Make sure that you draw a clear line as to your assistant's responsibilities, and your interns' responsibilities.
First off, it's my opinion that an assistant shouldn't have to be bothered with coffee, dishes, sharp pencils, phone calls, food orders and garbage. I want them in the technical areas where they are of the most help. If need be, they should be delegating to the interns about coffee and such.
Second... A good assistant should be on autopilot. The best assistant that I had was always thinking three steps ahead of me. She would listen to the producer carefully, so, most of the time, I never had to say a word to her. She always had patch cables in her hands while I was mixing, and if the conversation was about vocals, the only thing that ever had to leave my mouth was "563 to a 312" (or whichever mic/pre combo I wanted her to set up).
Bonus... This particular assistant had amazing ears, so I utilized that quality. If I was struggling with trying to get a good snare sound or something, I never felt hesitant to ask her to dial something in, and usually loved it.
Thirdly... A good assistant will always have the outboard gear labeled with the instrument that it's being used on. The 1st engineer should never have to trace patch cables to find the outboard that needs to be adjusted. Board tape should always be accurate, media labeled immediately, outboard gear documented as mix stems are running, session details entered into the console before the 1st walks into the room, etc...
Off limits... A good assistant should know their boundaries. Drum tuning, production advice, unsolicited performance critiques, beauty tips, etc... are rarely in their job description...
First off, it's my opinion that an assistant shouldn't have to be bothered with coffee, dishes, sharp pencils, phone calls, food orders and garbage. I want them in the technical areas where they are of the most help. If need be, they should be delegating to the interns about coffee and such.
Second... A good assistant should be on autopilot. The best assistant that I had was always thinking three steps ahead of me. She would listen to the producer carefully, so, most of the time, I never had to say a word to her. She always had patch cables in her hands while I was mixing, and if the conversation was about vocals, the only thing that ever had to leave my mouth was "563 to a 312" (or whichever mic/pre combo I wanted her to set up).
Bonus... This particular assistant had amazing ears, so I utilized that quality. If I was struggling with trying to get a good snare sound or something, I never felt hesitant to ask her to dial something in, and usually loved it.
Thirdly... A good assistant will always have the outboard gear labeled with the instrument that it's being used on. The 1st engineer should never have to trace patch cables to find the outboard that needs to be adjusted. Board tape should always be accurate, media labeled immediately, outboard gear documented as mix stems are running, session details entered into the console before the 1st walks into the room, etc...
Off limits... A good assistant should know their boundaries. Drum tuning, production advice, unsolicited performance critiques, beauty tips, etc... are rarely in their job description...
