The Logic Off Topic list

Hi,
for the folks here making a living with sound (composers, producers, 
sound engineers, etc.)
i'd like to know how you got there, i.e. what schools you went to, etc.

Just a brief condensed story/description of what you do and how you got 
to do it for a living would be immensely appreciated!

I'm looking at some options here (school or job), and its decision 
time, so i thought that reading some stories from the gang here would 
be interesting.

thanks
::
later,
kido

Hi Kido,

>
>
>Just a brief condensed story/description of what you do and how you got
>to do it for a living would be immensely appreciated!
>

	I play trombone, tuba and keyboards in the area of 
Philadelphia, PA, USA.  I went to a performing arts school in Phila. 
for trombone performance.  Made some contacts and kinda went from 
there.  My partner and I run a band that does private parties.  I 
also freelance on bone and Dixieland tuba.  I have some solo piano 
gigs as well.  I use Logic to sequence and print parts for our band 
and I'm hoping to do more audio work as I get too old to run around 
to gigs carrying PA systems.  :-)

	Hope that helps in your decision making process.
-- 
Doug

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi.

I think that this will vary very much from person to person and also from
country to country, depending on what music you're into, the kind of market
for it, your particular skillset, etc.

I actually spoke to a meeting of educators about this back in April, at
least specifically on the realities of being a UK freelance, at a workshop
on building vocational content into Performing Arts/Music/Music Technology
courses - to survive purely by doing music fulltime, you really need to have
a portfolio of skills to offer and it is the kiss of death for the longterm
to narrow your options too much unless you have really come across a golden
opportunity or three.

Currently I am producing a mostly acoustic album for a singer and have
production and remix work coming up in the New Year. I have taught Music
Tech, both in college and in a high school. (I'm not doing that any more,
but I now have the gig of going in and recording all their assessment live
performances, which is great fun, gets me out of my little studio and I can
charge them a respectable rate) I've done library and multimedia tracks and
smallscale jingles. I've worked as a programmer - both as a Logic programmer
for album work and actually as a synth programmer, back in the 80s, doing
Yamaha DX sounds for sale with royalties, which conceivably looks good on
the CV but didn't earn me a shedload of money...The most unusual thing
someone has asked me to do recently is to transfer from various formats many
hours of recordings of someone playing 'channelled' piano in a trance - I've
got to clean them up and edit them. I'm going to do it (a) because I could
do with the money and (b) because I'm fascinated with the idea!

There are five things you need to make some kind of career:

1) Technical  knowledge and skills which you have to continuously update;

2) CONTACTS, CONTACTS, CONTACTS (can't have enough of those) and with those
goes some sort of profile which you have to work on continuously.

3) People skills to make use of the contacts and keep the gig when you've
got it - no use knowing loads of people, getting the production gig and then
being so impatient you make clear your intention of strangling the vocalist
if she doesn't get it right next take! Nor can you leave college, get the
assistant job at the busy commercial studio and then expect to be producing
name artists (or anyone)  within weeks.

4) LUCK.

5) Probably you would do well to have a qualification in plumbing or similar
for when times get rough and you have to meet the payments on the
mortgage/rent/Pro Tools rig/whatever!

Tony Thompson

Mighty Wight Productions

                                        http://www.mightywight.net

A Member of The Music Producers Guild UK

                                        http://www.mpg.org.uk

> Hi,
> for the folks here making a living with sound (composers, producers,
> sound engineers, etc.)
> i'd like to know how you got there, i.e. what schools you went to, etc.
> 
> Just a brief condensed story/description of what you do and how you got
> to do it for a living would be immensely appreciated!
> 
> I'm looking at some options here (school or job), and its decision
> time, so i thought that reading some stories from the gang here would
> be interesting.
> 
> thanks
> ::
> later,
> kido