Sound Engineer

Mostly Modern Projects seeks a reliable, experienced sound engineer with a solid knowledge and love of music, and a huge passion for what we do as an organization. The audio engineer will work with our videographer, our Artistic Director, Robert Paterson, our General Director, Victoria Paterson, and our Director of Operations, Carly Barnes. This job will consist of working full time for three weeks each June at Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY, and part time remotely after the festival in July-September to edit and and wrap up videos and audio files from the festival.

Ensembles to be recorded include:

Hours/Location

  • Festival (In Person): June 1-21, 2025, Saratoga Springs, NY

  • Part-time: after festival until August 15th; possible corrections and re-editing until September 15th

Compensation

  • Festival (Each June): Compensation for this duration will be a flat fee, not hourly, TBD. Single occupancy room and three meals a day included

  • Part Time (July-August, Remote): flat fee TBD, depending on qualifications, experience and skill set

Requirements

  • Proven track record recording music events. Experience recording acoustic classical music concerts and especially orchestral concerts required

  • Note: our recordings are used for archival purposes and uploaded to our Mostly Modern Projects YouTube Channel

  • Attend festival June 2nd-June 21st, 2025 in Saratoga Springs, NY

  • Work with videographer and directors to establish “best practices” during and after the festival

  • Film the following events:

    • Two orchestral readings (3 hours each)

    • Three orchestral rehearsals for conductors (1 hour each)

    • Thirteen concerts: three orchestral concerts and ten chamber music concerts

  • Set up all mics and sound in accordance with Skidmore College and Mostly Modern policies. Note: there is a recording booth in the back of the hall with appropriate inputs/outputs.

  • Occasional assistance with basic sound reenforcement and sound levels for select events, such as a keyboard with a single amp (i.e., a keyboard provided by MMP for an orchestral concert. that emulates a celeste, etc.), electro-acoustic playback, etc.

  • Complete all post-production editing with videographer and upload audio files (WAV and MP3) to the MMP DropBox account by August 15th

  • Provide any necessary re-edits promptly through September 15th. (Note that everyone is given single files, and we don’t do edited recording sessions. Edits are rarely necessary and would consist of fixing sound levels if something needs fixing, but in practice, this is almost never necessary)

  • All files, included final edited videos in all resolutions, and all video edit files will become the property of Mostly Modern Projects and be stored online for potential future use.

Note Regarding Equipment

It is expected that the sound engineer will provide their own laptop, recording equipment, microphones, and mic stands. Storage drives will be provided and/or paid for separately by Mostly Modern Projects as needed. MMP’s Dropbox account is unlimited, so there is plenty of space to store files after the festival.

All of our performances take place in the 600-seat Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall at the Arthur Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College. Regarding how we prefer our concerts recorded, we have generally used a mix of a stereo pair (i.e. Decca Tree), ambience/audience, and spot mics on sections (such as winds) and soloists as needed. Our goal is a live sound from the audience’s perspective, with abundant clarity and warmth. Due to the nature of the hall and the scale of the ensembles (especially the orchestra), a single pair of stereo microphones is usually not adequate in our hall.

To Apply

Qualified applicants should submit a resume and links to at least three relevant examples of their audio work to Victoria Paterson.