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Here are the job opportunities (or as we like to call them, Grind Opps) from this week's show.
03/28/16
GRIND OPP #1
Position:
Live Streaming Producer
Industry: Film
Location: New York, NY
Description
Full time position. Help create and curate live events for broadcast company.
03/28/16
GRIND OPP #2
Position:
Audio Engineering Assistant
Industry: Recording
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Description
Entry level. Must know Pro Tools. Duties include audio editing, studio/mic setup and maintenance.
03/28/16
GRIND OPP #3
Position:
Assistant Audio Engineer
Industry: Recording
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Description
Community based project teaching young talent the basics of audio engineering.
03/28/16
GRIND OPP #4
Position:
Videographer
Industry: Film
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Description
Part time (2 days/week) filming/editing videos for client websites. YouTube and social media.
03/28/16
GRIND OPP #5
Position:
Broadcasting Engineer
Industry: Radio
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Description
Full time. Troubleshoot audio and broadcast equipment for TV and radio network.
Transcript
What’s up you all? Welcome to Connected. You can catch us here, every Monday morning at 11:00 AM Pacific Standard Time. So check it out folks, I’m finally home here in Cali. For those of you that have been catching the show, we are now on episode 5. And I’ve been traveling like crazy from Atlanta to Miami, rehearsing festivals, producing. So it actually feels good to be back home. For all you hip hop lovers, I got a cool special guest with us today. This is the one and only Biz Markie, keeping it fresh. I’m actually here in my home studio as you can seem, I got gear all around me because I’m a gear freak. So check it out, if this is your first time tuning in, this is Connected. It’s really about get you connected, getting you dialed in and obviously, most importantly, bringing you opportunities that allow you to excel at what it is you love, whether it’s producing, songwriting, film, live sound, here we are, this is where you want to be. And keep in mind, this is something we bring new every week by the help of my family, my crew, the Recording Connection. Later on in the show, you’ll see a link that allows you to access a lot of the jobs we’re bringing to you. And you’ll be able to just surf around and see what the Recording Connection is all about.
So check it out. I’m excited because we got some another week of great job opportunities that we’re bringing you. So before we get into this next part of the show, make sure all your things you need to take down notes, whether you’re on a laptop, whether you’re on iPad or a tablet, I always tell people with every show, make sure you jot down all the information that I give you that are from these jobs because you’re going to need to know every bit of information that these jobs entail. And it keeps you sharp, a lot of key things is not just being able to pay attention and obtaining the formation, but in a business setting, you always want to make sure that you have all the details because in the long run that really does help you.
We’re going to get to our first Grind Opp of the day, which I call them Grind Opp because I only know when speeding that’s the grind. But that pretty much means job opportunities but we call them Grind Opps here, check it out.
First Grind Opp of the day is in film. I told you, we’re going to have some really dope ones. This is in film, this is live streaming producer, full time position, help create and curate live events for broadcast company. And this is based out at New York, New York. So I’m going to give you a little more information on this Grind Opp, so make sure you jot this down right here. Again, this is full service design production and broadcast company seek full time live, streaming producers. This is perfect for someone with a film background, coming through the film connection, okay? The job of live streaming producer is to help the audience feel they are part of the show, be it sports, music, and various other things. Perfect for anyone who is looking to create a follow career as a producer in TV film and broadcast. So that’s really cool because we call that start from the bottom and working your way to the top. They’re also looking for somebody that has a little bit of background in this. Obviously you want to have some experience, especially so you can grow within this opportunity. What’s key about this one is the producing aspect. So you’ll be able to not only broadcast but you’ll be able to produce which tells me that there’s a bit of creativity involved with this job. Also what’s crucial is, one of the key points in this job opportunity is they want the producer to help the audience feel as though they are part of the show. So that’s more of an organic really natural thing to make folks feel like they’re actually a part of the process without even noticing it’s being filmed or taped. So you got to know how to set that tone and set that vibe whether it be sports and music. So they will give just a variety of different platforms. And again, this is in TV, film, and broadcast. All right, so that’s Grind Opp number one. So make sure you jot it down all that info that I just gave you. And I’m going to give you a second to do that. Make your notes, whatever you need to do. All right.
