I'll be making enough to live well off of. We'll see what happens.

Good thread - interesting reads!

[LX3]

I could never keep my hands off audio gear. At seven I'd commandeered one of my father's reel-to-reel machines. Playing in bands in my teens, I was both the drummer and the "recording guy". My father was a hifi gear-slut, so we always had a variety of tape machines, simple mixers and mics kicking around.

Inevitably, as we started playing gigs, I wanted to record them. I started with a Revox A700 at 7.5ips. Then in '84 we got hold of a Sony PCM701 which finally meant I could record a couple of hours of 16-bit 44.1. Pretty revolutionary at the time.

By the late eighties I was playing and engineering in studios, but in those days multitrack meant 2" Otaris and Studers. So live recording was still 2-track for me, with the occasional dabble with 4 and 8-track.

Skip forward to about 1991. So, I'm in this band, and we want to make an album. We can't afford to spend weeks in a studio, but we play live a lot... so why don't we make a live album, I suggest? That way, we'd get it tracked in an evening and the whole thing would have a vibe that we'd never get in the studio. We could borrow a local hall, invite some friends as the audience, install some recording gear...

Looking into the cost of renting some 16-track gear, I discovered that it was far less economical than I'd hoped, and the idea was shelved.

It bugged me for the next ten years that we'd never been able to do that album. Surely there was a way to properly multitrack small gigs without it costing an arm and a leg? It frustrated me that there were all these great performances happening, and no-one recording them. Multitrack hard disk recording was becoming affordable. I remember telling a friend about my crazy idea, to which she replied "Quit talking about it and do it. Otherwise you'll always wonder..."

So finally in 2002, I set about building a rig, and hopefully a new career. I hadn't made any kind of business plan, because I sensed that if I did I'd realise that it was the worst idea I'd ever had.... and I really wanted to do it!

I recorded some jazz gigs for a promoter friend. Some things worked well, some could have worked better, but at least I'd started. I spent every last penny I had building or buying new gear, turned my lounge into a workshop, broke up with my girlfriend who clearly didn't understand what I was playing at (you know you're in trouble when you're quite glad that you're not in a relationship, because it'll give you time to get that splitter finished!).

And so it went for around three years. I did the odd live recording for friends as a favour, and tried to keep up my previous freelance work to pay the bills. Paying gigs came along so rarely that I started to think I'd made the biggest mistake of my life, and perhaps I should have done that business plan. I spent a lot of lonely nights chained to the soldering iron, building cables and asking myself some searching questions.

Then out of the blue, the phone rang to see if I could record and mix a signed band. That went well. I built a website. A live music video company called, and eventually got me in for a gig. They recommended me to someone else. And it gradually snowballed from there.

I would say that I'm only now starting to make a living from it (particularly when you take into account the constant need to upgrade gear) so eight years seems like a pretty good rule of thumb to me. In some ways I'm glad things started slowly for me - there's no doubt that the lessons I learned along the way became invaluable later. If anyone needs to make a living straight away then I'd strongly recommend they don't get into recording. It's a money pit. Become a wedding photographer or something.

I take solace in the thought that, although we had some great times, it would never have worked out with that previous girlfriend.

[videoteque]

And it gradually snowballed from there

I think (hope!) that if you make a good work it always snowballs, sooner or later!!!

[MBBCFP]

Interesting thread. We all do like to talk about ourselves, but wait, we're people . . .

