Do you guys think I'm an idiot?

S

scottr

New member
So I've been reading this amazing thread after doing a search for "liability" in the forum. Here's my story:

I'm 20 years old, a junior at the University of Maryland. I'm a computer engineering major and it sucks. So I quit my job, got rid of all my old gear (well most of it), moved into a house with 5 other musicians (college kids) and I am recording my first band for profit this weekend (when I say profit, I mean gear). I put up some ads at the local used music shop where a lot of the kids around here go, and I am charging SUPER CHEAP rates. For the time being, it looks like it is going to be the best part time job ever. I pick my own hours. I hang out with local musicians, and best of all, I get to do what I love. I have recently made a lot of local connections with engineers and other young folks doing the same thing as I. So what do you think? It certainly does seem like it would be really freakin hard to make a living doing this.

Scott
 
Hey, I'm 20 and a junior at The University of Texas in Austin. I record bands for fun when time permits and it makes a lot more money and much more enjoyable money than working at a burger joint or at a stanic franchise clothes store. The best thing you can walk out of college with is a degree. No matter what, no one can take it away from you, and a computer engineering degree is very profitable currently. I'm doing Economics and CS right now and while sometimes, yes it sucks, sometimes its great. I have brothers, sisters, and friends who all agree the hardest they've ever had to work was in University. They say at work its no problem. Simple equation.

Good Job / (Rent + Sustenance + Gear)= Happy

Shit Job / (Rent + Sustenance + Gear)= No Gear
 
So let me get this straight . . .

You're doing what you love.

You're making a little extra money doing it on the side.

You're getting valuable experience, learning and making connections with other people who also do what you love to do . . .

And in some way you're wondering if this is idiotic?

Okay, I think it's pretty idiotic that you asked us if we thought it was idiotic. :D Maybe quiting your job wasn't the smartest thing, but I'm sure there's other options out there if the whole recording idea or rock star thing doesn't mesh.
 
You get no benefits, no med insurance, no guarantees, in competition or sharing the pie with people, maybe many like yourself, that do it, at least partly, because, for whatever reason it is, they have to. Some of us/them will do it even when it doesn't pay -or make 'good sense' (whichever that is).
This is one of the reasons so much of the live music scene pays like shit. It gets in you, and maybe you just need to do it.
Two phrases come to mind.

For the love of it.
Music junkie.

:)
Take care, and wellcome.

ok, one more.
As a musician, I got to use the back entrance of some of the nicest places in town.
 
yeah...you're an idiot if you quit school and think that this is "more fun"...and is your "calling." When you're 38 and a driver for Domino's, and still trying to make a go with a studio (that the total combined cash outlay = average car), ask yourself this question again. Now...then again, if you're one of these 'students' that will have a $100,000 student loan when all is said and done.... hhhhmm

If [the] people [that count] say you're the next best thing to a Geo. Martin...ok...

If your recording Korn and Tool copy bands and everyone thinks they are going to be on the top of the heap in a year or so.... hhhmmmm

get the education....get a decent job...start the studio on the side, and let your "day gig" pay the way until you hit the big time.

or...take the plunge all the way and be a bum!!
 
Get your degree. Then you have OPTIONS!

Don't wait until you are 40 like I did, thinking I was going to make a living writing novels when all I really did was party--not that there's anything wrong with that.
 
Well, that's great you're doing something you love, and making some change at it as well. The contacts you make now will certianly enhance the prospect of continuned success.

I have been self-employeed for many years now, and I love the relative flexibility it provides. Some people say there's no "security" in being self-employeed. Well, there's no security in being employeed by a corporation or company either. You could walk in tomorrow, and your "job" could be gone.

I don't need a JOB, I just need WORK! And it's up to me to "hustle up" that work.

Congrats on being a "rugged individual" and working to carve out your own niche!
 
Face it. Everything you do when you are 20 years old is idiotic. Get an education ( in something marketable ) as early in your life as possible! If you don't you'll be sorry. <from one who knows> But then again, what do old farts know? Maybe you'll beat the odds. Or, maybe you won't.
 
Skill and knowledge will take you farther than any degree. Some jobs require degrees but they are usually the high level engineering jobs that max out around 70grand.

A tech sales guy can make that after 3 years experience with no degree.

Of course as an audio engineer you would be lucky to pull in 40grand after 10yrs.
 
This young man is already a Junior in college. In two short years (and believe me they will be short) he can have a degree and still will be only 22 years old. He'll still have his whole life ahead of him and can still do anything he wants--including music engineering. He won't have all those options if he isn't degreed. Anybody that would advise him to drop out of college now to pursue a music engineering career NOW is just wrong. That is not sound advice.:D

The music will ALWAYS be there.;)
 
TexRoadkill said:
Skill and knowledge will take you farther than any degree.
Click to expand...

In most cases--not all--skill and knowledge combined with a degree will take you farther than skill and knowledge alone.
 
TexRoadkill said:
...Skill and knowledge will take you farther than any degree...
Click to expand...
I think, you are confusing the difference between education and training.
Education, is for the enrichment of our lives.
Training is for the enhancement of our carreers.
Both are equally important.
 
No, that's not idiotic ...

This is idiotic:

I started out college as a MUSIC major. Realizing 1-1/2 years into it that I didn't want to get a bachelor's so that I could go on to get a Master's in music so that all I could do was teach University-level music (and anything I really WANTED to do in music just took talent, luck, and networking -- not that that's easy, but I didn't need ANY degree for that). SO, I decided to get a degree that would translate to the job market. I opted for ...

