Jon LeBrun certainly has some interesting stories to tell. Graduating OIART only a couple of years ago, Jon nonetheless has assisted on recordings by Nelly Furtado, rapper K-OS, and Great Big Sea and film projects including “One Eyed Kings” starring William Baldwin and Armand Assante, and a documentary on the Toronto SARS concert (better known as SARStock). That was all before he got his current gig at CTV where he works on shows for the main network and CTV-owned TSN, the Discovery Network and the Comedy Channel.

For our interviews on the OIART site, we try to focus both on our most successful graduates at the top of the industry, as well as grads who haven’t been out quite as long and are working their way up. If you’re interested in getting into the audio industry, it’s good to see both sides! As an extra bonus, since CTV is broadcasting shows in HD, we also get to learn about this new technology! Bob Breen interviews, yet again:

Hi Jon, thanks for taking the time to fill out our survey. Your $5.00 check will be in the mail shortly. Just kidding, seriously thank you for the interview. How are things in Toronto these days?
Life in the big city is going great. Lots of ups and downs over the last year or so but everything came with an accomplishment or a lesson.

Let’s talk about your job at CTV. What do you do as an Audio Post Assistant?
We are the last link in the chain before a show goes to air. Most of the time I work in layback which more or less means recording the audio out of ProTools to a master tape. These tapes are in many different formats and all require a different set of procedures in order to stripe the audio correctly. We are also in charge of recording voice over talent for TV promos, narration, ADR etc… It is our job to capture great sound, then process it with some EQ and compression. This is then sent to audio post where they mix it and send it to air.

What are some of the programs you've worked on so far?
I've had the opportunity to work on some really great shows, ones you might be more familiar with are “Canadian Idol”, “The OC”, “CSI”, “Law and Order”, and for those late nighters...”Sex Files”. Some other shows I work on that are mostly broadcast on the Discovery Channel are “Forensic Factor” and ”Ultimate Access”. Both these shows are shot in High Definition and are very high budget productions.

Is your favourite part of the job recording the voice overs? Just a guess.
Yes. Anything that gets your creativity flowing and challenges your ears makes the day much more enjoyable. The talent are usually really great to work with. Most are males in their 40’s - 60’s and have been in the business for years. They get paid well over a $100 an hour and for some reason, they’re all hippies. But layback has its perks as well. Most of the time we can just kick back and watch the show if it’s all going smoothly…not a bad gig getting paid to watch the Sopranos!

When you see something you recorded on TV, how’s that feel?
It feels amazing. They always put our names in the credits so it’s extremely rewarding when your family or friends tell you they saw your name on TV.

When you’re doing transfers, you’re the last person to see a show before it goes to air. What kinds of things do you spot sometimes that could cause problems?
Most of the time its clicks and pops and sometimes sync issues with the audio. From time to time you can get problems where the mixer forgot to mute the guide tracks in ProTools or something like that. One time working on “Sex Files”, the mixer didn't clean up the narration track properly and left in a part where the voice over talent said “F@$%”. It was hilarious because it happened during the middle of a love scene…it was really tempting to leave it in, but I probably wouldn't have a job anymore if I did.

I understand you were working some pretty long days leading up to Christmas. What sort of hours were you working?
Well the way it works in television, or at least at CTV, is that everything is scheduled so that all productions are complete by Christmas. This is so all the full timers can take their vacation during the holidays. But with this, Christmas time becomes the busiest time of year. I was working 70+ hour weeks and on top of that, I still managed to work at my other part time job. Audio post assistants are considered freelance employees so our hours are not consistent, and most seek out second jobs to help pay the bills.

Were you one of the students who went to OIART saying “I don’t want a 9 to 5 job!”? We hear that a lot!
Well I can’t remember saying that, but I wouldn't mind working 9 to 5, instead of 4pm – midnight. My goal was to have a career that didn't put me in a cubicle the rest of my life, I wanted to enjoy going to work everyday, and so far I'm loving it.

Considering you do a very detail-oriented kind of job, how did you keep your focus to avoid making mistakes when you were likely pretty beat after a few weeks of long days?
Well fortunately they book 2 of us for each shift. It’s always great to have a second set of ears and another brain to help bail you out of a nightmare. Also free coffee is a life saver!

Let’s go back a little. How did you get the job in the first place?
Well everyone has heard the saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. My cousin works at TSN as a camera OP for Sports Center, and she introduced me to the man who is now my boss.

