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Up Close and Personal

Last month I talked about the nuts and bolts of how I run monitors at the Glastonbury Festival. This month, I’ll share some tips about how I mix monitors at the other end of the spectrum – a solo artist and their band.

Running a large festival requires a different set of ‘soft’ skills from working closely with an artist. They both take a great deal of preparation, but whilst at Glasto, that means collating tech specs, session files and stage plots for 24 bands, with solo artists it’s more to do with rehearsals and relationships. And whilst at Glasto, I have the artistic input of making sure that the house EQ and any necessary time alignment on sidefills and wedges mean the stage sounds fantastic, with an artist it gets a lot more refined, particularly if I have a long working relationship with them. My two current artists are both fantastic singers whom I’ve been working with for nine years and seven years respectively, so by now, I have a fairly intuitive understanding of what they want to hear. Both have excellent bands playing with them, are lovely people, and I enjoy their music, so it’s a very nice position to be in.

Relationship

The quality of the relationship between the monitor engineer and artist is an important part of the job, and as with people in any walk of life it doesn’t always click. You can do a great technical job of mixing, but if the artist doesn’t feel a connection with you, you may not get a second run. As I’ve said before, they need to feel that you’ve got their back, because they really are reliant on you. Put yourself in their shoes – it’s a vulnerable position, standing on stage in front of thousands of people, and their ability to hear what they need is totally in your hands. That goes for all bands, but is amplified for a solo artist – the backing musicians are a big part of the show, but the audience is watching the star most of the time, so they’re very exposed and they have to trust you. Part of it is down to personalities – you might gel and you might not – but you can help build rapport by being reliable, consistent, calm, professional, prepared and confident.

Hierarchy

Being friendly with the artist, but not overly so, is important – you want to establish an easy working relationship with them, whilst remembering that they are still your boss. I’ve found that balancing friendliness with a little professional distance is a wise move. Friendly, not friends.

Of course, in most cases, you’re not just mixing for the artist but for the band too. I’ll always soundcheck with the band by themselves first, so that I can make sure they’re happy before turning my attention to the artist – and often an artist will stop soundchecking when they’re comfortable with the engineer. I never stop watching the artist once they’re on stage – you can guarantee that the moment you look away is the moment they’ll look over!

During the show, I keep half an eye on the band, but my main focus is the artist. So how to make sure that the band feels taken care of too? I ask the stage tech and backline techs to keep an eye on the musicians and alert me if I miss anyone trying to get my attention. I also give every band member a switch mic, so that they can talk directly to both me and the techs. I set up a ‘talk to me’ mix on my console, and I feed my own IEM pack off a matrix, pulling in that talk mix as well as the PFL buss. In that way I never miss someone talking to me, even when I’m listening to the artist’s mix.

Sometimes there’s a request that comes at a critical point in the performance; for example, the drummer wants a little more hat overall, but I have a show cue. I’ll nod to let them know that I’ve seen them and hold up one finger to say that I’ll be with them in just a moment. Then, when I’ve made the change for them, I’ll glance over and catch their eye to check that they’re happy. I encourage musicians to give me immediate feedback when they’ve asked for something – it’s no use finding out after the gig that something wasn’t quite right!

Avatar

Mixing artist monitors is like being an avatar. I need to develop a real understanding of what they pitch to, time to, what they’re used to hearing, and what helps them to enjoy the gig. I don’t usually alter the backing band’s mixes unless asked to do so, but I’ll subtly ride elements of the artist’s mix as necessary during the show, once I have a good understanding of their preferences – if an element of the mix sounds too loud or quiet to me, then it probably does to them as well. I tend to tap along with my foot, which keeps me aware of whether they are wandering off the beat and might need a little more hat or snare.

My latest trick

In rehearsals for my current tour, I had a few days alone with the band first, as usual. Once they were happy I set up my artist’s mix and dialed her vocal mic in. Then I tried something new – I sang along! BEFORE I sent the mic to anyone else, and I ‘may’ have temporarily pulled the XLR split to FOH so only I could hear it, but wow it’s a helpful exercise! It really helped me to get a feel for how easy the mix was to sing with. A more discreet way is simply to keep one IEM in, close off the other ear with your finger, and see if you can pitch reasonably easily. If you can’t find the note you need, what can go up in the mix to help your singer out?

