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The Paper Tiger Can Destroy You—Training Is the Answer

Have you heard as many complaints as I have about sloppy paperwork in recording studios? This reproach apparently applies to just about every facility, from project rooms to the major studio complexes. It includes lack of basic administrative systems and training for staff and, worst of all, bad attitudes about the necessity for keeping detailed tracking and take sheets. There are several problems involved here, all of which must be resolved by training and example, in order to protect the reputation of your facility.

Fact: you can spend millions of dollars on equipment, acoustics, and a pleasant environment only to lose an important client to the competition because of shaky administration, or the misplacing of a master tape. Understand how this problem can immediately affect the profitability of your facility, and you will be motivated to take the necessary corrective action.

Regular administrative training sessions for your employees are a necessity to keep them up to date, to keep the paper flow smoothly flowing, and to confirm their understanding of the necessity for each administrative task you require of them. If the individual employees do not understand why they have to perform a particular task, they are much more likely to perform it in a sloppy fashion, while complaining about it being an unnecessary chore. They also won't know what the rules are that they are breaking—which can only get them and you in trouble. The manager who is responsible for data flow and the use of the proper forms should be the first person to train any new employee and explain how and why the forms are important and what information is expected. (See Appendices for specific forms and software programs.)

The studio manager should then assign an experienced assistant engineer to oversee the filling out of the forms in an actual studio work situation, to be certain that they are properly completed and any mistakes are corrected. Convincing the employees that they should always ask questions of any facility manager when they don't understand the required solution to a problem and the necessary paperwork, is an essential goal to ensure seamless administration within your facility.

Start with your studio booking form, your session work order (with required extra equipment list), “take sheet,” and “tracking guide” and follow the client paper trail through your tape library project documents, tape release form (with necessary approvals), and finally your client invoicing system. It doesn't matter if your administrative system uses a photocopied form or a sophisticated software program accessible throughout your facility, such as Studio Suite or Session Tools. The same rules apply, except that it is much simpler to customize and change softwarebased forms than printed forms, which must be discarded when changed.

Is every form necessary, or can several be combined? Could you create a “fail safe” total paper trail system that operates more efficiently? Does your administrative system, no matter how simple or sophisticated, provide the necessary checks and balances for all of the client work functions and recorded media handling that your facility performs? How about the safety of client master tapes/discs? Do your clients feel comfortable with your administrative systems or do they grumble about the disorderly methods in your facility?

Look at the quality (or lack thereof) of the written information forms used by competitive facilities. If you notice some procedure they use that is simpler, has more clarity, or provides better information than yours, consider incorporating it into your own administrative process. No rule or procedure is written in rock or cannot be changed.

It bears repeating here that your staff will appreciate rules as long as they understand the “why” of them, and then accept the need for those rules. The studio staff must clearly understand the goal to be accomplished by any administrative regimen, in order to help management attain that goal. Tape release rules are a perfect example. The studio manager trains, explains and reexplains the reasons for the need to get managerial approvals and the paperwork “small stuff.” The “why” in this case is because the studio manager is usually blamed by the back office if any of the forms submitted to them are incomplete or, heaven forbid, a master tape is misplaced or released to the client improperly. Also, the disgruntled client usually complains to the studio manager, because that is the primary person with whom they interact.

I used to explain to our staff at Record Plant the simple fact that if work orders were not properly filled out and signed as acceptable by the client at the end of each session, the client's company would not pay our invoice. If our invoices were not paid, there would be no money in the bank to pay our staff their salary on the day it was due. The rule was quickly accepted by all because in its simplest form they understood the necessity for continuing cash flow.

Filling out a take sheet may seem like a needless chore until the occasion arises when the client asks you to find a particular “take” that they want to hear again or make a part of their master project reel. If you were responsible for writing up the take sheet and can't find it quickly, the client gets mad and you are in trouble—two very unacceptable situations. Worse yet, if that tape with take sheets or tracking guide information goes to another facility, and is illegible or incomplete, your entire company is criticized publicly, and your competition has gained an important advantage in the battle to steal your client. Double-check everything before it leaves your facility. It is worth the extra effort.

The facility, client, producer, engineer, second engineer, and the paperwork that must be generated are interdependent. Each is a necessary link in the project chain. The paperwork, therefore, is worthy of the same care and pride as properly miking that drum kit or superbly polishing that visual edit. Ignoring this fundamental truth could seriously endanger your company.

To keep ourselves at Record Plant as efficient as possible, we would throw away all of the administrative forms once each year and let the staff design the new ones. It worked. Each October we would pass out a complete set of all forms to every employee and ask them to try to combine forms, discard or revise them, or even sometimes add a new one if it could be justified. About two weeks later, we would hold an all-company Saturday afternoon barbecue for our staff, usually around my swimming pool, and discuss the pros and cons of the changes requested. We would then vote on particular changes to be certain that the majority ruled and that the necessary information was being gathered in the most efficient and least troublesome way. New forms would be introduced the first week of the new year, after training was completed, to ensure compliance. It stopped the grumbling of employees and clients and, better yet, we never lost a master tape.

(See Appendix III for some excellent examples of studio business forms and software programs.)