What was the hiring process like?
Unfortunately there is no other way to get a job at a large corporation without a connection. Internships and Co-ops are what most people do to get in, I was lucky. My boss has a stack of about 80 resumes sitting on his desk. He has never looked through them once, he just has no time. If he needs someone, he'll ask one of us for a recommendation. Not to discourage you who are about to look for a job, and I'm not saying it’s impossible to get in on your own, but just be prepared.

I guess at OIART we have a connection there now! What sort of questions did you get asked in your interview?
Well my interview was definitely not your typical interview. I ended up spending an entire day shadowing him, and he would just throw out little questions here and there. He asked me a lot about my training and education, and finally any experience I had. Fortunately I had a great education from OIART and lots of experience from my internship. I do remember one question that completely blew my mind, and I still don’t know what the hell he was talking about. The question was something about collapsing a 5.1 signal to mono using a mult. He wanted to know how many dB I would have to change in order to make both signals equal. I had no idea! He ended up giving me two choices, 8dB or 16dB, I took a guess and said 8dB. I was right.

What sort of things did they tell you in the interview?
One thing he said that surprised me was about my ProTools experience. On my resume I had in big bold letters ‘ProTools expert’. He flat out told me that it didn't mean jack. In today’s industry you NEED to know ProTools and that’s that. It no longer sets you apart from other applicants, it did 5 years ago, but not anymore. But with that said, I've lost count on the amount of disasters I've crawled out of because of my ProTools knowledge.

Think they had a big party over at Digidesign when they heard they'd put Analog tape out of business? Quantegy, the last producer of Analog tape in the US, shut down their plant over Christmas 2004.
Oh I'm sure they did, Digidesign is definitely taking over the audio world. But I was never a fan of analog. Yes it sounded great on crunch guitars and kick drums, but honestly, who wants to cut tape with a blade. I love the digital world and I admire those who did it the hard way 20 years ago.

What sort of training did you get?
I was trained by the best, I don’t think I could have learned more anywhere else. I was trained a lot on the gear in the machine room. This includes all the different tape machines such as Beta SX, HD cam, you name it. It was challenging at first because half the gear I had never seen before. Reason being that most facilities just can’t afford these machines. On average, each tape machine was worth over $100,000. They didn't even bother training me on ProTools because once again, they expected you to know it already.

What are the opportunities you have to move up if all continues to go well?
Well CTV is definitely a job with a career potential. I've been told that it is a natural process for audio assistants to work their way up to the big chair. They spend lots of time and money training us so when a position becomes available, they look at their own staff, not at outsiders.

Even though you have to start at the bottom, what are some of the advantages of working at a big company like CTV?
Well I think number one is job security. If you get hired full time you are set for life. Health care, pension, great salary, it’s all there. If you find yourself working freelance or at a smaller facility, you might be working paycheck to paycheck and sometimes going months without a job.

CTV seems to be at the forefront of the new HD Television and Surround for Broadcast technologies (your boss recently did a presentation on this subject to the Toronto AES). What sort of new gear and terminology did you have to learn when you arrived there?
Haha someone’s done their homework eh Bobby. Well the HDcam is the tape machine we use when working with high definition. It’s a little intimidating at first and it can do everything short of serving you coffee. I had to wrap my brain around new frame rates and procedures. And as for the surround sound audio that we record to this HD master, I had to learn all about Dolby E. Dolby E is essentially an encoded signal that is put on the tape, which is later decoded on your home receiver and spread out 6 channels. Dolby E is a little tricky at first, but it really makes sense once you learn it.

Do all the major stations have this gear?
I would imagine that CBC and City TV also have it, but not too many others can afford it. One HDcam costs around $300,000.

What do you think about the quality of HDTV? How do you like watching it?
I absolutely love it. I saw my first HD broadcast back home on my dad’s home theatre system. It was the Superbowl, and you could see the turf moving in the wind and the colour was insane. If you have never seen a true HD broadcast, you’re missing out.

Tell us a little about the HDTV standard… do they use different cameras? Is the audio different from regular TV?
Yes they use different cameras. I haven’t done much research on it, but I know that no film is used. It’s either a High Definition tape or some sort of digital storage media inside the camera. A true HD broadcast is broadcast with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and exceptional picture quality. HDTV’s display up to 1080 lines of resolution, where standard NTSC televisions only display 525 so you’re getting twice the amount of picture information, making it seem like you’re looking through a window, not a TV.