We’re going to move on to Grind Opp number two. Grind Opp number two of the day. This is what I like to call my favorite, this is in the field of recording. Audio engineering assistant, entry level, must know ProTools, duties include audio editing, studio mike set up and maintenance. Okay. That sounds pretty standard for a studio setting, engineer, miking, those various things. I’m going to give you a little more detailed information on that Grind Opp. Again, this is audio engineering assistant. Prestigious recording studio are seeking audio engineering assistant to help with day to day recording operations. This is the perfect entry level position for anyone graduating from The Recording Connection. Duties will include some errand run. Okay, well, it’s pretty self-explanatory. Now I get folks that hit me up all the time that are either engineering, assisting, and runners, so I hope for those of you guys that always hit me up that you’re watching this because this is a perfect opportunity for you guys. This is the entry level at a prestigious studio. So there’s a couple of prestigious studios around. Let me double check where the location of this Grind Opp is one more time. Okay, this is in Los Angeles. I know a lot of folks who hit me up constantly that are out here in Cali, looking for this particular gig. This is entry level and it said prestigious recording studios. Now there’s only a couple in LA. So that’s the Record Plant, that’s American, that’s Paramount, Record One, so it has to be one of those. I think there’s Larrabee still around. So let me break this down a little bit because they’re looking for audio engineering assistant to help with the day to day recording operation. Most likely you’ll be assisting in helping the main engineer and that varies from running, taking bore notes, taking mix notes, if there’s a mix mash up that they have and they want to document information. You got to be able to know ProTools, that’s key. And for any engineer coming up I think it’s crucial to know various platforms, ProTools, Ableton, Logic. Know all those because that’s good to have in your back pocket. And this is also great for anyone graduating from The Recording Connection. What’s great about that is, obviously due to The Recording Connection, you’re able to gain numerous mounts of information and experience through some of the great mentoring programs that they have, like this one. Also, duties will include some errand running. It says some but let’s just say it is going to include a lot of errand running. Now errand running can be a lot of…it could be a variety of things. You can be getting coffee, you can be setting the tone on the environment in the studio, you can be getting food, you can be mailing things out. Lot of artists that come in, they pretty much come in and assume that they have a personal assistant on deck that comes with the studio, so you could be doing a variety things. But the key thing in this gig is just being helpful. Not talking too much, being a fly on the wall, absorbing, being a sponge, we always have sponge doesn’t talk. For this particular gig, you want to not be noticed, but just have a good presentation, listen, and have a great personality, have a great spirit, have a great demeanor. A lot of times in these kind of gigs, you will get an artist that really likes the way somebody’s vibe is and really likes how helpful somebody is and they tend to latch on to you and pretty much make you their personal assistant. I’ve seen a lot of these guys go from grabbing burgers and fries to becoming somebody’s key point person in this studio environment. So that’s really great. So make sure you jotted down all those notes, that was in the field of audio engineering assistant.
We’re going move on to Grind Opp number three. Before I go on to Grind Opp three, keep in mind and just stay with me through the duration of the show because later on we’re going to have a link that’s on the right side your screen. That is going to be the only gateway to applying for these jobs. So you got to stay with me, stay connected.
