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FerroProductions.com is your direct link and All Access Pass to entertainments top industry gigs all told from the “production” point of view. Historically, these stories were only available to the 1% “First Call” Pro’s who are on set making it happen. Check out what it takes BTS to bring forth what's on the screens.

05/03/2024

EXPERIENCE: PRO OR CON
Throughout my career's early years, all I heard was, "You need more experience." We all know the catch twenty-two about acquiring experience, "How do you get it if no one will give you a shot without it?"
First, having experience doesn't mean they are good at their job. It doesn't even mean they know anything about their job. It may mean they know how to execute the same task they've been doing for years.
In the 80s, I worked as a hardware engineer at ITT Defense. I was assigned to the Shuttle program and the GPS program. (At that time, the Global Positioning Satellite program was a classified government system). My immediate supervisor, Paul Gallo, was incredible. He had been a Lockheed space program engineer since the early Apollo missions.
Most of what he shared with me was about something other than engineering. He referred to engineering knowledge as "book stuff ." He thought mentoring me on what you can't learn in a book was more important, like navigating your career and befriending the right people, when to speak up and when to shut up." His list of "success survival tools" was almost endless.
The mentoring moment I remember the clearest and the one I repeat to others constantly came out of a high-level meeting regarding the Challenger's failed launch. In attendance at this meeting were Generals from all branches of the service, NASA engineers, senior engineers from every major Avionic and Spacecraft manufacturer, and ME hahaha. Well, me shadowing Paul.
Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it.
https://ferrocity.com/experience-pro-or-con/

14/02/2024

FRANK SAW IT COMING…

“…I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king
I’ve been up and down and over and out…”

Remember those lyrics sung by Frank Sinatra? No? Check out his video That’s Life or just the lyrics.

This song could easily be your anthem once you decide to choose a life in the entertainment production industry. By the time your career concludes you will have probably learned and tried dozens maybe hundreds of different type gigs. Some of those gigs you will have succeeded at and some … well… let’s just say, you tried.

Can you really make a living at this? It almost sounds like you’re in free fall most of your career?

The good news is there are thousands and thousands of people who choose this life and succeed. The percentage of complete wash outs is small, I’d say in the single digits. BUT… (don’t you hate the “BUT”!) that doesn't mean it will be a smooth ride. Honestly, it ain’t easy but if I could do it all over again, I’d do it exactly the same way.

Just as Mr. Sinatra explained…

I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet
A pawn and a king
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing
Each time I find myself
Flat on my face
I pick myself up and get
Back in the race

In an industry that is constantly chasing the next fad or style, changes in technology offer new ways to create and bean counters are always looking to cut manpower or production time, those factors are the force that causes those of us on the front lines of the entertainment industries to learn how to “adjust”.

The day I knew I wanted to spend my professional life “creating”, I wasn’t really sure how that was going to play out. I wasn't even sure what I was going to be creating or what I was even good at.

Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it.
https://ferrocity.com/frank-saw-it-coming/

07/02/2024

PUT UP OR SHUT UP.
Some people train daily for hours in a gym, some study a single subject for years, many spend a life time honing their skills to a fine edge. All preparing in anticipation of an opportunity that hopefully will just show up at their front door.

Then there are others who just walk onto the playing field or into a gig with no prior preparation and assume they are talented enough to figure it out “on the job”.

Which is the better path?
Neither!

Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it.
https://ferrocity.com/put-up-or-shut-up/

29/01/2024

HONORED? OR OVERLOOKED?

“Receiving an award or individual recognition for a collaborative effort is unfair”. You would expect this statement to come from a person who has NOT received awards or recognition for their creative contributions.

This time is coming from a person who HAS received many such awards and recognitions. During my career I have received five Emmys and nine Emmy nominations, granted several awards for books I coauthored, I was honored with two personalized Super Bowl rings, I’ve written and produced music for Mr. Ray Charles and produced his only none live performance music video. Combine those specific recognitions with dozens of accolades for hundreds of projects I’ve completed in broadcast and music gives me a unique position to discuss awards or recognition for their creative contributions.

I mentioned those achievements not to brag. I am deeply appreciative of the recognition. I mention them so you understand I have to right to make the statement that handing awards to an individual for collaborative effort is wrong.

Let me break this down a little.

Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it.
https://ferrocity.com/honored-or-overlooked/

22/01/2024

PUSHING A BROOM CAN JUMP START YOUR CAREER.

That may sound like a weird title for career in the entertainment production industry so let me unpack it a little more.

A few weeks ago, my team and three other vendors were renovating a broadcast studio. Most of the folks working this gig had dozens of years of experience in the biz. Some of us had decades. Among these talented folks was a single individual working with my team who had little to no experience in this environment.

Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it.
https://ferrocity.com/pushing-a-broom-can-jump-start-your-career/

16/01/2024

WHAT CAME FIRST, THE TECH OR THE CREATIVE USE

Does tech drive creativity or does creativity drive the development of new tech?
In the 70s creative artists turned a device for playing records, the turntable, into an instrument which became the center piece of a new genre of music.

That creative use of old tech, tech that was originally developed to playback music from records, suddenly became new tech as an instrument.

That new creative use of the turntable caused by creative artists, inspired technologist to create new tech like the Numark NS7III | 4-Channel Motorized DJ Controller & Mixer which moved the creative process forward again for artists.

Another tech and artist blend in that era started with the Roland 808 analogue rhythm and percussion box. In the early 80s the 808 was a poor attempt at providing home organs an accompanying drum and percussion sounds playing preset rhythms. As the home organ market collapsed so did the need for a crude sounding rhythm / percussion device.

Then in the mid 80s this obsolete device was resurrected by musicians and producers who discovered the unique sound of the 808 and added it as the foundation of most early hip hop. That classic sound is still a prominent sound fixture in much of today’s music.

Even as technologist developed sophisticated digital drum machines with professional drum sounds and allowed users to custom program rhythms, the sounds of the 808 were always included in these devices.

Technologist and artists are a relationship much like peanut butter and chocolate. (I love Reese’s cups). One without the other is okay but together they can change the direction of music and many times life in general.

Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it.
https://ferrocity.com/what-came-first-the-tech-or-the-creative-use/

19/12/2023

MUSICIAN, INVENTOR, VISIONARY, ENTREPRENEUR
Would you believe me if I told you I knew a guy who quit school at 16 and went to work in the Caltech Music Lab. At 18 was handpicked by Tom Oberheim, founder of a leading and pioneering synthesizer manufacture of the same name, Oberheim. This “kid” went on to help design Oberheim’s OBXa, then Oberheim’s first sequencer and drum machine.
From there he cofounded a design company that build the first electric drum pads for Dyna Cord. The first affordable sequencer, drum kit and digital tape recorded, ADAT, produced by Alesis.

WANT more! That design company grew into the legendary first guitar amp with digital sound modeling, Line Six Amps and effects pedals.

In this episode Marcus Riley shares not only, the secrets of his accomplishments but what you need to know to drive you to accomplish your dreams.

You need to watch this episode regardless of where you are in your career. It will inspire, entertain and educate.
https://ferrocity.com/marcus-ryle-inventor-visionary-entrepreneur/

30/11/2023

LEARN BY SCREWING UP

“The greatest teacher, failure is”… spoken by Yoda in The Last Jedi.
Other than the word scramble that is Yoda speak, that thought couldn’t be truer.

It’s hard to believe when you’re starting out that screwing up on a gig isn’t going to be the end of your career but may be a leap forward. It’s those panic “oh sh*t!” moments that teach the best lessons. Lessons that you will never forget. Lessons that you will immediately and forever learn how to avoid doing again while expanding your understanding.

Hang around backstage or in the wings of a show during down time and I guarantee you will hear a bunch of entertainment production veterans sharing stories about how they screwed up on a gig or gigs. Most of the time these vets will be out doing each other with bigger and bigger screw up stories.

It goes like this, “I had finally landed the gig of a lifetime and I knew I was ready. Then all of sudden this _____ happened and I panicked and did ________! “Which took us off the air!” Or “I killed the house audio!” Or “I blew half the lights out on stage three minutes before curtain!”

Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it.
https://ferrocity.com/learn-by-screwing-up/

BTW all of those and many more are part of the “Road Case” stories I share during those backstage hangs. The result of those moments is that none of us have repeated those same screw up twice. We all learned, the hard way, what not to do or what to pay attention to next time.

Now, I’m not saying you need to go out of your way to make mistakes. The point is those mistakes usually happen when you are unware of the consequences of a particular action or when you to stop paying attention to what you need to be paying attention to.

In either case the screw ups act as a wakeup call.

Now the downside of this learning method is you might lose a gig or a client. Which for obvious reasons sucks. But it’s not the end of your career. As I’ve said, many of us have lived through those moments and became the better for it. Hopefully!

Here are some of the stories I’ve heard about, been present for when they happened, or personally screwed up:

The director didn’t call for record in a small control room during a once in a life time interview, where the guest revealed many personal moments never before spoken on the record.

A studio media manager wiped out the memory on a Digital Audio Workstation that held an entire album’s basic tracks for a band that was about to head out on their US stadium tour.

A camera op, shooting with one of the first digital video cameras for network coverage of the NY subway series, was inside an active NY subway tunnel on small platform. Not realizing the trains have a small metal handle outside the train doors of the trains, he misjudged the distance between the moving train and his position. The train came through. The handle hit and knocked the then ninety-thousand-dollar camera out of operator’s hand and shattered the camera. Operator was fine.

