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tape log
An Intern Rebuttal
Tape Log Entry #112
I was gonna run this in the letters section of issue #78 coming up, but I just felt it was too long to fit well. -LC
I just finished reading the letters section in the new issue [#77] regarding interns, and wanted to relate my experience. A couple years ago, I was the first intern to volunteer to help build a new studio with an experienced engineer who had just moved to town. This wasn't a super-proper studio in terms of construction - it was very DIY and fly by the seat of your pants, but in the end it was very nice, functional and sounded good. Initially, it was very exciting learning how to do things like build bass traps and diffusors, helping paint, hang doors, hang sheetrock, installing gear, etc. . . I felt I had gotten in on the ground floor and had a real opportunity to possibly establish a mentor-type relationship with the owner/engineer. However, after the initial work was done, my duties became the usual: make coffee, take out the trash and go on burrito runs. Very occasionally I would be allowed to hang some mics. Initially I was fine with this. I figured I was paying my dues and the “learning” part of the internship would soon follow. I stayed out of the way, spoke when spoken to and didn't interject my opinion when unasked. I was punctual, hygienic, polite and paid attention. All the things I had read countless times an intern was supposed to do. I watched other interns come and go. I watched them be loudmouths, annoying and unreliable. Watched them do all the things I had read countless times you should NOT do as an intern. I thought the contrast between these people and myself would be apparent and eventually I would be deemed worthy of mentorship. I thought I would be taught how to do things like calibrate tape machines, get bitchin’ guitar tones, drum mic techniques and how and why to use each of the pieces of shiny outboard gear in the racks. A year later I was still coming in on my evenings and weekends, after working a shitty, low-paying, full-time job the rest of the week and volunteering my time for free to do the band's dishes, take out their garbage and even give them rides places in my car (and never offered gas money). I should mention that this entire time the owner was always very polite and friendly, but it eventually became obvious he was never gonna teach me shit and had no respect for my situation. He's making $40 per hour - I'm making $8.50 at my job and then coming to work for him for free. Eventually I told him I would not be coming in anymore. By that point he had a new fresh intern - new ones are always coming out of local recording programs and eager to get in. I was very polite in parting ways. We wished each other luck. Since then I have begun investing in my own gear and spending a lot of time recording my new band. Guess what? I'm learning a shitload. I'm getting better every time I record. I should have just done that from the beginning. I guess my point is, If you're a studio owner and you're taking on interns, I know they're annoying sometimes and don't know shit, but they're offering their time to you for free and deserve something more in return than the occasional morsel of info that some of us receive. It needs to be a mutually beneficial relationship. If you can't offer that then don't take interns. But remember, your knowledge is part of a legacy and it is being lost as people isolate themselves more and more because they're so afraid of competition. I hope if I ever get to a point of owning my own studio and have the benefit of actually getting to make a living recording music, I’ll be generous to the people just starting out, as long as they're making an honest effort. I wish this studio owner well and am not bearing a grudge. He is a fantastic engineer and very professional with the bands he works with. I just wanted to relate the sense of disappointment I felt in hopes that other engineers and potential interns can hopefully take something from it.
Anonymous
I will reiterate what was said often last issue: An open dialogue of communication is always the best way to start. If the guy you were helping seriously only wanted help and didn’t want to teach you anything, then maybe he could have said so from the beginning. But maybe you should have discussed this along the way - “renegotiated” so to speak? Having been in the exact same position as the studio owner you describe, I’ll bet anything he was unaware of your dissatisfaction. He was probably working 80-hour weeks, paying off massive debts, trying to schedule upcoming sessions and (possibly) maintaining a relationship and/or social life. I know - this isn’t easy. At the same time he’s got a guy coming in who helps out for free, is obviously thoughtful about it, and has another job with a guaranteed paycheck (something the studio owner does not have). Maybe the owner should have asked you more about your goals at some point, but maybe you should have given him a list of things you’d like to learn more about. Arranging to notate questions during sessions, and to discuss them when clients are not present, would be the first step. When I used to take on interns on a regular basis I always hoped that if I spent a lot of energy training them that they would begin to take on sessions at my studio, help alleviate the workload, give me a day off and bring in a bit of income. Very, very few ever did (you folks know who you are). Some chose to take this knowledge and start recording people in makeshift setups. Some never wanted to record other people’s music again. One is now managing my studio. I finally decided I wouldn’t take on any interns personally - I would rather pay a studio manager to cover some tasks or do them myself when in session and avoid “owing” anyone for interning. To be honest, it’s been a relief. -LC
Yup, I sit at my computer all day editing articles, writing stuff for the mag and answering the ridiculous amount of emails that always seep in over the course of a day.
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Discussion
I sympathize with Anonymous, here. My one internship was way worse, though. In the six months I was there, there were more interns (up to nine at a time) than clients. When a client did come around, we had to hope we were the one or two interns picked to attend the session. The rest went back to mopping, cleaning the toilet, arranging the magazines in the waiting room, etc. <p><p>
On the other hand, I'm sure these guys - two owners with a paid receptionist - were too busy paying off huge debts and scheduling sessions to worry about educating the small army of interns hanging around.<p><p>
In six months, I think they had a handful of sessions with three or four separate groups. I wonder if they're still around.
