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Surviving In The Pro Audio Business


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yeah, gardens...

+11

regardless of ones "field" (pun intended)

;)

I put up an 8' deer fence last year, and now we're growing 4 kinds of lettuce, 10 tomato plants, watermelon, cantelope, green beans, radish, carrots, spinach, peppers, onions, garlic, blueberries, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, snap peas...

on top of already having 3 apple trees, 3 plumb trees, and wild raspberries...

I definitely look forward to the time off - and that's where a great deal of it is spent. Yeah, quality of life, and being thankful for time between gigs.. being thankful for that perfect balance -- may we all reach it sooner than later :)

~tt

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Great Thread.

I've only been in the business freelance about 4 years now and am finally starting to figure this all out. Quarterly taxes, gear insurance, retirement accounts, college savings accounts, etc... Most importantly I learned to enjoy the free time with my wife and two little girls (4 mos and 2 yrs). It really is the best part about this job.

This winter when I was really slow I decided to redo our kitchen and since I had the time, I did all the work myself. A complete demolish and everything new. I saved myself I'd say at least $15k by not hiring contractors. Took me about 20 days of work over a month and a half and I really enjoyed it. Even though I only had a handful of gigs in the winter, I feel like in a way I "made" $15k by doing the work myself and I don't think I could have done that with many other careers.

I'm still trying to figure out the long term plan, as the wife (currently a school teacher) wants to be a stay at home mom in the next few years. Health insurance is the big question now (which she currently carries). Maybe we'll win the lottery...

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+11

I was on the fence between location sound and gigging in a band (after I decided I wasn't gonna be an architect)...

~tt

 

Holly smokes.. thats funny.. I wanted to be an architect also.  But, I started my first internship as a draftsmen, and it just hit me.  Too much math, and not enough designing and drawing. I hated this!  combine that with the CAD systems coming in strong.. it was a one, two punch, right out of there.  ouch. 6 years of schooling went down the drain.

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it was a one, two punch, right out of there.  ouch. 6 years of schooling went down the drain.

I bet your set up sketches and plan sheets look good.  Not to mention folks should be able to read your handwriting. <G>

I let bean counting go the way side, but my expense reports always fly through accounting.

I've even been called by accounting to help them figure out other crew expense reports. 

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Holly smokes.. thats funny.. I wanted to be an architect also.  But, I started my first internship as a draftsmen, and it just hit me.  Too much math, and not enough designing and drawing.

 

Richard, my father was an architect and I spent a few summers during high school working in his drafting department, learning that I had zero ability to draw. But I have much respect for architects and planners, and it gave me some knowledge in graphic design and typography, which eventually served me in post-production. 

 

All this knowledge helps in little ways sometimes. At least you eventually discovered what you really love to do and put you on the right path.

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I'd still love to be an architect in some ways ... especially when I see a design I like -- someone designed that, conceived it in thought and brought it to life. It's inspiring. Every now and then I'll draft plans for a remodel or something... but yeah, that world changed significantly with CAD, and it just didn't have the same appeal to me. I started playing drums (sonic architecture of sorts) got into recording, and the path unfolded from there...

...now I'm a carney! ;)

~tt

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6 years of schooling went down the drain.

i would never consider an education a waste. Whatever your path, it got you to where you are now. A different path might have resulted in a different result. One of my favourite boom-ops is a trained chef. Apart from the great dinners he can whip up, he is also used to some of the worst work atmospheres there are. Very hierachical, with the head-chefs treating everyone like garbage. After that, working even with the worst directors/DOPs is a joke to him
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