Reply To: Getting Your First Gig/Developing Your Client Base

[Paul MotionParticipant]

Hey Ryan, I felt I needed to reply but honestly I'm not sure how much this will help as I'm a fair bit older and it feels like the studio scene has changed quite a bit since I was a part of it. Plus I came up in London which differs a little again.
Anyway, the main tenet of being someone who people want to be around in the studio was and seems to remain a key attribute.
Going to gigs and getting your name around as much as possible is always good.. offering to do a gig or 2 for free for a band you really like is a good way of getting to know the band, possibly the manager and maybe the publisher if one exists. I got quite a few gigs with a particular record company back in the day thanks to working on an album for them through the studio.
I don't recall internships being a thing in the UK back then.. that always seemed to be a very American thing. Most people would start out on a pittance as a tea boy or runner and try and get as much studio time as possible and maybe you'd get lucky and have to tape op for a session or even assist!

Finding gigs in studios...... literally the same as what Eric said he did when trying to get an internship in a studio. I wrote letters to all the studios I could find, hand delivered on occasion to get my face known, (yes.. this was well before the days of email), and then follow up with a phone call. Be as persistent as you can without being annoying and maybe someone will recognise your dedication.

All I can say is, if this is your dream.. don't give up. I made the choice to leave the music industry for family reasons and I regret it every day. It's a tough industry, especially these days where anyone can be an engineer, producer, mixer etc etc in their bedroom..... but the only person who can be you is you, so keep at it and I really hope something comes through for you.

All the best!