Studio Intern

UPDATE Thanks so much to everyone who applied for this! We have now awarded the internship, and so we’re closing this off for the time being. We may reopen again at a later time, so watch this space, or sign up to our Careers Newsletter to stay informed about new opportunities.

We have a super rare opening for an Intern between now and Xmas. Bristol team are about to dive into one of our most creatively ambitious projects to date. The full details are confidential, but we can tell you that we will be recording and processing a wide range of our studio sound sources, including 50+ synths and 30+ Hardware Boxes (Valve Kit, EQs, Compressors, Distortions), exploring a wide range of techniques from the classic to the hyper experimental and everything in between.

To get a flavour for the type of work we do, check out the teaser reel we made recently for our Graduate Submissions opening, including recent trailers for Ghost in the Shell and Alien Covenant…

 

To get a feel for what goes on in studio, check out this recent video we made when we invited a guest from our sonic community into studio for a day when we made our Shadow Oscillations free download sound pack as a gift to the creative community. (If you’d like to get your hands on that, go check out the SHADOW OSCILLATIONS DOWNLOAD )

 

Sound appealing? Great, then keep reading!

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING

You’ll be assisting the inhouse team working in the SSL Room & Sound Garden, and on location in our quarry, and various other places. Helping with recording, capture, processing, cabling, fixing, tea and coffee making, patching, logging settings and maintaining hardware patch sheets, social media material, sound library maintenance, synth patching, fetching & carrying, setting up effects units, synths, and hardware units, tape maintenance, holding stuff, moving stuff, fixing down, fixing, up, being cheerful, opening up, locking up, researching, assisting and being very useful, supporting the team to meet our December 18th deadline for this project. You’ll have a genuine opportunity to learn from one of the UK’s best creative sound teams, being immersed in what we’re doing over the next while up to Xmas.

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ESSENTIAL INFO

  • Open to anyone either living or able to make own arrangements to stay within daily commutable distance of our Bristol Studio.
  • Full time hours apply
  • Must be available for immediate start
  • Internship is unpaid with travel/lunch allowance
  • There will be a 1 week in studio trial prior to awarding the internship
  • Applications close when we award the internship

WHAT WE’RE AFTER

Some of these will probably describe you quite well

  • Organized, commonsense, practical hands on person.
  • Some connection or experience with sonic hardware. Even if that’s just a very strong aspiration to get amongst it with real boxes, rather than making all your sound “in the box”.
  • Fast accurate written notetaking/diagramming
  • Cheerful, positive team player, easy to get along with
  • Self motivated problem solver. If you see something that needs doing, or a problem that needs solving, you tend to get on and do it, not leave it for someone else
  • Genuine aspiration to push yourself forward in creative and/or technical sound.
  • Strong sonic ear for what sounds good

USEFUL TO HAVE:

  • Exposure to synths & hardware
  • Exposure to analogue mixing desks
  • Programming
  • Your own transport
  • Electrics/electronics knowledge and capability

HOW TO APPLY

1. Ensure you have the email address “jobs@radium-audio.com” in your address book, so you get our autoresponder letting you know we got your email. If you don’t receive it, also check your spam, trash, or bin in case it ended up there.

2. Address an email to “jobs@radium-audio.com” with subject line formatted like this:
“1709 Studio Intern – [Your Name]-[Your Mobile No]”

3. Attach your CV in pdf format to the email. Be sure it includes your current physical address, and info about all your skillsets/areas of competance/DAWs in sound and music.

4. Paste into your email up to 5 clickable, streamable links that best represent your connection to sound and music, to share with us. Showreel work, sound design pieces, music tracks, technical projects, studio setup projects, engineering, electronics projects, anything relevant to our world is fine. Soundcloud, Youtube, Vimeo, Behance, Project specific web pages, all fine. It’s ok to include an explanatory paragraph with each link.

5. Underneath your links, write an introductory paragraph telling us where you saw this opening, a bit about you, and what you’re doing right now.

6. Next, with reference to the information we’ve given about the internship, tell us how you’d like to contribute to what we’re doing

7. Finally, tell us what you hope to get out of the internship, and where you’d ideally like to be 12 months from now.

8. Read “Frequently Asked Questions” below.

9. STOP and DOUBLE CHECK. Did you follow steps 1 – 8 above? Did you DEFINITELY read through all the FAQ below?

10. OK, then hit “Send” and get your application in to us.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Many of these questions we’re asked repeatedly by phone and email every time we advertise a role, so we hope that by including them, it will make the application process simpler and more transparent for everyone. We also include some that are relevant for this specific opening, so even if you’ve looked at some of our other job ads and you’ve read through FAQs before, you should still check through the below as some of it will be different each time.

Section 1. Should I apply for this role?

Q. What sort of background do I need to apply for this? A. We’re open to all backgrounds. Maybe you just graduated. Maybe you’re in the middle of studying, but you’re available full time between now and Xmas. Maybe you haven’t been to Uni, but you’re into music and sound, and you’d like to get some studio experience before you decide what to do next. If you have many of the things we’ve asked for, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to learn quickly what you don’t know then give it a go!

Q. I’m not right for this internship but I’d love to be a part of your team. Can I apply anyway and just tell you what I CAN do, on the offchance I might catch your attention for this or another role? A. Yes you can, but this internship isn’t the right path for that. Head over to our Radium Careers Page to see other options for getting in touch.

Q. I’m not right for this internship but I’m an aspiring composer/producer and I really want to get foot in door somewhere. Shall I just apply for this anyway? A. We have another opening specifically for composer/producers who are at the very early stages of their careers. Head over to our Graduate Submissions section to find out more.