Audience mics

Whilst we never needed these when wedges were the only option (showing my age!), with the widespread use of IEMs they can help the artist feel the vibe of the show. Currently, I’m using three mics on each side of the stage (near, wide and rifle), mixed down to a stereo channel to give a nice spread of audience sound to the ears. I hi-pass them at around 600Hz to keep the low-end out and have them on a VCA which I ride up between songs and when there’s audience participation. On the subject of VCAs, I also use one for the vocal reverb, backing it down during chat between songs.

Split vocal

With solo artists, I always split the vocal down two channels: one to themselves and one to the band. That means that I can keep the mic live in the artist’s ears the whole time, so they can hear themselves after a costume change (when jacks can get pulled and volume pots knocked), without disturbing the band. If we’re using both IEMs and wedges, as one of my artists does, I’ll actually split the vocal three ways to allow for a different wedge EQ and muting when he goes off stage. I always safe the ‘vocal to self’ out of all snapshots, but keep the ‘vocal to band’ within snapshots so those mutes are programmed in.

Keep it clean

Finally, I do a little in-ear and mic housekeeping every day. It’s the monitor engineer’s job to keep the artist’s molds clean and wax-free, so I carry wipes and a little poky tool to make sure they’re always in good condition. Alcohol swabs are great for cleaning the vocal mic, which I do right before handing it over – apart from the fact that a stinky mic is gross if the artist gets sick and can’t perform the whole tour could be in jeopardy, so hygiene is really important.

I hope you’ve found something useful here – every engineer will do things slightly differently, but a can-do attitude, hard work, and attention to detail are great foundations for any engineer, no matter what you’re mixing!

What are you worth? or Do I need an agent?

In an industry where fees are kept close to everyone’s chest, it’s often hard to know what is a fair price for your time. Taking a job where I feel I have been ripped off in the fees department is never a way for me to feel like part of a team and produce my best work. I have found that it is often not a one-off. Doing one show at a discounted rate, in my experience, only leads to being offered more shows with a discounted fee attached. It is often assumed, in theatre, that the Sound Designer is at the bottom of the pile when the money is being handed out. Add to that the global phenomenon of women being paid less than men. Yes, women working full-time still often earn less than men doing the same job:

Women are Still Paid Less than Men Even in the Same Job

Nursing Pay Gap Women Paid Less

Research Finds Women Paid Less than Men in 90 Sectors

The Gender Pay Gap

It can feel the struggle to find out if you are getting paid what you are worth. I have said this before but, I have found that, for me, working for free has never led to a paid gig. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but not in my personal experience.

There are Guidelines for Theatre Designers, but not specifically for Sound:
The Association of Lighting Designers has a suggested fees document that covers everything from a major musical (£20,000) to a fringe/pub theatre production (£1,000). I find that the only way not to drive myself mad is to try to stick to this. If there are special circumstances, like a very short run in hope of a transfer, then I will make sure there are clauses like: I get the first refusal if the show transfers, and that transfer will come with a fee that is the going rate. I also make sure the copyright of the sound design and content created stays with me.

If I have to be away from home, there is the issue of accommodation. £500 seems to be a standard figure offered for accommodation and travel but I am very honest if I can’t find anywhere for that and/or there are last-minute changes to schedules. Not being able to book ahead makes everything a whole lot more expensive.

Also, I always mention any dates I am not available for during the rehearsal and production period. We aren’t expected to be there for every day of rehearsals unless specified in the contract and compensated, but it is still good to give a heads-up to the director and producer of any clashes in my schedule. Theatre Sound Design pay rates mean you often have overlapping projects; people understand this but communicate with them so there are no awkward surprises later on.

I do sometimes wonder if it’s worth trying to get an agent to do the negotiating, but the only benefit I can see is that they have more of an idea of what the going rate is. I would still have to agree, or not, to the terms of the contract. Technical Design Agents in the UK theatre scene don’t really get you to work, at least not actively. As far as I’m aware, they negotiate the contract on your behalf. I have heard a variety of things from Lighting Designers: those whose rate tripled when they got an agent, to the agent who insisted on taking a cut from all of their clients’ earnings, regardless of whether they had been working as a designer or not.

