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sleep-i-ness · 4 years

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Bad Date? (Maria Hill x reader)

Request: YES (at end of oneshot)

Content Warning: Drinking, mentions of cheating

A/N: Here you go hun! I didn’t really know how to write the reader as a tomboy so sorry if it wasn’t quite what you wanted. Oh and one bit was a tiny bit inspired by Two Weeks Notice (with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock) so if you notice that well done? Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Taglist: @holybatflapexpert @startrekkingaroundasgard @natasha-danvers @a-stressedstudent (if you would like to be added, please fill out the form in my bio)

A loud knock at the door startled Maria out of her administration haze; she sighed, taking in the heap of strewn sheets. Her usually immaculate desktop was barely visible under the mountain of paperwork that had just been piling up endlessly since her day had started. It was already looking like she might have to stay well past her contractually mandated hours just to clear what she already had. The legal team at Stark Industries had been on the phone with her non-stop, demanding evidence or explanations that were either highly confidential, non-existent or possibly even both. Maria was honestly sick to death of having to clean up both the physical and PR messes of the Avengers.

“Come in.” She was unable to muster any energy into her order, hoping to whatever mighty being out there that it was an agent she could actually stand. Or really just any agent other than Agent Mace. He had been needlessly suffocating, bouncing into her office, whenever he so pleased, to ask a question that really only required the most miniscule amount of brainpower to be answered. It was a miracle he had ever been hired.

Y/N poked her head through the door, an easy smile tilting her lips upwards. Maria returned the infectious grin despite herself, a giddy, light sensation spreading through her chest.

“Oh, good, Agent Y/L/N. These are the mission debriefs that you filed, would you mind taking them down to Agent Coulson?” Maria rifled through the stuffed drawer by her leg and passed her a thick brown file.

Y/N grabbed it, their fingertips brushing lightly and Maria jolted slightly as an electric spark shot up her arm. “Sure, I got it.”

“Now, after you’ve dropped them down, you can start with the files for your next-”

Y/N interrupted her, smiling sheepishly, “Actually, I don’t know how much time I have. That’s what I came here to ask you about. Tony sort of set me up on a date with someone tonight.”

Maria’s heart sank, a sickening heavy feeling, and she wasn’t quite sure why. She shook it off, blaming it on a sudden bout of exhaustion and mustered an enthusiastic grin. Scraping the papers on her desk together, she stapled them together with a satisfying click.

“Great.”

Y/N took that as a dismissal as she backed away, towards the door. “I just have to figure out what to wear. I don't have anything.”

Y/N almost giggled and a wave of nausea rolled over Maria as she swallowed harshly. Y/N looked ready to soar with joy, like an entrapped bird in a cage that she held the key to.

“Have fun.” Maria couldn’t help the bitterness seeping into her words and Y/N’s face contorted, startled for a second, before schooling herself into a more composed expression.

What the hell was that. Maria was astounded as Y/N backed out without another word, a placating smile fixed to her cheeks. She attributed her sudden passive-aggressiveness on an envy of being able to leave work without feeling the immense burden of knowing how much else she had to do. But she’d never had this problem before when it came to her work-life balance.

Maybe she was finally feeling the need to get back into a relationship.

Maria groaned as the clock hand hit seven and she hadn’t seemed to have made a dent int the pile. She’d have to work the night on this lot; she was prepping an incredibly time-pressured, high-stakes mission, so they were sending the team out tomorrow. The window had been made known to them only a couple hours ago, at most.

She wondered if Y/N was having a better night than her. A nice dinner out, good conversation and freely flowing wine. Then, dancing in the arms of her pretty date and maybe getting a kiss goodnight.

No. This was unprofessional. Maria shook her head, blinking hurriedly, as she tried to clear her mind of any distracting thoughts.

Work.

Right…

Eliott Callahan, ex-CIA, presumed deceased after a mission went wrong in 2007. Recently resurfaced with links to the Tribe of Salvation, an organisation that had been previously unknown until ties to the Ten Rings had been revealed. Supposedly owned a scientific reserve in North Carolina which was too heavily guarded to not be hiding anything. Callahan had given them a way in, now they needed to take the place out.

Maria’s eyes watered as she stared at the security schematics and the notes made by top SHIELD security specialists. God, she wished she had Y/N here to give her some advice on it. Y/N’s expertise was in getting into places she shouldn’t be, which is how SHIELD had found her. But Y/N was having fun on a nice date with a nice girl and Maria couldn’t help but admitting that it had brightened her day to see Y/N happy.

The last mission, Lima, had taken a toll on everyone’s mental health, and Maria couldn’t help but blame herself for the failure. Four of their top agents had been taken out and the others, who had barely survived, had still not passed their psych evals. Today had been the first time Y/N had been visibly giddy or enthusiastic about anything since then.

“Hi.”

Maria scooted her chair to face the door; head buried in a document as she muttered the lines to herself as she read. Lifting her head slowly, she blinked owlishly at the figure in the door.

“Y/N?”

Y/N hovered in the doorway, still wearing a very flattering suit that Maria couldn’t help but admire. She offered Maria a small but weary smile, shifting from foot to foot.

“Come in, take a seat, how was it?” Maria wasn’t sure if she were acting enthusiastic enough to believably be realistically overjoyed for Y/N having been on a date, but she was sure she could instead pass as being worn out.

Y/N slumped into the hard-plastic chair, which rolled backwards due to her momentum. Unlacing her shoes, she yanked them off and massaged the soles of her feet. She stretched out her stocking-covered legs, gently rubbing circles into the back of her ankles and calves.

“It was horrendous,” Y/N groaned, tilting her head back in exasperation. “I mean, does Tony know me at all? Coulson made me babysit him for 3 years, he should know me better than to set me up with someone like that.”

“Like that?”

“Oh, God, she was about 20 minutes late and didn’t get off her phone the entire time. When she finally made some conversation, it was all about her ex-boyfriends. Like, not even ex-girlfriends. And she was always texting at the table. How rude is that!” Y/N’s cheeks were flushed pink and her eyes were glazed as she yawned, delicately raising a hand to cover a mouth while she stretched out like a cat. Y/N smiled sleepily at Maria as she curled into the uncomfortable chair.

Maria returned the smile softly, somewhat reassured by Y/N’s vehement complaints. “Sounds awful. No second date then?”

“God no, I’d rather be reassigned to… to the Arctic!” Y/N threw her hands up dramatically, the seat wobbling beneath her.

“That can be arranged.”

Y/N was unimpressed by Maria’s dry tone, bottom lip jutting out as she folded her arms sulkily.

