By: Maria Elisa Ayerbe Barona
THE FENDER RHODES
1. Discussion of the instrument:
The Fender Rhodes electric piano is one of the most important musical inventions of the twentieth century. Harold Rhodes, a musician who worked as a flying instructor stationed in Greensboro, NC during the WWII, was asked to develop a musical therapy for wounded soldiers at the hospital. Rhodes designed a small piano that could be played in bed by the recovering patients. (Adlers) (more…)
Melissa Britton started in live sound 20 years ago mixing in a classic rock biker bar. “My friend Casey knew I was interested in learning how to do sound. He was mixing at a club and told me I could come in on Sunday and mix the “Ladies Afternoon Stripper Party” Which was great! I rolled some cd cues and watched hot guys strip. I started working on the weekends mixing local bands. Eventually, Casey left to go work at the sister club, and I was hired on full time.”
While mixing five nights a week, Melissa was also going to school and working a regular job. She moved on from the club to work for Dowlen Sound in Denver, CO, where she worked festivals, graduations, corporate gigs, plays, comedy, and a large variety of music. “I worked really hard. I was determined to succeed. I would run circles around the guys. Bret Dowlen taught me a lot. He built his whole sound company from scratch, and even though I came into it 10 or so years after he’d started, I learned a lot from him. Watching him take apart consoles and fix them (analog consoles), watching him build crossover’s, wedges, Subs, and PA stacks and then take it all out and put it all up and analyze it, figure out how it could be better, throw farther, etc.… I learned priceless info from being around all that. “
Melissa with Bret Dowlen
Melissa mixed in every club she could get a gig in doing Monitors or FOH. “I worked every day, seven days a week. I learned by watching others and implementing their style, their technique, their flavor, into my own style, when it was my turn to mix.” “I learned to work with older analog consoles. Gamble EX56, ATI Paragon, Soundcraft Series 4, 800B, 800, Midas H3000, XL4, Bret even had a couple of Harrison’s.”
What got Melissa into this business in the first place was a love for music. “I am in love with music. I played music growing up. My dad played music while I was growing up. Actually, he still plays, and we are getting ready to cut an album at the end of this month, his lifelong dream I’m very excited about that. “ “I wanted to be involved in music somehow. I knew I wasn’t interested in performing, but I was passionate about music. Mixing was a way to be involved without having to perform on stage. I just wanted to be a part of it. “
Melissa has been working as an independent engineer for ten years now and specializes in monitors but is starting to do more and more FoH. “Dave Koz picked me up in 2001/2002, and I’ve been touring with him ever since. “ “I’ve done several short tours. The longest being about eight weeks, mixing monitors mostly. I was flying PA and teching and mixing monitors on my first tour, which was great a good way to stay in shape.”
“I love touring. Especially the way I do it. Which normally is four days on three days off. Almost like a regular job. Going out on a bus tour is great too! You get into a groove on the road. You connect with new people and develop great relationships. It becomes a family away from your family. I never dreamed when I started that I’d be out on the road touring. It just happened. “
Touring life and the road does come with its own inconveniences. “I started touring when my daughter was five years old. I missed so much of her life over the past 12 years. You can’t get those years back. They are gone forever. I haven’t been home for the Christmas season in 12 years. You’ve got to make the best of the time you have. Out of all the holidays, birthdays, school events, sports events I’ve missed I make up for the time I have off. Because when I’m off I’m really off and the time is mine to manage. So that’s what I like least. I don’t like missing the things that a 9-5’ver mom gets to experience. But, I LOVE what I do…and she sees that, and now that she’s older she can appreciate that. How many people can say that about their jobs? I love my job. I wouldn’t change anything.”
