We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marcel Paige a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Marcel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
Coming fresh out of college with a degree in Audio & Music Production, I have a lot of thoughts and opinions on my experience and how it could have been improved. To put things into perspective, I came into my freshman year of college with the mindset that if I really wanted to pursue a career based in the arts/entertainment industry, I would need to apply myself and get experience in the real world if I want to set myself up for success leaving college. I did my very best in every quiz and project I would get assigned, and most importantly, ask questions as much as possible so I could develop a relationship with my professors where they understand my goals and ambitions. When opportunities for internships and gigs would come up, my professors would reach out to me personally. This thankfully helped me get my start in many of the industries that I work in professionally today. However, this type of behavior never felt completely supported by the degree path, especially as an underclassman. Whenever I expressed my interest in registering for more advanced courses and courses outside my major to expand my skills and meet different types of people, I was often shot down and had to jump through hoops for overrides. This never stopped me from achieving my goals, but it did lead me to reaching out elsewhere to other schools and outside organizations to find the connections I was looking for. While that experience alone made me into a more independent individual, I would ask education institutions to encourage and support extra meritorious endeavors by including more diverse courses and work with the other programs to enable taking classes outside your degree that will benefit your professional career.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Marcel Paige and I am a professional audio engineer. Some of the work I do includes:
Live Sound Engineering for music festivals, concerts, and live music venues.
Production Sound Mixing/Boom Operating for feature films, short films, commercials, and other content.
Mixing Engineer for music, film/television, and live-streaming
I pride myself in having an extremely diverse skillset and approach to audio. My experience in all of these different industries gives me a unique approach to whatever situation I am presented with. I also have acquired lots of gear pertaining to each of these industries, giving me many different ways to approach a gig. Every client is different, and one kit doesn’t fit all. I am able to provide effective and efficient solutions for whatever your situation may be
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
It is undoubtedly seeing the project come to life. As a part of the production side of projects, I get the pleasure of being able to sit back and enjoy the final product. It never get old to see the outcome of all the hard work we do in pre-production, production, and post-production actually come together into something the entire team is proud of. When tasked with a challenge, finding an effective and seamless solution to the situation always feels great.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think my ability to deliver results has contributed the most towards building my reputation. Many professionals can deliver great sounding audio or have an expansive set of gear. I try my very best to have a solution to every application, and continue to learn and improve from every experience I get into. My clients are positive that whenever they call me, they will have an answer, and the next time they call me, I’ll know even more than I did before.
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