A sudden thought popped into her mind. She brightened abruptly, sitting up again. “As if you’d do that. You wouldn’t survive without me.”

“You wish.” Y/N was cute while tipsy, Maria mused, before jolting at the thought. No, she was her supervisor, she could not be thinking like that.

“So, tell me.” Y/N’s chin was slipping off her hand as she yawned, elbow firmly planted on the desk. “I’ve told you how shit my date was, what’s the worst date you’ve ever been on?”

Maria paused as she took a mental step back from all the work thoughts accumulating at the back of her head. “Well, back in high school, it wasn’t really a date. At least, I hadn’t thought it was because I’d just come out. To everyone. And I went out for lunch with a friend, a guy named Tyler and he ended up telling me that he could turn me straight again. He also decided to show me the numerous photos of his penis. He had a whole folder on his phone in different lightings and from different angles.”

Y/N had clapped a hand over her mouth, “That’s horrendous, I don’t think I could ever look at someone the same if they did that. Like unsolicited and all that.”

“Yeah, definitely was the final nail in putting me off men.”

Y/N giggled, a pretty sound that Maria couldn’t help but want to hear more of.

“So,” she began, pursing her lips as she tried to think of how to continue.

“So?” Maria laughed

“Yeah, so, tell me. Is there anyone in your life? Anyone special?”

Maria snorted. “No, God no. I haven’t had the time in all honesty; I’m barely on top of my work, never mind sorting out a love life at the same time.”

“I thought… I thought that you were dating Agent Hayes?”

“No, we broke up a while ago over… mutual difference involving work and personal lives becoming too heavily involved.”

“Okay… so that’s what you wrote on the official forms about your break-up. Now, tell me again with feelings. Come on, let’s have a proper deep chat.”

“Hm.” Maria glanced back at the document she’d discarded back onto the pile and groaned. There was clearly a better option of the two. “Fine. I’m sure you are aware of Agent Hayes’ reputation.” Y/N frowned and shook her head. “As a… honey trap. It seems that she was unable to remove that part of her life from our personal lives and decided to… practice on other agents and people in our lives.”

Maria spoke bitterly, expression twisted in a grimace like she had tasted something extremely sour.

“So, basically she’s a cheating bitch.”

“Yeah.” Maria nodded. That summarised her perfectly.

“Well, fuck her, we don’t need shitty women in our lives. Am I right or am I right?” Y/N’s voice rose as she declared her statement triumphantly, sending Maria a quick grin as she pumped a fist in the air.

“Yes, you’re right.” Maria was tentative, unsure whether she wanted to ask the words on the tip of her tongue. “Anyone else in your life?”

“Well,” Y/N took a deep breath, working up the courage to do something momentous. “I did like someone, but I thought they were dating someone, so I let Tony set me up on an absolutely awful blind date.” Her voice lowered to more of a murmur. “But now I found out that the woman I like is single.”

Maria blinked. Could she-? No. Well, there was no point in not trying. “What if the woman liked you back?”

“I’d probably ask if I could kiss her.” Y/N glanced at Maria’s lips, the glaze in her eyes no longer from alcohol.

“I think she’d say yes. She’d be pretty dumb not to.”

Y/N leant in, and Maria’s breath caught in her throat. She had to be dreaming. Their lips met and every thought flew out of her head as she melted into the kiss. Maria pulled away, laughing at Y/N’s pout.

“Wait. Come here.” Maria patted her lap and Y/N eagerly straddled her legs, one hand cupping her chin, the other on the back of her head. “That’s better.”

She kissed her again, an awestruck expression appearing on Y/N’s face as she grinned blissfully. Maria could smell the sweet scent of Y/N’s perfume invading her senses, everything blurring as her mind focused in on the way Y/N seemed to fit perfectly in her arms. Or the hand gripping the hair at the base of her neck as Y/N kept her head in place, the other caressing her cheek.

As they broke apart again, Y/N stayed on Maria’s lap, wrapping her arms around her neck.

“I have to finish this work, but you’re welcome to stay and help. It’ll go twice as quickly.”

Y/N pecked her lips. “Deal.”

Request: Maria hill x female, tomboy, reader where Maria hears that tony set the reader up on a date with some girl he knew. Maria can’t stop thinking about it and ends up staying up through the night until r dare is over. Reader comes back after the date and they talk and reader makes fun of how bad the date was. (aren’t in relationship but get together after talking)

#maria hill #maria hill x reader #maria hill x you #commander hill #agent hill #agent #shield #avengers #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #mcu #marvel imagine #agent coulson #x reader

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taexual · 5 years

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HOLIC - 28 | jb x reader

pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader

genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au

warnings: fluff + tiiiiny bit of angst

words: 5.4k

disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit

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“I’m sorry,” was the first thing that left your lips the next morning when Jaebum opened his eyes and had caught you watching him – you’d woken up just minutes before him. “I ruined your Friday night.”

He sighed deeply, his eyes still laced with sleep. “You didn’t ruin anything.”

You’ve heard his morning voice before, of course, but hearing it when he was laying right next to you, his hand still on your hip – where it seemed to remain for the entirety of the night – caused different—stronger—emotions to start coursing throughout your body.

“I’ll have to check on my car today,” you continued, ignoring the goosebumps on your skin, “but let—”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

You stopped, not having expected him to offer his company.

“Uh, it’s alright,” you said, your heart still pounding with guilt even though Jaebum did not show any signs of annoyance last night. “I was just hoping you’d let me treat you to lunch after that’s done. You know, to repay you.”

“Repaying me with food,” he considered this, a sleepy grin adorning his features. “Yeah, I think I’ll let you do that.”

You smiled back. “Good.”

He nodded as a response and, after a few long minutes of exploring your face in the complete silence of his bedroom – that was only abuzz with the electricity radiating from your bodies – he lifted his hand, releasing your body, and, after shuffling it around the covers, brought it to your face to gently brush it across your cheek.

You’d still feel the traces of his fingertips long after he’d remove his hands from you but right now you were more focused on the sudden anticipation in your stomach – if he was going to kiss you right now, you wouldn’t try to stop him. You’d never try to stop him; you wouldn’t want him to.

“How are you feeling?” Jaebum asked quietly, his groggy voice all the more accentuated by his whispering.

Like I’m simultaneously burning in the fiery pits of hell but also being lifted up into the heavens didn’t seem like an appropriate response and it was, in truth, too melodramatic – albeit honest – so you just cleared your throat and nodded.

“I’m good,” you said and then added, “I mean it.”