I got started taping in college when my (then) girlfriend was an organ major (no inuendo) and I taped her recitals and mini concerts. I had been playing in rock bands, so I had the "best" mics available; Shure SM 57s' precessor, the 545. This was in the 1960s; those mics have been around for quite a while. When I joined the US Army (I had a choice of being a door gunner in a heliocopter in Viet Nam for two years or a clarinet player in Hamton, VA for three years; hmmmm, such a choice) I went to the Continental Army Band - at the time a Special Band that had all the best stuff. I recorded the band every week using U67s and Ampex pro recorders (1/2", 15 ips). While in the Army, my civilian band also made some recordings and while I was not the engineer, I did assist in the process and learned a lot from Nick Colleran at Alpha Studio in Richmond. During and after the Army stint, my band continued to have more success and I recorded almost evey gig (7 nights a week) on cassette tape from the mains mixer which I ran from the stage. We hired several FOH "sound men," but always went back to me controlling it from the stage -- it just sounded better. Most of the tapes were lost but I did find a box some 30 years later and transcribed those to CD (after much EQing). Fast forward a few decades. I sang with the local symphony orchestra chorus and opera chorus. Enter the minidisk. I recorded numerous colleagues and several full concerts using the minidisk and a pair of AT803s. (I still have those with the interchangeable card and omni capsules. They're not bad.) Stealth recording the opera was a part of the reason I no longer sing there . . . One of the assistant conductors lauded my recordings as being much higher quality than the ones they were paying for but not everyone in administration was as enthusiastic. I no longer record anyone any where without their permission and their payment.
One day a few years ago, I decided that my life-long attraction to recording had been put off long enough, so I began reading; magazines, blogs, threads, eveything I could find about digital recording. I am handy (studied music and electrical engineering in college) so I built my DAW, began collecting recording mics, added some entry-level pres, put up a web site, made a Jecklin disk, etc., etc. Amazingly, people started calling me. Mostly from referrals from pianists/accompanists/former directors I had worked with. Now, strangers are calling me from out of town. I have recorded numerous (paying) audition CDs, several church presentations, a few recitals, some concerts, some big bands. I have a jazz duo scheduled week after next (I'm out of town next week) and more concerts after that. Business is definitely improving and I may just make some money at this yet -- maybe enough to begin paying for this equipment.

[LX3]

Originally Posted by videoteque

I think (hope!) that if you make a good work it always snowballs, sooner or later!!!

Agreed. As I think Steve Remote always says, you're only as good as your last gig. Do everything right (and I mean everything - from arriving on time to delivery of the product) and you get called back. Mess up and no-one says much - but the phone doesn't ring again.

[Plush]

I'll add my saga. . . classical music recording mang here.

To summarize: I was always on the look out to network, attend workshops to better my craft, work long hours and record, record, record. Key was to stay small (3-4 people) and nimble. Buy the best equipment but keep other costs down. Nothing was as important to me as getting to the top of the recording business.

***************************************************************

I always liked tape recorders and began using them in grade school in 1966. I toted around a reel-to-reel recorder interviewing exchange students. Oh the smell of tape! I luved it.

Then in college at Northwestern I worked for the recording dept. First encounter with good mics and good hall. Learned basic techniques but really only used the school's off kilter wrong positioned NOS hanging pair most of the time.

Graduated colllege worked some jobs, worked on political campaigns and then for corporate communications depts. Recording on the weekends. Then one day I quit my job, bought a Studer B67 and some Schoeps mics (total around $7000) and began showing up for whoever would let me record them. I charged for tape. I didn't know my azz.

I took a 4 day course at Univ. of Wisconsin Eau Claire entitled "Stereo Recording Techniques" This was taught by a famous engineer, Russ Borad. Mr. Borad presented an excellent class that compared and contrasted all the stereo mic techniques. It was based on listening as well as a practicum of making live recordings in the class. I absorbed this info. like a sponge.

Took on a partner whose dad played in the Chicago Symphony. We met many players through my partner's father and I began networking about who needed recording. Each of the players was involved in a "spin-off" group of the symphony. Some groups were wind ensembles, some were string quartets, some were early music groups, some were brass ensembles. I found my place and started doing paid recordings for these groups.

At this time also started doing recording work for WFMT Radio in Chicago. This important classical station is the largest classical radio station in America. I lived right in the same town as them. They paid better than anyone too.

