This week’s lecture was from ex-student Luke Pickering, who worked with us in our first year when we were first given access to the Multi-track studio. Luke now works at The Church Studios in Crouch End as a Studio Assistant, with a few extra duties as well.

He first gave us a virtual tour of the three studios that make up The Church, and also spoke a little about Miloco, the company that The Church uses to manage its bookings, equipment repairs and replacements, etc. Luke then talked to us about the various roles that exist at The Church, starting with his role, The Studio Assistant. The Assistant is responsible, among other things, for keeping things stocked up, testing equipment/arranging repair, maintaining an inventory of all equipment, keeping areas tidy and organised (studios and staff areas), hard drive and plugin management, moving equipment between studios, and arranging work experience help/runners. This is Luke’s current job, although he has since gained a few extra responsibilities, and has been given the opportunity to work on the recording desks a little as well. An Assistant Engineer is one who knows the studio inside and out, and is often permanently based there. He/she arrives first on session, is responsible for getting things working and ready for the Engineer, is sensitive to everybody’s mood, but remains Anonymous until needed. They must be great at reading situations and atmosphere, able to recall settings and sounds, and also able to provide additional engineering (stemming, editing, vocal tuning) if necessary. The Engineer is responsible for making the recording happen, and understands technically how to achieve everything the artist wants. They operate and organise the DAW session (labelling tracks, bussing), and possess a vast technical knowledge of a wide range of consoles, mics, plugins, etc.

At this point, Luke showed us a list of do’s and don’ts for people applying for a job at a studio. These were so useful I’m listing them below, as they provide a lot of really useful information.

Don’t:

• Say you are a ‘producer’
• Get spelling/grammar wrong
• Profess how amazing you are at Pro Tools
• Send out showreels
• Write more than one page
• Talk about your own history too much
• Use exclamation marks!
• Create work for whoever is reading you application
• Copy and paste from another job application

Do:

• Take time on layout/appearance
• Apply for the position listed– not for your dream job
• Do your research
• Appear flexible and curious
• Discuss how you can fit into the team
• Include a picture (maybe)
• Acknowledge mundane jobs
• Follow up the application

Luke then stressed the importance of decent tea-making skills if doing any Work Experience, as that will be the vast majority of what you do during your time at the studio. He was running out of time, so had to wrap up the session a little earlier than he would have liked, but we were able to ask a few questions, one of which I asked in regard to the long hours he works currently. He said that in the first few weeks he was at risk of burning out, because he was constantly working or looking for something to do, and has since managed to back off this intensity and as such is more comfortable. It seems like an incredibly difficult and demanding job, and I wonder if I would be able to work upwards of 100 hours a week, even if it was doing something I genuinely loved doing.