A quote from record-producer.com Newsletter that was forwarded to me . This very much inclined with the topic.
Why some people will simply never make it into the music
recording industry.
Being involved in Audio Education, I also inevitably become
involved in some of the negative aspects of what has become
a major 'bums on seats' (or is that 'butts on seats'?)
money generator for schools and colleges. And far and away
the worst aspect is often having to teach people who
plainly have no chance of keeping a job in music recording
or sound engineering.
'Why would they be on such a course in the first place?'
would be a question that springs to mind.
Well I have met many such people over the years and I still
don't know the answer. And it's not for want of telling
them what industry requires. I know that because I keep
close touch with industry and I have asked and continue to
ask employers what they want.
I have a feeling that these people somehow think they have
'it', whatever 'it' may be, and they are sitting waiting to
be 'discovered'. Dream on...!
The interesting thing though is the things these people do
and say in class that if they did them in a studio would
get them fired pretty much instantly, or at least on a
second occurrence.
In class, when I do one of my occasional lectures, I am
effectively in the position of studio manager, and if a
student doesn't behave appropriately, then I will patiently
explain what they are doing wrong. Like a real life studio
manager, I don't see myself as any kind of god, I neither
expect nor desire people to bow and scrape before me, I
require only the normal degree of respect that any human
being needs and do not appreciate undue displays of
deference.
However, a studio manager does hire and fire. They can only
keep people on who are going to be an asset to their
business, and they have to fire people who can't be trusted
to act appropriately around artists.
So here are a few examples of inappropriate behavior..
- Turning up late. Worse still, turning up late with a cup
of coffee in hand (they had time to buy the coffee, but not
to turn up as soon as they were able)
- Turning up late and not seeming to care. If an assistant
engineer arrives after the engineer, it's a problem. If he
or she arrives after the producer, it's a major problem.
After the artist...
- Getting the artist's name wrong. For instance, my name is
David. It doesn't bother me if people call me Dave, but it
shows that they think they have a right to be familiar
before I have granted it. Don't do it to an artist. And
notice that some artists have special ways to spell their
name - 'kd lang' for instance, not 'KD Lang'.
- Getting the song title wrong. Artists live and die by the
quality of the material they work with. A three minute song
might just be one out of millions of similar three minute
songs, but it could represent the next stage in an artist's
successful career, or the first stage in a downward spiral
to oblivion. Get the song title right to the letter, and
every tiny little detail of capital letters and punctuation
marks.
- Saying to an artist, having just heard their new song,
"That sounds a bit like..." How soon do you want to be
dead?
One of the things I find most irritating in class is a
student who behaves inappropriately to the simulated studio
setting, and then when I point this out says, "It's only
college. It doesn't matter".
What a mistake, and what sheer arrogance. Through years
(decades) of showing an interest, I have made contact with
many people in the industry who now recognize my name. I
can write a reference for a student that will help them
shine through in the job interview process.
But I'm not going to do that for someone who says, "It's
only college", am I?
Of course I'm preaching to the converted here, and if you
have stuck with Record-Producer.com for any length of time
you will already see these things as second nature. On the
other hand, you could be a student yourself and in a class
with other students who do these things, and worse. If that
is so, you are entitled to have a laugh at their expense.
They may try to come across as 'cool' and make smart ass
remarks to their teacher. But if they ever get the chance
of a job in a studio, they are going to have to start
learning pretty fast, and chances are that they are not
going to make it.