Melissa’s favorite day off activities includes DJ’ing. “I have a little turntable rig at home, and sometimes I just hang out and spin. I love house, techno, and dubstep. I’m learning how to work with Ableton and Serato and learning how to remix songs. It’s something I’ve always been interested in. “I also like playing basketball. I keep working on my shot and being a better player. There’s incredible satisfaction in making a great shot. “ “And I like hanging out with my kids. They are the super special people in my life. I love them so much. “
Kingston Audio Jazz Fest
“One of the highlights of my career was when I was teching/mixing FOH for Rave on the Rocks in 2000, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Best show EVER. Paul Oakenfold headlined it was so great. “
Melissa’s long-term goals are to continue learning. “I’m always learning something. If I had to set a goal, it would probably be to take more risks.” “I’d like to tour with some other music genres; pop or rock, but I’m pretty satisfied with where I’m at now…I was just asking myself hmm what’s next
Favorite Gear:
VDOSC and K1 line array systems, Telefunken M80’s, and Shure Microphones.
“A Midas XL4 is probably still my favorite console, but I hardly see them anymore. I like the Pro9. Lexicon Reverbs, (Best thing about the Vi6). Digital is cool. There’s still something to be said for being able to see all your inputs at once. And analog feels good. For me, there are happy memories associated with it. But in the end, I‘ll take what I can get. There’s always something new to learn on whatever piece of gear you have. “
What does Melissa consider to be must-have skills for working in live sound?
“Patience and a good attitude. The days are long and sometimes roll into the next day. 4 am lobby calls for day of show fly dates requires a good attitude patience and a sense of humor.”
“I believe there’s a certain amount of talent a person has to have to make it this business. It’s not just technical. There’s a feel and an intuition. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s more than just faders and knobs. If you don’t touch the gear with respect and love, it’s not going to work for you.”
“The driver I had on the way to the airport this morning told me that it was a gift that I had. His gift was purifying water for the local water company, and mine was mixing and putting up a show. I had never thought about it like that before. But he’s right…. the ones that make it have a gift. “
More on Melissa
Monitor Engineer Britton, Earl Klugh Band Give Thumbs Up to NEXO Wedge
The Making of an Original Streaming Concert Series
With a career in live sound that spans nearly 30 years, Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato has been the sound engineer for some of the most recognizable names in music.
Since her first tour with the band ‘Spin Doctors’ in 1992, Michelle has been touring the world as an independent Engineer, mixing a variety of Rock and Pop artists including
Indigo Girls, Jewel, Gwen Stefani, Ke$ha, Mr. Big, Melissa Etheridge, Goo Goo Dolls, Styx and many more.
In 2015 Michelle was inducted into Full Sail University’s Hall of Fame. She is an active mentor and coach to those seeking a career in Live Sound and Music Production and has been a frequent speaker on industry and university panels and conferences.
Michelle did her first tour as FOH Engineer in 1992. It came about as a result of years of hard work, making sure everyone she met knew that her goal was to get on the road, and a little bit of fate.
“I had been working in live sound for a few years, moving back and forth between Pennsylvania (where I was from) and Florida trying to find enough work to survive. When a job I was promised at a sound company in PA fell through, I had booked a ticket on Amtrak to move back to Florida where I had plenty of work. As fate would have it, on the day I was supposed to leave for Florida, Amtrak went on strike, putting my plans on hold. That very afternoon my friend, John Heidenriech, called to see if I would be interested in taking over his mixing gig with a band doing a national club tour. He needed to leave the tour and was looking for a replacement. They would be coming through my area in a few days and knowing how hard I worked and how badly I wanted to be on tour, he decided to offer me the gig. I was to meet the band a few days later at which point I would begin a two-week trial period. I had never heard of the band and didn’t care. I just wanted to get on tour. My trial by fire was a success, and I got the gig.”
The band was the Spin Doctors, and less than a month later their album broke through Billboard’s top 100 and shot up the charts. That was the start of Michelle’s 20+ year touring career as a FOH engineer.
Michelle being presented a gold record from Spin Doctors circa 1994
“Music was always a huge part of my life. I began playing piano at a very young age and in high school would accompany friends for talent shows and vocal competitions. I played for the school chorus, church choir, etc… But in all of that, I hated being on stage. I hated being the center of attention, so I always knew that a career in the spotlight wasn’t for me. But behind the spotlight or soundboard as in my case, now that was a whole different story. As a kid, I was always fascinated with how things work, taking apart my dad’s broken reel to reel tape recorder and fixing it, dismantling my record players and other electronics. So when I was in Junior High, and it came time to answer the question ‘what do you want to do with your life,’ the answer just came naturally. I wanted to be a recording engineer. That way I could be creatively involved in making music but not have to be a performer. I didn’t even know if it was a career- as a matter of fact, my guidance counselor assured me it wasn’t and I would have to pick something else.”
