Fighting the Day Job

[meblumen]

I think for many people that frequent this board, recording and playing in bands is just a nice hobby. For many others like myself, you dream of turning that hobby into a full time career. In a perfect world we wouldn't have to worry about rent, insurance, eating and all those hassels. However, unfortunately they are very real concerns. 40+ hour work weeks (more like 60-80 I'm sure for most) are difficult and time consuming. So I guess what I'm asking is:

For those of you that are now 100% gainfully employed in the music business, either as a performing artist or an engineer, what if any day jobs did you have to work while you were trying to turn your passion into a full time gig and how did you balance the two. And for those of you still bound to the 9 to 5 or some varient, what are you doing and how are you planning your escape?

[Reuben]

I work about 60% of the time as a bass player, 10% as a music teacher, and the remaining 30% as an engineer. But it really varies all the time. Some months I do almost no engineering and other months it's most of my work time.

Here's a selection of non-music jobs I've held down in the early years:

Bookstore manager
Barista
Proofreader
Courier
Software test engineer
Cab driver
Proctor (I gave kids practice SAT tests)

Anyway, juggling some of them with my music ambitions was easy, some were hard, but the only way I ever made the move into doing stuff full time was by waiting till I was so busy with music that I couldn't make it all fit together anymore and then...quit my job with no idea how I was going to make it.

Quitting made me intensify and stop waiting for the world to make music a viable living. I've made my living at it now for the better part of the last 12 years (with a 2 year break at one point) and the juggling act never stops. At some point I just figured I'd rather have the time and struggle than the money and no time.

But there's no One Right Way to do this. Find what works for you. I'm OK with just scraping by if it means not going through the constant alienation of non-music jobs.

[;ivlunsdystf]

Or, just for the heck of it, we can talk about Charles Ives, who was an insurance exec by day and (of course, arguably) the greatest 20th century American composer by night. He was probably 'distant' to his wife though. Anyway, at his day job he supposedly invented (formalized?) the concept of 'estate planning'. His story is a little bit more complicated than I make it seem here, but it's true that he made a full career at his day job.

If he had been cursed with HBO, as we are, maybe he would have died in total obscurity in a zantac haze like so many of us nowadays.

[Reuben]

Ives is a great example.

I used to live a couple blocks away from Phillip Glass and would regularly see him eating in the same diner I always went to. I've never forgotten the time a young guy in his twenties approached Glass asking him for advice on how to survive, and particularly how to get his music heard. He was very gracious and offered much advice, but also pointed out, "you know, I drove a cab till I was 50."

[alissa]

wow. that's pretty inspiring. he never forgot his roots.

i think what larry's been eluding to lately is really salient. there is a very pervasive stream of thought that there is some moment when 'we make it' and this huge windfall falls from the sky. not just in music. but it seems to be a prominent part of the fabric of american consciousness.

but when you talk to old people, they don't see it. it seems to be a more recent shift in people's thinking.

that's what i've gathered anyway. but i'm not that old.

[joelpatterson]

I am probably a horrible example, but when I hit 37 I just plunged headfirst into building my own studio and scaring up business in my peaceful, rural locale. I'd been working in construction (and I drove a cab in my 20's) and one day, some kind of psychological hammer fell, and I just couldn't stand the thought of living out my life and never pursuing this dream.

It was that literal. I never gave the slightest thought to a "business plan" or scoping out the competition or all the things you're supposed to do. I just said, "this lifetime, this time around, I want to story to be that I tried doing this."

So the lesson I've taken from this is that whatever you want to do, you will be able to do. And the fiercest battles about doing it are all fought within yourself.

[djimbe]

I'll probably always keep my day job, since it's what I've wanted to do since I was a little kid. But this recording thing is a wonderful way to regularly get away from the day work, be around some talented people, and do my best to make those talents shine for others to enjoy. Sounds uber hokey, I know, but it's true. I've gotten to be witness (ear witness?) to some great stuff being created by a buncha folks that are totally different than those I work with. I don't think running a studio can be life supporting job for me but I'm fine with that if I get days like today has been...

[alissa]

i was just listening to dynomike's recording with the hamptone. wasn't he the guy who sold trodsky his g4? so i'm assuming there was some kind of protoolian action after...but i was getting this buzz. like i HAVE to get something better that this piece of crap mackie.

but i guess i'm too asian to take the plunge like everyone else so i guess it's true what you say about the battles within.

[mjau]

Personally, I don't think I ever want to turn what I love into a career. I'm too worried about associating music with money and paying bills, etc. that I'd rather leave it in the pile of "what could've been" and continue the small battle I wage with making time to write / record / play music.

[joelpatterson]

Let's see here...

"Mackie" and "recording" is like "bamboo reed" and "spaceflight." Only the faintest, theoretical connection, fur as I can see.

[John Jeffers]

I'd love to do this full-time, but I'm afraid to try because of people like me.

The technology is available, cheaply. The kids who would have spent a couple grand recording their demo at a local studio are now going to spend it on Mackie and Behringer stuff at Guitar Center instead. No, the results won't be as good, but inexperienced ears don't care.

I speak from (in)experience here! I cringe when I go back and listen to my old recordings that I thought sounded good at the time. There's no way you could have convinced me to spend the money on studio time instead, because I wanted to own the gear, and learn to do it myself.

Am I glad I did it that way? Yep. Do I think my recordings now can stand up to what a pro studio can offer? Nope, but they're much closer, and I'm still learning a lot with every new recording. The main thing I'm missing is a great room. Most other things I can supply. Techniques can be learned. So who needs a "pro" studio?

I have other extenuating circumstances that definitely influence my thinking (a good job that pays well, a family to support), but ultimately, that's what keeps me from trying to fight the day job.

[trodden]

i was just listening to dynomike's recording with the hamptone. wasn't he the guy who sold trodsky his g4? so i'm assuming there was some kind of protoolian action after...but i was getting this buzz. like i HAVE to get something better that this piece of crap mackie.

but i guess i'm too asian to take the plunge like everyone else so i guess it's true what you say about the battles within.

naaa, it was a super nice guy who goes by bombastique who sold my my g4. Haven't seen him around since the rez-erection.


I hate my day job, but as mjau put, not quite ready to make my love for music and recording as my main bread maker (tried that once at a young age and fuck, all the shite bands to record to make rent isn't worth it). Really i'd actually like to have like 2 or 3 or 4 part time bread makers but this full time breadmaker job gives me health benefits and i haven't had to dumpster dive for my meal for about 4 years now. Granted, the 9 - 5 life as a legal secretary isn't glamorous and they're aren't hawt rock chix hanging out at my desk, but eh, that's what touring and weekends are for. I have a feeling that i'll get really sick of this though in 6 months (been doing the desk job for 3 years now) and end up somewhere else, perhaps a different desk, with a window or back at screen printing hell. Recording my music and other peoples music provides enough income to pay for gear and and beer. i'm cool with that for now.