I remember hearing that the industry was trying to phase out analog broadcasting entirely… what do you know about that?
Yes they are. I heard somewhere that by 2010 they want HDTV to be the new industry standard. I find it hard to believe that it will come that soon but if it did, it would be amazing.

What’s the average person need to buy to get HDTV into their homes?
They need to buy an HDTV. This is not a regular TV, it’s a special television designed to output 1080 lines of resolution, and for heavens’ sake don’t buy the one made by Magnatronics or some crap…go big or go home. Next they need to buy an HD receiver. Bell ExpressVU or Rogers digital cable are the most popular.

I've noticed on my Bell ExpressVU box that I have a few channels that look like they’re supposed to be HD on the low end of the dial. Do you know how many HDTV channels are broadcasting in Canada right now?
Unfortunately there are not many channels broadcasting HD yet, but every year the number increases. Most of the “HD” channels you'll find are not true HD signals. They are simply an up-converted analog signal with standard stereo sound, but it’s obvious to tell them apart from the true HD broadcasts…just look at the picture. Within a few years DVDs will be able to hold HD video and every movie you rent at Blockbuster will be in high definition. This technology has already been developed and I've seen it, I think the delay right now is coming from ownership rights.

How has your OIART knowledge helped you at work so far? Has it helped you in difficult situations?
It has helped me out tremendously. My concept of ProTools and signal flow has allowed me to wrap my brain around anything they can dish out. It has helped me out in many situations. Even simple things like knowing how to change the path of an audio signal using a patch bay has saved me many times. Oh ya and did I mention my knowledge of ProTools????? Thanks guys!

You told me you had worked with grads from other recording schools… how would you compare your knowledge from OIART to theirs?
Well not to belittle other audio schools, but I have worked with people who graduated from (other schools), and lets just say I was extremely happy with my decision to go to OIART. I was trained by a guy who had already been at CTV for awhile, and today I find myself answering his questions.

Have you been able to analyze at all why that is?
I think a huge reason is that these other schools have many different courses, where as OIART is a dedicated audio school with small classes. They also told me that in their audio courses they had to take elective courses that had absolutely nothing to do with audio. Once again, a waste of time and money, something I never found at OIART.

I swear this isn't scripted, folks. I just ask the questions. Does it make you glad you went here?
I think that speaks for itself from my above statements. In addition to that, something I loved about OIART is that it was intense and only 1 year. Where as some of these other schools are 3 years and slow paced. The guys I work with are 26 and up and have the same job title as I do. They told me they wished they went to a school like OIART where they could have entered the work force at a younger age. After seeing what this career is all about, you sort of come to terms with the fact that you'll need to put in a few years of “grunt” work, and to get it done when you’re younger is a great idea.

So what do you think the single most important thing you learned at OIART was?
In terms of knowledge, definitely ProTools. But also attitude and professionalism is something I took with me along with my diploma.

One of the recurring themes of all the grad interviews I've been doing is that there really is no such thing as graduating a recording school and just stepping into the dream job, despite what some schools imply could happen! It doesn't. One’s career is a series of unpredictable twists and turns that eventually will take a person to the place they ought to be; especially if they have a good attitude and are willing to work hard. It doesn't happen overnight.

That said; let’s talk about the internship you did before you got to CTV. You worked at a small combination music and post studio as an intern for 6 months unpaid. I'm all for internships, free internships included, for however long it takes, let me make that clear. Tell us about what you did there.
Well I remember my first day like it was yesterday. I went in there with a huge smile on my face and a pad of paper to write down as much as I could so when I went home I could study and learn the studio inside and out. When I got home later that night, I looked at my notebook and it said, ”take out garbage on Wednesdays, toilet brush is under the sink and vacuum is in the back closet”. So to say the least I was a little discouraged. But I stuck with it and went in every day with a positive attitude. After about a month they had me cutting FX for some TV shows, then they had me as the head editor for a full feature film. I was doing everything from Foley to ADR and I loved every minute of it. Shortly after, I was asked to be the assistant engineer on a 3 week recording session with hip hop artist K-OS for his now released Joyful Rebellion album. I worked lots of long hours and didn't earn a dime, but it was great and the experience was amazing.

