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Re: Career in audio a worthwhile endeavor?

Hey Brian,

This comes up every once in a while, and there's a lot of good advice here. I would say how easy it is to make a living depends strongly on what you consider a living. If you really love this and are willing to hustle club gigs every night for $150 and pick up the occasional $250 on weekends, I would say you will have no trouble finding work. Eventually you will almost certainly get offered a base level touring position, and if you don't fuck that up you may be able to find some more dough. The barrier for entry in this business is very low, there are a trillion guys and gals out there willing to work for very little - maybe they even have day jobs doing something else, so the money isn't as important to them. It takes years of reliable work before you may prove yourself worth taking on the bigger gigs, and then if you don't fight for extra pay you won't get it. I know many folks in this business who are self limiting - they haven't figured out not to disappear for truck load at the end of the night, or they think their $200 gig is white glove, or they are seemingly unable to gain additional knowledge. Don't be those guys. Reliable, hard working techs are the ones that are hard to find and once you establish yourself as such you will be a lot of people's best kept secret. Honestly your ability to mix beautifully almost doesn't matter - it's much more important to mix quickly and reliably, as well as to be able to patch and do other more mundane tasks.

I have been extraordinarily lucky in this business, especially to know a group of exceptional people who have been kind enough to teach me a great number of things and offer me some incredible opportunities, but I worked for a looong time just getting by. Keep your expenses low, take every opportunity, work every weekend and most week days, and you may find a job that pays as well as one you could get with a bachelor's degree in business a few years out of college. I hope you're that lucky, the vast majority of audio folks aren't.

<blockquote data-quote="Bennett Prescott" data-source="post: 105227" data-attributes="member: 4">Re: Career in audio a worthwhile endeavor?Hey Brian,This comes up every once in a while, and there&#039;s a lot of good advice here. I would say how easy it is to make a living depends strongly on what you consider a living. If you really love this and are willing to hustle club gigs every night for $150 and pick up the occasional $250 on weekends, I would say you will have no trouble finding work. Eventually you will almost certainly get offered a base level touring position, and if you don&#039;t fuck that up you may be able to find some more dough. The barrier for entry in this business is very low, there are a trillion guys and gals out there willing to work for very little - maybe they even have day jobs doing something else, so the money isn&#039;t as important to them. It takes years of reliable work before you may prove yourself worth taking on the bigger gigs, and then if you don&#039;t fight for extra pay you won&#039;t get it. I know many folks in this business who are self limiting - they haven&#039;t figured out not to disappear for truck load at the end of the night, or they think their $200 gig is white glove, or they are seemingly unable to gain additional knowledge. Don&#039;t be those guys. Reliable, hard working techs are the ones that are hard to find and once you establish yourself as such you will be a lot of people&#039;s best kept secret. Honestly your ability to mix beautifully almost doesn&#039;t matter - it&#039;s much more important to mix quickly and reliably, as well as to be able to patch and do other more mundane tasks.I have been extraordinarily lucky in this business, especially to know a group of exceptional people who have been kind enough to teach me a great number of things and offer me some incredible opportunities, but I worked for a looong time just getting by. Keep your expenses low, take every opportunity, work every weekend and most week days, and you may find a job that pays as well as one you could get with a bachelor&#039;s degree in business a few years out of college. I hope you&#039;re that lucky, the vast majority of audio folks aren&#039;t.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bennett Prescott, post: 105227, member: 4"] Re: Career in audio a worthwhile endeavor? Hey Brian, This comes up every once in a while, and there's a lot of good advice here. I would say how easy it is to make a living depends strongly on what you consider a living. If you really love this and are willing to hustle club gigs every night for $150 and pick up the occasional $250 on weekends, I would say you will have no trouble finding work. Eventually you will almost certainly get offered a base level touring position, and if you don't fuck that up you may be able to find some more dough. The barrier for entry in this business is very low, there are a trillion guys and gals out there willing to work for very little - maybe they even have day jobs doing something else, so the money isn't as important to them. It takes years of reliable work before you may prove yourself worth taking on the bigger gigs, and then if you don't fight for extra pay you won't get it. I know many folks in this business who are self limiting - they haven't figured out not to disappear for truck load at the end of the night, or they think their $200 gig is white glove, or they are seemingly unable to gain additional knowledge. Don't be those guys. Reliable, hard working techs are the ones that are hard to find and once you establish yourself as such you will be a lot of people's best kept secret. Honestly your ability to mix beautifully almost doesn't matter - it's much more important to mix quickly and reliably, as well as to be able to patch and do other more mundane tasks. I have been extraordinarily lucky in this business, especially to know a group of exceptional people who have been kind enough to teach me a great number of things and offer me some incredible opportunities, but I worked for a looong time just getting by. Keep your expenses low, take every opportunity, work every weekend and most week days, and you [I]may[/I] find a job that pays as well as one you could get with a bachelor's degree in business a few years out of college. I hope you're that lucky, the vast majority of audio folks aren't. [/QUOTE]

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