He smiled, nodding in content and pulling his hand back before flipping onto his back and yawning. The spell of the moment might have been broken but Jaebum was still in no rush to get out of bed and this Saturday morning – and the pillowtalk exchanged – was easily going to go down in your personal history as one of the best mornings of your entire life.

It was the kind of morning that you wouldn’t be able to tell others about – and those were always the best, weren’t they? – because there was simply nothing to tell. Words couldn’t describe the lingering looks you and Jaebum have shared since waking up and no matter which sequence you tried to assemble the letters of the alphabet in, you still couldn’t arrange a sentence that would accurately depict the feelings inside of you when Jaebum opened his eyes and smiled at the sight of you right there, next to him.

“What were you going to do last night?” you asked him slowly. “You know, before I got home all panicked and what not.”

“Nothing much,” Jaebum replied but his distracted tone made it clear that he wasn’t fully honest. “I was thinking of maybe checking in with Jackson to see if he thought sending my song to my supervisors was a good idea.”

“You—oh my God,” you nearly jumped out of bed. “And you didn’t do that?!”

“Well, no, but—”

“Obviously, Jackson will think it’s a good idea,” you continued despite his somewhat alarmed face. “He already said how great your song is. You should do it!”

“I don’t know anymore,” he said, his old insecurities returning. “Now I think there are a few things I’d like to change before I try to let others hear the song but Jackson’s not here tonight — he’s away doing something for his family — so I don’t have anyone to check if I’m making the song better or worse.”

“I think it’s already as good as it could be,” you said, “and I’m obviously not as professional as Jackson is at this thing, but if you’d like me to listen to it for you, I could.”

Jaebum turned his head to you. “Yeah? I’d appreciate that.”

Really, it was you appreciating—and trying to ignore your surprise about—the fact that he didn’t immediately turn your offer down. You smiled – and blamed the surge of butterflies inside of your stomach for momentarily stealing your ability to speak from you – giving him a nod afterwards.

“Yeah, of course, it’s the least I can do,” you said. “I’ll just need to check up on my car first and then I’m all yours.”

You almost regretted saying the last part – and even cringed as soon as the words left your mouth – but Jaebum just smiled and sat up.

“You know,” he said, “I do find it unusual for you and me not to try to bite each other’s heads off but you don’t have to look like I’ll stab you right into your heart if you say something wrong.”

Huh. So, he’d noticed.

“Th—I don’t,” you defended, the unexpected accusation making your stomach clench in surprise. “I just never know what to prepare for when I’m with you.”

“I don’t, either,” he admitted in a gentler tone. “But we’re learning, aren’t we?”

“I hope we are.”

“How about this, then,” Jaebum started, his eyes glittering with excitement and slight nervousness, “we start a new period of our lives. We reduce the number of pointless arguments to a minimum, and I try to submit my song to my supervisors while you try to get yourself a photography exhibition.”

You smiled a little at this, giving him a look.

“I don’t think that’s realistic,” you said slowly. “We can’t live if we’re not arguing about something.”

He laughed at this. “We’ve managed fine up to this point. So, what do you say?”

“Will you really submit your song?”

“Only if you’ll really try to send your pictures to a gallery.”

You wanted to keep on smiling but the serious determination in his eyes did not match the one in yours and you ended up shaking your head.

“It’d be a waste of time,” you said with a sigh. “Contrary to your music which is amazing, my pictures are ordinary.”

“They aren’t, they—”

“No, really, they’re nothing special,” you didn’t let him try to change your mind. “Anyone could have taken them—”

“But they didn’t,” Jaebum insisted. “You did. And the emotions your pictures express might be different from the emotions that other photographers would try to express,” he looked down then. “And… besides, you said the pictures you showed me the other night were special.”

“Yeah,” you replied, trying not to let the sudden mention of your words from the night before sway you, “because you’re in them. I stand by what I said.”

“The pictures are special because you took them,” Jaebum echoed his last night’s self. “I stand by what I said, too.”

You couldn’t help but wonder if he also stood for what he did after saying that. Did he stand for the kiss? Or was he talking about this in such a careful manner precisely because he was afraid you’d bring it up? And if so, why? Why would he kiss you… only to act like that never happened a day later?

The questions stumbled around your mind clumsily – there were too many of them for you to catch one and just ask him – and you lowered your head, choosing to focus on what the two of you had been talking about instead of dwelving into a conversation that would potentially leave you both frustrated and annoyed with each other this early in the morning. You didn’t want that. Even if the outcome of the argument – or, perhaps, there wouldn’t even be an argument – was pleasant and you two would end up resolving your issues – yeah, right – you still couldn’t even begin to imagine what could come after this.

“I don’t know,” you said. “I just don’t think I’m good enough to get an exhibition.”

“You won’t know unless you try,” Jaebum said, finding it much easier to encourage you than he’d initially thought; he was, really, just saying what you’d said to him countless times before. “And I’m right in the same boat with you, so, if we fail, we fail together.”

Doing this together felt a lot more personal and, at the same time, a lot more reassuring. Although you were still hesitant – no, not that, you were very much doubtful you’d get any fruitful results from this – about yourself, you could see the obvious hope in his eyes when you raised your head and you knew that he needed you to agree because he was finally ready. He was only a few steps away from potentially achieving his dream and he wanted—needed—the same for you.

“Okay,” you said with a sigh. “Whatever happens happens. Let’s do it together, then.”

“Great!” Jaebum exclaimed, his face breaking into a big grin. “Tonight, then? If I won’t make the song worse by altering it too much. That’s your job, by the way; make sure I don’t turn it into the hymn of the Artificial Intelligence Liberation Party or something.”

“You want it to sound natural,” you nodded, smiling at his enthusiasm. “I got you. Tonight it is, then.”

The guys at the car service were complete pigs. Not only did they keep making jokes about how all women were awful drivers – even in your presence – but they even took it so far as to tell you that, perhaps, when you come to pick the car up in a week, on Monday – more than a week’s worth of work that will cost you an actual fortune even though you barely scratched the pole on the side of the road; capitalism sure was a very funny concept – you should bring a guy with you, so he could drive you home instead.

Resisting the urge to grab the closest gallon of engine oil and pour it all over them, you just smiled and nodded, promising “to think about it” even though you knew that the only thing you were going to be thinking about was how to get away from these men and never have to see them again.

Obviously, this didn’t make you feel any better about the accident and, as you waited in line at the Chinese restaurant next door, you realized your hands were starting to shake again.

It was clear that you were still going to be apprehensive about getting behind the wheel again but you didn’t want the comments you’ve heard today to affect you in any way – you might have driven off the road because you weren’t paying enough attention. But it could have happened to anyone.