Knowing of her interest in the music business, a good friend introduced Michelle to a local promoter who let her shadow him at his shows in order to get a taste of the business. “I remember we once had a fairly prominent regional band play at our high school auditorium and they were looking for people to volunteer as stage hands. My best friend and I were the only two people who showed up. The band, of course, were a bit stunned to find out that we were seriously interested in working and learning about the equipment and not just there to meet them and hang out. I think they got a kick out of watching us work, and the whole time they were in disbelief that these ‘chicks’ cared more about learning the soundboard than hanging out with them backstage.”
Michelle also had a strong desire to travel from a very young age. “Growing up in a tiny, tiny town- I wanted desperately to get out and see the world. In looking back, I think my entire childhood led up to this career and I can’t honestly see how I could have ended up doing anything else.”
Mixing FOH for Indigo Girls in 1998
How did you get your start? Did you receive any formal training or education in music and/or audio?
“Once I made the decision to pursue audio engineering, I really had no other choice but to get some training or education. There was no music scene where I lived, no studios to speak of where I could learn, and I had no idea how or where to even begin. After one year of college, majoring in music, I found out about the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH. I took their 5-week course in Basic Recording Engineering and Studio Maintenance. After completing the course, I got a job at a brand new local radio station. I wanted to record commercials, but they told me I had to sell them first. I spent several months working there but quickly realized it wasn’t going to get me where I wanted to be. Next, I took a bus to Nashville to try and get a job in a recording studio. I spent three weeks walking around music row handing out my resume, (which consisted of entirely two lines- The Recording Workshop and WMGH) to every studio I could find. It didn’t take me long to realize I still had a lot to learn and this wasn’t going to happen easily. Young and naive was an understatement. But I had balls. After weeks of being graciously told ‘we’re just not hiring anyone right now,’ I came to realize that despite my five-week education, I still didn’t know enough about making records, and I needed to do something about that if I intended to ever work in this business. I moved back home and soon saw an ad for Full Sail, another technical school with a much more comprehensive 9-month program in music production. I enrolled, and it was while I was attending Full Sail that I fell in love with live sound.”
Michelle began working immediately after graduating from Full Sail, starting with interning at a local sound company outside of Phili, where she worked ‘basically for free until I couldn’t afford it any longer.’ Her job entailed spending hours in the shop helping to build road cases, cleaning consoles, prepping gear for shows, cleaning up and putting away gear from shows, loading, and unloading trucks, building mic cables, repairing snakes, etc.… “On weekends after a full day in the shop, I would load a van full of gear, drive it to a gig, load in, set up, do the gig, load out, drive back to the shop and unload it, catch a few hours of sleep and do it all over again the next day.”
Michelle and the women of Indigo Girls band and crew circa 2002
From there, she went on to do some studio work. “I got hired as an assistant which meant I made the coffee, cleaned up after sessions, ordered the takeout, got to play tape op once in a while (this was long before pro tools or the digital age of recording). On the upside, the owner was kind enough to let me practice mixing during the off hours when no sessions were booked.”
Unable to find enough work to make a living in PA, Michelle moved back to Florida, where she knew there was more opportunity. “I spent most of the next year there, working at the 50s and 60s nightclub- running lights and mixing, whenever the A1 and A2 were unavailable. I also took a job in the A/V department of a local entertainment complex, which gave me an opportunity to hone my troubleshooting skills, in between mixing various bands from oldies rock and roll to Dixieland jazz.” Michelle spent days working in the tech department, soldering, building, and repairing various pieces of equipment, setting up sound systems for talking heads and corporate functions, all the typical jobs you would find in an A/V department. “When I wasn’t working at either job I did stagehand work and also part-time work with another local sound company. I worked as much as I could, as hard as I could, and learned everything I could from everyone around me. In the meantime, I was sending resumes to all the national touring sound companies I had heard of.”
What obstacles have you faced?
