As long as there is never any discussion about “trade, barter” or any quid pro quo (wink, wink, nudge, nudge … say no more!) … that could work in an unpaid internship context. It could be stated as simply as “I understand you are interested in learning audio engineering. While that is not the primary function of this internship, I’d be happy to teach you some when the studio isn’t otherwise booked, and help you with your audio-engineering- portfolio.”
I agree you’ll probably need to add some liability coverage for an internship but this will amount to peanuts.
I did 5 maybe 6 internships during my college years and they were all unpaid (actually a couple took place in Cali and I can’t explain that). In a couple of them I made a significant contribution to the work. In the others, I was more of an observer but still learned a lot. All of them were afilliated with a university. I cheated: when I moved to LA I used a friend’s student ID to get into the job placement center at UCLA and picked up a couple intenships that way. 
I have no doubt there is an office at Temple – afine university with a great basketball program – that sets up these internships and I bet they’re eager to do so with you. I suspect they even handle most of the legal issues involved, too.
I did one internship that involved audio production for one of the major PBS stations in the country and they actually gave me a great deal of responsibility. My “mentor” was a true audio inconoclast and he basically wiped clean my “book learning” and taught me the “real world” way of doing things – invaluable experience. I know you are considering juts on eguy here but I suspect that in short order your internship will become on of the nmore popular ones the school sponsors.
The terminology “no immediate benefit” is a bit vague… I can assure you that a couple of the stints I did, the company benefitted from it.
I learned an immense amount from my internships, morev than what I learned in school… chiefly how to take orders. What a lot of students forget is that regardless of their “dreams” in the last analysis they will have to be working FOR somebody – a studio, a label, or client, a contractor. One of the hardlest but best lesons I learned is how to set aside my “artistic” ideas and serve the people who were paying me
I’m going to sleep on it, but this discussion is making me not want to give this kid a shot due to legalities.
Bummer… This is actually the 1st time I even considered “passing down” my experience to someone in this context.
heh… I’m really bummed out now. I guess its too much to expect an intern to bring something to the table so there is a mutual benefit.
I think the whole purpose of an internship is of “mutual benefit.” Businesses don’t participate just for altruistic reasons – they do it to get some extra needed help while at the same time exposing the intern to the “real world.”
One internship I did was as an PA on a TV show shot on location. The guys were merciless to me (while we were working - at night they were quite friendly). I did some vital work on this show: setting up lights/reflectors, checking light meters, changing film rolls “in the bag” and on and on. It was integral to the production, however menial. I learned a LOT.
Not to tell you how to run your own store, but I’d structure your job opening to be a bit more comprehensive, and hands on. To me, the job of “rainmaker” sounds more like a full-time position than an internship.
I get your point. He is coming in on Wednesday. As fate shall have it, I had a booking come in for that day that falls over our meeting time and I was going to postpone. Maybe I will throw him in the trenches then talk to him after about specifics. By then, hopefully I will make up my mind on things. I am going to give Temple a call as well tomorrow to see if I can get him/students credits if they intern here.
So Tom, what eventually happened, just wunderin’ ! 
+1 
Ahhh,
Well, he stopped in. I asked him if he has recorded and he said: Yes, using a computer microphone…
He was here for a while. Completely green. Didn’t know really anything. I asked him if he knew microphone patterns and he didn’t nor recording techniques like XY spaced pair, M-S, etc… He didn’t know the difference between condenser and cardioid. I think that is pretty basic stuff, right? He had a good personality. I felt it would be more of a liability than an asset to have him around. I asked a few of my clients what they thought and they didn’t want him attending their sessions. They said they come here for me and my work flow and we both agreed it would slow us way down because I would have to instruct him on procedures on how to do pretty much everything. They pay me, so they are the boss plus my joint is big but not huge. I am constantly buzzing from room to room during dub sessions setting up and adjusting mics and acoustic panels for different sound and I have a feeling, because it happens already with bands of 5 or more that someone winds up being in my way. I must say pardon/excuse me 30 times a session, in a variety of different accents to keep it light as I move about.
When he was here, I did give him a crash-course in recording. I should have given him one of my old recording books… maybe I still will.
So long story short:
I didn’t hire an assistant yet. I was excited to meet him, but after meeting him and talking to my clientele, I think I am going to pass for now. Really what I wanted, he didn’t seem to fit because he wants to know recording instead of marketing/PR. I would still want someone. As it is, I have bookings till the end of next month, so maybe I don’t need a marketing/PR guy. I am kinda tired of doing everything though and working every weekend and almost every evening.