The only way through, for me, is to make sure I don’t go into a job feeling that I’ve been taken advantage of. If I can manage that, then I am happy to negotiate the contract myself. And there is always the rest of the creative team who, if they won’t actually tell you the fee they are on, will tell you if they think yours is below the going rate.

 

 

 

Attitude of Gratitude: Cool things about touring (that we sometimes forget…)

Many of us occasionally get a bit of jaded roadie syndrome. Maybe we get grumpy, and homesick, and miss our folks, and dammit if we hear that song one more time….. When life on the road feels a bit uphill, here are some of the great things about touring to remind ourselves of.

– You get to travel the world and get paid for it. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you find yourself in some crazy places that you just wouldn’t ever visit as a tourist, and become richer for the experience, both literally and figuratively.

– You get to do this with a bunch of like-minded people who often become good buddies. Sure there’ll be one or two who aren’t your cup of tea, but that’s just life, and there are lots of others to hang with. Camaraderie is one of the best things about life on the road.

– Music! I’m guessing a love of music led you down this path in the first place, and now you get to work with that love. With a bit of luck, you like the band you’re touring with, and it can be so fulfilling to be part of that creative process.

– You don’t have to clean the bathroom THE WHOLE TIME YOU’RE AWAY!

– Or go to the supermarket.

– Or cook.

– Or do your own laundry…. You get the picture.

– Lovely people cook lovely food for you. In fact, you may need to pack your willpower if you don’t want to come home with some unwanted tour swag…. Especially when the load-out food and drink fairies visit the bus!

– You get to be ‘in flow.’ If you’re directly involved in the show, you can’t be thinking about anything else for that couple of hours… you have to be present because if you’re not, you’re going to mess up. And we all know what that means – Taxi!

– Every day is dress-down Friday. Except when you put on normal-person clothes to go out for dinner on a day off, and everyone looks really smart, and it’s all a bit weird…

– You know that thing when you forget where you are? (Umm…. stage left?) Well, that happens, but it’s sometimes because you haven’t looked at the day sheet beyond timings and so you genuinely don’t know! Which is kind of surreal….

– Sometimes you get to stay in really swanky hotels. The rooms are usually ready pretty fast because a bunch of crew tumbling off the sleeper bus in their pajamas isn’t quite the look the hotel staff had in mind for the lobby.

– You get to try some really weird and wonderful local cuisines and customs on the more far-flung legs of a tour. If you’re prepared to step outside your comfort zone and embrace the adventure then it’s never dull!

– There’s that cool little rush of adrenaline before a show, and the happy sense of satisfaction after a, particularly good one. Heck, even on those shows when everything that can go wrong, does, there’s that ‘blitz spirit’ of everyone pulling together to make this thing happen!

– You make your living by contributing, in some tiny way, to the sum of human happiness. See all those shining faces in the crowd? You’re a part of that.

– Finally, when you get home after a long tour there’s nothing quite like it for making you truly appreciate life’s little pleasures. Early nights in your own bed; a proper cup of tea in your favourite cup; making whatever you fancy to eat; your own shower; catching up with home-friends; and of course the biggie of seeing your loved ones…. these things take on a new level of joy, and that alone is worth hitting the road for!

Tour Tribe

‘Human beings are social animals. Biological evolution equipped men and women for a communal existence, hunting and foraging in tribes of between twenty and forty people. We could never have survived this ecological niche by ourselves. We don’t have the strength, speed or agility of other animals. But we do have language. We can communicate with others, and we are bright enough to collaborate for purposes of hunting, collecting food, defense, and building shelters. A tribal group would work as a team, assigning to each member a role according to their character and skills.’

This an extract from a book called ‘Sick and Tired – Healing The Illnesses Doctors Cannot Cure’ by Nick Read. It’s a fascinating investigation of ‘functional illnesses’ which doctors are unable to pin down with a cure, such as IBS, chronic fatigue, depression, fibromyalgia, eating disorders and so on. Dr. Read explores the idea that, despite the fact that as a society we’ve ‘never had it so good,’ we’re sicker and unhappier than we’ve ever been, and the stressful pace of modern life and disconnection from our simple humanity is to blame.