“I came from a very small town with very traditional values and old-fashioned ideas; mainly that girls grew up, graduated, got married and started a family. If you wanted a job, you were pretty much relegated to one of the local factories or shops at the mall. There wasn’t much there for a strong, independent, unconventional girl like myself, who wanted to get out and see the world. When I made the decision to pursue a career in the music industry I was met with resistance everywhere I turned. My mother freaked out. My music teacher suggested a degree in music therapy, so I would have a career to fall back on. When I decided to go away to school to learn recording engineering, my friends thought I was crazy and couldn’t understand why I would move so far away all by myself. I was a pretty shy, quiet kid. I was fearless but at the same time scared of everything. So for me to pack up, leave home, my friends, and head off to school all alone was huge, but I was on a mission. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life and this was the first step.”
The music industry is a male-dominated field, which is especially evident in live sound. But that’s never stopped Michelle, and she feels it’s never really been a problem for her. “I was extremely driven from the start, and I’ve always taken the job seriously and focused on doing the best job I could. Sexism either didn’t happen or I just didn’t see it because I didn’t care. I was doing my job and doing what I loved, and I didn’t care what anyone else thought about it. When I was first starting out, I constantly heard, ‘You’re the first female engineer I’ve seen,’ and I would get a lot of sideways glances and strange looks but it’s never hindered me from doing my job. The bottom line is when you work hard and are good at your job, people notice and they respect you for that. Sure, I’ve run into the occasional sexist remark or guy who just couldn’t get his head around women being equal to men, but they’ve been by far the exception and not the norm. And there have been times I’ve felt that I had to work harder, smarter, faster than all of the guys around me to prove myself, but that just made me better at my job.”
“I’ve also had a lot of support from men in the industry. Mark Johnson of Fidelity Sound Reinforcement provided the PA for the very first tour that I did with full production. During that tour, he told me if I ever needed work to call him. I took him up on that offer and for several years early in my touring career, whenever I was home for more than a few weeks, I would head to VA Beach and work for Mark. He treated me like an equal right from the start, even though he had years of experience on me. ML Procise and Clair Bros. have also always been incredibly supportive from early in my career as well as my husband of 16 years, Production Manager Jim Pettinato.”
What are some of the lessons you have learned throughout your career?
“On my very first tour with Spin Doctors, I did one club gig with the band before we went on to join the Horde tour festival, on which we never had a soundcheck. Talk about trial by fire. I mixed my ass off learning how to pull together a mix from nothing more than a line check over headphones, and as fast as possible since our set length was only 30 minutes. This was eons before digital consoles, so I was starting from scratch every day on a console that all the bands shared, there was no- plugging in your thumb drive and loading your file from the last gig… We went on from there to headline clubs and colleges and then bigger venues. In 1994 we spent a few months opening for the Rolling Stones on their Voodoo Lounge tour. I was mixing in NFL Stadiums and NHL Hockey Arenas all over the country as well as soccer stadiums in South America where I mixed my biggest gig ever, in front of 100,000 people. Again, we never had a soundcheck, and the pressure was on to pull it together quick for our 30-minute set.”
Michelle credits the early days of having to mix on ‘whatever crap PA of the day’ in making her a better engineer. “You really hone your skills by having to pull off miracles.” It also helped improve her troubleshooting skills. “9 times out of 10 there would be something wrong with the house system, and oddly enough, the house guy rarely seemed interested in fixing it. So I would spend half my day tracking down bad lines, mismatched crossovers, bad amp channels, you name it. Back in those days, the quality of the equipment left a lot to be desired. You could have a top of the line system one day and a pile of proprietary garbage the next. Sometimes it was completely different speaker cabinets on the left and right! Everyone and their brother was building a PA in their garage, and most of them had no idea what they were doing. Luckily things have progressed tremendously; it’s rare to find a really bad system these days.”
Mixing Gwen Stefani’s -Harajuku Lovers tour 2005
Mixing Gwen Stefani’s -Harajuku Lovers tour 2005
What do you like best about touring?
