[ddots-l] Re: Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind Audio Producer
- From: Chelsea Dye <lady.arwen15@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:30:18 -0400
Oh, OK. I've heard of it, and the composer for whom it was named.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Kent <dbmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: August 28, 2011 10:04 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind
Audio Producer
Sibelius which is a very high end notation program.
Gord
From: Chelsea Dye
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 10:03 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind
Audio Producer
What's sib7?
From: Gordon Kent <dbmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: August 28, 2011 9:58 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind
Audio Producer
Well, I do a lot of the accompanying for the two choirs especially on the
jazz/gospel stuff. And I do some solo work and play for memorial services
etc. Now that sib 7 is starting to be viable, I am really going to work at
doing some choral arranging this year as well.
Gord
From: Chelsea Dye
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 8:41 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind
Audio Producer
Hi Gord,
What do you do for your church?
I was really impressed by the demo of Sonar 6 you did! Granted, I didn't
understand much of the contents, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Chelsea
From: Gordon Kent <dbmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: August 28, 2011 8:20 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind
Audio Producer
Hi:
Well, I have been doing this for a long time as you all know. I think that it
is very difficult to make all of your living working in a studio, whether it is
your own or somebody else’s. I never take walk-in clients unless I know them
well. Most of the work I do is for one established studio up in New Jersey and
he is a friend who I have worked with for a very long time. I do most of his
tracking for his clients, and send them to him either as full mixes or as
individual tracks. Now that I can use pro tools, I send him sessions. It is
possible for me to do the work in Sonar if I havve to and then export the raw
wave files from sonar. Then I import them into a new pro tools session and
send him the session by posting it on my ftp site. If I know I’m going to be
using plug-ins that are included in pro tools I do the project there because
that will make the session a lot smaller. I do, however, make the bulk of my
living as a live performer. And I do a lot of work for kmy church as well. I
guess that it is necessary to wear a lot of hats to survive in this business
these days, and I’m very fortunate to be able to do so.
GOrd
From: Bill
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 9:35 AM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind
Audio Producer
Dear All,
Chelsea and I have been in contact off-list. I suggested that she post here
and start a thread about options for the blind audio producer in the current
marketplace. From our perspective, virtually all of the customers we have who
make some or even all of their living from recording themselves or others do so
as self-employed professionals. Let’s talk about it.
In general, blind people have to deal with the same changing dynamics of the
audio production business that effect everyone else. That is, decades ago
there were big studios where artists went to record. The equipment there was
generally so expensive that it was far out of the reach of most of us. Studio
owners could charge clients lots of money and use that income to hire engineers
and pay off their investment in all that expensive recording gear. Over the
past decade or so, software like SONAR and Pro Tools has put affordable digital
audio production into our hands. Much of the audio we hear on the radio and TV
was produced in somebody’s home studio at a relatively low cost. The “big
studio jobs” are gone or nearly gone.
Here are some questions to get things going:
If you get paid for your services to produce audio, do you work for yourself or
for an employer. If you produce your own tracks and sell them, I consider that
self-employment. By working for an employer, I mean, do you receive a regular
paycheck or some kind of retainer to work on staff at a recording facility. If
you are hired and paid hourly as a consultant, that is significant but that
would still be considered self-employment. That is, your employer sends you a
1099 form at the end of the tax year. In other words, if your employer does
not withhold your taxes or offer you any benefits aside from compensation for
your professional services, you are still a self-employed consultant who runs
your own business.
Again, if you get paid to produce audio, what other kind of work do you need to
do to put together a living? For example, I know that many of you play gigs at
restaurants, churches, clubs, etc. Some of you teach music privately or
through a school. I call this approach the “portfolio” approach to making a
living as a musician/audio producer.
If you are self-employed, how do you promote your business? How do you find
and retain clients? What kind of high-tech and low-tech marketing tools do you
use? These questions are really general questions that anyone who runs any
kind of business has to contend with.
But what issues come up for you because you are blind? For example, a customer
once told me a very sad story of how he was recording some clients who left his
studio carrying away a laptop and some other gear which he never saw again. He
learned the hard way that he needed to have a trusted sighted person around
during sessions with strangers.
How much work have any of you done to edit video and audio simultaneously?
What strategies have you employed to get that kind of job done?
I hope that the questions above will stimulate a lively exchange here.
Bill McCann
Founder and President of Dancing Dots since 1992
www.DancingDots.com
Tel: [001] 610-783-6692
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Chelsea
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 4:47 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Reintroduction
Hi list,
I'm back. I left for awhile, because I couldn't follow the discussions--too
technical for me! LOL
I'm going to be getting my diploma next month, and I'm trying to network with
blind audio producers/mixers/DJs, etc. To learn the tricks of the trade. And I
have a question as well: do those of you that are producers, DJs, etc. Work in
your own home studeo or do you work in someone else's? I know Nashville seems
to be a hot bed for music studeos. Do any of you have experience there?
Another option I've thought of is working in film/TV doing their audio things.
It sounds like, from what I've observed, that i'll have to create a couple
home-based businesses--one for audio and one for Braille.
At the moment, I have no equipment whatsoever, just the Pac Mate I'm using to
write this message. And as far as material goes, it's not my best. I know if I
have JAWS and Goldwave or JAWS and Sonar/CT, a good computer system with a midi
controller, etc., I'll be able to put together a much better portfolio of my
abilities. The only problem is that BVR won't fund equipment if they don't
think I can get a job. And I don't know if home-based businesses count because
they're not constant gainful employment. Or are they?
Any thoughts, suggestions?
Chelsea
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