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home and I get a call that they have to cancel
everything because the artist has to do a
show in Canada. I have to scramble and find
someone else to book that time."
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
"Find out all you can about the industry and how
the recording process works.
Become familiar with names of producers,
engineers, and artists. Get an overall view
of what is happening today in the recording
scene, then start trying to just get your
foot in the door and see where that takes
you."
KELLY ERWIN, MANAGER, OCEAN WAY
RECORDING
Music has been a part of Kelly Erwin's life
since she was a very young child, and
she begged her brother to play his Beach Boys
records. But it wasn't until years later
that she would consider a career in the
industry. After four years working as opera-
tions manager at an animation production house
in Los Angeles, she found herself
laid off and re-examining her career path. "I
started to think about what it was I
really loved and it was music." Not knowing
exactly how to go about getting into the
business, she began by telling everyone she
knew about her dream. Over the next year
several leads failed to produce a job, until a
long-time friend of her mother's offered
to introduce Erwin to a neighbor who worked in
the business. The neighbor turned
out to be Jack Woltz, general manger of Ocean
Way Recording studios, who offered
her a receptionist job at smaller sister
studio, Record One.
Beginning as a receptionist in 1992, Erwin set
her mind to learning everything she
could about the facility and its equipment.
After six months, she switched places with
the receptionist at the larger Ocean Way
studios, and sought out additional ways to
keep busy. She started handling the studio's
collections then took on accounts payable
for Ocean Way Nashville. After proving her
ability to handle multiple operations
functions, she was taken off the front desk to
book the studio rooms, and gained the
title of manager. Paul McCartney, Black Crows,
Black Eyed Peas, Eric Clapton, Diana
CASE STUDY:
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS
JOB:
"When I have rooms booked, someone cancels, and
I have to scramble at
the last minute to try and fill the
time."
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
"When I've really tried to help somebody with a
rate or tried to figure out
a way to make it work so they can come in, and
it happens. When I see
that the client is really happy and excited to
come in, I'm excited."
VOICES
OF
EXPERIENCE
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