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Ruprect

Thoughts Of A Budding Assistant

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by , 08-27-2012 at 04:36 PM (600 Views)
Greetings folks! I'm sure some of you may have seen Brandon mentioning that he has an assistant that he has dubbed "Ruprect" in a few posts as of late, so I figured that I may as well start a blog to share my experiences of working under The Supreme Overlord Commander Brandon Drury. I've known Brandon for about 8 years now and I've worked on roughly 5 projects with him. The first thing I noticed when he put me on the payroll is how hard this guy works to keep this site going. This dude works while he sleeps, or so it would seem haha. Not only that, but he is constantly thinking of ways to improve and expand this place to make it a better learning tool for all of us to enjoy. He also expects the same from whoever works for him, this has been challenging but incredibly rewarding thus far. Here are some things for all of you guys or gals out there in home recording land who are wanting to take the next step and work for a full time engineer. Obviously I can only speak of my experience with Brandon, but the same type of expectations will apply for other busy as shit engineers.
1. Be prepared to do random tasks that have nothing to do with recording.
This is something that is more than likely going to happen. You have to EARN the trust of whomever you are working for before they're going to let you fly their incredibly expensive spaceship solo. I have a daily routine that involves sweeping, doing the dishes, cleaning, etc. before I even touch a fader. People who are booked solid don't have time for silly shit like doing the dishes. If you're dedicated and really want to do this, you better be prepared to do whatever the Hell your boss tells you to even if you don't like it.
2. You will be forced to work FAST!
One of my first sessions was recording the sax parts for "The Mike Renick Band", we were starting off a tune and he just wasn't nailing the intro. I'm used to sitting in my bedroom and taking my time to get it perfect, well that doesn't fly when you have 6 dudes in a room with a budget. Move on and come back to it later. You will not have the luxury of taking your time unless the client or your boss give you that luxury.
3. Keep your opinions to yourself.
During the same sax session I was trying to give advice for a solo and I said, " What would Kenny G do?" , the sax player went into a rant about how Kenny G is the shittiest person on Earth. It wasn't the end of the world in this particular case because I'm buddies with this guy. Had it been a stranger, it could have destroyed this guys trust in me as an engineer.
4. Be prepared to be overloaded with work.
My situation as an assistant might be different than most since my boss runs a website and records live bands, but even with just the live band side of things I'm pretty much swamped with editing. You will most likely be editing until your head spins.
5. Pay attention to the smallest of details.
I was editing some vocals a few weeks ago and after working all day my brain was getting mushy, I forgot to double check my work and I made this client sound like a wino who couldn't remember lyrics. BIG MISTAKE!!! I caught some serious Hell for that one and a valuable lesson was learned. ALWAYS double or even triple check your work! NO EXCUSES!
6. Don't be fooled by all of the pretty lights and knobs.
If you're like me and have very little gear to work with while at home, you will most likely get incredibly excited by seeing a room full of awesome gear. Well I'm here to tell you that there is no magic box that will automatically make you sound like a pro engineer. I've quickly discovered that there is no secret to this thing. Becoming better at this gig boils down to how much blood, sweat, and tears you put into it. While my skills have definitely increased since I started working with Brandon, it's not because of ANY of his gear.This became incredibly apparent to me when we did our shootout with his compressors on high gain guitars. The difference between the outboard gear, 3rd party plugs, and stock plugs, was so small that I could care less if I used ANY of them. My advice to anyone who is reading this is to go out there and find someone you can learn from. I'm convinced that trying to figure this thing out on your own is absolutely NOT the way to get where you want to be. If you're a lurker on this site and you don't get involved and ask questions for fear of seeming like a noob, quit being a pussy and start utilizing the resources that are available to you.
With all of that being said I can honestly say that I'm super pumped to be a part of this community. We have some awesome ULTRA TOP SECRET stuff that we are working on for the site that is going to take the whole learning process up a few notches. Get stoked!
Over and out,
Ruprect
m24p, kakeux, bobbybovine and 4 others like this.
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  1. fHumble fHingaz's Avatar
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    Hey Ruprect! Welcome, & may I say Awesome blog!?

    I particularly enjoyed your angle on the attention to detail required with editing, & especially the following:

    If you're like me and have very little gear to work with while at home, you will most likely get incredibly excited by seeing a room full of awesome gear. Well I'm here to tell you that there is no magic box that will automatically make you sound like a pro engineer. I've quickly discovered that there is no secret to this thing. Becoming better at this gig boils down to how much blood, sweat, and tears you put into it. While my skills have definitely increased since I started working with Brandon, it's not because of ANY of his gear.This became incredibly apparent to me when we did our shootout with his compressors on high gain guitars. The difference between the outboard gear, 3rd party plugs, and stock plugs, was so small that I could care less if I used ANY of them. My advice to anyone who is reading this is to go out there and find someone you can learn from. I'm convinced that trying to figure this thing out on your own is absolutely NOT the way to get where you want to be. If you're a lurker on this site and you don't get involved and ask questions for fear of seeming like a noob, quit being a pussy and start utilizing the resources that are available to you.
    Fantastic stuff - really look forward to more posts!
    Ruprect likes this.
  2. kakeux's Avatar
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    Hey welcome! I was waiting for an official introduction. Nice blog.
    Ruprect likes this.
  3. Emma's Avatar
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    Hi there Ruprect, Welcome!!!
    Really enjoyed reading your blog - it's critical stuff...
    In particular I enjoyed your bit about being detail conscious. I still can't believe how long it takes me to edit stuff and how, in a moment of brain fog I can completely forget the plot and undo everything.
    Ruprect likes this.
  4. Ruprect's Avatar
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    Thanks for the **** welcome guys and gals! I'm glad you enjoyed my rambling. This will most likely end up being a weekly thing for me!
    Emma likes this.
  5. Rob K's Avatar
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    Ruprect said w@rm! That's surely punishable by 12 straight hours of editing death metal drums to a grid..