“The relationships you build with people. Your fellow band and crew become your family. You can form some really close bonds with the people you work with. I met my husband on tour and some of the bands and crew I’ve worked with over the years are my closest and dearest friends. The nature of the job is that we are our own little rolling community and we’re all in it together working for the same result- to make the show happen no matter what.”
“I also love and hate the travel. I love getting to see the world and touring Europe/ Japan/ Australia, but I hate the excruciatingly long flights to get there. It’s time for someone to invent the transporter!”
“It’s always been about the music. It’s never been about doing the biggest tours or mixing the most high profile artists. It’s been about mixing good music, and I am lucky to have witnessed some great musical moments and have had the opportunity to work with so many inspiring and incredibly talented musicians. Best of all, when the lights go down in the arena and the crowd goes crazy, and the air is buzzing with energy and excitement as the band hits the stage, the feeling of knowing that you played a part in making all of that happen, is pretty great.”
Advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?
Be Persistent and don’t wait for someone to offer you your dream gig, you have to go out and make it happen.
Learn everything you can from every job you have and never stop learning.
Learn signal flow, proper gain structure, and basic troubleshooting. If you have these skills, you can mix on any console.
Train, trust, protect, and use your ears- They are the most valuable tool you have, and best of all they are free!
Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Don’t be afraid to network and let everyone you meet know what your goals are.
Work hard, work smart, and know your craft.
Have confidence in yourself and your abilities and don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know, no one expects you to know everything.
Be ready for opportunities and have the courage to take them.
Most importantly- USE YOUR EARS! Your ears are the most valuable tool you have when mixing. Train them, learn how to mix with your ears and not your eyes.
Must have skills?
Along with working well with others, being a self-starter, and having a thick skin, you’ve got to be able to hang with the guys and be comfortable around men, because you will be working and living with them. It’s a male-dominated field and if you don’t like working and living with a bunch of dudes- this isn’t the right place for you. Just as someone who can’t deal with the sight of blood shouldn’t be a doctor. Guys are guys, and while there are always exceptions, more often than not they are respectful of their fellow crew women. I’ve actually been told on more than one occasion by the TM and/or PM, that they like having at least one woman on the crew, it tends to bring the whole testosterone thing down a notch.
Final thoughts
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. When I decided this was my path, everyone told me I couldn’t do it, and I just said ‘watch me.’ It doesn’t matter where you come from, what your background or resources are if you work really hard at following your dreams, set goals, and tell everyone you know what your goals are, you’ll be amazed at how the right people will come into your life. If you stay true to your dreams and goals, things will happen for you. But it takes work; it doesn’t mean saying I want to be an “insert occupation here” and sitting around on facebook all day whining and wishing for it to happen. It means setting goals and knocking on doors and going after your dreams. Be dedicated, be motivated, and show initiative, when people see that, doors will open for you.
We caught up with Michelle for a 2019 update:
Michelle recently created and launched Mixing Music Live, an online video course for live sound and mixing. She continues to be a full time touring sound engineer and can be currently found on tour mixing Elvis Costello.
More on Michelle:
The SoundGirls Podcast – OG Soundgirl Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato on touring & live sound
Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato | Hall of Fame – Full Sail University
Pro To Pro: Catching Up With FOH Engineer Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato
Day 3 of rehearsal
Came in early in the morning to try and program scenes (snapshots) for all the songs- (which I have heard only once). After spending several hours working out effects, various EQ changes, etc… 25 scenes later and one of the video guys shows up and asks me for a mix. I patch a matrix mix to my stage rack so he can pick it up there. Now I realize that it’s only patched in my current scene. Since this is the first time I’ve used any kind of automation on the Pro 9, I pull out the trusty manual and scan the pages trying to figure out how to globally paste this change to all of my 25 scenes. (more…)
Barbara Adams has a full plate. Not only is she the Full-time House Engineer at Tin Angel- a listening room in Philadelphia, part-time engineer at World Cafe Live, also in Phili, she occasionally works as a freelance Engineer/System Tech for two production companies and does freelance work mixing FOH for regional bands touring the North East and Mid Atlantic states. Barbara is also the owner and business manager of Burn Down Studios in Germantown PA, Adjunct Professor of Sound Reinforcement at Drexel University AND as if that’s not enough she is a mother to a five-year-old son.
