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The Skills Deficit


  

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  1. 1. Are graduate sound engineers prepared for work in the industry?



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Hi, my name is Matthew Lund I am a student on a BA Technical and Theatre Productions course. For my dissertation I am asking the question 'Are post graduate sound engineers adequately prepared for employment within the entertainments industry?'

 

 

 

I am posing this question as I have read that companies such as Britannia Row offer their own accredited qualifications, believing that higher education establishments are not giving students adequate or relevant training they feel that this is necessary.

 

 

 

I have developed a questionnaire and would appreciate if any experienced sound engineers had the time to fill it out.

 

I am interested in opinions and experience on this subject.

 

 

 

Thank you for your time

 

 

 

Matt.

 

 

 

Questionnaire

1. How long have you worked in live sound?

 

 

 

2. How did you get your start?

 

 

 

3. What have been the personal highlights of your career?

 

 

 

4. What have been the lowest points/hardest days?

 

 

 

5. Did you undertake any training via education, work related or otherwise?

 

 

 

 

6. If yes list….

 

 

 

 

7. What would you attribute your success as an engineer to?

 

 

 

 

8. Working in the industry do you perceive a skills shortage? In 2010 lighting and sound magazine referred to it as "the skills chasm". Does this still exist?

 

 

 

 

9. In your experience have you found post graduates to be under skilled or lacking in knowledge?

 

 

 

10. If so could you identify some areas?

 

 

 

11. Have there been instances where under skilled post graduates have cause damage to a company's reputation?

 

 

 

 

12. A company's equipment?

 

 

 

13. Themselves or others around them?

 

 

 

 

 

14. How important do you feel theory is compared to practical experience?

 

 

 

15. I have read many articles which state that not everyone is cut out for work in live sound due to the unsociable hours or simply grasping the technology. Do you think there are any aspects of the job that simply cannot be taught?

 

 

 

16. If so list…

 

 

 

17. In your opinion, do good live sound engineers require certain personality traits?

 

 

 

 

18. How important are qualifications in the industry?

 

 

 

19. Do you see value in a degree? Please be honest.

 

 

 

20. Which, if any, training courses do you recommend?

 

 

 

21. What advice would you give to an individual about to take their first steps into the industry?

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Hi

 

I'll answer a few questions for you, although I find the wording of your questions a little disparaging in that you of the predisposition that post-grad people et al to be somehow deficient. You can't knock someone for not knowing something if they haven't been taught; one month on a big tour would be the equivalent of of several years of classroom teaching. Especially if things went wrong and you had to think on your feet. However a lot of the job is just common sense, and I have been surprised a little of the things I have seen.

 

9. In your experience have you found post graduates to be under skilled or lacking in knowledge?

 

Yes, numerous times. Examples are; someone not knowing how to use a soldering iron and/or repair XLR cables despite having done a technical course; not knowing which way to run in cables; not knowing that you can't have two radio mics on the same frequency and then wondering why they don't work.

 

11. Have there been instances where under skilled post graduates have cause damage to a company's reputation?

 

Yes, one such chap decided he wanted to flood the venue with loud white noise 'to get his acoustics right' and then having an argument with firstly the project manager and then the client when asked to turn it off, all on his first day. Surprisingly enough, we didn't see him again. I suppose you could class this as a poor working attitude, rather than anything to do with his skill-set.

14. How important do you feel theory is compared to practical experience?

You need to have a good grasp of the fundamentals of how things work. However that's a bit subjective; for instance, the average soundie doesn't need to know how the circuitry of his desk works; just how to use it. Good examples of where theory comes in is what types of mic to use in what conditions, how DI boxes work and when you can expect to run into issues with things like feedback or latency. However these are the things you can learn rapidly whilst out on the job.

15. I have read many articles which state that not everyone is cut out for work in live sound due to the unsociable hours or simply grasping the technology. Do you think there are any aspects of the job that simply cannot be taught?

 

If you want to work in a nightclub but can't keep your eyes open after midnight, or want to work in festival sites but have no sense of direction, or want to go on a rock tour running monitors but don't like loud noise, then maybe this career path isn't for you. It's a total non-brainer; it's like becoming a car mechanic and not expect you get your hands covered in oil. They're not really job skills, they're personal skills that you either have or you haven't. You can't teach someone to be driven and committed to themselves, their team and the gig they are on.

 

17. In your opinion, do good live sound engineers require certain personality traits?

 

Serious amounts of patience and the ability to take a fair amount of abuse. In some cases it's also a requirement to stand your ground and prepare to fight / argue for what you believe in, but you'd better be damn sure you're right first.

 

18. How important are qualifications in the industry?

Frankly, not much. You might have a ticket saying you can wire up a generator but that doesn't mean I'd let you loose on the bank of 400KVa sets that I've hired in for a site. When dealing with someone new, the oldies would tend to treat them like idiots for a little while and give them simple tasks. The bright ones would get to do more exciting/dangerous/time-critical jobs as they got better and we could trust them more. There are some people I've met that can't even work a kettle, let along fly PA and wire it up properly. Things like Brit Row training are handy as it comes from a reputable company; and we can phone them up and ask them about a person we're thinking about hiring. It's a small world, and if you're done something naughty companies will soon hear about it.

 

19. Do you see value in a degree? Please be honest.

I do and I don't, mainly for the reasons stated above. They do show that a person is capable of learning though; however when a new person is on the team I'll often get the chief to have a chat with them and find out what they actually know and if they've been taught anything rubbish and/or dangerous. Quite often, a lecturer's idea of safe isn't ours.

 

21. What advice would you give to an individual about to take their first steps into the industry?

Just be polite and don't act like a total container for a gentleman's vegetables who knows it all. A lot of modesty goes a long way and you'll get along with your peers a lot better if you muck in and integrate yourself in the team. Be prepared to learn, and be prepared to take a verbal kicking when you do get it wrong. Learn from your mistakes. Be friendly but don't be a total kiss-arse either, no-one likes those either.

HTH

 

All the best

Timmeh

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Matthew,

 

It's probably not fair for me to answer your questionnaire (for various reasons) but I would suggest a) careful differentiation between the term "graduate" and "postgraduate" and b) an even more careful analysis of the terms 'training' and 'education' when applied to the gamut of live sound courses.

 

Regards,

 

Simon Lewis

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Just looking at the Poll question....

 

The answer is, of course, that some will be very well prepared, and others will completely useless.

 

Both available answers (Yes & No) are wrong

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to Timmeh

Thanks for you reply, the response was useful. However, I noticed that you did not answer the questions relating to experience. I would like to reference some of your responses but I need to include

some data on your actual experience. It all comes down to reliability of my source I'm sure you can appreciate that "some guy of blue room" as an academic source is not acceptabl. I also appreciate the pointing out of

my wording too this will help with the structure of my dissertation overall.

 

MarkPAman

 

I appreciate what you are saying and your answer does pretty much sum up the body of my conclusion. My conclusion was never to be yes or no. Perhaps I should have added another option

the idea was that you would fill in the questionnaire if you felt the subject needed further discussion. sorry if that was not clear.

 

Simon Lewis

Thanks for the good feedback

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