Moving on to Grind Opp number three. Here we go. This is in the field of recording, again, my favorite, assistant audio engineer. Community based project teaching young talent the basics of audio engineering and this is out of…it’s Las Vegas, Nevada. That actually sounds cool. I love opportunities that come up like this, where you actually able to pass on information. And we call it the give back, right, because you get to help folks, you get to give people a bit of education and information that allows them to navigate their pathway to doing something they love. Here we go, take down these notes. Again, this was Grind Opp number three and this was for assistant audio engineering. And this is a Las Vegas, Nevada. AGain, recording studio production facility, a community project are looking for a talented audio engineer to not only work with young artists recording. This is great for recording students who not only want to work but also want to give back a little, too, and start to help pass their craft on to the next generation of potential engineers. Any knowledge or skill in playing any instruments is desired but not required. Any knowledge and abilities should be on resume. Okay, cool. What I like about this is not obviously the give back and helping out, but they focused on their resume. And I always stress throughout my shows how important it is to have a really good resume, a really solid resume. Solid in the aspect of real experience, real documented experience because some folks tend to oversell themselves in a resume, get the job, and then underperform and can’t perform. So always want to make sure your resume is truthfully well documented about your experience, your graduation, where you’ve worked, if you’ve interned, if you have any special gears. You always want to make mention of the capabilities that you do have because those are the things that people like to know about you. And that helps them make the best choice and decision on hiring you. So those are key things, I always strees that in resume, resume is important. You’d be surprised, a lot of folks don’t know how to put together a resume. So those are the things…like I said, you want to document everything you’ve been able to do, what it is you do, what field you operate in, and what experience you have. Those are the key elements to your resume. So let’s break this down a little. It’s for a production facility, a community project. Looking for a talented audio engineer, so that tells me that you have to have some experience. so like I said, engineering, you want to make sure you know various platforms on the recording side, ProTools, Logic, Ableton, make sure you have just some experience in those because you never know what these gigs, what they’re working on. It could be one of the three of those, so that’s crucial. Also made mention that it be great if you had a skills in playing instruments. Most engineers that I run to come from a musical background, lot of them are guitar players, drummers. I think, too, it has an interesting way of everything being tied together because most engineers do come from, like I said, music. So it’s always good to know a little something on an instrument being that you’re an engineer. A lot of those elements do kick in at some point, a lot of the engineers that I’ve personally worked with either play bass, play guitar, and I actually have seen them in the process of them getting to a point where they’re actually mixing records where they’re able to pull on that information as being a musician prior to being an engineer. Because when you’re engineering, those key elements do kick in because engineering is about placement. It’s about hearing tones, it’s about knowing when something needs to be mellow dined [SP] and corrected and pitched right. And being a musician, those are the things you’re able to fall back on, just from an ear perspective, just from knowing what’s not sounding good and knowing what is sounding good. You’ll find that if you are musician that those things do really help you in your process of being an engineer. I always stress those things because those are the things that, if you’re going to be in music, you’ve got to know your stuff. And being a musician helps you navigate through those various channels, when it comes to being an engineer. What I love, too, about this, it’s a great way for recording students who want to give back. So not everybody is fortunate enough to go to music school and attend these various institutions that educate folks. For me, this is a huge part of what I’m actually doing on my show here, Connected, with The Recording Connection is just reeducating and offering as much information as I possibly can to this next generation of filmmakers, creators, engineers, songwriters, and producers. I always like to say, the reality is somebody at some point did that for me and that’s why I’m here today able to share my information with you all. I love that about this job opportunity right here, is the give back and passing on their craft to the next generation. That’s a good one, folks, make sure you jotted down those notes on that one.
Moving over to Grind Opp number four of the day. Grind Opp number four, this is in the field of film. videographer, part time, two days a week filming, editing videos for client websites, YouTube, and social media. This is out of Phoenix, Arizona. It sounds like a cool one for all my videographers out there and looking to get a gig. I actually know a couple, a good friend of mine, brother of a good friend of mine, is definitely in a video so I hope you’re tuning in today, man, because this one sounds like it’s for you and all the other videographers we got watching. So here are the details, jot these down. All right. Technology consulting firm is looking for a part time videographer to be part of their team. According for anyone looking at getting their starting film, creating content and looking to hone their filmmaking skills. Must have the ability to come up with new creative ideas weekly for content. Okay, let me break this down a bit. I love the fact that it looks like this is a platform where you can actually hone in your skills. So what that means to me is you can get in there and just as you’re going along learn, learn, learn more and become better and better at what you’re doing. Also I like the fact that it allows you to be creative. It says new creative ideas weekly for content. So for those of you that are in the creative and have creative ideas the moment you wake up, this is perfect for you guys, this allows you guys to just go, go, let the ideas coming in and let them transpire and come to life. So you get to be a part of that whole process with not only just having an idea but being a key factor into helping them come to life. And this is for, again, a technology consulting firm. What I love about technology companies, because I work with a lot of them, is you’d be surprised how much that they’re actually willing to invest on just ideas. Technology is one of those fields that are just constantly moving, technology just moves, moves, moves, moves. So a lot of these companies have the capital to just back and invest into a lot of these ideas. So that’s always exciting because you never know what it is you’re going to be making content for. A lot of them just end up being really cool. This is a part time gig. And obviously to allow them to get to the point where they can decide and hopefully want you to be a part of their team which means full time. So like I said, again, this is in the field of videographer. Ability to come up with new creative ideas weekly. So like, again, I said great opportunity for those of you who just have ideas and looking to bring them to life. And obviously get paid for it. So that’s a great opportunity there for my videographers watching. And I know a couple of you, so make sure you dial in those notes that I’m giving you and make sure you apply.
