I went to a cocktail party last week and was chatting and socializing with various people about their jobs and when I told this group of late 20 somethings what I did. Two of them got a strange look on their faces and asked me ” What job are you hoping to have one day.?” I explained though I hope to work on more film work then reality work eventually but that I am very happy with what I currently do. The women with him couldn’t understand my job so I explained in more detail what I do. Her response was ” You actually go to college for this? I explained yes I do have a B.F.A and that I have been the sound supervisor on a few large projects in the last few years and work for some big companies she might have heard of. I then walked away to prevent my head from exploding……
Sound mixing is just as much as a profession as banking, selling insurance or sales. I love what I do and thats what is important.
Pro Location Sound LLC 
In my experience, it comes more from people who have never owned their own business or worked for a small business where there was no clear chain of promotion.
Some people can only think in terms of the way they advance their own career, ie. they move to a different position when they get a promotion. If you work in “showbusiness” you must want to one day work as a producer… or director, since most people don’t know what a producer is either.
It doesn’t seem confusing to the guy with a widget-rental business who sees success as renting twice as many widgets as he did last year.
Then again, there are just some people who don’t think anyone in the entertainment industry has a real job.
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Hey man, actually I know what you are talking about, but it does not affect me anymore, I just love my job, I dont complain about my pay, or if its boring, I just have a lot of fun doing it, and still have a lot to learn and thats is much more interesting for me…. and I get paid for that!! They are the crazy ones from my point of view jejeje. Maybe you think the same, dont worry feel lucky!
By the way your blog is a must read for me when you post new information, Good luck and thanks!
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Just tell them you are a audio engineer, they’ll probably get impressed by the term engineer and not going to make fun of your job anymore….
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Wow.. Thats NOT LA.
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