How about the time the lighting director who on opening night of a Broadway play loaded the wrong show setting into the lighting console? When the show started it started with all the lighting cues for another play.

Or the shipping company that lost several road cases filled with specialty cameras needed for the broadcast of the Grammy award show.

The time while loading data into a synthesizer during a show’s final sound check at Carnegie Hall the tech didn't check to see if the house sound system was off. It wasn't. So, when the sound of digital audio went live through the audio console and into the speakers, a sound the speakers were never designed to reproduce, it blew the entire sound system out an hour before show.

Or the guitar tech on a major metal band mistuned all the guitars and didn't find out until the band started the show.

Then there was the show producer inside the control room of a live broadcast who for no reason pushed the Grand Master fader on the lighting board and brought all the studio lights to one hundred percent full. Obviously, not cool for the cameras or a live broadcast.

This list goes on and on. I have literally heard or been part of thousands of “misfires”.
As funny as these stories are now they were definitely NOT funny at the time. As I said earlier they also caused many to lose their gig or never get a call back from the company that hired them originally.

Most mistakes are just that a mistake or an accident. Then there are the mistakes caused by ignorance of a task, over confidence or arrogance. These are the most dangerous. Not because they cause more serious issues then the accidents. It’s usually because the person who created the issue will not own the mistake. Meaning they always find someone or something other than themselves to blame. Not recognizing YOU made a mistake leaves you with no reason to correct your behavior or learn what not to do next time and there is always a next time.

The take home points are:
1. A mistake usually doesn’t end your career.
2. The circumstances surrounding the mistake become so ingrained in your DNA that you will likely never make the same mistake twice.
3. You should learn not to make that mistake again and dig a little deeper to learn a better way.
4. Take ownership of the screwup and learn how to avoid doing it or anything similar again.

20/11/2023

CROSS TRAINING ISN’T JUST FOR GYM RATS
I spend a lot of time talking about developing your skills, learning the talents that are of value to the industry and Cross Training yourself to perform in different production opportunities. Those are all critical to know but difficult to learn.

I say, difficult to learn, not because you don't have the aptitude to learn them but because most traditional teaching only focus on single basic skills and expect you learn the rest on the job. Leaving you with the question, “How do you get the job if you don't have the skills the industry needs and is willing to pay for?” “Who do I ask what those skills are and where I should go to learn them?”

The world is evolving faster than ever before. Technological break throughs are almost obsolete even before they even take hold. Following these new tech break throughs come highly motivated creatives who find new ways to use this tech. That combination, tech breakthroughs and motivated creatives, yields new exciting content and creates new opportunities for people willing to embrace the new tech. It’s a cycle has been going on since people first started entertaining each other.

For those of you who are already in the cycle you may sometimes feel like your job or careers are being threatened. For those of you trying to get in, you probably find yourself asking the same questions over and over, “What skills do I need to learn to make myself valuable to the industry and who’s answer should I trust?”

The answer to both these questions isn’t obvious and it isn’t just about learning a practical skill or skills. Well… that isn’t the first think you need to focus on. The first thing you need to focus on is adjusting your traditional understanding of how new skills are acquired.

Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it
https://ferrocity.com/cross-training-isnt-just-for-gym-rats/

11/10/2023

NATURAL POSITION
“Natural Positions” is a term used in professional sports to describe a position that an athlete is “naturally” built to play. This natural ability is driven by either experience, physical characteristics or an innate aptitude, as opposed to a position he / she is being forced or asked to play other than their natural position for any number of reasons.

The same is true in music. When a musician picks up an instrument or opens their mouth to sing, it either flows naturally or it doesn’t.
Calm down, I know many musicians can play several instruments and many have mastered dozens. But there is always one instrument (including voice) that they feel most naturally creative.

Having lived in both the music and sports worlds for my entire life, I can speak to this observation, it’s true from the youngest backyard amateur, to the highest degree of professional. I have witnessed firsthand this phenomenon and know it exists as fact. I can’t speak to why it exists, I just that I know it clearly does exist!

Come on… keep reading. It’s totally worth it.
https://ferrocity.com/natural-position/

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What is FerroCity?

FerroCity is an Education & Membership Community helping you learn and deliver your ideas, projects and services to the world. FerroCity offers you the knowledge and experiences from the industries best, plus a COMMUINITY where you can put to work what you learn.

FerroCity functions and operates exactly like all cities throughout history. It has a specific and strategic architectural design that’s based on a bottom up approach beginning with Education. Which makes available to the entire FerroCity population the chance for anyone to access knowledge and opportunity.

FerroCity, unlike any other platform that we know, has an entire ecosystem to allow you to IMPLEMENT and EXECUTE upon that which you’ve learned.

Think about this. Most courses just end without any further help implementing new knowledge and more Communities than not don’t provide focused learning opportunities.