Then I got a fantastic job working at DePaul University. I became their recording dept.
So in that job I was recording 3-4 nites per week MON-FRI in their various halls. One nite an orchestra, next time a singer with piano, next a symphonic band, then a jazz quartet. I toted my Studer out everywhere. It weighed 90 lbs. but Studer literature said it was "portable." Everything was recorded with two mics.
Every conceivable set-up and group combination was presented to me to work with.
Did this for 12 years. Fees went up each year. New equipment kept being added as all monies went back in to the business.

I always liked choral music and I knew I wanted to record that genre as a new basis for a lot of my work. I attended a concert of the best and most highly thought of chorus in Chicago. Afterwards I made an appt. to go meet with their director. I explained that I wanted to work with them and that I knew they already had a recording person. If there was ever a need to change people, I suggested that I could be the new mang. They did change to me and this provided a 20 year association that solidified my reputation in recording.

The group was so good that each recording won awards. They like me so well that they referred all their musician friends to me to record. Again networking.

Then I met my mentor through an organist friend. he introduced me to the guy who had done all of his recordings and said I should train with him. I was invited to go to Germany and work at a famous tonstudio. This truly was the center of all music recording technique and practice to me. I was told that I didn't know anything. They made me start over. Mic technique as taught by watching and listening. How to handle artists was taught by watching and listening. How to edit difficult classical music was taught by doing it for 1000's of hours. This studio had 3 editing rooms running 24 hours per day. Each engineer would work for 8 hours and then the next person would come in and work. All the big names came through that studio. This studio started Naxos records because they did all the recordings for Naxos when it started out.

I worked in Germany for 3-4 months per year for the next 5-6 years. That is where I learned.


Back in Chicago. . .
All the most important recording jobs in town were controlled by WFMT. I was known to them but not on staff yet. I had to get on staff. Networking again came into play.
Over a period of three years I used to take some of the decision makers at WFMT out for fancy lunches. They loved these lunches and we all came back drunk. We got to know each other well.

One day the radio station fired all their engineers and producers and went with independent people like me. I was hired to come on board and do the work of at least 2-3 engineers. I also got paid like two or three engineers. I did live broadcast and recording.

All the big names were coming through the place then. All the big singers including Pavarotti and Fischer-Dieskau, pianists, string quartets, opera stars. We recorded everyone. There I was one day recording at a college and the next day using my same gear recording super famous performers. All this happened because I spent some money taking people to lunch. Imagine the surprise on the face of some of the Chicago people when they saw that some of these stars already knew me from Germany.

Later I was put on recording duty with the Chicago Symphony by the radio station.
I did this on and off for some years. Then put on summer recording duty at a famous summer music festival. Rates were climbing and I hired a secretary and more assistants. Worked for other major orchestras because they REQUIRE the recordings.

More networking with conductors, more visiting with well known engineers, more learning.
Keep raising the rates. Keep getting hired by good people who REQUIRE the recordings. I work for broadcasters, music publishers and record companies.

Now still doing lots of recordings even some junk. But I still get paid as if it is not junk.
No Naxos though.

Networking, balls, intelligent and enticing talk to musicians, good gear, developed ear,
strong back, sophisticated editing skills, reading a musical score. These are the pre-requisites to moving ahead in the classical bidnizz. It has been worth it. Don't cheap out on your rates!

[joelpatterson]

You left out the part where you threw the Earthworks mics out of the window of the taxicab!

[Plush]

Shoot, Joel----I did leave that out.

I got so disgusted with the sound of some Earthworks omnis that I dumped them out the window of a moving Cadillac. Later, after I posted about it on GS, some slutz asked where it happened. I think they went over there and looked for them.

[joelpatterson]

Probably bouncing around on the pavement was all it needed to bring them back up to spec...

[Mazo Audio]

Originally Posted by Plush

I toted my Studer out everywhere. It weighed 90 lbs. but Studer literature said it was "portable."

They loved these lunches and we all came back drunk.

I really like these parts, I think I have a marketing plan!