All right. We’re going to move on to the last but not least, Grind Opp five of the day. Here we go. This is in the field of radio broadcasting engineer. Full time, troubleshoot audio and broadcast equipment for TV and radio network. This is out here in my hometown Los Angeles, California. Let me break down some of these details. This is in the field of broadcasting engineer. Here we go, work for a large broadcasting network which operates multiple TV and radio stations. The position requires monitoring and maintenance of broadcasting equipment, before, after, and during broadcasts. Troubleshooting audio and broadcasting equipment and assist other engineers is required. This sounds more of the tech side for me because it says numerous times, be able to troubleshoot audio and broadcasting, which also means network different multiple TV and radio stations. Requires monitoring and maintenance. What I like about this, too, and we don’t get much of the tech stuff, so I can say in this field of engineering, this is like more of a detailed tech position. I know a lot of techs, a lot of studios, film houses, they always have techs on deck and on staff because a lot of this gear, you just never known and nobody can ever afford to have downtime in these particular businesses. Techs do make a lot of money. Being a tech is definitely what I would consider being on the good side, you just have to be crafty and you have to know your stuff, you have to know a variety of gear. Where I experienced a lot of techs and their work is in…our road which is on the recording side because we use a lot of analog vintage gear and that gear is really temperamental. Some days you might have a hum, some days it just magically goes away, you deal with a lot of tubes, a lot of tubes go out sometimes, and you have to able to get that stuff up and running ASAP. So a lot of the studios who work out do have techs on deck. And these guys, you literally can give them your unit, give them the hour or so, they got your unit back to working. So this thing is really about just how quick you can get things up and going again, because like I said, with a lot of these houses, film houses, recording spots, downtime kills them. Because downtime just completely shuts things down and they have to be up and running like ASAP. So keep in mind that this is more of a tech gig, more of a tech engineering kind of gig. But it also leans over to the broadcasting side. So you want to make sure you know your boards on the broadcasting side, completely different setups from the studio environment. On the broadcasting side, their equipment is…they still got their board, a lot of them have 24 channel or 16 channel. Mikes already set up, so you’re not dealing with changing out and swapping mikes. But you definitely want to have an engineering background, whether it’s recording, whether it’s tracking, whether it’s setting things up steady mikes, you definitely want to have a background in there because that’s crucial for this one. And this is for a large broadcasting network, so who knows what that can be, there’s various broadcasting networks in LA. It’s multiple TV and radio stations. So you’ll be doing broadcasting, it doesn’t say film, but I’m assuming that might be in there at some point. It’s for radio stations. That’s more of a tech Grind Opp there. Make sure you have some experience in those things because you definitely don’t want to underperform on the tech side because they’re counting on you.
That is our Grind Opp five of the day. And like I said, this is something we do every Monday at 11:00 AM Pacific Standard Time with my crew, The Recording Connection. And if you do the math, we do 5 Grind Opps every Monday. So do the math, that’s 20 Grind Opps a month. So for those of you who are sending me emails, texting, hitting up The Recording Connection, keep up to speed with us because it’s a lot of great things out that we’re bringing it to you with every show we do. And we are on episode 5. So we’ve been going. We’ve been going and I hope you’ve been able to keep up.
So we’re going to get to the most important part of the show, to me, which is where I get to take on questions because for me, being connected really means being connected to you guys and hearing your thoughts and your questions. Because I feel with answering your questions, it allows me to better suit you and engage with you. I’m going to take a couple questions here. Let’s see what we’ve got.
This is from Cats [SP]. Okay. What up, Cats? He’s a good friend of mine. He says, “Welcome home IZ. I tune in every week. Your film Grind Opp is in Arizona, I live in Cali, I have no connections out there. What would you do?” You know what I can do, man, I’ll put you in touch with somebody, Cats, that who can connect the dots for you and maybe see what we can do, being that you’re based out here in Cali and maybe get you some kind of interview or something. Let me see what we can do, all right?