“Here’s your order, miss,” a pleasant looking middle-aged lady suddenly called out for you, distracting you from your thoughts and handing you the plastic bag with your take-out.

“Thank you very much,” you replied, still a little shakily, and then, food in hand, headed to Jaebum’s studio, enjoying the wind on the street that tried to ease your nervous heart.

Once you reached his floor – after texting him because you got lost almost as soon as you entered the foyer – and located the studio, you found Jaebum already working. He had his earphones on and was quietly humming along to the beat that played in his ears – clearly, he wasn’t aware anyone else was in the room with him so you took this as a chance to take a page from his book and, instead of announcing your presence, stood in the very corner of his vision, waiting for him to notice you.

He did a moment later and jumped up so high, he nearly ripped the cord of his headphones out from the laptop he’d plugged them in.

“Fuck,” he mumbled as an aftershock, clutching his chest. “W-what—when did you get here?”

“A minute ago,” you replied, proud to see him so startled. “I was waiting for you to turn around.”

“Right, because calling my name—oh, I get it. It’s payback, isn’t it?” he got up from his seat.

“Absolutely,” you confirmed, hanging him the bag with food. “I brought take-out. Hope you’re alright with Chinese food.”

“I’m alright with anything as long as it isn’t you giving me a heart attack,” he bit back, earning another proud grin from you and unpacking the boxes of food that you’ve brought. “How was it at the service? Is your car going to be okay?”

You sighed. “My car? Eventually, yes. My dignity if I have to go back there again? Probably not.”

“Why?” Jaebum asked, nodding his head at the settee by the door. You sat down on it.

“The guys there were assholes,” you said, “and I’m pretty sure they’re ripping me off. But I didn’t get fined for reckless driving or whatever, so I can’t really complain.”

He frowned but didn’t question you until he sat down next to you, handing you your chopsticks and putting the boxes of food on the cushion between you.

“Well, maybe not about the money,” Jaebum said then, “but you have every right to complain if they’re treating you wrong. What did they do?”

“Oh, you know,” you waved your hand, not really in the mood to break down their words for him. “Typical guy stuff.”

“I’m a guy.”

“Right. Sorry. I meant typical sexist guy stuff.”

“Huh,” Jaebum nodded, seemingly understanding what you meant without needing any examples. “Do you want me to go back there with you? I could kick some ass.”

Unable to believe that he’d really just said this, you spoke without thinking it through, “you’d kick someone’s ass for me?”

Jaebum – mouth full of rice – gave you a confused look and then, once he finished chewing, dead-panned, “yes. I have a weekly goal of saving a damsel in distress. You’re it for this week.”

You rolled your eyes. “Way to ruin a moment.”

“I didn’t realize there was a moment,” he responded, smirking now.

Groaning – to hide your sudden flustered state – you pushed his shoulder and opened your box of take-out.

“Eat your food,” you told him. “And, for once in your life, stop smirking at me.”

Jaebum complied – surprisingly – and the two of you proceeded to eat in silence. The discussion was only sparked again when he asked you what your dream place to have an exhibition was – and proceeded to recommend every museum he knew, even if they didn’t offer any photography works – because, as you’d come to learn, there was nothing Jaebum enjoyed more than making you nervous

“I don’t care about the place,” you said for the fifteenth time. “I just want it to happen.”

“Wanting it to happen is good,” Jaebum encouraged, suddenly taking a supportive—instead of teasing—role. “That means you’re ready to work towards it.”

“I feel like I’ve always worked towards it. Unconsciously, I mean,” you said, wiping the corners of your mouth with a napkin once you’ve finished your meal. “I-I enjoy photography and I don’t mind doing it for myself but… I’ve been doing it for myself for as long as I remember. I’m used to it. It’s not challenging anymore. Instead, it’s starting to feel like I should take the next step. And, now, every time I edit something I’ve taken, I always picture what it would look like hanging on the wall of some gallery, dozens of people twirling around it with glasses of champagne in their hands.”

“You’ll be serving champagne at your exhibition?” he wondered, smiling softly.

You shrugged your shoulders, your eyes glazed over as you dreamt on, “why not? That’s the cliché opening night drink, isn’t it?”

“Cliché doesn’t mean bad,” Jaebum pointed out, putting his empty box down and stretching. “It just means it’s been proven to work. Hey, how about you also serve those tiny one-bite snacks? And make everyone come with evening gowns?”

You shot him a look. “Well, now you’re mocking me.”

“I’m not!” he defended, half-laughing. “I’m trying to help you come up with a theme for your exhibition. Depending on what kind of pictures you’re thinking of—”

“An exhibition,” you interrupted him, “that will probably not even happen.”

Jaebum didn’t like the sudden deflated tone in your voice. “It can’t hurt to be prepared, though. If anything, I think being certain of every detail of the way you’d like it to be might inspire you to work harder to achieve your goal.”

You appreciated his efforts to lift your spirits—and your confidence—but you weren’t able to stay away from reality for too long. You’ve daydreamed enough.

“You should get back to your song,” you told him, lifting your eyes to meet his.

Jaebum shot the equipment and his laptop atop it a glance and then looked back at you. “I will. I just want to make sure you’re not beating yourself up about all the negative what-ifs.”

“I’m not,” you said but you and him both knew that wasn’t really true. You found it easy to find the words to convince someone that they could do something, but it was unreasonably difficult for you to convince yourself that the same thing applied to you, too. “It’s not a big deal even if I won’t get a single exhibition in my life.”

“You will,” he said in a way that sounded more like an order. “And if you won’t send your portfolio to any gallery, I’ll do it—”

“Are you stalling?” you asked, cutting him off with a suspicious look in your eyes.

Jaebum paused.

“W-what do you mean?” he asked, his defenses back up. “I’m genuinely concerned about—d-don’t look at me like that.”

A mouse in a rat trap had never looked as caught as he did right then.

“I mean it,” you insisted. “Are you?”

He looked at you for a moment longer before giving in and sighing.

“Okay, fine. Maybe I am stalling,” he admitted, reclining on the couch in dejection. “I don’t… I just don’t want to get back to working on it because, at this point, I have no idea if I’m making the song better or worse.”

Glad to talk about his choice of work for a change, you leaned against the back of the couch as well.

“Why not leave it as it is?” you suggested but Jaebum shook his head.

“It’s not goot enough.”

“Will it ever be?”

Surprised, Jaebum turned his head to you. “What?”

He looked almost panic-stricken – he’d clearly assumed you were saying his song was bad – so you clarified as gently—and quickly—as possible, “you’re a perfectionist.”