Even though she wasn’t a musician, growing up, Barbara Adams was all about music. At around 14 years old, while flipping through a copy of Rolling Stone magazine, she came across an ad for Full Sail which sparked her interest in music production. As graduation grew closer, it wasn’t easy convincing her mother that audio engineering was what she wanted to do, but she was hooked on the idea of working in music production, and enrolling in Full Sail seemed to be the best route. “ Being fairly shy at that time in my life, I wasn’t comfortable going to a studio and trying to learn that way. I was more apt to learn in school.” “When I was 20, I finally had the opportunity to go to Full Sail, and let’s just say, I learned not to be so shy anymore. I took every opportunity I could while I was there to get out and learn. When I graduated, I came home and started as an intern at a studio.”
Following her graduation from Full Sail in 1995, Barbara started as an assistant engineer at Sonic Recording Studios in Philadelphia. Three years later, she found herself feeling stuck and very unhappy. While attending Full Sail, she had found her passion was in Live Sound, and the studio life just wasn’t cutting it. “ I was thrilled when I started working with local bands at various clubs in the Philadelphia area. Around 1998 I got a job as monitor engineer at the Trocadero and moved to doing live sound full time.” “I love the challenges I face every show. It is what drives me to be better. This industry is constantly changing, and to move forward, you have to adapt. Although it is not given every time, one of the best things is to hear an audience member tell me how great the show I just mixed sounded. And band members who smile when they see me because they know it’s going to be a great night.”
Several years later, Barbara expanded on her education by receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration, Legal Studies & Entrepreneurship; Management from Temple University. “I had been working in the music industry for about five years, and I was seeing a lot of the businesses I worked for being run very poorly. I decided to get a degree in business because of that. I think it helped me to understand entrepreneurship better.”
During this time she was also working as a Monitor Engineer for Electric Factory Concerts. “In 2005 I left Electric Factory for a production manager and front of house position at a smaller club called Grape Street, while still freelancing with bands and various production companies. When Grape Street closed in 2008, I started at the Tin Angel. “ At the Tin Angel, I work every show we have which can vary week to week, but averages about 4 shows a week.” At World Cafe Live, where she’s worked since 2010, “I do mostly morning shows which can be private events, Live Connections sessions, or their weekly kid’s show. The kid’s show is one of my favorites because my son gets to come to work with me and helps me set up.” For the past ten years, Barbara has also been working freelance with DBS Audio and FSP Productions, doing monitor mixing and system tech for festivals such as DC’s Jazzfest, Boston’s Summer Arts Festival, Appel Farm Festival, Bethlehem, PA’s Musikfest, and many other events.
Barbara has had some hurdles to overcome. “Attitudes… sometimes it is my own. It took me a long time to realize you can’t please everyone all the time.” Also, “Being a girl in the music business is an obstacle itself. I have been overlooked for positions I was well qualified for because I am female, and I have been through many instances of sexual harassment.” Barbara has dealt with these situations by enduring and learning from every obstacle, forging on to better herself and her craft. “I get schooled every day I work. I am constantly learning, even after doing this for nearly 20 years.” She also says, “keeping her head up and growing a tough skin” have helped her survive in the business. Working in sound reinforcement doesn’t leave much time for her to spend evenings with her family or social outings with friends. “ My schedule is the opposite of most people I interact with now, especially being a mom.”
If you want to enter the field of professional audio, Barbara recommends figuring out how you like to learn. “For me it was school, but if that isn’t your thing, then go out and meet some people. Be outgoing, but not arrogant. Be open to learning, be open to trying things. When things get tough…don’t give up. Keep learning and keep doing it. Listen to the good advice and throw away the negativity. Learn from your mistakes, and you will become better than you ever imagined. “
People skills are first and most important. This is a business of who you know and building a network is critical.
Listening skills, use your ears! Listen to the band and the audience and make adjustments where you can.
Know signal flow and gain structure. It will make your job so much easier.
“ While I was at Full Sail, I was able to attend my first AES conference as a representative from the school. The school took promotional photos of all of us who attended. The picture they took of me was used a year later in that very same ad that got me interested in production to begin with. It was my face that graced the Full Sail ad in the back of Mix Magazine in 1996.”