I want a team, damnit! 
A good team could get so much done… ahhhh soon I will be approached, I feel. 
so much going on right now that I feel it coming.
What the heck is going on over there, Tom? :hihi:
Thanks Tom
I’m having a think
The main questions:
HOW do you build a team, given you’ll be getting very little downtime.
What members do you need first?
A good marketing and publicity guy at this moment, risks overloading you beyond your present client-saturation UNLESS you see these as ‘fat’ weeks, which might be followed by ‘lean’ weeks, in which case, you need him to be filling your Future diary.
That will have you doing ONLY but ALL of the actual work.
Hah … I’ve got a question. IF, apart from integration meetings with the guy or gal, he/she did all your marketing and publicity … How Much Time will that get you ,for leisure or for other things?
Next bit: IF you get that little bit more time, to what extent to you spend it with more clients, and to what extent do you spend it with your wife? She is only getting to see you during weekdays, and not at weekends. That is not a good balance, unless there are other times you’ve mot mentioned.
Next bit: Things could expand so you’d NEED that team, in which case, your choice is:
Get people who have experience … you do not need to train them. The successful applicant would be one you’d trust to be in the room with you when working with clients. He’d come at a price … which you’d pay either in money or studio time/services/etc. BUT you’d not be compromising ANYTHING expected by your clients.
Get people who have less experience: I see reduced rates to clients who know that you will be using client time to train new boy. OR, New boy’s jobs are tea making etc, with being allowed to watch and follow you around, but not getting in the way, and you give him 20 minutes at the end of each day: Masterclass, during which time he may ask you questions and make notes on what he has learned. His presence then has no bearing on clients than a receptionist, or personal secretary.
I’m trying to grok … you sound stoked … like you’re either Needing a Team Now … ie remedial = present problem solving = you’ve got too much on your plate. Or Generative = future problem solving = problems you’ve not got, but want to have = big expansion of business.
I’m not just thinking of interns or team or marketing now. I’m getting kind of personal: Emotionally/mentally, how ‘close’ to and how ‘far’ from the situation are you at the moment = double-check for any ‘too’ as in too close or too distant, as you are thinking about and through this. What is the ‘Shape’ of your preferred future? Would you like, in a year’s time, to have someone ELSE do the bog standard recording jobs [I want to do a Karaoke song, but pro recording quality, here’s the backing track, where’s the mike/ Here’s a recording of my granny’s budgie, done on a Paleosonic tape deck, can you convert it to digital and clean it up?], and YOU personally involve yourself more with the work of clients for whom you enjoy making the Most difference. Ie maybe not ‘producer’ but definitely more than ‘just’ recording engineer?
Few years on … do you want an office with a chair, and your techs service the clients, your marketing guy gets the clients, and you provide the space, and are an ‘employer’ … you then have profit and time on your hands to spend more time with your wife. Also to make more of your own music, or to ‘cherry pick’ clients whose work yuo know you want to ‘develop’.
Answers to those kind of questions will add focus to questions like
Who do I need to ‘get’ first - hire them or intern them?
Who do I need to get next.
As I draw a line from left to right in front of me … left = past and right = future … how many of which kind of team members do I need and when do I need them … pointing your finger on the line.
Those are my ‘best shot’ responses with what I’ve got, and what I know of you. I’m reckoning you know most of these anyway, but I’ve gone for presenting them in my specific order of mentioning.
OK … I think my next shot will depend on your feedback,
so take Care
and all the best
Glyn
The college idea mentioned a while back might produce a more adept candidate eventually… Sounds like this lad might have been one more thing to trip over.
Cheers
Yep, like I said before. Go to a college and find a couple of hot chicks, preferably twins that are taking a business course or such. They’ll be like pied pipers leading the bands to the door. Could probably double your rates without issue if you get the right ones.
Tom –
Sorry to hear it didn’t work out. Most colleges don’t sponsor internships until a student is in his/her Junior year. And of the 4 or 5 I’ve done, there was an expectation that I knew the basics of the type of work I was doing – each time I had to an interview to get the internship in the first place, and, given that there was quite a bit of competition to get those positions, I had to know my sh1t to get the invite. (Even though, so I still picked up more knowledge from these real-world situations than much of my classroom training provided).
So if you really want to pursue this further, you could hook up with a university, which will help trim the applicant pool down to the best candidates.
BTW – I myself wouldn’t mind becoming your assistant. I’m cheap
Sounds like a letter to Penthouse!
But for PR it would be effective no doubt!