Recording industry lessons resonate

This guest blog post is by Jack Smith, managing editor of Plant Engineering magazine. His experience in the record biz taught him lessons he’s still using today.

Control room at Shade Tree Recording Studio with Jerry Milam, the studio designer, at the controls of the MCI console.The music business is what I call the “glory side” of the recording industry — big-name stars, glitz, paparazzi. But when you hear a song, you are experiencing the results of professionals in the recording industry providing high-quality sound reproduction via highly sensitive equipment. If the equipment doesn’t work properly, the recording quality suffers. That’s what I did; I maintained the equipment.

Industry experience
My first job in the recording industry was at Shade Tree Recording Studio in 1979, where I maintained everything from the console and 24-track tape machine to the guitar amplifiers. After that, my journey took me south to Nashville working for Valley Audio, maintaining equipment for many studios. After Valley, I then worked at MCI, and finally at Devonshire Recording Studio in North Hollywood.

While at Valley Audio, I spent quite a bit of time in Muscle Shoals, Ala., doing freelance maintenance in several studios, including Fame Studios, known for artists like Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Paul Anka and The Osmonds.

Working in the recording industry expanded my technical knowledge, and one example is my understanding of power quality. When you have poor power quality in the recording industry, most of the time, you can literally hear it. Ground loops and hum fields have a way of making themselves known – through the speakers. Another important lesson I learned then is the value of maintenance. If the equipment doesn’t work, production can’t move forward.

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Gardening in a virtual world

This guest blog post is by Amara Rozgus, editor,Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine. She’s a pro at digging in the dirt and digging up the dirt for her latest article.

When I meet other University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners, I joke that I’ve never touched dirt. I’m a “virtual” gardener.

After getting past the blank stares and multiple questions, my fellow gardeners finally understand that I took all my certification classes online, and never spent time in a classroom or a hands-on garden setting, like most trainees do. I never got to play in the dirt (or “soil,” in Master Gardener lingo) like they did.

That was back in 2003, when I completed my online training and passed my final certification exam. My course was a 16-week online class with weekly quizzes, plus an extremely long final exam. My background in chemistry and biology were put to the test, and I learned about new topics — like garden pests and trees. My jokes have gotten better, and my gardening skills have certainly improved. But as both an editor and gardener, I still live in a virtual world.

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Folios & Fishnets

I’m probably the only B2B editor you know who has pink hair.

A typical Friday for me might involve writing a column for our daily e-newsletter, finishing up my cover story for the print issue, copy editing the magazine in Indesign, throwing on some fishnets and lacing up a pair of quad skates.

Yes, you read that correctly. By day, I’m the Editor-in-Chief of Food Manufacturing magazine, and by night, I’m the Predator-in-Chief of Garden State Rollergirls. The transition is smoother than you might think. In fact, in many ways roller derby and magazine editing are a lot alike.

Play to your strengths
I spent my first six months of roller derby trying to out-sprint people. After months of agonizing over my losses, I realized something: I’m not fast. But, I can hit hard. It’s somewhat difficult for girls to out-sprint you when they are sprawled out across the rink floor. Editing is much the same way. Find out what you are best at, and play up that strength as much as possible. I like to write columns as much as I can, because that’s the easiest way for me to convey both my industry knowledge and my sense of humor — no sprinting required.

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