Advice

"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite."
-- Gilbert K. Chesterton

"Give help rather than advice." -- Marquis De Vauvenargues

You can skip the advice below and go straight to Answers to your emailed questions

... here's what is likely to happen * You are going to have fun. * You are going to get frustrated. * Everything will take longer to achieve than you first thought. * You will make less money than you hoped, and will work longer and harder than you thought possible. * When you tell someone what you do, they will pause and say "er ...yes, but what's your REAL job?"

However ...

... if you have the right stuff, and you get through the learning process without going crazy (although some people think that is actually a prerequisite) something amazing will happen. You will wake up one day and think: YES!  I am doing EXACTLY what I have always wanted to do. I love this work, and I would do this even if they didn't pay me ...

Which I guess is why assistant (second) engineers don't make much money.

An astute observer of the human condition once said:

If you don't want to be like most people, then do something about it. Look. Listen. Learn. And above all, DO. Put your book learning into practice.

It is far better to actually record someone playing a guitar at home than to 'know' how to record an album in a big multitrack studio from a book, a magazine, your lecturers, or a course on the internet. Practical experience is the bone on which sound engineers sharpen their teeth.

Read some of the many questions sent to me by people starting out in this industry, and my answers.

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