Q. I’m not really looking for a career in sound and music, but I do want to get foot in door with a creative company, and I’m an aspiring visual designer or film maker. Can I just apply for this anyway? It sounds really interesting. A. We have another opening specifically for visual designers & film makers. Check out our Visual Creatives opening to find out more.

Q. Is this a real practical learning opportunity? Or will I just be a glorified tea-maker who gets to observe sometimes? A. Yes, this is a real practical learning opportunity, and no, you won’t just be a glorified tea-maker and fetcher of coffee and jaffacakes, though it would be nice if you could help out on that too. Our inhouse team are going to be under a lot of time pressure between now and Xmas, so anything you can do to make their lives easier is going to be really useful and very much appreciated. Here’s the thing – we receive letters and emails all the time from people wanting to come and do internships/work experience with us. Usually, the answer is no, and that’s for a couple of reasons. Firstly, many of the projects we work on are highly confidential and very skill specific. So we operate a closed studio with only our own security vetted team permitted access during those times, and we usually can’t accommodate ad hoc open days, work experience, or internships. Secondly, we’re a small tight and super busy team, with everyone fully contributing and carrying their own weight on any project we undertake. That doesn’t leave much room for anyone to be able to mentor or caretake newbies, the deadlines and workflow are much too intense for that in most cases. The last time we formally advertised an internship was 5 years ago, that’s how rare it is for us to do this. However, right now we have a particular project with a longer turnaround time than we usually have, and enough team capacity in it for us to offer an internship with some supervision and mentoring from the wider team. So we’re taking the opportunity now to do just that.

Q. If things work out, is there a chance this internship could be extended or made permanent after Xmas? A. This internship doesn’t come with any undertaking from our side that it will continue after Xmas or could turn paid work, so please don’t apply on the assumption that will be on offer. What you should expect to get out of this is all the learning you’ll gain from several weeks full studio immersion and experience with one of the most experimental and exploratory creative sound teams in the UK today, up until Xmas. To give some history and context on this, the last time we offered an internship, which was 5 years ago, we brought in 2 people and we actually did end up hiring both of them. But that was due to specific circumstance, and not simply because they’d done an internship with us. One individual was hired immediately after the internship finished, because he really impressed everyone and had shown strong aptitude in a certain direction, and we had available budget and further specific work suited to that at the time. He was with us for 3 years and had worked his way into a senior and responsible role, before heading overseas to travel. The other individual applied for a publicly advertised job with us 2 years after his internship had finished, and because we’d already worked with him in studio before and we knew his aptitudes and skillset were a good fit, we awarded him the position. He’s still with us today, 3 years after that, and 5 years after he initially interned with us. So to reiterate, again, this opening is not offered as a path to further work or a full time place on the team. However, if you enjoyed your temporary time with us, and opportunities do come up later that are right for you, obviously there is an advantage in having spent time inhouse with us, and made a really great impression on the team.

Q. I’ve applied with you before and not been successful. Is it pointless to apply again? A. Not at all, give it another shot! As long as you fit with the role as we’ve described, and you follow the current instructions for submission, definitely do apply again. A few of our team have made unsuccessful applications before finally gaining a position.

Section 2 . Ok I’ve decided I’m going to apply, and I’m preparing my submission ….

Q. I’ve been looking for a job in sound and music for a while, and I have a standard submission with covering email and CV that I usually send off to prospective employers. Is it ok if I just send you that? A. You will be at a disadvantage in the application process if you haven’t shaped your submission to fit the opening on offer.

Q. Can I be creative with the format of my application? The way I like doing things is different to what you’ve asked for. A. We don’t want to be unnecessarily rigid, but given that we do tend to receive a lot of material to organise and review, and your application gives us an idea not just about your creative and technical skills, but also about your ability to follow team instructions correctly and organise your own work and team work, it will be to your advantage to work within the submission guidelines we’ve given.

Q. Is it an advantage to get my application in really early? A. For this role yes it is. We would like to find someone to start working with us as quickly as possible, and so as soon as we find that person we will discontinue the application process.

Q. When do applications close? A. Applications will close as soon as we find the right person, which we’re hoping to do quite quickly. We will announce here and on Facebook when that happens.

Section 3: I’ve sent in my submission. What happens now?

Q. Ok so I’ve applied for the position following all the guidelines given. What happens next? A. We review and start separating out applications for potential shortlisting. Those people will then be contacted by phone to discuss next steps. We’re looking to fill this opening quickly, so we’ll be getting in touch pretty promptly upon receiving individual applications which look like they could be right for this position.

Q. Did you get my email? A. You should receive an auto –responder from us confirming receipt of your email. If you haven’t:

  • Check your spam or junk mail in case it landed there
  • Check you have only sent your submission to jobs@radium-audio.com and not directed to or included any other address
  • If neither of the above applies, email us again without any attachments or links with “NO RECEIPT RECEIVED” inserted at the end of your original subject line. We’ll then check our autoresponder to be sure it’s working properly, and let you know if we received your mail.

Q. Should I phone just for a quick chat to follow up my application? A. Please don’t be offended, however due to volume of enquiries we tend to get, we’d really prefer if you didn’t. If we can see what we’re looking for in what you’ve sent us, we’ll definitely be phoning you!

Q. What do you really look for when you go through all the applications? A. For this role, we’re looking for evidence that you have as much as possible of the types of skills or experience we’ve detailed in the job advert. You don’t have to have bags of experience, but we hope there’s something there to show us that this type of work is something you’re already interested in and have some aptitude for, and have explored given your personal circumstances, even before this opportunity came up. We also then look to see whether there’s common ground there with our own philosophy and approach.

Q. Will you let me know about the outcome regardless of whether or not I’ve been successful? A. Not by individual email this time, however keep an eye on Facebook and the top of this page for updates.

Thanks and good luck – we’re looking forward to your submissions!

Sonic City