Hi Larry, thanks for the thoughts. I Sympathize with your situation and the position that many studio owners find themselves in (ie, long hours, debt, trying to find balance between work and relationships, etc...) The main reason I chose to write the letter is that I felt I was seeing one perspective (that of the studio owner) and wanted to relate an experience from the other side of the engineer/intern relationship.
I absolutely agree that communication is key. I would reccomend that anybody about to involve themselves in an internship make sure to communicate clearly on both sides what the expectations are. I did on a couple of occasions attempt to have a dialogue but found the engineer too busy to have the conversation, ie, tell me we'd have a conversation before a session, then find themselves too busy once we got there.
For brevity's sake (the letter had already gotten fairly long) I didn't include a lot of the details of the situation. Suffice to say despite my own frustrations, I came away from the experience sympathizing with engineers that don't take interns anymore, the recording world is very different than it once was (or so i've read), and where an internship once served as a dual-purpose alleviation from mundane duties for the engineer and stepping stone for the intern, it seems it's much more varied and vague now. The mega-studios of yore have been supplanted by the ubiquitous home-studio or small-scale professional studio. In such a situation it seems there's a fine line between an intern 'helping' or 'hindering' the process.
As with many things these days, the recording world is going through a rapid transitional period. It's both exciting and somewhat troubling to watch it all unfold. While I am a strong proponent of the DIY ethic, I wonder if some knowledge runs the risk of being lost under this new paradigm, and with the passing of engineering pioneers of the last century.
Luckily we have things like Tape Op to help pass the torch and keep the innovative spirit alive!
Someone sent in this letter so I thought I'd add it. -LC
I've been reading TapeOp since the early days when i was nobody in one of those big commercial studios we used to see and i never felt the need to write a letter to it since i saw the letters to TapeOp part in this May/June 2010 issue i cannot even believe you guys published what i read there...
So Yes i work in the ever changing tough music business and yes i got my start from assisting some really big shots... and i must say all those guys have always treated me with respect as i learned from them even more interesting and "human" they sometimes learned something from me even if i was a nobody then...
i don't engineer so much anymore those days
but still i care for it and certainly will engineer any project i'm producing
in an unknown place where i track a band the interns are for me an essential part of the vibe and being a good person to them always means a lot to the session going well
i mean it's really shocking to read about all those middle class engineer here simply vomiting on their assistant or just thinking
they are so much more worthy than them
from the they need a manual , to the they are just useless , it is just the most disgusting thing i've read about this industry in like years... why even publishing such garbage ?
well if all you think about interns is " how good they are @ cleaning the toilets ?) maybe you have nothing that special to transmit as far as knowledge and certainly nothing to prevail about your own Talents
in the same issue of Tape Op we have an article about Jack Clement that tells us about Sam Phillips giving him his first chance in the industry...
i think it just says it all...
get a life you semi pro...a lot of legendary engineers and producers started as tea boys or runners
this profession is not about gear or status it's all about passion and knowledge
keeping that knowledge alive even in the digital age and making sure the next generation will remember why some things sounded so good in the past...
you shall be more interested into sharing your knowledge and your craftsmanship ( if you have any ) than into pretending you are so much better
that those " slaves " you have barely any decent feelings about
i mean get a life...sometimes some of those "disposable" interns have more passion than you'll ever have for music
and maybe you can learn something from them
as like really distant generation always benefits from their distant cultures
sincerely
B
I am currently interviewing some potential interns right now. I teach at a couple local schools and I have taken one intern each semester for the past 4 or 5 years. I have to take responsibility for some of my bad interns. Interns are only as good as the training they receive.
The best way to learn as an intern is to pay close attention to what's going on during sessions (technically and socially), take notes and ask questions after the artists leave while you help to strike the mics and cables. If you learn the patch bay layouts you can save the engineer a lot of time by doing the patching and then you're close enough to watch the tweaking. Listen to what's happening to the audio. Most engineers will explain some micing techniques so they can get an intern to run back into the live room to adjust mic placement. I love it when an intern volunteers to do something to help organize the studio gear or clean things that aren't often cleaned. Offer to exercise the knobs on the console and outboard gear to remove oxidation. I appreciate it when an intern remembers what I asked them to do and then does it without being asked. Make sure you know how to wrap cables correctly before you wrap the cables. Nothing makes me want to boil someone's bunny more than throwing out a cable to find 11 perfect overhand knots!
If you've had a good internship and learned some good stuff, offer to stay on and keep interning. I don't want to train someone and then have them leave. I need a good assistant engineer and I am willing to pay for one, especially if they bring in clients.
I did multiple interships over the years I was learning. Some were amazing one on one learning experiences that I still reference today. Others were silimar to anonymous'. <br><br>In addition to communication, there is a certain awareness of being taken advantage of as well. Should have Anonymous communicated his goals better? Sure. Should the studio owner shown a greater interest in people who were working for free? Sure. <br><br>However, if you don't feel you are learning anythigng after 6 months, you may want to give the studio a mental 3 months notice in your head: <br><br>Go to the engineer/studio owner and ask if you can start helping setting up mics, being a 2nd engineer,etc. If they say no, then you have your answer. Find a new studio. If they say, they'll think about it, there's your three months time frame. <br><br>For some experiences, three months maybe *very* generous; for others, a studio fo stature , it may seem like a risk to leave. <br><br>Bottom line is if you are not learning what you want, you should look elsewhere and maybe just start with recording anybody you can for free. It's not like the internship was raking in the cash.