His description of how we lived back in our caveman days struck a very loud chord with me. Twenty to forty people, living a nomadic existence and working as a team within roles according to their character and skills. Remind you of anything? No wonder we like touring – we’re basically channeling our inner caveman! I’m making light of it, but life on the road really does offer a sense of community that’s increasingly rare in modern life. We each have our roles to fulfill, which offers the opportunity for creative expression, problem-solving, and collaboration with others, and we have to do it within a timeframe, which means tangible satisfaction rather than never-ending procrastination. And our work may involve mind-boggling amounts of technology, but it also involves a lot of physical activity – pushing, pulling, climbing, lifting, standing up and walking around for most of the day – all of which means we use our bodies as evolution intended. Being away from home also provides a chance for genuine rest and downtime on days off, rather than racing around. I certainly find being on tour more relaxing than juggling different tasks back home, and suddenly I understand why that is, despite long hours and the potentially pressured environment.

This is not to say that roadies never suffer any kind of functional illness; of course, we do. There are ample temptations and opportunities to break yourself on tour as well as all this good stuff. But I think it’s interesting that studies increasingly suggest that it’s living out of sync with our caveman roots which has made us so sickly as a society. The rate of lifestyle change has dramatically accelerated since the industrial revolution, and the incidence of illnesses which have no obvious cure – despite immense, marvelous leaps in treating pathology – has accelerated alongside it.

When you think about it, it’s the least surprising thing. Take a being who has evolved for a nomadic, active, communal existence roaming in nature; who thrives on practical problem-solving, eating food hunted and gathered from the land; who derives satisfaction from doing the skills they’re suited for and not comparing themselves with others; whose body responds to threat by fighting or running for their life, and who rises with the sun and sleeps for as long as they need. Now, airdrop them into a situation where they spend most of their time static, unable to roam freely because of overcrowding; where their practical abilities and simple satisfactions have been outsourced to machines; where they eat processed chemical foodstuffs with precious little connection to the land; where they are encouraged to constantly compare themselves with others and measure their self-worth by their appearances and possessions; where they are vulnerable to artificial alerts and stimulation 24 hours a day and where, because of all of this, they’re in a constant state of stress from which they cannot run. Would we really be shocked if this being got sick? Of COURSE not!

We may not have been airdropped, but the few thousand years in which we have made these changes, in evolutionary terms, is the blink of an eye. Our physiology and psychology haven’t been able to keep up, and we’re now very bewildered space-age cavemen. So it feels good to have a taste of that more natural way of life, as we roam the world with our tour tribe. Touring doesn’t make modern life go away – heck, touring as we know it couldn’t have happened 100 years ago. But we do have some precious, crucial elements in there which I believe are a large part of the pleasure – even the romance – of touring.

Dedication and Perseverance – Meegan Holmes

Meegan Holmes has worked in live sound for over 25 years doing everything from system teching to mixing monitors and FOH. She is now in Global Sales for one of the largest sound system providers in the world, 8th Day Sound – Los Angeles. At 8th Day Sound Meegan can utilize her years of experience in sales and account/project management, as she held a similar position at Delicate Productions for over 18 years.

With a mother who is an artist and a father who is a musician, chances were high that Meegan would end up working in the arts. Meegan says her parents “were always supportive of whatever I wanted to do and they never discouraged me from pursuing my goals. In many ways, it made me both fearless and a bit stubborn.” At age 13, Meegan was exposed to live sound and event production when she volunteered at a summer stock theater. She would spend many evenings through several summers, painting sets, hanging lights and speakers. It was there Meegan learned all about theatrical mic technique and live mixing from the FOH engineer. From there Meegan would go on to attend California Institute of The Arts, where she studied Sound Design and Music Composition.

After about 18 months at CalArts, Meegan realized that she was not going to make it as a musician and started to think about how she could still be involved in music and not have to perform. It was evident to her that bands would always need crew and if she chose a path on the tech side, she would always have a job. ”I loved the experience that I had with the technical aspect of live production when I was younger, so it was an easy transition for me to make and one that I do not regret.” During her junior year, she started working as a stagehand with LA Stagecall. While working for Stagecall, she would make friends with the guys at Delicate Productions, which eventually led to Delicate hiring her as a stage tech for a tour.

