Studio Manager V2
Jules Altier
Accounting tasks such as payroll and billing may also fall to the studio manager, although those who manage large studios typically will delegate such duties to hired staff. In small studios, the studio manager may also be the lead recording engineer.
While the specific duties of the studio manager differ greatly based on factors like the studio's size or the owner's involvement, client satisfaction is a core part of almost every studio manager's job. The studio manager keeps close track of ongoing projects to ensure that they are on schedule and that clients' specific needs are being met (e.g., hiring a piano tuner before the piano-playing pop star's session). In some cases, the studio manager will assign recording and mixing engineers to specific projects. Because attracting clients relies largely on the appeal of a strong reputation and word-of-mouth referrals, keeping track of customers' needs in this way is crucial to generating new business.
There are no formal educational requirements for this senior position. Most studio managers have experience as recording engineers, mixing engineers, or producers. Some, however, work their way up after working in project management, studio booking, or as administrative assistants. Successful studio managers might find work at more prestigious studios, buy in to become co-owner of a studio, or open their own studio.
Studio managers work for recording studios of all shapes and sizes, including those that focus on ADR and voice work rather than music. While an experienced lead recording engineer might qualify for studio manager positions advertised online, most must first work their way up the ladder from entry-level jobs and internships at recording studios.
Because the work involves juggling schedules and dealing with last-minute changes and unexpected complications, it is vital for studio managers to be flexible and cool-headed, and to have excellent problem-solving skills. In addition, being organized and detail-oriented helps them prepare for upcoming sessions, as well as manage complex schedules. In studio managers' capacity as artist relations managers, communication and networking abilities are valuable.
Business hours are largely standard, although studio managers need to be available by phone 24-7 for emergencies, and may work late nights to support the engineering staff during a big star's studio visit.
A design or advertising studio manager's responsibilities will typically include traffic management, by ensuring all briefs are dispatched in the studio according to a designer's skills and strengths and ensure all work is delivered promptly and to deadline to the relevant people. A design studio manager should have excellent organizational and communication skills and motivate their team by showing good leadership. The Manager should have a great understanding of how to both achieve and develop project briefs to achieve clients needs and successful design.
Principally, SMs are involved in the operation of studio equipment. This generally encompasses a mixing desk, alongside ancillary equipment such as ISDN codecs, playback and recording devices, and telephone and VoIP adapters.
The precise nature of a studio manager's work will depend upon the nature of their deployment, but the core function is usually to ensure the programme is correctly 'balanced'. For speech programmes, this generally means each contributor should be heard with the same perceived loudness. A desirable music balance reflects the sound of a performance; for an orchestral rendition, each instrument ought to be heard at the correct relative volume and, for stereo programmes, at the 'correct' position in the orchestra.
Claire Boissiere has been in the games industry for 20 years and is named by GIBiz as one of the 100 Influential Women in Games. Currently, Studio Manager for Jumpship, Claire has has worked on a huge range of titles including Media Molecule's Little Big Planet and PlayStation London Studio's EyePet Move and PSP and Wonderbook Book of Spells and Book of Potions. And most recently assisted with the release of Dr Who Edge of Time VR. We asked Claire some key questions about getting into the games sector.
Here at Jumpship we're a small team of about 25 at the moment, which means I'm very hands-on with all the various functions the studio needs to maintain itself. As a result, no two days are the same but I'll have a go at describing a day in my work life...
There's a fair bit of admin to running a games studio and someone has to make sure it all gets done. I work closely with our lawyer and accountant and on any given day there might be some back and forth with them on a contract that needs reviewing/negotiating or the payroll needs approving (turns out teams like to get paid on time) or the invoices need reconciling so the VAT return can happen. Then there is also other admin like insurances, company policies (as a legal entity there are certain ones you're required to have by law), computer/work equipment, office space (or communication tools if you're a distributed team) and many more. Not all of these require attention each day but on any given day there is something to do on one or more of them.
Once the (necessary) admin work is out of the way for the day, I shift my focus to the team. I read their daily 10am slack post to see what they're planning to do that day and each morning there is a weekly catch-up with one of our strike teams (subgroup developing a key aspect of the game). This enables me to take a daily health check on the team's communication flow. There are so many different types of communication needed to make a game and if any one of them is off, somewhere in your game team, then the problems ripple out from there. I try to spot the ripples when they first appear and address it immediately.
This might mean I need to check with our production coordinator and see if a prototype feature is now ready for design to start experimenting with, or follow up and make sure a technical conversation happened and that the necessary people were informed about the outcome, or chat to someone who is experiencing a personal issue to see where the studio can offer support, or it could be someone wants advice on how to handle a given situation. Coordinating communication flow and supporting the team is a key part of my daily routine.
But don't be fooled into thinking being a Studio Manager is all about sitting around and waiting for problems to arise. The often overlooked, but critical aspect of studio management is the planning. Most times you can head off potential issues before they bubble up with a bit of effective planning. I carve out a few hours each day to focus on our plans - like do we have a skills gap we need to fill, is someone overworked/underutilised, if so why and what can we do about it, do we have enough money to fund all the awesome people we want, when does the game need to be released, do we need to refresh our website because it currently doesn't list all the new team members, is the studio communicating with the team effectively, are team members communicating with each other effectively, if not what processes can we implement/change, and so on. Thinking about the studio, the team and how it functions is not something you do once during the start-up phase, the best studios think about this all the time and are constantly evolving around the team's needs.
I also always try and play the game each day, which involves logging on to source control, getting the latest and running the game in unity. We're production light at Jumpship but all game teams our size need some production and another aspect of my role is to coordinate the team to ensure they're delivering the features and quality as set by the Game Director. There's usually some priority aspect of the game I'm focused on in any day. It could be that a programmer has asked for a list of a certain type of interactions in the game, which I'll coordinate with design, or if they're busy I'll just jump in and quickly do it myself or maybe the key narrative beats need pulling together in one place so the team can have visibility on the overall vision. I always try and make sure the Game Director's vision is communicated in the various ways that the different disciplines on our team find useful to absorb.
If a team knows the studio's mission, so they understand why they work there, if they understand the game vision and design enough to complete their part of the development process and if they feel fully supported and respected, then they'll make awesome games. Each day I try and make sure that happens.
I left school at 16 and have no formal higher education. Whilst a lot of games companies these days say they want you to have a games degree, it is possible to learn the necessary skills through experience, either in the games industry or outside it, like me.
I'd always had a passion for architecture and technical drawing, and so I joined a construction company drawing floor plans and designing interiors. I then began organising the construction work on-site to ensure my designs were completed correctly. Fast-forward a few years and I took a career break to have children. When I was ready to return to work I saw a local job advert for a "map builder." I was proficient with AutoCAD and presumed the job involved marking up OS maps or something similar. It turned out to be for a games company seeking a world builder/level designer for Microsoft Train Simulator.
I love supporting people to reach their potential. Whilst being a people manager can be challenging, everyone's needs are so varied, it does mean that no two days are the same. It's also very rewarding, people like to feel comfortable in their jobs, to know they can experiment with skills, take on new challenges, figure out what they love doing and when you provide that kind of environment, then they constantly surprise you with their work. It's lovely to see their output on a daily basis.
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