117
he didn't find work as a producer, Purcell
landed a job as a mastering engineer at
Woodland Mastering, which forever changed the
course of his career. He began mas-
tering gospel music, later mastered Kansas'
legendary
Masque album, and eventually
ended up running the facility. "If you're a
studio engineer, you might work two or
three months on an album," says Purcell. "I
work on a different album every day. I'm
the type of person who wants to see the end of
his work. It ended up that the job I
found, which fed my family, is the one that is
much more attractive to me than studio
engineering."
In 1985 he founded his own company, Georgetown
Masters, where he has mas-
tered more than 500 gold and platinum albums
for such diverse artists as Garth
Brooks, Vince Gill, Yo-Yo Ma, Tom Petty, Phish,
Keith Richards, Paul Simon, Trisha
Yearwood, and Neil Young. In 1998, he
won
Billboard magazine's Mastering
Facility
of the Year award. One of only ten people
worldwide who is capable of operating at
this level of success, Purcell founded
Mastering Engineers Guild of the Americas
(MEGA) in 1998 with the mission to assist the
music industry with technological
issues, and to deliver to consumers accurate
renderings of artist's works.
STUDIO AND EQUIPMENT
STUDIO OWNER
JOB OVERVIEW
The studio manager oversees the daily
operations of the recording studio, includ-
ing booking and maintaining the facility,
engineering, marketing, and all administra-
tive tasks.
"I'm a big believer in college. I've noticed
that some people that come
through tech school and are just 18 or 19
aren't mature enough to handle
the problems that arise. They get insulted if
you say, `Go make coffee,'
whereas, for some reason, the people that have
gone to college realize that
is a small part of the job. I also think they
are more well-rounded and
can carry on a conversation that's not just
about recording."
"Try to learn an instrument. You don't have to
be extremely proficient at
playing it, but it will help you better
understand music. Learn to read
chord charts and things like
that."
CAREER
TIPS
User Comments Add a comment…