While Meegan does not believe that attending an audio program or obtaining a degree is necessary, it will most likely benefit you. “CalArts gave me a chance to try varying aspects of audio, not just live production. I tried designing and mixing for film, television, and animation. I spent time in the recording studio on campus; I used the first version of Protools. None of that excited me, but a live rock show did. I don’t think a four-year private university is mandatory. Where I grew up in Connecticut, we weren’t given an option to ‘not go to college. I had to apply to at least four and pick one. I chose an art school. Honestly, going to college gave me the hunger to learn, the networking skills to get a job and the discipline to keep it. Keep in mind; there are many successful people in our industry that do not have any continuing education at all. If you already know someone that can help you get involved in the industry, great but if you don’t, attending some education program might be the only way to get some contacts to help launch your career.”

Meegan’s first tour was Lollapalooza 1997, (back when it was still a tour), as the stage/patch tech. “The tour was a lot of hard work; I started my day with flying/ground stacking PA. Once the band risers were up, I would start mic’ing up the seven bands. I’d re-patch between each and only get sporadic breaks to eat lunch and dinner. After the show was over, I took down the PA I had installed in the morning. My trouble-shooting skills improved by 100%. I learned how to be a strong member of a team (not only the audio crew but the other departments as well), we all worked together to execute the show.”

From there she would go on to mix FOH and monitors for various smaller acts, such as Soul Coughing, Tenacious D, The Melvins and God Lives Underwater. The majority of her road experience has been as a monitor or system tech on tours with Natalie Merchant, Natalie Cole, TOOL, Queens Of The Stone Age, Linkin Park, Basia, and Gorillaz. She even had a brief stint working as a production assistant on Limp Bizkit “I just wanted to try something different, I loved working with the PM on that tour, but I missed being on the audio crew.” Her favorite thing about touring was being paid to see the world, but the disconnect from her life at home was taxing.

Touring would no longer become an option prompting Meegan to seek local full-time work with Delicate. Over time she would start to assist in crewing shows, eventually leading to working as an onsite Project Manager for the more complex shows. Meegan says she “developed a knack for dealing with some of their more challenging clients. After learning the onsite leadership skills and all about dealing with personnel, I just had one last piece to learn, the money. I was promoted to account management in 2013 where I learned pricing and client management on an entirely different level. It was not a difficult transition to make. I spent a lot of time on-site with Delicate’s clients, building relationships with them. Also being on-site, I developed stronger relationships with the crew, bands and event producers. Creating these relationships gave me the opportunity to represent the company beyond email and phone calls. I learned a valuable lesson about how relationships drive our industry. Clients liked dealing with me; they did not care where the equipment came from, they wanted the service, attention, and dedication that I had to offer.”

After 18 years, Meegan felt it was time to move on as she says “Account Management showed me a lot. It also showed me the limitations at Delicate as well. I knew I needed to move on to take my career to the next level. I needed something slightly different and challenging. I interviewed with several different companies. Initially, I was interviewing with 8th Day to take on some of the 30+ festivals they do in the U.S. each year. After my interview, the plan changed, and I was asked if I was interested in starting the west coast operation of the company.

So start she did, with a small pile of gear stored in a warehouse owned by one of 8th Day’s clients. Meegan worked alone with the support of the Cleveland office and freelancers that she knew in Los Angeles. “At the time, I did much of everything, sales, crew, trucking, prep, loading and unloading the gear. I don’t think anyone (including myself) knew how quickly we’d grow here. We hired more full-time personnel and moved into our own warehouse last August. I spend most of my days, now that we have more personnel, doing quotes for shows and tours, conference calls and attending site visits and meetings, hiring crew for our shows here in LA and keeping up with the warehouse maintenance and needs. I spend time on show site, I still feel like nurturing personal relationships is a crucial part of my job.”

When hiring crew Meegan says she looks for “someone that is willing to do any aspect of audio, patching the stage, FOH/monitor tech, RF tech, and mixing. This versatility is beneficial if you plan to work for sound companies. If someone specializes in something, we have less work for them of course but sometimes being the best RF technician brings you more work. Keeping a positive attitude, being reliable, honest and having a good sense of humor are all necessary traits. We can teach you the technical side of the things you don’t know, but we cannot teach you to have integrity. Spending time as a stagehand, working in a warehouse or working in a venue learning how everything goes together is beneficial, especially if you are starting out.”