Moving now to the next question. “How essential is it to pay your dues when starting out?” Well, I think it’s crucial. I like that because that’s a question that I get almost every week. What is paying dues or what does it meant to just start from the bottom? Well, the thing is what’s most important about paying dues is, you have to learn experience in real time. A lot of opportunities that come up in these different industries, they want to entertain somebody who’s got some experience on the actual job in real life. School is great, all that but you know what, I know for me working with Cats, I have actually been in environment. I feel more comfortable because it tells me that you’ve been hands on. A lot of people don’t want to pay dues these days. Before I even got into the studio and was able to record, I made sure that my craft was together and that I knew what I was doing and that I knew how to present myself and that I knew to just keep my mouth shut at times and just be a sponge and absorb everything. A lot of folks these days don’t know how to be a sponge, they don’t know how to absorb the information. Because you have the talent and ability that doesn’t necessarily put you in the seat of those who have already paid their dues and who are doing it. So it’s important to have that mindset of, you know what, let me just learn as much as I can, because when you get in the hot seat, your experience is going to tell folks right away, whether or not you are having or whether or not you know what you are doing. And in this day and age, man, you only get one shot, you only get one opportunity, and you want to make the best impression that you possibly can. And the way to do that is to learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, so that when you get in environment, you’re able to execute. Now you can’t be new in this game and know everything. It just doesn’t work that way. And the only way to get information and learn and get experience is be a fly on the wall and absorb from those around you. So that’s what I like to call paying dues, it’s a huge part of being able to do what we do, be able to be in environment that we’re in. You’ve got to pay your dues. You will value things a lot more. Trust me. All right.
Moving on to the next question. This is Brandon. “Where can we send beats?” Well, you can actually send them to The Recording Connection. You’ll see a link that will be coming on the right side of your screen which is where you apply but it also connects you to The Recording Connections website. There you want to make sure, if you have anything you’re sending them, bios, applications, registering, you can do everything through The Recording Connection. So that’s your best place where you want to send anything to, Recording Connection.
Caleb, next question. “What are your thoughts on starting a studio musician gig?” Is it a good idea or a bad idea? Make sure I understand that question right. Starting a studio musician gig. It sounds like, you’re asking if becoming a studio session musician is a good idea. Well, it depends where you’re at really, it depends what city you’re in, and which studio is cracking that’s close to you because you can be a studio musician, and by the way, being a studio musician isn’t a bad gig at all. But you want to find a studio that has good work flow because then you can become a studio musician with consistent work. And you want to make sure, I know for a lot of studio musicians I used, they’re affiliated with the union which is Local 47 out here in California. And being attached for unionized musician is good because you get your benefits, you get your rates, and it just administrates everything for you. So I would say along with being a studio musician, you want to make sure you’re affiliated with a musician union in your hometown because they can offer you benefits which is crucial. But yes, it’s a good idea, it’s not a bad idea but like I said, being a studio musician is all about the work flow of that particular studio and if that a lot of work coming in, then yeah, you can definitely earn a good solid coin there. That’s not a bad idea at all. Just make sure studio musician is not just…I mean you played a couple gigs out here and there. Studio musician is a whole different gear. So you want to make sure that you have experience in that, too. All righty, moving on to the next question. Okay, cool, Caleb, got you man. That was the correct way, I took your question the right way. Cool, man. Well, I’m glad I was able to answer that for you.
And to the next person, this is Wayne E. Hey, what up, Wayne? “Hello DJ IZ, there are Opps in the larger markets, however, I live in Texas. Would there be any opportunities posted in the Great South?” Actually yeah, like I said, we’re on episode five now. We’ve got Grind Opps from New York to Arizona to Atlanta to Miami. So we’re working our way in between Cali and New York. So we’ll definitely be having some Grind Opps that come up for those of you that are entrenched in the South. So definitely just stay with us. I know you’re in San Antonio, Texas. We’ll have some soon. We’re looking for Grind Opps that we can bring folks who are everywhere, Chicago, smaller cities, definitely. Stay with us, like I said, we got lots more shows to go so I’m sure we’ll have some in your area soon.
