I'm on the cusp of leaving art school right now because I'm completely miserable, and since this is the school I transferred into from another school, I'm out of transferring fun time with my folks. Which is fine by me, as I've busted my ass and gotten good grades this whole time, but I much prefer learning one on one with instructors or researching and aplying knowledge on my own.
What I want to know is, as I'm a huge nerd and am so completely obsessed with sound quality at live shows and in daily life (I do have and wear massive Dennon DJ headphones everywhere), I used to spin records at bars like Niagara and Black and White in the East Village, and I do home recordings with guitar looping, effects, etc... Who should I talk to? Any suggestions?
I hang out at tonic quite a bit, and a friend of mine is the regular sound guy there, but he's away on tour with Boris, Oneida, Danava and Witchcraft until early December. So, he's top of my list to learn from, but I'd like to have other suggestions in case he isn't willing/doesn't have time to teach.
― Andi Headphones (Andi Headphones), Saturday, 7 October 2006 20:58 (eighteen years ago)
i'd say stick with your friend. if he isn't willing he can at least tell you how to get into doing it
Eyeball Kicks = old school ilx troll amirite?
― am0n (am0n), Sunday, 8 October 2006 03:31 (eighteen years ago)
Can you live on the pay a FoH engineer gets? NYC is an expensive place, and they don't get paid much. Some of those guys are regular studio engineers who do it as a part time gig.
― DougD (DougD), Sunday, 8 October 2006 20:03 (eighteen years ago)
I'm already in nyc, the problem isn't exactly money-oriented... yet.
Well, right now, I just want to learn how to run live sound. I know plenty of people who on't live off of just doing that, but studio work as well. However, there are regular soundguys at various venues who do it as their regular job instead of, say, working in a bookstore/record shop/coffee shop, which I will most likely doing in addition to (i hope) this.
Thanks am0n and DougD.
― Andi Headphones (Andi Headphones), Sunday, 8 October 2006 21:45 (eighteen years ago)
I think you might be better off to just go up to the least surly-looking good soundperson you can find and ask them nicely if you could have their advice (ask when they'll have a free moment to talk - you don't want to bug them while they're setting up a show) - you will probably have a higher success rate vis a vis getting helpful advice than on IMM. You could also consider taking a class, I guess, but I don't actually know if those are worth anything
I also think that your best bet for getting a record store gig is to just apply to as many record stores as possible. And convincing them you're knowledgable about music is only part of the equation (perhaps the smaller part) - they're mainly going to want someone who's a good, relliable, trustworthy worker, and they will likely prefer someone with retail experience. Course you can get around the experience thing with the right combination of luck, persistence (but not to the point of annoyance), and knowing people (i.e. befriend lots of record store clerks).*
*I've never actually worked in a record store.
― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Monday, 9 October 2006 03:11 (eighteen years ago)