Meegan’s long-term goals are to help build the 8th Day’s business here in Los Angeles and to use her position to help others achieve their goals in the industry.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I contacted two audio companies when I graduated from college; the first told me “we don’t hire women for touring positions.” The second told me “we don’t hire women because we find we have to pick up their slack.” These were literally the only two tangible barriers I experienced, and both happened in 1993.

How have you dealt with them?

I never stopped wanting to work in the industry and have always worked hard. I never made a big deal out of gender or my education; I let my work speak for itself. Either people wanted to work with me, or they didn’t. I kept a positive attitude and tried to have fun regardless of what I was doing. I never said ‘no’ when I was asked to do something like pull feeder or load or unload a truck.

Advice you have for women who wish to enter the field?

Get ready to work and prove yourself. Nothing comes easily to anyone, and there will always be someone smarter, stronger, and more experienced than you. Stay humble and open to learning from anyone and everyone you are around regardless of age, gender, race, or experience level. This applies to both technical and interpersonal skills.

Must have skills?

Patience. Drive. The willingness to learn. A strong knowledge of signal flow and troubleshooting.

Favorite gear?

Equipment that can handle the wear and tear of road life.

Parting Advice.

Don’t limit yourself! If you tell someone that you only mix FOH, then you’ve just limited yourself, and you’ve made it harder for someone like myself, to hire you or recommend you for a tour. Do not be afraid to fail; it means you tried. If you are not happy with your job, do everything you can to change that. We spend much of our lives working, and if you don’t love your job 90% of the time, it will affect your entire life. Have fun, be safe and do not give up on your goals, sometimes they might take a little longer to achieve than you want but the wait will be worth it.

More on Meegan

The SoundGirls Podcast Interview Meegan Holmes

Getting What You Give: Inside The Career Of Veteran Audio Professional Meegan Holmes

NAMM – Meegan Holmes

Meegan Holmes on Roadie Free Radio

Wrong End of the Snake – Meegan Holmes

The Pandemic Series THE ROLE OF AUDIO COMPANIES IN TOURING — PT.6 — 4/21/20

Showmakers – Meegan Holmes

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

All I Ever Wanted

 When Your Passion Becomes Your Work

I was just 12 years old when the thunderbolt struck. Standing behind the FOH guy, watching him mix my favourite band, I suddenly knew what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t know at that point what monitors were – that refinement would come later – but I was going to be a sound engineer, and that was all there was to it. I had no clue how to make this auspicious event actually come about, but the spark was lit – a sound engineer I would be, and no one and nothing was going to stop me. Stand back, world, here I come!

It helped that I was (ok, am) extremely stubborn when I know what I want.

It helped that I was (and still am) passionate about music, and was hugely inspired by the behind-the-scenes video footage of my beloved rockumentaries. (I still think speeded-up time-lapse photography of arena and stadium load-ins is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.)

It helped that I was being educated by teachers who told us that we could be whatever we wanted, as long as we played to our strengths and were prepared to put in the hard yards – although admittedly they were somewhat perplexed by my epiphany. (A lawyer, an astronaut, a pilot they could understand. A sound engineer, not so much. The moral of that story is be careful what you tell a stubborn young girl because she’ll very likely take it literally!)

It’s now almost 30 years since that thunderbolt struck, and for all my adult life I’ve been a professional sound engineer. I love my job, and whilst there are most certainly a few bands that I would still give my right arm to mix, I’m incredibly fortunate to have reached the upper echelons of the industry. I did what I set out to do. I made my passion, my work.

And therein lies a thorny little issue that never even occurred to 12-year-old me. When your passion becomes your work, you can never again experience it with the wonder and innocence of the outsider. It’s a lot like moving in with your dreamy partner; you still think they’re gorgeous, and your love deepens with time, but you become aware of all their little foibles and less-than-glamorous habits, and it inevitably changes the relationship. Very often for something wonderful, and often it makes you even prouder of them when you know what their private struggles are, but it’s a paradigm shift from which there is no return.

