And really .... 4 grand a month is significant money ..... that's 48k a year ....... I'm betting there's a LOT of jobs out there that are a lot harder even than what I did Sat. that don't pay as much.
Bob, once again,
you're living the dream dude....you know, I literally crawl around on my hands & knees to make my living (through mud, water, shit, piss, whatever....honestly & truthfully on that, there are no "porta-potties" in the mine where I work, everybody just pisses where they need to, & if they gotta shit, they do go to the return side of the mine, but, eventually, we'll all be there too, so....not trying to be nasty or anything, just being honest man), have done so for almost 24 years now (March 21st of this year will make me 24 years officially....but I worked for/with my Dad in a mine he ran for almost a year from about age 17 until I turned 18...), & will continue to do so probably until either I'm dead, or I'm not physically able anymore (the latter is what happened to my Dad btw, he had to stop mining because of it, heart trouble (5 heart attacks, open-heart surgery in '01)....and guess what, you make almost as much as I do man....
What I mentioned above is just
one thing I have to watch out for while I'm in there too.....the average clearance in the mine I work at is about 48" (I have worked in mines that was only 26-28" believe it or not)...we're in there about 2 miles, so, I'm under the whole mountain, at all times....then, the equipment is moving around in there, 10-15 ton cars whizzing around, 10 ton scoops whizzing around, with people running/operating those that might not be all there (seriously, dumb-asses or strung out on drugs...or both....pretty common in my workplace to be honest...) & can't see you because it's so low...Everything & anything in there can either kill or maim in a heartbeat.....To be honest, I'd much rather crawl through a pile of shit not knowing it, than get ran over & smashed by a shuttlecar or scoop....I know there are dangers in what you do too though, look at all the people who drink & drive, that are around where you travel constantly....Look how many idiots have been shooting up public places in the last few years....Everything you do has some kind of danger level....
The pay/$$$ you make is a lot more than I expected to be honest though....I average $1000-$1200/week, before taxes, after taxes, well, take about 30% of that away before I even see it....But, I do get monthly bonuses ($100/week, paid at the end of every month, usually it's $400, but sometimes it's $500, if it's a long month....but if I'm late or miss a day, I lose the $100 for that week....late or miss again in the same month, & I lose it all for that month), production bonus ever other week (which maxes out at $300 per half/2-week period, same thing as the monthly bonus, kinda....late or miss, you lose half....late or miss x2, you lose it all for the month...), & we have pretty decent insurance (which is a blessing....my wife's had 3 surgeries in the past 2 years, very fortunate to have insurance) which all tallied up does come out to more than 48k a year, last year, I made 80k before taxes, so, if you're making 48k with no tax cuts, playing music that's your love & passion, my hat's off to you man, again, you're living the dream....
Back when I was in bands, the average pay per member, per night was about $50....On "big" shows/gigs, we'd make more, like a New Year's thing or something (I remember New Year's Eve of 2000 turning into '01) I made $300 that night, but, that was just that one night a year....We'd play the county fair every year, & that paid pretty good, IIRC it was like $150/night, & we did 3 nights that week, but, those 2 gigs were only once a year, the rest of the year we made $50 a night per member...So again, if you're making that much $$$ playing music, my hat's off to ya dude, I know I keep saying "you're living the dream", and you are, but I also know that you're busting your ass doing it too......I'm actually pretty surprised by how much you make to be honest, and again, my hat's off to ya dude, I could only dream of doing what you do for a living.....Very, very cool man, & you should be fuckin' proud.....
Greg: Thanks so much dude, I know I've been a big pain in the ass asking all this shit, but it's gonna help me improve on the drum shit in the long run.....I do have some real drums on my hard-drive that I mixed for a band about 3 years ago, but I ended up replacing basically 100% of the shells, left the oh's & hi-hats simply because I couldn't replace 'em good enough to suit me (it would have been way too much time & work for what I was making for mixing the 5 song EP).....In short, the playing performance was really good, but the recording was pretty terrible to be honest...
Cool man, if I don't hear anything by the time I leave for work (1 pm here), I'll send you a pm when I head out the door....No hurry at all, I'm just really curious to hear your raw drums, & how much bleed you've got before any editing or processing of any kind.....Thanks dude!!!!!!!