When asked about her long-term goals, Barbara replied “ At many points in my life, I have wanted to have my own venue. But knowing the amount of money and work that takes, I don’t know if I have that same strong desire anymore. Lately, education has been a focus of mine. I enjoy passing on the knowledge I have gained to the next generation. I am an adjunct professor at Drexel University and am currently looking for other opportunities to teach live sound.” Barbara is doing just that by creating SoundGirls.Org’s ‘Lessons in Live Sound.’
Barbara Adams can be reached at soundarella@verizon.ne
Barbara Adams is an audio engineer and educator with twenty-five years of experience in the music industry. She specializes in live sound and production management. Her strong and varied experience also includes recording engineer, stage management, and artist management.
Barbara is an Assistant Professor at Rowan University teaching Sound Reinforcement and Audio Recording in their Music Industry Program. She also is the booking manager for Rowan Music Group, the program’s record label, and artist management services. By night she is busy as engineer and production manager at The Locks at Sona, Philadelphia’s premier listening room. She occasionally works as a freelance Engineer/System Tech for several production companies and does freelance work mixing FOH for regional bands touring the North East and Mid-Atlantic states.
As the SoundGirls Philadelphia chapter president, she is always looking for ways to help mentor and guide new engineers in the field of live sound and bring together the Philadelphia community of SoundGirls. And as if this wasn’t enough, she is the mom to a very busy pre-teen son who enjoys helping mom at gigs if he isn’t playing hockey, playing music, or in school.
What does FOH Engineer stand for?
FOH stands for Front of House and the FOH Engineer, (sometimes referred to as Band engineer or soundman/soundwoman) is responsible for mixing the sound for the audience at a concert. What you hear coming out of the PA speakers is for the most part under the control of the FOH Engineer. Other factors can have an impact on the mix such as; the quality of equipment, venue acoustics, stage volume, how well the band plays, etc… These are at times beyond the control of the FOH Engineer.
What does an FOH Engineer do?
Simply put: Each individual instrument on stage has it’s own microphone and input, from the lead singer all the way down to the individual drums and cymbals on the drum kit. The FOH Engineer manipulates the levels and equalization of the various instruments and vocals blending them together, adding reverb and effects as needed, to produce a mix of the band which is amplified through the PA system.
The level of creativity and freedom a FOH Engineer has with the mix varies from artist to artist. Sometimes a band or artist has a clear vision of what they want to sound like live. It is the FOH Engineers job to interpret and re-create this via the sound system. Sometimes a band leaves their sound entirely up to the FOH Engineer.
It is usually up to the FOH Engineer to decide or at least recommend what microphones to use on each instrument and vocal. On large tours the FOH Engineer provides a technical spec of what the sound system requirements are. This generally reflects their preferences in microphones, mixing console, outboard gear, plug ins, PA system, etc… and any other details pertaining to how the system should be set up.
FOH Engineers can be very involved in the set up and tuning of the PA System or they can rely on the system tech to do that and just mix the soundcheck and performance.
How is a FOH Engineer different from Monitors Engineer?
A FOH Engineer mixes the the band to be amplified through the PA system for the audience to hear. A Monitor Engineer mixes the instruments and vocals on stage for each individual performer to hear. A FOH Engineer is only responsible for mixing one mix for all of the audience to listen to while a monitor engineer is responsible for many different mixes depending on what the performers need to hear. They listen to these mixes through either speakers on the stage or in ear monitors, or a combination of both.
What kind of background or skills do you need?
An understanding of the basic concepts and terminology of audio and sound reinforcement, signal flow and proper gain structure as well as the technical knowledge to operate various mixing consoles and equipment. A well trained ear and ability to recognize frequencies.
You should comprehend the principles of equalization well enough to be able to create the tonal picture that is desired.
Good communication and people skills are a must. Not only will you be dealing with the artist but also various other representatives of theirs including but not limited to: their management, label reps, agent, family, and friends. Tact and diplomacy are incredibly beneficial.
A background in electronics, physics of sound, and mathematics is also helpful but not necessary.