“No, I’m not,” he disagreed right away.

“Yes, you are,” you insisted, sitting up straight again. “And it’s obvious that you want the song to be perfect but what you fail to understand is that you’ve heard it a million times already. You’ve heard every word, every breath, every little note – you know it by heart now. But other people? They’ll be hearing it for the first time. They won’t be nitpicking everything like you are, they’ll be listening to the song so they could enjoy it, not so they could find flaws. They won’t notice the imperfections that you notice. They will be amazed.”

His heart had sped up – it always did in response to your encouragement – but Jaebum resisted the positive signals it was sending.

“Or they won’t be,” he replied, aware that he sounded like an annoying child.

“Well, it’s one or the other,” you said decidedly, the firmness of your voice surprising him further. “And you won’t know which one you’re getting unless you do it.”

Amused at your change of demeanor, Jaebum gave you a confused smile. “What happened to gentle encouragement?”

“Nothing,” you said, responding to his smile with one of your own. “I just think it’s time for some tough love.”

Jaebum snorted. “Now you sound like Jackson.”

“Good,” you decided. “I’m here to do his job anyway.”

“Well, don’t get too into it,” he warned with a good-natured smile as he stood up to throw the empty boxes of food out, “one part of Jackson’s job is to make me hate him.”

“Oh. I’m sure I can get that done, too,” you told him, expecting laughter—or even just a chuckle—of approval but only receiving a confused glance as Jaebum froze over the trash bin by the door of the studio.

“No,” he said, his face void of any expression. “You’ve never made me hate you.”

You nearly laughed in his face.

“Never?” you repeated, your eyebrows skyrocketing. “That’s a very blatant lie and, honestly, I’m offended you even expect me to believe that.”

It stung a little to hear this but Jaebum wasn’t sure if he was entitled to that emotion – he was, after all, well aware of how your relationship developed and he knew he was partially to blame for taking so long to actually start a proper, somewhat healthy friendship with you.

“It’s not a lie,” he chose to say, returning to the settee next to you but not returning his eyes to yours. “I’ve never hated you.”

You weren’t trying to bite him or hurt him but you couldn’t help pointing out, “you tried to kick me out of the apartment when you saw me for the first time.”

“I—okay,” he blinked, knowing that one step in the wrong direction could have pushed him even deeper into the between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place position that he had somehow catapulted himself into by confessing that to you. “That’s true. But I still didn’t feel any hate.”

The same skeptical look on your face remained. “You—”

“Alright, I’m sure you can find a lot of examples of situations where I could have been considered to be hating the very thought of you,” Jaebum continued before you could properly cut in. “But I never was. I may have been upset or… irritated. Or annoyed. But I never felt any hate towards you.”

“I actually don’t know if that’s better.”

“I used to be a lot more hateful,” he said, avoiding dropping names but making sure you understood which part of his life his mind had drifted to by giving you a meaningful glance. “And, objectively speaking, I’m truly a pain in everyone’s ass when I hate something or, uh, someone.”

“Well, objectively speaking,” you repeated, smiling, “you’re a pain in my ass most of the time anyway.”

Jaebum paused, his features morphing into a comically frustrated expression. “Oh, well, I was trying to say something nice to you but if this is how we’re doing it—”

You waved your hands around, cutting him off even though you could tell he wasn’t actually mad at you for saying this.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” you spoke then, laughing softly. “It was just a moment of honesty on my behalf. You know, while you’re busy lying to me.”

“I’m not lying!” he was rolling his eyes now. “I hate… things. Our arguments. Our inability to communicate. Lots of other things. But it’s never you specifically.”

Hearing that made your heart pick up speed but your mind refused to accept this. You’ve given him reasons to hate you and he knew it but he continued to insist that wasn’t the case. You didn’t understand.

“Not even...” you tried to say but couldn’t finish right away because the two of you avoided bringing this topic up as if it was the plague. “Not even when I talked to Suji after telling you I wasn’t going to?”

The memories quickly engulfed his mind and he hesitated before answering. “It wasn’t you that I hated in that moment. It was the fact that we weren’t able to reach an agreement. The fact that we never listen to each other. And, maybe, the fact that we care about each other but have too much pride to admit that.”

You were silent for a moment.

“Those are the things that I’m responsible for, though,” you said then, trying to find a way to gently let him know that he wouldn’t have ruined the progress of your friendship by admitting that he had allowed himself to hate you however briefly. “Tha inability to communicate, the not listening—i-it’s all that I’ve done. So it’s basically me.”

“Yeah, but see, I never felt like slashing my own throat at the sight of you,” Jaebum said, “but I have considered that when we were fighting and I couldn’t find the words to say to make it stop.”

“You have?” you asked, more than surprised now.

You’ve fought with him so much, you couldn’t immediately name an instance where this painful action would be the more desirable alternative. You just felt like you and him were used to the arguments at this point.

“Y-yeah,” Jaebum admitted, looking down. “Just once. During that last fight we’ve had.”

The last fight.

A soft “oh” passed your lips before your eyes settled on the floor of the studio, too.

It was almost a taboo topic now. Some awful things were said and implied during that fight but, once over, you looked back at it and saw it as a cleanse of sorts. Maybe both of you had needed to say what you’ve said to get it off your chests as a symbolic end of one period of your lives and a beginning of another—a better—one.

“We’ve never…” Jaebum started slowly, tentatively. He didn’t like saying this but it felt like he had to. “We’ve never talked about that properly, have we?”

“No,” you replied. “We’re not really the kind of people who actively seek argument resolutions, though. We just kind of wait for them to come to us.”

He snickered. “Do you think that’s mature?”

“No. But I don’t think we’re mature, either.”

Jaebum nodded his head in agreement – he felt the same way – but he continued because you were still not looking at him and now he was starting to fear that you’ve still had something to say and have been holding it inside of your chest ever since that fight, just waiting for the right moment.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, wanting to sound encouraging but just sounding somewhat scared.

You noticed the slight shakiness in his voice and dared to give him a questioning look. “Do you?”

“I don’t know,” Jaebum said, struggling to put labels on his emotions. As it usually tended to be, his chest was flooding with feelings he couldn’t—wouldn’t—decipher himself. “I think I’ve said all that I’ve wanted to say. I think I’ve apologized for what I hadn’t meant to say, too.”

“Yeah. I-I appreciate that. I remember still being unsure about certain things,” you revealed hesitantly, “I wanted to ask you to explain what you’ve said but now I think it’s better that you don’t.”

“Really?”

You nodded. “I like where we stand right now. I think that if we went back and talked about the same things again, we’d just return to right where we were before.”

