Rocky Starts
Becoming a recording engineer in the music industry is not as easy as
some people may hope. There are very few salary based jobs out there for
a recording engineer. The only real way to break into the industry of
recording music is to become a freelance audio engineer. The hardest
part about being a freelance audio engineer is getting your first couple
of clients and getting them to come back. It's not uncommon for someone
to spend 1 to 5 years in search of a steady clientele that can bring in
some source of steady income that can put food on the table, pay the
bills, pay for health insurance and pay for any equipment you need to
keep your business up and running.
Finding Clients
The reason why the first couple of steady
clients are so hard to find is because it is hard to get someone to
shell out some hard-earned cash for your recording services when they
have no idea what kind of work you will do for them. Even with an
education in the recording arts field, you will find that it does not
mean very much. It may relieve some worries of potential clients but
not enough to make a big difference. In fact, most of the real
successful recording engineers never even attended school. Of course
this does not mean that someone should skip out on getting educated
before trying to jump-start a career in the recording arts field. If
you need the education and even if you don't, if you can afford it,
it can't hurt.
Another reason why it is hard to find those
first couple of good clients to start-up a steady clientele is that
even a somewhat part-time established band or an artist probably
already has a recording engineer and a studio that they use on a
regular basis. Even if they are not completely satisfied with their
current recording situation, it would still be hard to convince
someone, who as a beginner, you could do a better job. If a potential
client knows you're just starting out as a beginner, they would be
taking a huge risk that your recording services could still be
extremely amateur. If your recording services were not up to quality
standards then (in theory) a band or an artist would still have to pay you, but
they would also have to go back to their old recording services and
then pay them to either fix what you've done or even have the whole
project rerecorded, which is a waste of time, money and also a huge
hassle.
Don't Forget the Contract
Here's a little hint! Make sure a contract is signed before work
begins. If you were wondering, this is how you will guarantee that
you get paid. Like with anything, even if your skills are not yet
professional and you're still in the learning process, if you did
your best and put the time into it, you will still want to get paid.
And with a contract you will. It's up to the client to ask and
understand about your credentials and up to you to do the same with
your client. If both parties tell the truth, both parties will go
into the project with the right expectation.Determination,
Networking and Motivation
If you feel like you have
the skills and determination to take on this career and make it work
for you, then by all means you should follow what you know is best
for yourself. Determination, networking and staying motivated when
work is not coming in so steadily are the three tools you really need
to get a career lunched and keep it going. The most important tool a person needs to
utilize is networking. Network with people who have the same
ambitions of making it in the music industry as you do. You can have
a thousand friends, but if the only thing they know about the music
industry is how to pop a in CD of their favorite band or artist and hit play, they will not help you very much when trying to
achieve your goal. Anyone you can get to know who plays, records,
produces or promotes music are good people to become friends with and
stay friends with. You never know when an opportunity not directed to
you or for you might come along and one of your friends is in the
right place at the right time but can't do the job but can vouch for you and say, "Hey,
I have a good friend that may be able to help you out," and
sometimes that's all it takes.
Another option of networking
you can utilize is advertising. I personally finished school at the
Recording Institute of Detroit, and I bought some advertising to see
what kind of potential clientele would come my way. Unfortunately, I
don't have much good to say about this process. I advertised with
networking websites, fliers and business cards, the little response I
did get were usually from somewhat corky individuals with completely
unrealistic expectations. In fact, I never picked up one of my
clients from advertising. I'm not saying that someone else might not
find success in this process, but this is just my personal
experience. Depending on your location and how much effort you put
into advertising, someone else might find different success than I did.
Internships
When I finished
school for recording engineering in Michigan, I went on a search for
an internship. I contacted over 100 studios about an internship and
only received a couple of responses back. The responses I received
all pretty much had the same answer. The answers were, they do not
use interns at all or some responses were they did not use
unsolicited interns. Solicited internships would mean you would
have to know someone or pay someone or a company to get you one. Now,
there is a possibility that other states have better intern
opportunities. But for me I never even checked out-of-state because
I did not have the money to relocate to another state for an unpaid
internship. I was, however, given advice from two different studio
owners/engineers that graciously took some time out of their day to
talk to me. Both of their advice was pretty much the same and pretty
simple, "In a state like this where almost all musical recording
engineers are freelancers, forget the internships and just get out
there and get started. An internship would just be wasting a lot of
time."
Last Words of Wisdom
I
should note that if you are looking for those salary jobs, you will
increase your chances dramatically if you were willing to move to
places where music is extremely huge, such as New York, California, Nashville Las Vegas etc.
