NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/audio/pro/2613

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-21 | 4.0 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
From: [e-mail] (Alex L. Pace)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
Subject: Re: Turning pro - getting an audio-related job
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 21 Dec 92 07:42:16 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin
Lines: 165

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:

Logan Shaw writes:

>> What kinds of jobs are available that have to do with audio, and how much
>> education / experience do the jobs require?  Jobs I know of:  DJ-ing (self
>> employed kinda situation, no?),

Mur responds:

>No experience required, no audio knowledge required. However, you
>have to have a knack for programming.

and then he adds:

>I also became the school DJ and got my first soldering lessons, making


Obviously you have no grasp of the realities of DJing on a professional
level.  You'd have to be a fool to suppose that any sod with no experiece
could just decide to be a successful DJ, mobile or club.  And the
suggestion that no audio knowledge is ponderous considering the fact that
the DJ is 100% responsible for the way that his/her system sounds.  To say
that you have to have a "knack for programming" is an understatement
considering that you will probably need AT LEAST $2000 worth of vinyl
records to get started, sorry cassette tapes just don't cut it in the mix
and if you want to mix CDs you'll have to lay out another cool grand to buy
a pro dual CD unit.  Even if you rent all of your equipment (Turntables,
mixer, amps, cabinets, various and assorted cord, mike, lights, fog machine,
etc...) you are still faced with the initial problem of not having the
music and the experience that is so crucial to doing a professional job.
Furthermore, you must be able to move all of this equipment and be able to
set it all up rather quickly.  Then there comes the problem of advertising,
a yellow pages add of decent size will run you $600/yr and you will
probably need two, one under "disc jockeys" and another in "entertainers".
If it is after the cutoff date for new adds (Aug 31st here) then your add
wont appear until the NEXT year's phone book (you also have to pay the
phone company and additional charge on your phone as it will now have to be
listed as a commercial phone, this will cost an additional $15-20/month).
If you are to have any hope of making real money you will have to do more
than just school dances and frat parties, you will have to do wedding
receptions (which come with a whole new array of interesting challenges)
and company parties as well.

Unless you have $10,000 to plop down and the gall to ruin a few wedding
receptions because of lack of experience, DJ is not a profession you just
jump into...Your best bet it to get a job as a roadie for a DJ agency so
that you will get to travel with several different DJs and observe styles,
crowd control technique, constant crowd favorites, microphone and public
relations skills, special conditions such as required when MCing a wedding
reception, etc...

A lot of people either claim to be a DJ or know someone who does but to do
it professionally is quite a different matter but is the only way that you
will make enough cash to make it worth your while.  I buy a lot of
equipment from guys that decide to become DJs and spend a few hundred bucks
on a pair of speakers or an amp only to find that they dont have the
financial resources to complete the system, the marketing savvy to promote
themselves, the skills to earn an decent rate, or the patience to learn.
The pay off for those of us that do make it is a very reasonable work
schedule that usually earns you much more than *MOST* band members or road
techs earn for a night's work, however there is virtually no chance at
breaking it big.

Alex Pace
[e-mail]