The Global Media Site for Entertainment.
Menu
It’s almost impossible for me to not think of things philosophically. That’s why when I experienced my first Sound-theory class at Abbey Road Institute, Johannesburg, I was blown away by the concept of sound being something that fluctuates up and down – in cycles.
At times these cycles occur more frequently, at others they seem long and drawn out. This concept inspired my topic for this blog post – The ups and downs of life, and its continuous learning curves.
What I hope to share with you is the learning curves in my audio career over the past month, and what they meant for me. You may relate and be able to apply some of these thoughts to your own experience.
The first thing that stood out for me this month was the concept of taking on too many jobs at once, just to pay the bills. Even work that wasn’t paying me nearly what I should have charged. It left me at times often resenting the work I was doing because I had this internal conflict going on:
Did I compromise the quality of my work because the client couldn’t afford what I was capable of doing?
Should I have rejected the opportunity of the project completely knowing that it would drain me?
Should I draw from all my energy resources to deliver a pristine final product at the sacrifice of my mental health?
How could I have approached this all differently?
The second learning curve this month was committing to a project without having any written contract or agreement beforehand. I know this one can be tricky, but I know how important it is to get agreements in writing. Even if I have a half-page document for the client to sign, it would help make things a bit more formal, as I found myself doing work for a client that “needed it done today”, and I didn’t see any financial return initially promised.
This left me feeling resentful as well. This also happened to occur when a client I had a retainer with just randomly decided to drop me, meaning my financial fear for the month sunk in.
The last major learning curve was taking on a project I thought I could perform better on, only to find my efforts less than what the client needed to be delivered. I had to approach the client and let them know that I hadn’t been able to deliver, that I wasn’t going to get paid for the work I had done. Perhaps I could blame the fact that I don’t have the gear that would make my job easier, perhaps I could get discouraged about not feeling skilled enough, but no…that was not the answer.
Now, the reason I am telling you all this is not to sound as if I am complaining or to shed a negative light on the past 30 days, it’s to inspire you.
Upon reflection on these learning curves, I had to take a look at myself. Where was I getting resentful at others or myself for things that I might have been able to avoid or change?
How could I take responsibility for the decisions I had or had not made? How could I use these learning curves as a means to better my skillset and knowledge, reflect on my resentments, and seek internal personal growth. For there is no use just being upset that things “aren’t going my way”.
What I needed to see, was that there were a few “dips in my soundwave” this month and that I had the choice to recognise the natural upward progression of the wave – I got to choose to gather my thoughts and actions and learn from my errors.
There is never a low point that you cannot move on upward from, that you can’t learn from. Don’t dwell in defeat, anger, frustration. Rather move toward introspection, maturity, and emotional growth.
One tool I use is self reflection on things that don’t go well, is to sit with myself, lay out all my thoughts, actions, feelings onto a piece of paper and try to see where I could improve or do things differently next time. And if I get stuck, I go to someone I trust and ask for their guidance.
So today, I encourage you to take a look at the “dips” in your life right now and ask yourself:
“How can I learn?”
“How can I improve?”“How can I let go?”
“How can I grow?”
Know that when you answer these questions and then follow through with actions in alignment with the things you learn, you will soon see yourself on an upward trend, even if it’s only measurable on an internal basis.
A Formal Audio Education: The Pros and Cons
Home Recording with Kids in the House
The mission of SoundGirls.org is to inspire and empower the next generation of women in audio. Our mission is to create a supportive community for women in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers. SoundGirls.Org was formed in 2013 by veteran live sound engineers Karrie Keyes and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato and operates under the Fiscal Sponsorship of The California Women’s Music Festival, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. In 2012, Karrie and Michelle participated in the “Women of Professional Concert Sound” panel at the AES Conference in San Francisco. The panel was hosted by the Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) and moderated by WAM founder Terri Winston. Terri brought together five women working in live and broadcast audio. The groundbreaking panel (which also included Jeri Palumbo, Claudia Engelhart and Deanne Franklin), provided young women and men a glimpse into life on the road, tips and advice, and a Q & A with the panelists. More importantly though, was how incredibly powerful the experience was for the panelists. We had all been in the business for 20 years or more, yet most of us had never met before that day and within minutes we bonded like long-lost sisters. We were struck by how similar our experiences, work ethics, and passions were and wondered why our paths had never crossed and how our careers would have been different had we been there to support each other through the years. Each of us are strong on our own, but together we were even stronger and a powerful force. We were empowered. Each of us had been asked hundreds of times in our careers: Are there other women doing sound? How did you get into sound? How would a young woman go about getting into sound? Through creating SoundGirls.Org, we hope to establish a place for women working in professional audio to come for support and advice, to share our success and failures, our joys and frustrations, and for empowerment and inspiration.
Read Full Profile
© 2021 TheatreArtLife. All rights reserved.
Thank you so much for reading, but you have now reached your free article limit for this month.
Our contributors are currently writing more articles for you to enjoy.
To keep reading, all you have to do is become a subscriber and then you can read unlimited articles anytime.
Your investment will help us continue to ignite connections across the globe in live entertainment and build this community for industry professionals.