    Welcome to the site, I look forward to your insights
  6. garageband's Avatar
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    Ruprect said w@rm! T
    I know I laughed.
  7. Radukku's Avatar
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    hey man!
    welcome to the boss's virtual playground! (Although , like you said, this is a shitload of work it's damn true!...)....I agree with everything you said and most importantly with finding someone I could learn from!...Un- very-fortunately there's no one like that for me in my neck of the wood and that's why jokingly i was asking your boss once, in a post, who do I have to kill to become his assistant?....
    Now I know!...




    Just kidding man!...
    W@rm welcome again!
    I AM stoked already!
    Updated 08-31-2012 at 12:35 PM by Radukku
  8. brandondrury's Avatar
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    Interesting. I didn't know Ruprect had such a grip on the English language (or any language). Remind me to teach him what "Enter" does in Firefox.

    I particularly enjoyed your angle on the attention to detail required with editing, & especially the following:
    Ha! You guys should have read the note I wrote him on that one. (I was away for most of a week on a live sound mess or I would have given the message in person.)

    Let's just say that he's recovered from his black eye nicely. I wish my broken knuckle would heal. I will cover all of this in Surviving And Thriving In This BS Recording Studio Business, but you have to remember you are dealing with Hitler here and establish firm precedents when necessary to save everyone's ass. (Lord Chamberlain was too nice to own a recording studio with employees.)

    You will be forced to work FAST!
    One of my first sessions was recording the sax parts for "The Mike Renick Band", we were starting off a tune and he just wasn't nailing the intro. I'm used to sitting in my bedroom and taking my time to get it perfect, well that doesn't fly when you have 6 dudes in a room with a budget. Move on and come back to it later. You will not have the luxury of taking your time unless the client or your boss give you that luxury.
    Tonight I wired some relays for my MIDI-to-light project. I had to do some Jerry-rigging in the soldering department because I didn't have the proper ribbon cable. The TV was on in the background. That is a "hobby" where I can afford to be a jackass, break stuff, stop a week to await new parts, etc. With real clients it's game time and there is zero time to screw around. Apples n bowling balls.

    The game changes in the pressure department just as much for the artist as it does for us keeping this hunk of junk flying. Because the pressure they feel, it's not always conducive for a dude well-versed in jamming to micromanage a 4 second intro that would be easy if it he wasn't over thinking it. Keeping that machined well-oiled and moving is key. On such a musical passage that we have a 93% chance of nailing it when we come back to it after doing a take of the entire song. His head will be cleared Feeling out the frustration level of the performer is a MAJOR part of the gig and circumventing it before it happens is a necessity. A hobbyist can do 93 takes of a verse until they get it right. This is a different animal.

    ----

    I'm glad Ruprect feels over worked. I wish I could make it harder on him. The little bastard shows up every day and racks my brain on his creations. He learns BIG concepts sometimes 3 days after I do. THAT is bullshit! I've fought hard for 11 years now. It should come THAT easy to anyone. It's reminded me just how freakin' stupid I've been by attempting to be self-taught. On the other hand, it's also reminded me how piss poor many of the learning tools out there are for recording. I'm just as guilty. Killer Home Recording is about as serious of a conceptual shaping tool as there could possibly be, but a book only goes so far. It's been huge having a person who can do pretty good "stuff" but wants to up his game tremendously picking at my brain. I think this is really going to show when we hit our 400 video goal for the Audio Hyper Guides. There's going to be a plethora of information for anyone who wants their hand held at this gig.

    Lastly, Ruprect has bypassed a lot of bs. He's never done a calculation of room modes. He's not wired a patchbay or stuffed Roxul into a drop ceiling. These things are automatic for him. My facility is modest, but he's avoided MAJOR infrastructure problems by going straight to the source. It makes me wonder if I made the right decisions in life. Then again, I'm having a blast digging myself out of this stupid hole.
  9. jrod9900's Avatar
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    Ruprect,

    Make sure you bust your boss's balls in this blog. Not like he will ever see it or anything.

    You should turn this blog into the stories of your everyday studio adventures like Mixerman. I'm sure there'd be some good stuff in there!

    Lastly, Ruprect has bypassed a lot of bs. He's never done a calculation of room modes. He's not wired a patchbay or stuffed Roxul into a drop ceiling. These things are automatic for him. My facility is modest, but he's avoided MAJOR infrastructure problems by going straight to the source. It makes me wonder if I made the right decisions in life. Then again, I'm having a blast digging myself out of this stupid hole.
    I'm not sure you're qualified to work in a studio until you've wired up a couple patchbays, modded a Marshall to go to 11, and been covered head to toe with 703 or Roxul. Now that's when you know you're ready!!!

    Brandon, will there be any hazing involving towel snapping in the showers, fromunda cheese on pizza, or hand-snapping the testicles upon passing by? LOL

    CHEERS RUPRECT!!!

    JROD
    ZanetheVocalist likes this.
  10. ZanetheVocalist's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Rob K
    Ruprect said w@rm! That's surely punishable by 12 straight hours of editing death metal drums to a grid..
    OMG the biggest PITA ever. Please kill me now.
  11. ZanetheVocalist's Avatar
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    Btw man I can totally relate on having someone to learn from. At least for a little while. My mentor was all analog and stuff so I had to learn all this Digital equipment on my own. Too bad the guy's dead now.
  12. ncls's Avatar
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    Good article and great mentor too. I hope I could read more from you later (unless your boss doesn't want you to reveal precious secrets )