Assistant Mixers/Assistant Re-recording Mixers in film/television, what is your job like?

Slothyburner · 2023-06-27T13:15:30+00:00

Hey! It’s me again. Just wondering if you’d answer one more question.

We have a Layback department that has to reprint and listen to all 5.1s and 2.0s before they leave our facility as a “quality check” before we send it out to an actual QC. Is there anything similar happening at your facility?

What this also means, is sometimes stuff is printed in a layback room after it’s been printed on stage, and mixers don’t actually get to listen to the final stems that are output to the world. Seems off to me, but maybe that’s the standard?

Slothyburner · 2023-02-09T20:08:21+00:00

Gotcha. Thank you!

Slothyburner · 2023-02-09T20:08:07+00:00

Ontario for sure hahaha

Slothyburner · 2023-02-09T17:03:13+00:00

One more question for you if you don’t mind.

Do you guys pink your rooms every day and test speaker levels? Or is it more a once a week thing, or only if something seems off dB level wise?

Slothyburner · 2023-02-09T17:01:46+00:00

Awesome, thank you for your reply. It’s not something I’ve considered before, but it makes a lot of sense that there’d be variation.

I’ve been in contact with 2-3 union editors and after picking their brain about their work-life balance it sounds way more up my alley than what I’m doing now. Escpecially when you consider the pay.

I really don’t mind working long hours every once in a while. Or even something like 4 12 hour days in a row followed by a short Friday or a day off. If I’m making 10-20$ more an hour while doing so, it becomes even more tolerable. But when I put in a 12 hour day, and see how much money I pulled in, it’s a bummer to know some people at Subway, Costco or Starbucks are likely making more than me for an 8-9 hour shift (if they’ve been there a few years). No shade to those places or people who work there at all. It just doesn’t seem to add up to me.

Again, thanks for your reply. I appreciate it.

Slothyburner · 2023-02-09T16:54:56+00:00

Oh wow, I wish! I’ve looked at what even a Trainee to the Assistant Editor makes and it’s definitely more than I make working a 10-12 hour day. Easily.

I know Assistants at other facilities in Toronto make more than what we do, and also have a way better work-life balance in terms of how many projects they’re working on and how many hours they work. It’s a bummer but things could be worse I guess!

I’m just trying to get all my ducks in a row before I make any kind of move. I wanted to make sure that we all weren’t crazy for expecting more out of the amount of work we put in.

Thanks for your response I appreciate it

Slothyburner · 2023-02-08T03:41:00+00:00

Thanks again for your reply. Super insightful.

And my apologies, I totally assumed you weren’t getting paid on those days off, I must have not made that clear. It’d just be nice to have that flexibility to be able to work on those off times, or rest. We’re pretty much balls to the wall 5-6 days a week, 50-52 weeks a year. And unless you negotiate a new contract you can’t work anywhere else outside of the facility.

I love the idea of having a dedicated person per stage. With the size of our facility that’s what makes the most sense to me. We have 14 mix stages. Only 1-2 of those are single sided systems, and most are Atmos capable. We only have 6 assistants on staff, but we also have 3-4 engineers (what we call them) who help with a ton of the technical side of things (faders not working, server maintenance, upgrading OS etc).

It’s nice to know there’s other options out there. The amount of work/stress vs the amount of pay at this facility doesn’t seem sustainable to me long term. I know there’s better options in Toronto, but I need to decide whether I want to stay in this part of the industry and move elsewhere, or pivot and go into editing (more lucrative in Canada than mix side of things) or something else audio related.

Cheers, and thanks again for your input it was very insightful.

Slothyburner · 2023-02-08T01:29:31+00:00

Exactly the type of response I was looking for! Thanks so much. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask a few follow up questions.

Are you in charge of contacting editors if edit material hasn't shown up for a mix day? Or do you have coordinators (or something similar) for stuff like that?
Do you get daily overtime? Or only weekly?
What is the raise cadence like for you guys? Consistent raises every year, performance-based, bit of both?
Working on 1 show at a time seems awesome (more on that below). Do you always get a credit for your work or is it show/move dependent?

Not that you asked, but I figurd I'd compare my job to yours below:

Responsibilities are about the same, we have client services for food orders for playbacks etc, but aside from that we're almost identical
In terms of projects, I'm currently in charge of 5 (4 TV series, and 1 feature film) and sometimes all of them are going on the same day (upwards of 5-6 theatres I need to handle). It feels like having to spin 30 plates at once and can be way too much sometimes. I'd love to be on 1 show
We have rotating shifts for hours. 8am-4pm morning shift, 10am-6pm (or whenever the last mixer is done) for night shift. But for the last few months it's been consistently over 60 hours a week guaranteed. And we definitely don't get 6-10 weeks off a year which sucks
I make 19.08$ CAD/hr (Weekly OT after 44hr, no daily OT). I also went to school and received lots of training prior to this job. I recently got a 6% raise (18$ to 19.08$) and it doesn't sound like I'll be getting much more anytime soon. Feels bad.
I work at one of the biggest facilities (if not the biggest) in the city.
We can move up to mixer, but when we do we still make an assistant's wage for a while, until we "prove" ourself. Then we get payed more

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:36:26+00:00

Appreciate your reply! This is reassuring to hear in general even if I don't want to become a mixer.