Next question. This is from Mark Anthony Walker. “How can I go about starting my own for profits studio?” How can you go about starting your own studio? I hope I’m answering or taking this question right. “How can I go about starting my own for profit studio?” Well, getting to the business of opening a commercial studio can be a task because you realize you have a lot deal with. You have to outfit it, you’ve got to make your rooms right with the soundproofing because the last thing you want to do is open a studio and your neighbors are complaining, so it can be a real tedious process. You want to make sure your rooms sound good and by getting your rooms to sound good, you have to get somebody who has experience in making studios. Making studio is not like the construction you do on a house, it’s completely different concept, in theory, by making a studio. So that your room and when you put speakers in it, it sounds right, you don’t get reflections and sounds bouncing off the wall, so it’s not crazy. And last but not least, maintenance. When you’re a commercial studio, people are using your gear left and right, there is wear and tear, stuff breaks, falls apart, so you start to tack on a little bit of cost there. It’s just something keep in mind. Can that be profitable? Yeah. It depends how many people are looking to record in the city you’re at or where you are planning to open your studio. So those are some of the things are taken to consideration before opening a studio. All right. I hope I was able to help you there.
Next question. Let’s see here. This one is from Drake. “Hey IZ, I’m curious about a specific plugin. I’ve seen a ton of electronic artists use Sylenth1, I’m curious if it will really make it a big difference. Thank you.” I’m not familiar with that particular plugin. I’m from the old school so I’m a hybrid when it comes to my sound and how I frequencies out. I use a lot outward gear and I use very little plugins. So that’s where I’m at with mine. Next question. Desdri [SP], I hope I’m pronouncing your name right, man, Dri. “Being a DJ, what’s the best approach for an artist to get their music out to DJs?” Man, there’s various platforms and it’s cool because I get these kind of questions almost a lot. But if you look at all the platforms that exist out there from Pandora, to Spotify, to Audiomack, SoundCloud, it’s really not that hard. It’s really not that hard. You just have to have the content, you have to have the music. And with YouTube, with social media, it’s really not that hard, man, you just have to put your music out. You spread it across these platforms, get it to folks. Because it’s really not just about getting into DJ’s, although that’s a great thing to do, but get in the mindset of giving it to everybody, give it to just the people. And there’s so many platforms, it’s not rocket science. Just think of yourself as a brand, as a walking business. Have your social media on point. People post all kinds of stuff, their music, their bio, their pics. Just get out there, put your content out, man. It’s really that simple. And if he DJs gravitate towards it, even better. And there’s various ways, get MP3 emails, getting folks…get a Dropbox account, sending people links that have all your music in it. Utilize all those platforms, man and that would be a great way to get your music out.
All right. Next question. “Where do you draw the line between what you’ve done and what you know you can do but have never done when applying for a job?” Okay. Let me read this one again. So I want to answer this one the right way. “Where do you draw the line between what you’ve done and what you know you can do but have never done when applying for job?” Well, I think when you apply for a job, like I say, you want to have the experience, you want to…and this is to me where you draw the line. You want to have experience in what you’ve done versus what you would like to do. I don’t want to hire you on what you would like to do versus what you have experience at doing what you like. I don’t want to hire that person. I want to hire somebody who has experience in what they’ve done, who has a great resume, who can perform versus underperform. I think it’s cool to aspire to do the things that you would like to do and would like to grow to doing, but you’ve got to grow, you’ve got allow yourself to acquire the experience that allows you to grow the right way. Because one of the things that I stress with the show Connected is that, although these are great job opportunities and great platforms for you to excel in your career, you don’t want to get in here and underperform. And that’s something that I talk about a lot. You want to overperform and the only way you can overperform is if you have the information, if you have the experience. Because you only get one shot with these Grind Opps. And if you look at these Grind Opps, these are real gigs. So you want to get in here, you want to execute. You want to allow people that have hire you to see your ability and your experience. So I would say you draw the line between what you’re able to do, what you can do, and what you haven’t quite been able to do yet but you would like to do. And let that be a milestone for you, let that be a marker as something that you tell yourself, you know what…for instance, I just started as an engineer but I mainly have been an assistant engineer, but one day I’d like to mix records. Well, allow yourself enough time to grow within your engineer position to learn different sounds, learn different placement, learn techniques, learn your gear, learn plugins, learn outboard gear. Because one day you will aspire to be a mixer one day, mixing records. So that’s a great example is where you draw the line versus what you know how to do and what you’re working towards learning how to do. That was a great question. I’m going to take two more questions, let me see if I can find some good ones.
