Hello everyone,
Is it just me, or is the proliferation of job postings requiring audio producers to also be video producers a bit disappointing, to say the least?
I remember a little less than a decade ago, people in the industry were upset when so many jobs started requiring audio producers to also be audio editors or “pre-editors.” And throughout my career I have now become proficient in most aspects of audio production (producing, scriptwriting, audio editing, sound design, and mixing) to keep up with the “needs” of the industry.
I didn’t necessarily agree with the direction the audio industry was taking, which required us all to become audio Swiss Army knives to make a decent living. But at least I’m happy to now have a full set of skills in the audio medium.
However, I find these new job postings that require audio producers (they all have to be ‘pre-editors’ now, of course) to also be experts in the other video medium to be excessive.
I also earned my graduate degree from the Craig Newmark School of Journalism, a multimedia program that teaches each of its students the fundamentals of audio, video, print, and photography; Therefore, I am very capable of producing both audio and video.
But having an employee capable of producing in multiple media should be a (well-paid) bonus, not a requirement.
It wasn’t long ago when audio producers weren’t required to be an army of one, and if a podcast had a video component, that was handled by separate video producers. We don’t have to live in this new exploitative future that the audio industry is heading towards. Companies will constantly demand more and more, forcing you to do the work of several people to reduce costs. The least we can do is try to reject them collectively and try to force ourselves to do the work of several people now in different media.
Remember, just because something is doesn’t mean it should be.
If you are at a company that does this, advocate for your future coworkers. If you see something, say something.
I’m interested in hearing your opinion.
All the best,
Levi