Consequently, it’s decades since I’ve been able to go a gig without privately critiquing the sound. It’s even worse if it’s a festival, where I can compare different bands and weigh up whether it’s the tone of the PA, the mix, or what’s going into the desk, that I’m picking apart! I’m not as hyper-critical as some engineers I know – I can usually just about get over it if the sound’s simply a bit average – but I’ve witnessed at least three very big rock bands who I was excited to see, sounding absolutely shocking. I’m afraid I spoilt it for myself so much that I had to leave! Seriously, this stuff can leave me feeling disgruntled for days – I really do hate it when bands who ought to sound awesome, don’t. Of course, everyone has off-days, but when it’s persistently bad… anyway, I won’t get into that particular rant right here. (You see what I mean?!) That said, it’s an unrivaled joy when a band I’ve been waiting years to see sounds stunning – Def Leppard has sounded fabulous on a number of occasions, and Don Henley at Hyde Park made my 2016 – hats off to the noise boys and girls on those gigs!

Over the years I’ve made two other passions – yoga and writing – into my work as well (I never learn!), and it’s the same with them. I’m enormously fussy about which yoga teachers I enjoy going to these days, and even when they’re great I’ll often be taking mental notes of excellent ideas which I might echo in my own teaching. Likewise, some writing styles can drive me to distraction, no matter how interesting the content. The next time I fall in love with something, I really must try to remain an enthusiastic amateur…

But for all that turning my passion into my work has made me Ms Fussy-Pants, I wouldn’t change it. Sure, my great expectations have made the probability of disappointment higher, and it takes something truly outstanding to lose me in the music these days. But that’s because I’ve trained myself to listen intently; to analyse; to discern what makes a sound more pleasing. In doing that, I’ve got under the skin of my passion, and become intimate with something that still has the power to excite and inspire me, albeit with a little more awareness of the magic. Because of that intimacy, I get to spend my life doing something that I love; something that very rarely feels like actual work.

Just like a good marriage, even though the exciting becomes the familiar and you know what goes on behind the scenes, the pay-off is that you share your life with someone you love deeply, someone you understand – and who still has the power to occasionally take your breath away. If that happens less frequently than in the early days of romance, it’s because your life has been so enriched by your love that your bar for ‘breathtaking’ is set very high.

So I’m glad that 12-year-old me was ambitious and stubborn, and that 20-something me worked so damn hard to get to where I now find myself. Now, my passion is my work, and my work is my passion – and truly, when you do what you love, you never work another day in your life. And that, ultimately, is all I ever wanted.

Riding the Roller Coaster of Live Sound – Rena Kozak

Rena Kozak is a FOH engineer and tour manager based out of Calgary, Canada. She has always had an interest in arts and has played in numerous Calgary bands as well as studied painting and drawing at University before becoming a sound engineer.  

A talented dancer, Rena was studying ballet at the University of Calgary in 2002 when she injured her foot. Unsure if she would be able to dance again, she considered alternate career paths. A friend of hers, Josh Gwilliam (current chief engineer at OCL Studios in Alberta) suggested she look into the audio recording course at the Academy of Production and Recording Arts in Calgary. By a stroke of luck, Rena’s father had just given her $5,000, a bonus from his job as assistant coach of the Canadian women’s hockey team after they won the 2002 Olympic gold. The audio engineering program cost exactly that amount, and Rena enrolled. After graduating, she began working at a recording studio but found the work of recording commercials to be monotonous.

Instead of pursuing more studio work, Rena interned with an electrical engineer and learned to fix analog equipment.  In 2005, this electrical engineer recommended her as FOH for the musical Guys and Dolls. She recounts: “it was an insane opportunity in retrospect, a 24 person cast with a full orchestra… people work for decades to break into that kind of work. It was a crazy stroke of luck. I never thought I would like live sound, it seemed so intimidating, but it was exhilarating to take my knowledge and apply it in the moment to tell a story to an audience.”

After the musical had ended, Rena got a job with a local production company Sound Art, working on shows and maintaining gear in their shop. In 2007, she did a national tour as a monitor engineer for a dance show that featured a live band. Rena felt the road wasn’t for her and found that touring took away her ability to create music or art. She took a house gig in 2008, as house engineer for Mac Ewan Hall.  child_actress

In 2012, her boyfriend passed away suddenly. After grieving, Rena found that she was in a different place mentally: “I wanted fewer physical attachments. I didn’t know where I wanted to live, I didn’t want possessions, I didn’t want to attempt to have a lifestyle that resembled anything permanent for a while so I approached the boys in Preoccupations  – who were called Viet Cong at the time and are long time friends – about using me as their touring FOH.”