An English degree! HA HA HA HA! I like to paint it as a cluster-fuck, but it's not as lame as it sounds; it was this writing program which prepped me (and certified me) to do technical writing. I hate writing manuals, but do pretty well (and can tolerate) writing tech marketing stuff from time to time --but I mostly work in magazines. I guess what I'm saying is, get the damn degree; it DOES give you options, especially if your degree has a practical bent. When times are tight, like they are now, I'm still getting work in my field, and I know my work's paying more than the people I know who don't have degrees or trade certification (and also, in the dot-bomb capital here in Silicon Valley/SF, when the downturn first started, the college dropouts and high-school grads were the first to get laid off from their overpaid jobs for which they now can't match because they're underqualified; they're the first to lose their jobs, the last to replace those jobs).

These are generalizations and I'm very tired, so maybe I'm not making sense. I don't see in your question anywhere that suggests you're going to quit school, and I think you shouldn't. I don't see any harm in making a go of what you love while you're young; it may be hard to embark on doing what you love after you get saddled with the responsibilities of a family, if you want want that sort of thing. If you have just YOU depending on you, it's a lot easier to pick up from a venture that had less than lucrative results.

On the other hand, an argument can be made for working the corporate life early on to have the leverage later. Not that I'm a shining example of success and material wealth, but at least I'm ablt to work for myself, which means I can (and do) carve out time to do what I love, which is music (and the time I've been able to put into that has resulted in opportunities that look promising and lucrative for me in the near future). So either way can work; just have goals and make sure you're moving forward whatever path you take.

Criminy, enough rambling.
 
Your not an idiot, your a genious, as long as you stay in school.

Being surrounded by college musicians means kids who have mom and dad's, as well as Uncle Sam's money (in the form of loans) burning a hold in their pocket. As long as you get to it before the liquor store does, your in good.

Charge cheap (like you said) and your right, you will make more than you would working some crappy job at a burger joint or a clothing store. Not only that your picking up experience and friends and that goes a long way in life.

The only thing I would tell you to watch out for is dry spells. Just because you get a lot of initial interest from bands, doesn't mean it will always pan out. When you do get paid, don't think that the same amount is coming next week....have a savings plan to fall back on. I have a friend in the carpet business and things went sour for a bit. He had pawned some gear and things were looking down and then he got this clump of jobs one after the other. He thought that things were going to stay that way so he got his gear out of hock, and then blew a bunch of money on stuff he really didn't need. Well, three weeks later the jobs dried up and then he's pawning more crap and selling some stuff at a huge loss to make rent. You have to be disciplined when you work for yourself...and a realist.

Good luck!
 
Bass Master "K" said:
Your not an idiot, your a genious, as long as you stay in school.

Being surrounded by college musicians means kids who have mom and dad's, as well as Uncle Sam's money (in the form of loans) burning a hold in their pocket. As long as you get to it before the liquor store does, your in good.

Charge cheap (like you said) and your right, you will make more than you would working some crappy job at a burger joint or a clothing store. Not only that your picking up experience and friends and that goes a long way in life.

The only thing I would tell you to watch out for is dry spells. Just because you get a lot of initial interest from bands, doesn't mean it will always pan out. When you do get paid, don't think that the same amount is coming next week....have a savings plan to fall back on. I have a friend in the carpet business and things went sour for a bit. He had pawned some gear and things were looking down and then he got this clump of jobs one after the other. He thought that things were going to stay that way so he got his gear out of hock, and then blew a bunch of money on stuff he really didn't need. Well, three weeks later the jobs dried up and then he's pawning more crap and selling some stuff at a huge loss to make rent. You have to be disciplined when you work for yourself...and a realist.

Good luck!
Click to expand...


Some sound, sound, sound advice there.

In recording, as in life, there are good times and bad times. Always be mindful of the lean years which are generally looming right around the corner :) . The fat years always come to an end at some point.

Its funny that you posed the question in a HOMERECORDING forum and got the same advice from 20 dif people. Homrec is by definition is made up of people who dont do recording full time. Post in roger nichols and george massenburg's forums just to get the input of that demographic. I would say that although you may be talented, you dont yet know if you have what it takes to make it. Its not impossible to make it as an engineer/studio owner. Id say its not as hard as trying to be a rock star but not as stable as selling life insurance. Finish college and then set up your studio and see what happens in the ensuing few years. Networking is KEY whether you do it full time or part time. Having return clients is key. Pretty much everything is word of mouth in this business.
Id say given the plethora of people who buy (or steal) sonar and call themselves engineers, chances are you will not just be able to set up a studio and pay the rent at this level, you will need another source of income. Eventually as you get better and your gear improves and your fame spreads far and wide you may find in general you can do that other job less and record more. But there will always be dry periods. So be prepared for that.
I know a guy who worked at a major studio here in NYC (in the village) for a while and is now struggling with his own setup (which is all decked out with PT HD, cranesong, manley, drawmer outboard, etc). We actually competed for the same client who was spending $50k on a record somewhere else (he split it with his "co-star"...$25k each). It ended up that the guy doing the record is fleshing out vocal ideas and harmonies with me (doing final takes on harmonies here) and doing final main vocal takes by him. I guess the moral of the story is good outboard and cream of the crop mics get you 2-3 days of main vocal takes. :D :D :D

Good luck.
 
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