“I don’t think we can return to where we were,” Jaebum objected. “I think we’re past that point. We’ve gotten a new start.”

You smiled at his optimistic attitude towards this.

“Alright,” you decided to agree. “But do we learn from our past or do we just… do whatever and see what happens?”

“Well, the latter is what got us this far,” he said – just like you’d expected – making both of you chuckle knowingly. “Maybe we can do both. We can, uh, acknowledge that we had some fairly unhealthy methods of talking it out, but I think we’ve learned how to communicate now. Let’s just… let’s continue from here.”

That sounded good. Just continuing. Unrealistic – given the fact that the two of you have actually gone as far as kissing and then, once again, pushed that under the rug – but still good nevertheless.

“Okay. That’s the plan,” you agreed, deciding to support the naïve side of your brain that believed you were going to be fine with not understanding much about your relationship with him. Then, you looked down at the watch on your wrist. “You should probably really get back to your song now.”

“Yeah,” Jaebum sighed. “I’ve stalled enough.”

Smiling, you nodded. “You have.”

He responded to your smile and stood up from the settee to stretch. Then, after a glance at his laptop, he turned to look at you again.

“Will you listen to it?” he asked. “And give me your honest opinion?”

“Always,” you replied. “Though I can already tell you it’ll sound brilliant.”

“See, but that’s not honest,” Jaebum insisted and you weren’t able to tell if he was joking or not as he picked his laptop up and, after unplugging it from the equipment of the studio, brought it to the settee, placing it on his lap after he sat back down next to you. “That’s just you trying to please me.”

“Now, why would I want to do that?”

He could tell you were grinning mockingly without turning to look at you. “I don’t know. Why wouldn’t you?”

“I’m here to do you a favor,” you reminded him, “it’s you who should be trying to please me.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Jaebum nodded his head, suddenly flashing back to the conversation you’ve had in his bed this morning. Just the memory of it was enough to send warmth all throughout his body. “What do you want me to do?”

You nearly shivered at all the possibilities—all the things—that you wanted him to bring into existence – your mind seemed to shout at least twenty different activities at you, and you were suddenly having a hard time keeping up with it – but you chose not to focus on your personal desires right now. You could daydream and reminisce about the kiss you’ve shared later and maybe, if you were lucky, you could find a way to kiss him again later, too.

“I want you to submit that song to your supervisors,” you said.

Jaebum looked at you with his eyebrows raised. “And that will please you?”

“Yes.”

Your serious expression made him snicker and shake his head in disbelief.

“God,” he mumbled under his breath, opening a few folders on his laptop, “you’re really something else.”

You squinted at him. “I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an insult.”

“It’s an observation,” he cleared up before adding a heart-stopping, “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

Trying not to let the effect he had on you show too obviously on your face, you resorted to humor and, after clearing your throat, replied cockily, “well, I should hope so. I’m trying to be unique.”

“You are,” Jaebum said, looking away from his laptop to make sure you got to see the clear integrity in his eyes. He wasn’t just attempting to compliment you in a way that was meant to be almost seducing or, in this case, purposefully intimidating. He was being completely honest. “You really are.”

He looked at you so deeply, you thought he could read your mind. And you would have let him – then he would finally know how many nights you’ve spent laying in your bed, awake and thinking about him. He would know how many dreams about him you’ve had. He would know how much you wished to tell him of all that you were feeling and how afraid you were of that, too.

But then his eyes drifted to your lips and, suddenly forgetting everything, you thought he was going to kiss you again. And, truth be told, Jaebum thought so, too.

But he remained on the other side of the settee, leaning into you – in a way that suggested his body just naturally gravitated to yours – and yet not making a move. He didn’t know why. Somehow, it just didn’t seem fair for him to kiss you without a plan what he would do afterwards – he’d already used his one and only opportunity for that.

He’d probably thought one kiss would have satisfied his hunger for your closeness. He had no way of knowing it would only increase it and he would spend every living moment after your first kiss, wanting—needing—more and, consequently, fighting his impulses because, all of a sudden, not a single thing in his life made sense anymore and he was afraid the two of you were going to drown in this mess.

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retailworker13 · 4 years

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AITA for writing this letter to a manager to explain everything instead of trying to get past my anxiety to explain all of this with actual words?

I apologize so much as this letter is very long but addresses all the points I was told was going to be "discussed" with me by someone at work.

A little bit of background, there is a specific coworker at my job that everyone seems to have a problem with, for a multitude of reasons (including many managers and quite a few customers). We all do our best to be nice when she's working with us, but she never stops complaining about anything, and we do try to help her out with certain things. It's gotten to the point she can't work very much because of the complaints she's gotten from other coworkers and customers. After I got off of work 5/26, what I understood was she spent the rest of her shift complaining about me, and whatever I did to a manager who (after a lovely restructure), went from supervisor to manager because the positions combined. Totally fine, we all went through the restructure just fine and have been doing okay since. The virus has screwed a lot up for this but we are all working through it.

I really want to hear honest stuff because I do get really bad anxiety in situations where I get messages like "So and so is going to talk to you today because A,B,C." I actually clocked in late today (5/27) because the manager was apparently waiting for me to go into the break room to get ready like I normally do. I clocked in only 5 minutes late after talking to the store manager and my coworker who had initially texted me. The manager was clocked out the same time I clocked in, and was there 15 minutes after they had clocked, because they wanted to talk to me about everything. I may act all big and tough when discussing how irritating this is for me, but when it actually happens I get pretty anxious and a lot of times start to get sick from nerves as well. Because writing is the only way I can communicate effectively and as clear as possible, I wrote a letter that I will be giving to my store manager first before giving it to the other manager for the sole purpose to protect myself from whatever they have to say. I don't think I should have to explain myself since I am no longer in the middle of a high school drama, but in this case I need to because of how this specific coworker is. For privacy I have blocked out all names, of course, including my company. So...here goes...

Letter:

Okay, I’m typing everything up because I have pretty high anxiety when it comes to stuff like this. I was spoken to by Store Manager yesterday (5/27) about “drama” that happened between Coworker and I on 5/26. However, I was completely unsure of what exactly took place yesterday as she didn’t seem to have any issues with me at all. I do know that she didn’t call me up for assistance, or even up to cover her breaks, which slipped my mind as I was busy working on orders in the back.

She has a habit of clocking for breaks and continuing to work, and I thought maybe that’s what she had done because I was in the back working on orders and I wasn’t going to argue with her about doing so as it has been a small issue in the past. If at any time she needed help, she never got on the radio to ask for it. She was working on designing graduation posters and banners for some reason, since the graduation season is well almost over. I understand there may be some stragglers and that’s okay, but we already have designs and do not need new ones.