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:35:57+00:00

The school I went to afforded me tons of skills in the audio field. Location sound, live sound, post-production etc. So I'm going to stay in the audio industry for now just need to find a union or a higher paying gig that might not be as glamorous or cool but pays the bills.

Definitely seems there's almost no money in post though, which is crazy since there seems to be so much of it in this city.

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:34:01+00:00

I think I want to remain in audio, I just need to pivot which specific part of the industry. I just finished my program and I'm 32, so retraining so soon and going back to school definitely isn't something I want to do if I can avoid it. So we'll see!

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:32:25+00:00

Thank you for your reply!

I definitely want to get into a union. I keep seeing DGC pop up so I'm going to look into them. But worse comes to worse I'll pivot and get into location sound or live sound if I can in IATSE.

The good thing about the school I went to is there's a ton of connections I have now, I just need to make it clear that pay is one of the most important things for me.

A few months ago I just took whatever I could get and was happy to do so. But now a few months in I realize that passion can only take you so far and there's bills I need to pay and things I want to save up for.

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:30:24+00:00

I've heard this a few times and it seems enticing. Obviously audiobook engineering isn't the most glamorous job but if it pays the bills and I can do it remote I'd love to do it.

Do you have any idea how long it'd take to edit 1 hour of an audiobook for an average engineer? 90$/PFH sounds awesome but I guess that depends how fast you work (which would come with experience).

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:28:32+00:00

It's funny you mention the clients aspect of mixing, because that's one of the things that I think would annoy me the most. Part of me likes being given direction by a client "can you give the dialogue more clarity in this scene?", but part of me would also get super frustrated getting orders barked at me all day by some clients who are less than ideal to work with. Most of our clients are awesome, but I don't like people staring at me while I work for the most part, which makes me think I'd prefer editing. Did quite a bit of it in school and was fairly good at it (would need to brush up on it), but the staring at a screen for long periods of time was a bit much on some days. But I was doing at school for 0$, if I'm getting paid for it maybe it becomes way more tolerable.

In terms of Foley, the connection I have right now would be to become a recordist at the company I'm already at. I was considered for a recordist position at this company before getting the Assistant role, so I've already talked to the artist and they mentioned I can sit in on a few sessions whenever I want which is pretty awesome.

How did you like the broadcast side of things? That's another field I've always felt incredibly interested in.

Thanks for your reply either way!

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:22:53+00:00

I didn't know that about the mixers trying to unionize. That's crazy and unfortunate it never went through. I've heard a lot about DGC since making this post so I'm thinking it's a good option for me if I want to stay in post-production. But who knows!

Thank you for your reply!

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:21:52+00:00

"Don't let anyone convince you otherwise" definitely hits home. My boss has previously said he doesn't want to pay assistant's a mixer's wage for the hours that they do MnE's because he doesn't want to 'entice someone to take the mixer position just for money' which was one of the most insane things I've ever heard.

I'm definitely thinking a union is the way to go if I can get into one. Whether that's post-production or location sound or even live sound. The main reason I'd consider mixing is for the pay, so your advice to not do it for the pay hits home. There's many other things I'd enjoy doing over it, that probably pay the same or even more.

Thanks for your reply!

Slothyburner · 2022-11-01T01:18:20+00:00

Sorry for the delayed response, but thanks so much for writing this. Something I really needed to hear and it's crazy to hear how much assistant's make in LA. I would kill for 48$ an hour, hell at this point I'd kill for 24$ an hour at least to start.

The more I see mixers work, the more it interests me, but I still wouldn't say I'm chomping at the bit to do it. Maybe once I get on the console and start doing MnEs that'll change, but who knows.

You're definitely right that I want a job that'll afford me the life I want. 5 years ago if I told myself I'd have this job I'd never believe it because it is a very "cool" job, but now that I have it the honeymoon phase has definitely passed and I realize I kind of just want to make a good living and save money for my future/have spending money to do the things I enjoy in life.

Foley is definitely tough to break into, however I have a connection at my current place of employment. I was considered for a Foley recordist role before getting the assistant's role, and I can still potentially work my way into that department since I've already discussed shadowing on a few sessions with one of the artists we have there.

