Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1535880
20 M PS E . O R G me (and a few more apprentice editors) hired by a nonunion house but upped our pay to union scale. This showed the union that we were able to sustain a living in the industry. Once I was in the company for about eight months, they called the union and told them they want to make the company a union signatory. Since the Editors Guild loves nonunion companies becoming union, since all the employees become qualified for union membership in the process, thus overcoming the obstacle of the union not taking new members at the time. I worked on the biggest films in Hollywood for eight years there before moving to Sony Pictures and becoming the sound designer for their film sound department for five years. Following my time at Sony, I moved around to other amazing sound houses, and I returned to Sony once again, but this time I was hired to be the sound designer in their TV department for 18 years. Post COVID, I have been moving around to different places but still doing amazing TV shows. I am having a blast and can't wait for the shows I have coming up later this year! Mark Camperell MPSE Board member I started out in radio in San Diego. I was working at two stations. I worked in the promotions department of a big FM station, and I also served as the music director and a DJ at the AM station at the community college I went to. I wanted to be as close to music as I possibly could and all I wanted to do was record bands. When I learned about the recording arts department at Loyola Marymount University (LMU), it was a no-brainer to continue my education there. My intention when I began at LMU, was to work toward becoming a record producer. But that was during the whole Napster insanity. Record companies were bleeding money. Simultaneously, recording technology was getting cheaper by the day so it seemed, so bands that had previously sought out the expertise of recording engineers were putting their funds toward building their own studios. With all that happening, a pivot became necessary. Luckily for me, half of the recording arts department at Loyola Marymount concentrates on sound for film/TV. Under the tutelage of professors Rodger Pardee (sound editor & field recordist) and Mark Kamps (supervising sound editor), I learned everything that I could about sound editing, Foley, mixing, and project organization. In a stroke of good fortune, Pam Aronoff, another professor at LMU, was working at Soundelux DMG at that time. She said Soundelux was looking for interns to take notes on video game voice-over recording sessions, so I threw my name in the hat. I secured the internship which paid minimum wage, that quickly turned into a full- time job as a sound editor. I then spent 3½ years at Soundelux DMG full time and then freelanced with them on and off for several years after. I got to work directly with incredibly talented sound designers like Scott Gershin, Alan Rankin, Peter Zinda, Brad Beaumont, and of course, Pam Aronoff. There were long nights working the graveyard shift, lots of do-overs, and competition for a finite number of sound edit bays. It was a tough job with a big learning curve for someone right out of school, but it was also another chance to further my education. Being around such incredible audio talent was better than any advanced academic degree I could've studied for. At Soundelux DMG, I got to work on video games, commercials, and feature films. Having the opportunity to be in the trenches at a busy studio with a terrific reputation gave me the confidence to forge ahead on my own when the time came. What I learned at Soundelux was that listening was paramount. We were constantly reminded to edit with our ears and not our eyes. With technology, we have a tendency to rely so heavily on graphical representations of sound that we forget to listen. Never stop listening. Another great thing about this experience that I would tell entry-level folks is that variety is going to be beneficial to your development as an audio professional. Being well rounded in sound editing abilities will make you a more marketable talent. While you might not have access to all the resources and clients of a studio like Soundelux, technology has made it so much easier for people to practice. You don't need to wait around for the right project to come in to showcase your talents or to practice cutting that thing you've never cut before. It's become easy and commonplace to rip examples of films and games from YouTube and Vimeo to re-design the sound. If you want to be a sound editor, that's what you've got to do. You've got to edit sound. You can't wait around for someone to hand you work; you've got to be practicing every single day. Make your mistakes on your re-design projects so that when paying clients come calling, you're ready to soar. BREAKING ENTERING &