To reiterate, I was unaware that Coworker had any issue with me since she never spoke up about it. I try to let her know as much as possible the jobs at hand that we need to work on, but she brushes it off and goes to do her own thing. Yes, this severely gets under my skin as when she is around, I’m working on every order I can to make sure that the next shift doesn’t have much to work on, or doesn’t have to worry about the order besides a quality check and call.

She spent her break and lunch on the back computer designing things, which really got to me since I did have quite a few customers at a time, and she was in plain view of them. Store Manager has told her repeatedly to take her break in the back and it wasn’t an issue again until now. I didn’t speak up about it though expect to Store Manager. Again, there was no reason to sit in the back where she was visible to waiting customers. I didn’t have people outright ask or tell me about her, but it was pretty obvious that they weren’t happy.

Again, if she had any issue with me specifically, or complained the rest of the night about me, then why didn’t she say anything when I was there? Why did she wait until after I left to talk about whatever I did to her that day? Yes, there are times I can get annoyed with her, but it’s when she does stuff like all of the above. I had to redo an order that could have been easily done the first time had it been printed properly or even quality checked. And as it turns out, this order was one that she had told the customer we couldn’t do because of the quantity, didn’t even give the option of splitting the order like the other store did, who turned around and split it with us anyways.

Before I go any further as to what was discussed with me today, I just want to say that I am just listing things off as I experienced them and how I see them. I went through similar issues at my other store, and some issues that were pretty worse than all of this.

I follow policy as best as I can, and if I don’t, then normally it’s hopefully a small thing that just slips my mind, which include a changed price, or a slight misquote. However, there are certain things I pretty much stick to the script on. Which includes copyright and all corporate files. I do not go through and delete files unless they’re my own, and I don’t appreciate being blamed for it.

I will admit to throwing the price books away. It has been made clear by corporate that our online receipt numbers need to be up and if taking away the SKUs in the book means we can do that then so be it. There are also SKUs in the book she continually prints that we do not have any more. They took out our flat design prices because those are Affinity only, not us. We are $1.25 per minute, $0.59 per action, and $19.99 base fee. Nothing else. All of those other prices get sent out for a reason and we need to keep it at that. If corporate took that stuff away, then there’s a reason and we need to listen to it.

We have been lenient on school files because of everything that is happening. But I’m still abiding by our copyright policies with College logos, names and mascots as that’s on the list of stuff we cannot print. I do not “pick and choose” what and what not to print, I check nearly every file for Copyright and if it has it then I either have them sign the release form if it’s not outright Disney or Nickelodeon or something of that nature. However, there is one single exception that I make that it is his personal artwork and if you’d like me to have him sign a release form every time that he comes in then so be it. It’s for his business.

Now, if we are on the subject of picking and choosing, then I’m not the only person in the department who does it. And if you are able to pick and choose who we do and don’t give a copyright violation to then we don’t either. Also, there are multiple orders that have still yet to be paid for that have been there for months, that it is obvious that they aren’t going to come pay for. I am just trying to get an understanding as to how I am the only person in the department who has any issue since I’m not the one who took those $300-600 orders (banners, invoices, etc.).

As a department, we normally function pretty well until we have an issue with an order. Especially the ones like Special Customer 1 or Special Customer 2, or any of the orders that you personally take care of. However, we get issues when we don’t know how to do the order, or we are charging them what we are supposed to be because they’ve “never been charged that” or “they don’t pay that”, when we should be charging them for designing or parts of their order. Again, I’m speaking in terms of what I’ve experienced and what the department has had to go through after the restructuring.

Since you are technically not in the department (as much as you were as supervisor), it makes it hard when we have orders like this because we are following what we were trained to do, and we are getting the short end of the stick for this. We as a department aren’t at fault for this and I’m not saying you are either so please don’t take it that way, but it does make it a lot harder on the rest of us when you take a week-long vacation and we get yelled at over the phone because we are only supposed to have files on our systems for 2 weeks and emails for 30 days and it’s not our responsibility to hold them.

I don’t pick and choose what to do or not to do, I keep everything as uniformed as possible when it comes to turn around times, jobs that we do, jobs that we don’t do, the express fee, copyright, pricing. Everything is as crystal clear as I can make it. If someone else doesn’t like it, but it’s the best I can do and I can’t recommend anything else, then that’s all I got but I did everything the way I was supposed to do it. No one uses the express fee (and sometimes I’m guilty of it too, but I always try to get as much done with the job as I can) and there are a lot of jobs that absolutely have to have it, because we have to put their job in front of everyone else’s to get it done even though everyone else has to (and is normally okay with) a realistic turn-around time.

I don’t just take in a job, leave no notes or information and expect someone to get it done for me. I put as many notes as possible about it, or as many notes that are needed, and I try my best to get the order started. I fill out the project folder as needed, and I keep the notes clear and understandable for everyone. I don’t mean for any of my notes to come off as passive aggressive, and I can print you every single note I have not handwritten. Everything is spelled out as clear as I can make it, and it does get under my skin when they go ignored, or even trashed/shredded before anyone else can see them. If it addressed to someone specific, then it will go to that someone specific (unless of course it’s a question or a request in case anyone else knows the answer).

I am as nice and kind to customers and associates alike to avoid getting complaints or having any issues at all, and if I have a problem, yes, I vent about it as I did in this letter. But it is at the point in time where it’s getting old, and I’m done trying to fight to stick to what corporate’s given us and what we are supposed to be doing that I don’t care who has a problem with me, or even if I work in the print department at all. If there are so many issues with me following what corporate is telling us for that department then have me moved to the floor. I don’t want to be in a department where I’m trying to do the right thing and follow the rules, guidelines, policies, and training that has been giving to me, explained to me, or that I’ve been through. It’s not like I don’t know what I’m doing in the department, I’ve worked there long enough, and I have experienced enough to know at least how to conduct myself when speaking to customers, and I know almost everything I need to know about the department to effectively work there. There is a minimal list of things I don’t know how to do, but all things considered, I don’t deal with specific services that we provide all that often. But it’s not like it’s something we need to memorize like we do with everything else. Corporate has given us everything we need, and I’m not going to apologize for following what they’ve provided in terms of rules and policies. But if I’m one of the few in the department that actually do this, then I’m not the one that needs to be spoken to about all of this.

