Career changing

Cronosin

Member
I've been working in community theatres working both as a lighting designer for small one-act productions, and as a sound technician. It's the standard community theatre life of computer technician by day, musician/sound guy by night.

However, my day job as a computer technician is killing me. I'm not half-bad at the smaller projects, and I know I'd do well with larger projects. I don't have a degree in Theatre Arts, and having recently graduated college (where the theatre community was so insular, if you weren't in the program, you couldn't get within 10 feet of a control booth). Aside from working lots of shows and building a portfolio, is there anything I can do to help start a career as a sound designer or technician?
 
Go get a job with the local sound company/install shop or go get on the IA overhire list. Getting into sound is a bit different then getting into lighitng. With sound you really have to work up to it, a degree will help but its not the end all be all. With the job in the local company, you can get out to some gigs and see some places. Do you want to do specifically theatre, or do you want to do music as well? Getting into sound with theatre is also a bit difficult. Let us know what you want to do specifically, and we can guide you to what you should do.
 
I totally realize sound and light are two different things, having worked both. For smaller productions and all, it's not too bad, but as a professional, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm best at, not just what I'm good at.

Ultimately, I'd love for a job as a sound engineer for a theatre or other production company, and I am an ex-musician (let's just say a college degree in music wasn't in my cards at the time). I'm not sure the exact path I would take (aside from getting side gigs and building up a personal stash of gear), but I'm thinking looking up a few gigs, and getting some experience on the side before getting a full fledged job, and transitioning out of my current job.
 

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