You were given a fair bit of responsibility over a long period of time. Did they promise you a paid position was down the road?
Well that’s sort of the beauty and the curse of small independent studios. You get to do a lot of hands on work for them and if you’re lucky, less of the coffee making. But I found out that they had absolutely no intention of offering me a position after my internship. My internship was only supposed to be 3 months, but I stayed around for 6 months with the hope of landing a job. That day never came. They were just keeping me around for as long as they could. I mean who wouldn't want someone working insane hours, doing their work for them and not having to pay them a dime? Interns beware…

How did they explain not paying you for something like ADR and soundesign for a feature film, where obviously there had to be some kind of budget somewhere?
Well the subject of being paid never really came up on their half. One time they wanted me to work a 16 hour day and I said yes because I wanted to show them my dedication to the film. I asked if they might be able to pay me something for my efforts, they said they couldn't because of budget purposes. So I asked if they could at least buy me dinner seeing as how I was going to be there all day. So I was treated to a mouth watering gourmet meal at Wendy's.

Were you working alone?
I worked alone on all the sound FX cutting and editing. I had some help when I recorded the foley, and I worked with another guy who was the head mixer on the film.

I know there’s nothing worse than asking to get paid when you feel like the new guy who hasn't proven anything yet… did you ask to get paid?
When I first started my internship I was unaware that it was going to be an unpaid internship. So one day I asked my studio manager if I was going to receive a paycheck any time in the near future. He replied, “Yes, when you get a real job”. Also, see Wendy's story above.

Some of those jobs sound a little like paid positions to me. Anyway, how did you come to the decision enough was enough?
Well after 6 months I decided to put my foot down and ask my manager for a job. I already knew the answer but I had to ask anyway. He told me that he'd love to keep me around but there were just no positions available. I started CTV 3 weeks later.

Usually in an internship, there is a job at the end of the road after a reasonable tryout/training period. Either that or there is no job available unless someone with more experience leaves. Sometimes it pays to hang on until that day comes. How do you think someone can tell if they're being used, rather than being given a golden opportunity to prove themselves?
Well if it’s a small studio that only has 8 guys working there, chances are you won’t get a job at the end of it. Your best bet is to work really hard with a great attitude and learn as much as you can. And network with as many people as possible because they are the ones who will get you a job in the long run.

Did you manage to leave without burning any bridges? That’s important, it’s a small business, really.
Yes I did, I left on good terms. I wasn't going to explode and ruin my 6 months of experience which I was going to put on my resume. I left with great contacts and references.

Would you say in retrospect you got full experience value for your time?
Absolutely. I wouldn't change anything I did. I had the opportunity to work on some great projects and meet some amazing people. I'm happy with my internship now that I look back on it.

In certain situations internships are the best and sometimes only way to gain experience when you want to get into the industry… do you think there’s a lesson here somewhere?
Bottom line is you won’t get hired without experience. Internships are your way in. Hopefully you will land an internship that has a job waiting for you at the end of it, but if not, don’t worry, just learn as much as you can and use it in your future. Just be prepared for some of the hardships that an internship brings.

Good advice, awesome thank you. So what are you working on at CTV nowadays?
We are currently getting ready for all the new seasons which have just finished filming. We are also doing some testing with HD picture on DVD which is really exciting. Every year CTV gets new shows to work on so I'm looking forward to what this year has to bring.

What’s been your best day on the job up to this point?
Aside from seeing Janet Jackson 2 weeks after the Superbowl ‘incident’, I'd have to say going to Wonderland to record roller coasters and rides for a show called Ultimate Access. The episode was all about amusement parks, some were lucky enough to go all the way to Cedar Point in Ohio to record the largest roller coasters in the world.

Are you hoping to be at CTV a long time?
Yes I am. My goal is to get hired on full time within the next 2-3 years. If I can accomplish that, I'll be set for life…hopefully.

Are you happy with the choices you've made and the experiences you've had in your life so far?
Without a doubt, I have no regrets. Everything has been a lesson to some degree this year and I enjoyed all of it.

Finally, do you have any advice for someone taking or graduating the program?
Don’t be fooled by anyone who tells you the first few years will be a walk in the park. If you’re lucky enough to land a job right away and it’s amazing, my hats off to you. Be prepared to live broke for a while and most importantly don’t give up. Also I strongly encourage moving to a city where the work is. Try to avoid moving back home after graduating and expect to land a job. You have to do some sacrificing at first, but it will be worth it in the long run. And finally, when you start off at an internship or whatever, learn as much as you can and NETWORK! It’s a good idea to get a business card to hand out to people on your journey to success, who knows what can happen in the future.

Best of luck in the future, Jon, thanks so much for your time!
Thank you Bob, and best of luck to everyone. It’s a great business and you won’t regret getting into it, I promise!