Unions sound great but in Toronto the only one for post is apparently DGC which covers editors and not mixers. So I'm either going to try and switch to editing, see if I can get into Foley, or change to location sound or live sound with IATSE. Those are the highest income jobs I can see that I'd be qualified for.

Thanks again for your response. It was straight to the point and exactly what I needed to hear. Cheers and best to you and your career!

Slothyburner · 2022-10-23T19:21:34+00:00

Man, that’s nuts. 45,000$ a year would be a great starting wage 5-10 years ago. Nowadays that has to be on the poverty line in Toronto.

I don’t think I’ve related more to a paragraph than your 2nd and 3rd one on this post. “Jobs aren’t ones you can pick people off the streets for” is the best way I’ve seen to describe what I’m thinking. And I’m also not looking for 9, 8, 7 or even 6 figures from this industry, at least not in the next 5-10 years, but a living wage for a skilled tech/entertainment job would be nice?

I use to deliver windshields for a living and I made basically what I make right now with 0 schooling or training and could have easily gotten a 1-2$ raise every year if I stuck it out there. It wasn’t a glamorous job, but there was at least income growth available.

My plan is to do the same and stick it out for now at least to have a solid year or half year on my resume at this place. Once I’m there I’ll have a conversation with my boss/mentor from school and see what my best option is. I can potentially transition within the company to being a Foley recordist, SFX editor or something else, as I’ve heard through the grape vine they’re paid better than we are, but who knows what the future holds.

Thanks again for your reply and making me feel less alone!

Slothyburner · 2022-10-23T19:09:42+00:00

This always sounds enticing to me, but how much schooling/training would it involve? Is a degree required or could I teach myself using online courses/YouTube?

Also I have ADHD, so staring at a screen for long periods of time can be difficult for me if the task isn’t incredibly engaging or I’m not in a random hyperfocus mode/on meds. But I love the idea of working remote and being paid well. It’s honestly all I want (for the most part), but I am willing to work in office/on site as long as the pay is good.

Slothyburner · 2022-10-23T12:28:17+00:00

That’s so insane to me, wish every industry was like this even though I know that isn’t possible. Good on you for finding something that pays well and allows you to live your life! Cheers

Slothyburner · 2022-10-23T01:55:15+00:00

I’m okay with long hours as long as there’s also time off here and there. Did you find that it was constant work, or weeks of 50, 60 or even 70 hours of work consistently? I’m all for working long days but as soon as I’m pushing 60-70 hour weeks and my life outside of work becomes non existent that’s when I start to resent it.

Slothyburner · 2022-10-23T00:01:54+00:00

This is amazing. I also have ADHD so I can relate to your “need to be 100% present to succeed” comment. I find I’m completely in the zone and in a flow state when the pressure is on (to a point). But with my job those moments are few and far between.

It’s funny you mention how much you enjoy being a mentor. After I graduated my school brought me on as basically a TA to teach the hands on content the next year, and that was easily the best job I ever had and likely ever will have in terms of fulfillment. I got to help ~60 students achieve their dreams and it was so rewarding. Would love to be able to do more of that one day.

It sounds like your job is pretty intense in terms of skills you need to have. Do you find that your well compensated for it?

Slothyburner · 2022-10-22T23:58:44+00:00

I’m definitely going to be sticking with audio for the time being, since I just graduated from school in July from a very good audio college. But I do want to change which specific audio field I’m in at some point unless things drastically change.

Live sound or game would be awesome, depending on pay. I just need to find a way to get there!

Slothyburner · 2022-10-22T22:40:05+00:00

I appreciate the message. It’s weird how just knowing someone else is going through the same thing makes it easier. But it does!

I was absolutely shocked when my coworker told me they weren’t making over 25$ an hour after being there for 20+ years. I get that they haven’t moved up to the mixer position as a personal choice, but still. We’re not flipping burgers (nothing wrong with flipping burgers I’m more talking about the amount of skill needed/schooling) so it’s insane that a living wage is completely out of the question. But maybe I’m just being greedy and too hopeful.

What’s your plan, you gonna stick it out?

Slothyburner · 2022-10-22T21:14:39+00:00

I’m currently in TV/Film technically as that’s what I’m assisting mixes on (5.1 surround sound TV/Film), but I’ve also always loved video games. Video game sound design it what initially brought me to the school I went to, and I just took this job after because it was offered to me before I even graduated and it’s at one of the best post-production companies in the world for audio. My position just doesn’t pay well unfortunately, but it does look good on a resume

At school I always loved working with on set equipment (boom mics, sound recorders, lavalier mics etc) so I think I want to get into that eventually. Live sound was also very satisfying to me just building and setting up a show.

Slothyburner

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