I’m not going to sit back and go through “drama” that can easily be fixed by just following corporate guidelines. I don’t care if “having a SKU book is okay” because it’s not. Corporate took the SKUs away to get our online receipt numbers up and our register keys down, but we have the ENTIRE price book of what we do in stores now on the register. If we can’t make an online receipt, then we have the register. I’m not in the wrong about this. There are more productive ways to spend time then to go through and deliberately put something back into a file that Corporate left out on purpose. And I’m not sorry for feeling that way but I’m not the only person who has a problem with it, I’m just the one who’s the most outspoken about it and I’m not afraid to shred the books I find because no one else needs them. Even the cashiers know how to find the book, or we could just make it easier on them and give them an online receipt since they are more than capable of doing that too.

If I’m going to be targeted for doing what I’ve been trained to do and work how I’ve been taught to work, then maybe I need to rethink my position and find a better one. Or we could just do our jobs the right way the first time how we are trained to do it, and have no issues, and we would all be fine. If not, then I need to rethink my decision to work either in this department, or at this company all together.

#amitheasshole #reddit #retailworker #retail #coworkers

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ulyssessklein · 5 years

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Why you should be mixing live sound

Mixing music at a venue can greatly improve your skills as a studio engineer, producer, and arranger.

This guest post was written by Gary Gray, an award-winning composer, producer, and engineer.

People come to me all the time looking for insightful tips that will help them improve their mixing. They’re looking for DAW secrets, or little-known plugins. But I’ve discovered – through years of trial and terror – that your gear actually plays a very small role in the quality of your mixes.

This is something I cover extensively in my online course, The Lucrative Home Studio. Success in mixing really comes down to your skills as an engineer, your ears, and your network. And there’s one place you can boost all three of those things – live!

Living one hour south of Hollywood, I am very fortunate that within a 50-mile radius of my home is a concentration of some of the best sound mixers working in some of the greatest recording studios in the world.

And, as a self-proclaimed “networking monster,” I’ve had the opportunity to be mentored by some of the best sound engineers and music producers that Hollywood has to offer. (My motto is: “I’m Either Networking Or Notworking!”)

Here is what I discovered:

The best studio sound mixers I know have one thing in common: They are all competent LIVE sound mixers.

Now, you can probably see what’s coming next… My advice to you is to go out and mix LIVE sound. And if you already do, do it more and do it better.

Ear Protection as a Priority

A word of caution: If you mix LIVE sound in an environment which is louder than 85dB (and almost ALL live sound mixing environments are louder than 85dB), then use protection for your ears.

Believe it or not, professional grade earplugs used in extremely loud environments, will HELP you mix. Without pro-grade earplugs, mixing is a hit-and-miss sloppy attempt to balance the chaos of damaging noise and out of control frequencies.

Plus, not protecting your ears can lead to irreversible damage in your inner ear. And as a producer or engineer, you don’t want that.

Why does LIVE sound mixing produce elite studio sound mixers?

There are several reasons why many of the top mixers hone their chops live:

Mixing LIVE sound gives you a hands-on reality about what you are trying to reproduce in the studio.

You experience live communication and interaction. You get to see how musicians, DJ’s, rappers, singers and orchestras work together live to create the fabric of the music itself.

You will also see the vital communication link between the performers and the audience, and you will instantaneously be able to see what creates a positive emotional impact and what doesn’t in terms of the music, the arrangements, and the performances. When one doesn’t understand this communication and interaction, it can be noticeably missing from studio recordings.

You will experience the “composite perception” (The overall interaction of a total mix) of a performance and how your adjustment of that performance affects the quality of the presentation.

In fact, you will hear how your adjustments both positively and negatively affect the performance – from both the audience and the performers – whether you like it or not.

You will learn how to mix under pressure. Mixing under pressure does one thing (as long as you don’t buckle under the pressure and give up): it quickly and thoroughly creates a level of confidence in what you are doing that cannot be achieved in the quiet comfort of a recording studio.

You will be catapulted to a level of competence through sometimes heart stopping pressure that graduates you from one “trial by fire” to another, over and over, until you have an attitude about mixing where you say to yourself, “OK, bring it on, I can handle whatever problem you throw at me.” And you say it with a smile.

And remember, problems in LIVE sound mixing have to be solved immediately if not sooner because everything is L – I – V – E – LIVE!!!! In a studio, there can be a tendency to get a bit complacent about solving problems quickly, since there is no commanding performer having to answer to a demanding audience, breathing down your neck, expecting you to do everything just right and to do it now, now, now.

I think you’re beginning to get the picture. However, I’m not quite done yet.

There is one additional reason for mixing LIVE sound that will help catapult you to the elite corps of sound mixers faster than any other single action that you can take…

It’s all about NETWORKING. I ended up stepping up my networking efforts to the point where I am now working directly with Quincy Jones, and landed my first vendor position with both the Disney Music Group and 20th Century Fox.

NETWORKING through LIVE sound mixing happens organically, without you really having to do much. In this environment you will automatically be networking with other sound mixers, musicians, managers, agents, music supervisors, producers, DJ’s, rappers, film directors, investors, fans, etc.

And what BETTER way to network, than to have your calling card be the work you are doing right then and there? You are actually SHOWING what you can do, rather than talking about it or describing it on your resume, business card, or website.

One word of advice: DO have business cards at all times and DO pass them out. And even MORE importantly – COLLECT BUSINESS CARDS and always ask for mailing addresses.

How to apply LIVE sound mixing — realistically — to your life

You may be saying to yourself, “I don’t live near Hollywood, there’s nobody here for me to network with, there are no decent venues and gigs for me to run live sound for, and I don’t even know where to start to run live sound, because I’ve never done it before.”

My response? I came from a small town and felt the same way. What did I do? I grabbed the guitar player in my band who liked to play small coffee houses in between our bigger gigs and I asked him if I could go with him to help him set up and break down and run sound for him . He said, “sure!” (Of course he said yes when I offered to help set up and break down!)

Running live sound in this case consisted of me helping him adjust the level and EQ of his acoustic guitar and the EQ and volume of his vocals. That’s it. But guess what? It immediately started making me a better studio mixer. And in a big way.

AND – believe it or not, I was able to network and meet several people, which led me to my first trip to guess where? Hollywood. The rest is history.

And so your history awaits as well. Heed these words of advice, which will help launch you into the upper echelon of sound mixers and will help connect you to a larger elite group of professionals in the music licensing world!

AUTHOR BIO: Gary Gray is the teacher behind the Lucrative Home Studio online course. He’s an award winning composer, producer, and engineer, and has produced multiple projects for 20th Century Fox, Disney, Hollywood Records, A&E, EMI, CBS and many others in his home studio.

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