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I’m actually having fun editing dialouge: Life lessons
Is it weird that I kinda enjoy organizing all the takes, making a million fades, and taking out burps and what not? Can you actually make a living doing this or do you half to still have five other part time jobs?
So far I barely been able to pay the bills just doing Location work in SF, so I am trying to expand my skill sets. Do you pro lifers out there find its better to diversify, or become really proficient at one or a few (not that you can’t do it all) audio related jobs. I also do Live engineering sometimes, and some home studio recording, and I teach a little.
Anyone feel like they want to get away from the holiday madness and share some thoughts on pro sound carers?
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2 Replies
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Hello Seth and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
I think it depends on where you hang your hat. If you’re in a town where unions are big, you probably can’t do a lot of different things. Having said that, I’m sure the indie scene is flying under the union radars in NY, LA and Chicago.
I like the diversified approach; as long as you can really do the job. You’re only as good as your last job and if you represent yourself as being able to do something and can’t, word gets around.
I evolved into music mastering and location audio. I’ve been doing each for more than ten years now and a good portion of my business comes form both.
You can try small projects and work your way up. I’m doing exactly that with my lighting, shooting and editing. I’ve been doing low risk projects that allow me to get my chops up. So far, so good!
Season’s Best
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
Answering an older post but what the heck:
Is it weird… ? YES! Haha… But seriously: part of the job and glad to meet someone that loves it. We all have our niches.
I’ve always waffled / been 50-50 on diversity vs. specialization. I came from an audio shop that had large-scale specialization and I did the same thing every day for 3 years with no room to move. Just the way it was. Then moved to a smaller facility where we all had to be capable of doing everything and now almost 10 years later, I’m happy to say I HAVE done it all, have my areas I like/I’m better at through natural course/preference and those that I do because I have to in order to provide a service.
So I think it depends on the size of your environment / union rules, etc. Enjoy being ABLE to do many different things. It may change where you decide or ‘have to’ go into mainly one area. I always say to students/those starting out: get as much experience as you can in as many areas as you can on lower/no budget projects so you can (maybe) screw it up there and live to see another day and learn from what happened. Then you may end up getting better and better and quicker and quicker and find it easier and easier at mainly one thing. If that happens, accept it and love it! (and collect money for it!)
All the best.
-J“Sounds good!….I think?”
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