Assistant duties thread.

[Sput]

Hi Folks,

I've trying to find an old thread were somebody was offering an assistant position at his studio. I remember that there was a pretty smart list of things he/she should /shouldn't do, and basically setting things clear from the start so there wasn't much room for confusion. I recall not agreeing with everything, but liked the "straightness" of it.
In case it rings any bells, one of the shoulds was about bad breath and mints...

Anyway, if you guys have new ideas, they're very welcome too!

I'm about to hire my third assistant (the first 2 are gone now) and want to be both fair and clear with him. I know I can be in my "zen space" for a long time while mixing and such, or a session can be just very stressful and demanding to allow for propper chatting and teaching. If any of those situation happen during the first days or weeks, I don't want the assistant to feel weird or unconnected, if that makes any sense.

Thanks in advance for your help.

J.

[Sput]

If you know of some meaningful thread or site about the subject, that'd be most appreciated too. Thanks,

J.

[windmillsound]

When you want your assistant to have an opinion you give it to him.

[Sput]

Originally Posted by windmillsound

When you want your assistant to have an opinion you give it to him.

I don't think I'm making my point clear. Let's try this:
Some people have the gift of telling you exactly what they want in a way that's both encoraging and firm (just like a good lyricist). That makes everything easy, productive and joyful. I'm not blessed with that gift. I always end up treating the assistant like either a band members or a collegue engineer, and he's not (yet).
For a young kid the studio can be a strange place and he might feel like he doesn't belong there, even if he's passionate about it. Imagine you go to your new job and nobody tells you what they want from you. Or they tell you in a way that you don't completely understand.

So, I thought that this time I would put together a list of duties to help both me and the assistant. While I'm working on it, I'd like to have some input on general things you studio owners and engineers demand from your assistants, as well as how you compensate for their work.

[Sput]

Originally Posted by windmillsound

When you want your assistant to have an opinion you give it to him.

Hi Windmillsound,
I'm afraid that's not my idea of collaborative work. If he's asked for his opinion, he should be sincere. If he doesn't know how and when to share his opinions, that's a different story altogether.

[Jules]

Gearslutz.com - Google Search Results

[Beat Poet]

Originally Posted by windmillsound

When you want your assistant to have an opinion you give it to him.

That's basically telling Sput to do what he's trying to avoid!

[Sput]

Originally Posted by Jules

Gearslutz.com - Google Search Results

Read most already. Found this great one though:

My assistant keeps farting and my clients think it's me

[mostapha]

Could it be something like this?

Internship

(came across it when I was looking for internships a little while back)

[drbob1]

In real life, I am a doc, and this is something that can be difficult. When medical students or interns start out, they know basically nothing and most of the time between patients is spent trying to build up a basic knowledge set (or flesh out what they've got from books) so they have some kind of approach to problems: it's exhausting and time consuming work. It helps me to have thought thru what are the most common problems and how can they be solved. And what sort of mind-frame allows you to characterize and solve a problem (the algorithm is more important than the details to my thinking).

[Sput]

Originally Posted by mostapha

Could it be something like this?

Internship

(came across it when I was looking for internships a little while back)

That's very helpful, thank you!

J.

[Sput]

Originally Posted by drbob1

(the algorithm is more important than the details to my thinking).

I agree. Thanks for your input!

[windmillsound]

Its a Samuel Goldwyn quotation - I guess you might have recognised it but obviously not.

[Sput]

Originally Posted by windmillsound

Its a Samuel Goldwyn quotation - I guess you might have recognised it but obviously not.

Hahaha!! I get it now.
Sorry about that, Goldwyn's quotes are not exactly well known around here.

[telejustin]

I could talk about this topic for awhile. But I'll share a couple of points (I haven't read those other threads)...

From my experience, the first and most important thing for an assistant/intern is to understand studio decorum. I think we all agree on that as we've all had the kid who spoke up or gave an opinion when it wasn't appropriate or asked for. I'm pretty specific about explaining this stuff to new interns from day one. How they respond and conduct themselves after this discussion is VERY indicative of their ego and how long they'll be around. Some realize they are there to learn and don't bring their ego to the studio. Others need some help and fall in line quickly (which is cool) while others have the wrong vibe from the get-go and don't last very long.

After that, just give them time to observe and see how things work around the studio. Be upfront about that and say that you probably won't have anything for them to do for the first couple of weeks. I wouldn't worry about giving him/her tasks at the beginning unless you really want or there is a good opportunity. Once they get the vibe and see the flow they'll be able to do a much better job of actually helping out.

In time it's good to start making a list of things you need done or need help with that you can pass on to them. I think it's really important to give them opportunities to do actual work and learn about music and gear. With my current assistant, for example, I put him in the hot seat to run Pro Tools for some overdub sessions. I was hot on his neck to make sure he was doing things efficiently and reminding him of key commands and workflow stuff. He was sweating balls but learned a LOT in that first 2 hour session. After a week of my busting his balls running overdubs I can trust him to fly a session without my looking over his shoulder. I also give him tasks that he can do with no chance of affecting clients but that really contribute to the projects. An example is that I get a lot of outside mix work, so I taught him how to import files into a new PT session, import my i/o setup, configure it the way I like down to track colors, etc. Using "save as" there is no chance he can create a disaster as I can always go back to the original and do it myself. Now he can prep a session, clean up all of the tracks (mouth noises, dead space, bad edits, etc.) himself with no supervision perfectly. It's awesome because I can now open a session he has prepped and start mixing immediately, which is awesome. He is psyched because he's actually doing something rather than just doing dishes and being a fly on the wall.

Lastly, make sure you give the assistant chances to mess around in the studio. If you trust him then get him a set of keys, explain the rules, and let him do his own sessions or mixes when there is downtime or late at night. This was *huge* for me when I got started at a studio. I would assist/intern all day and then stay late, sometimes until 3 or 4AM, learning the console and playing with gear, recording friends, etc.

Anyway, those are some starting points. Hope it helps...

Justin

PS: Sput, I would gladly come work for you anytime you need an assistant.

[Sput]

Justin, my friend. That's helpful indeed!
I'm really open with letting people do stuff at the studio. Actually, I think there's like 10 different guys who have the studio keys. I'm totally fine with the studio being used at night or when there's no session booked. I find that people usually behave right when given the chance.
I guess I just have to relax a bit and let the assistant learn a bit on his own for the first couple of weeks. I got a nice bookshelf upstairs where he can find 50+ recording books, so that can be cool for a start.
Thanks for you input, my man!

[Sput]

Originally Posted by telejustin

PS: Sput, I would gladly come work for you anytime you need an assistant.

Wow, that'd be the real deal!! You know you're welcome home anytime. Spring's coming to beautiful Sevilla...