This one is from Nathaniel Hughes. “Hey, I was wondering how to get a song I wrote for Taylor Swift?” I would say for anyone who is looking to get music or resumes or bios to me, definitely go to The Recording Connection, recordingconnection.com. We have a link that’s actually on the right side your screen which that allows you to apply for these jobs, there you can find everything you need to find about what The Recording Connection does and you can definitely send your music there. And as far as Taylor Swift, I think if it were that easy, I think everybody would be submitting records to Taylor Swift. Hopefully through the channels of The Recording Connection we can help you out somehow.
Last question. This is from Brian, or Brad Gibson. “Any advice for some of the older heads, 30 plus that work a 40 week and can’t afford to intern a 40 hour week for free to pay our dues?” Man, Brad, that’s a great question, man. I tell folks…it’s rough, man, because within this type of platform and industries, man, unfortunately they require all of your time to just progress it with these, to progress in these fields. I get so many friends that hit me up, “Man, IZ, I want to make beats, I want to produce, I can’t wait to get in the studio but I get out of work at 6:00.” The truth is, I wasn’t able to really get to where I’m at by doing music as a hobby or doing it when I had the time. It wasn’t a side job for me. It required a 100% of me. And I know a lot of you guys are in a place in life where you have responsibilities and you have commitments and it’s impossible for you to intern which means there’s no money, it’s impossible for you to get into the studio, put studio time, when it’s not really the way you pay bills, man. It’s one of those things, man, you just got to keep plugging away somehow, you just got to keep…you’ve got to make the investment and part of making the investment is sacrifice. A lot of people don’t understand the concept and importance of sacrifice. If you want to do something and excel at it and get in a position where you can actually keep the lights on, there’s no way to halfway do it. Think of this, okay. For those of you who want to do music, who want to do film, just think, could you do your existing job that you have now like 50% or half? No. You have to go in there and commit to those 8 hours and give your all to it. That’s from a traditional payment method where you’re getting a check every 2 weeks. And a lot of these games, you might get a check once a week, once a month, it might be based off your performance. That’s the nature of this beast. So if you’re going to do it, man, you got to go all in. And for those of you that have commitments and responsibilities, you just got to figure, it’s different for everybody. There’s no one certain way but all I can speak to is what my experience has been. And my experience has been all or nothing. When I didn’t have money to put in my gas tank, I found a way to get to LA to sit at a studio that wasn’t hiring just to be in the presence of opportunity. That was my approach, not saying that needs to be everybody’s approach, but the reality of of this game, it’s even harder now because everybody wants to do it. So I hope I was able to answer that.
Man, I hope you guys enjoy my special guest Biz Mark. I’m a Golden Era cat. Rest in peace to my man Phife from A Tribe Called Quest who just died. I grew up on that group, I wanted to make sure I gave them a shout out on my show because a lot of my creativity and what I’ve been able to do in music, I was inspired by A Tribe Called Quest. And I just want to say, man, rest in peace to Phife Diggy. Man, I love what you gave to the world, I love what you allowed us to think and envision for ourselves. So thank you guys.
And on that note, thank you all for watching and hanging out with me today on my show, Connected, episode 5. We’ll be here at every Monday at a 11:00 AM Pacific Standard Time. Shout out to The Recording Connection and shout out to my crew, Mike Howie, who keep moving for me. And man, I look forward to seeing you all next Monday. All right. Peace.
Previous Episodes of Connected
- Electronic musicians, DJs and beat-makers
- Runners and assistants
- Filmmakers
- Broadcasters
- Aspiring show hosts and more
- Get job tips on all the best jobs and career opportunities
- Get mentored and find out how to get and keep the best gigs in the music and film industry
- Get to know your favorite artists
- Hear industry success and horror stories from the legends inside the business
- Find out real tips to get hired at your dream job
- Connect!
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