old school Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 My add: you may burn out on the production bullshit, but you have to still love working with/in sound, and with the other people who work on the crews you frequent. You can't fool them--if you've had it they will know, and you're done. If you need a break take one--better to have to work your contacts back up after a work hiatus than to piss a lot of people off with a burned out attitude to the point that word gets around about you. Doing a variety of shoots helps with this too--offers new problems to solve, which is ultimately what keeps a lot of us interested decade after decade. You can't get away with just doing this work for the money, if you were thinking that.... philp Yep. Mr P knows. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 I've hesitated answering the question posed in the header, as I'm unlikely to address myself as "a mature mixer." While caring about others is never overrated, maturity often is. My vote, too, goes to Mr. Mirror! And I love the kicker line, "Your route might differ." Perfect ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Spaeth Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 As far as motivation goes, along the lines of what Josh wrote, I have no problem working on a project that I would never watch or find stupid, and I can even work for a**hole producers, as long as the crew is nice, and that is the case more often than not. Then it's just great getting to know new people on every project, possibly even develop friendships from that. And to deliver my work in a professional fashion. I consider myself more as a craftsman than an artist, and that makes the job much more bearable at times. The human interaction on sets, aside from getting around and learning new things, is what I love about working on production, as opposed to post work in a daylight-less dark airless studio... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 Mirror mentioned: " a film called "Why Johnny takes Long Showers". " who did the sound on that ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Rose Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 Another thought: I was just about 35 years old when I finally looked around my studio and realized "The fact that I can operate all this gear is no big deal. What they're paying for is I can create tracks that they like. "There'll be new equipment, and I'll master that as well, but the majority of customers won't care one way or the other… so long as I keep delivering the tracks." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 +1 for Jay (and I know this is a version of the oft used but terribly abused phrase dealing with arrows and archery...). I much prefer Jay's take on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 Mirror mentioned: " a film called "Why Johnny takes Long Showers". " who did the sound on that ? Richard Whackerman... CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 Richard Whackerman... CrewC LOTD! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Mega Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Last dialog line from Johnny in the movie. "It's my d*ck and I'll wash it as fast as I want"" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimPitot Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 Cheer up dude, you could be digging holes or cleaning toilets for a living, right?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrd456 Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 To do mixing,you have love sound---I still get excited hearing a cricket fart in the corner of the room--and I am old. Also,you have to love playing with all the sound gadgets and always want the newest gadget------if not, you're in the wrong business. J.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkautzsch Posted February 24, 2014 Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 You definitely need to love sound to be a good and respected mixer. However, I think you also need to not love sound too much. Perfectionism always leads to burn-out syndrome. Our goal should not be to deliver a perfect result. It should be to deliver the best result that is possible given the conditions. We should also make sure the conditions are as good as reasonable. Some days, you just have to be fine with delivering "somehow workable" tracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Rose Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 I think you also need to not love sound too much. Perfectionism always leads to burn-out syndrome You can't love sound too much. You can, however, be unrealistic in your expectations of how much other people love sound… and in your view of what the actual goal of a production is. For the first: I have never gotten into trouble, suffered, or felt burned out by telling the client "I have an idea to make this a little bit better… do you mind if I try?" For the second: when I started out, I did get into trouble (and stress, and burnout) by insisting on "making it better" when the client didn't want to spend the time. Eventually, I realized that it's their movie… not mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikewest Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Great Malcolm I was studio boom operating on live tv in 1966!!!!! mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orionflood Posted March 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Update, thanks for all your input guys...and some were right with maybe I needed some medical attention...as I had been working out consistently and found that things were actually getting worse. Anyway finally got a bunch of tests done and do have low T, especially for my age and am getting on Androgel. Although far from being the right forum to discuss that. I do trust many of you more than a blind forum filled with people who I don't know...if any of you have any experience with this feel free to post. For us mixers routinely working so many hours...I'm sure most are acutely aware of how their energy levels fluctuate throughout a day. Unfortunately if I don't get at least 9 hours sleep the night before a shoot I usually start getting quiet and irritable (to myself in my head) half way through the day. If I get the 9 hours sleep I can usually make it the full 12 hours with no issues, but much beyond that and I get really quiet and start talking all kinds of shit in my head. I do love sound, it is my life long passion...and I am glad that some understand my thought processes, but maybe not my expressed actions. I guess if anything maybe a mixer out their struggling with energy levels and similar situations with long days this post will help them or encourage them to get their levels checked. My first feeling was extreme embarrassment and seeing how long I've had these symptoms and now just getting them looked at...I realized I wasn't the man I thought. It was hard to bear...but hopefully knowing is one step in taking the right direction. Thanks again...it was a vulnerable posting and I deeply appreciated the encouraging answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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