Plush, you have a cool story. One can tell if they've been following your post's that you know your s**t. He's opinionated and loyal to the companies that make his favorite tools. It's sad to see him get flamed for this but he always comes out OK. You must have a thick skin to survive in Chi Town. Implied in this story is that he's put in some long hours and a LOT of hard work. I was curious a while ago before you posted this and went to you myspace page, I saw a photo that interested me, have you recorded that unique double Steinway that we have at UW?

Lance

[MaTr1x2051]

Plush: I played on WFMT a few years back, I wonder if you engineered the session? It was in... 2004. Were you still there then?


And I couldn't agree more about networking. I haven't been doing this long, but soon realized that you need to get to know people to get business. Word of mouth is the king.

[boojum]

Plushie - Back in the mid and late 50's WFMT used to broadcast the CSO into a network feed I could pick up in NYC. In those days there was a selection of great music on the air every night. And I would check the NY Times FM schedule to see what concerts I would be listening to that evening.

Your story is interesting as you did all the right things, to my way of thinking. Record, record, record, not unlike the Jesuit motto of learning, "Repetitio, repetitio, repetitio." Or, "How do you get to the Paramount?" Or the eight year/10,000 hour rule. And you snagged those gigs in Germany with the tonmeisters and did it over and over again. Stephen Leacock's remark, "Funny thing, the harder I work, the better my luck seems to get." applies.

The common thread with the folks doing the work is that they "did the work" for a long time on the way up. And hung out with the aces tio learn what they could as an apprentice of sorts. It is just harder to do that now. And where I am, it is impossible. So thank you, folks, for what you put up on the board for me to read and learn from.

Ninety pound Studer/ReVox? If the Swiss attach a handle to anything, it is "portable." LOL

[Plush]

Originally Posted by MaTr1x2051

Plush: I played on WFMT a few years back, I wonder if you engineered the session? It was in... 2004. Were you still there then?


And I couldn't agree more about networking. I haven't been doing this long, but soon realized that you need to get to know people to get business. Word of mouth is the king.

Who knows if I did it? Yes I was there then and I'm still there. Was it a live Monday nite show or a Dame Myra Hess concert down town? Or maybe an impromptu? Who knows 'cause we be doin' a TON of live bcasts. Was it in the studio?

I hope that you enjoyed your visit and that you felt you were treated well.

[MaTr1x2051]

Originally Posted by Plush

Who knows if I did it? Yes I was there then and I'm still there. Was it a live Monday nite show or a Dame Myra Hess concert down town? Or maybe an impromptu? Who knows 'cause we be doin' a TON of live bcasts. Was it in the studio?

I hope that you enjoyed your visit and that you felt you were treated well.

It was in the studio... 8 of us pianists who were competition winners in the area. It was an amazing experience. I was 16 when I played, and the experience really got me to dive even more into recording.

The session was tracked live in the studio, but was not broadcast for a month or two.

I grew up in the Chicago burbs... now I live in the Phoenix area and strangely enough, just started working at our classical station, KBAQ. It seems our stories share a few similiar lines... at least the beginning of yours and mine so far haha.

[NorseHorse]

Found some related threads:

How did you learn what you know about mastering?
How does one become a mastering engineer?

[NorseHorse]

Great post from live remotester dbbubba: Any live pro live sound mixers here?

[Michaelrophone]

Man, is this really the end of this thread? I was really getting into it.

Can somebody please keep this thread going?

[joelpatterson]

Well, that's all you get for free... but if you paypalled me five bucks, I would keep going...

[Remoteness]

Hey, if the five bucks is too rich for you, PayPal me $1.00 USD...

I'll keep the thread going; I got the pull to make it so around here.

[joelpatterson]

Ya big bully!

[Michaelrophone]

Originally Posted by joelpatterson

Well, that's all you get for free... but if you paypalled me five bucks, I would keep going...

Originally Posted by Remoteness

Hey, if the five bucks is too rich for you, PayPal me $1.00 USD...

I'll keep the thread going; I got the pull to make it so around here.

I guess the industry really is hurting these days, huh?

Maybe after my next big job I'll have six bucks to spare...