Preoccupations agreed to hire her, and Rena found herself thriving as a touring FOH. She has worked as FOH for Operators (Montreal), did a run of festival dates with Holy Ghost! (Brooklyn) and even had the chance to fill in on monitors for Beirut for a couple of shows, which she describes as a career highlight.

Operators

Operators

Although she enjoys being on stage, she has realized she likes touring as an engineer more than as a musician. She thrives on mixing the same show every day and enjoys the challenge of having to work in different rooms.  Rena notes that touring can be a psychological roller coaster: it is hard to get to know new people and sharing tight spaces like a van or bus can be taxing. To offset the stress, she tries to eat well and do as much hotel room yoga as possible.

Her favourite piece of gear is her old TAC Scorpion recording console, which she is slowly re-soldering and fixing. In a live setting, Rena likes using guitar pedals as live mix effects – on the fall Preoccupations tour, she was running a couple of FX chains for vocals and drums, in the hopes of recreating the album’s sound. She hopes to get other gigs that allow her to be as creative with equipment.

Regarding must-have skills, Rena believes a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the show done is crucial.  “This job is mostly problem-solving – whether it’s solving the actual technical problems with the sounds themselves or repairing broken equipment or figuring out how to safely get the gear through a mud puddle into the venue. There is no problem that cannot be solved; you just haven’t found the solution yet.”

It’s also important to have a solid technical understanding. Knowing how the physics of sound works, knowing how your gear functions and why, understanding the equipment and systems in detail – these things are so important to achieving a good product. The more you know about your tools the better you will be at manipulating them. It can be easy to get by without knowing details – a lot of people work for a long time with very little knowledge, but reading up and building a foundation of knowledge is what will set you apart.”

rena_bass-with-shematomas

Rena’s long-term goals are to keep touring as a FOH, and to work on her own artistic projects. She has recently finished recording and mixing her first solo record (under the name Child Actress) and is looking forward to writing more music.  You can find her on the road with Preoccupations in 2017.

Rena shares some words of advice on the barriers she has faced as a woman in the audio industry, and how to overcome them.

“I’ve been tremendously lucky to have had an exceptional amount of support from so many people I’ve worked with. Of course I’ve faced the obvious challenge of being a girl. While it’s never prevented me from landing good jobs or enjoying my work, more often than not it has absolutely been a factor.

Fortunately, I had a lot of very real support. A lot of dudes who were well respected in the business saw my passion for it and believed I knew what I was doing gave me work and helped me learn and progress. I don’t think most people are as lucky to have as much support as I received.

That being said, it’s been a constant issue. It feels funny answering this question right now because of how I’ve continued to struggle with being female at work even in these last two months. From the guy who wants to carry my case for me (fine, you want to help but it’s my case, it isn’t even heavy, I don’t need you to look after me we are peers here) to the old house sound guy who tries to tell me how to EQ my wedges until I demonstrate to him how my EQ curve was actually cleaner than his, to the TM who makes side comments about not liking “having to listen to a woman”. It isn’t gone. I’ve been at this for nearly 15 years and it’s still there. But, it’s better. There are more of us, and things are changing.

I have always been great at handling the old-school sound guy personality type. I’m great with a quick joke and talking to them like I am their equal. I’m rarely intimidated, and I’m quick to win most of them over with my personality.

I’ve also recently found I’ve needed to deal with my own internalization of systemic sexism. Trying to remain calm and remind myself why I love this work and that I deserve to be here doing it, and trying my best not to react with anger as much as possible. I am very actively working on this right now, trying to be Zen and maintain confidence at all times. I find the best way of thinking about it is to remind myself that I have to COMMAND respect and not DEMAND respect. Don’t get angry, just be confident and execute your work as perfectly as you know-how and this will generate respect from your peers.

Do you have advice for women and other young people who wish to enter the field?

“Do not be intimidated by anyone. You have as much or more right to be there as anyone else.

And for those who are just beginning and feeling intimidated by the equipment or the technical side of it, shake that off and remember that you are capable of comprehending anything technical – and remind yourself of some of the sound guys you’ve met along the way.They aren’t all geniuses, are they? If they can do it even just a little, you can do it epically well. 

And call me up! I love to teach; I’m happy to take on any ladies who want to apprentice or just ask questions.”

You can contact Rena and find out more about her upcoming projects through her website

The Road Less Travelled

Tips for Touring in Less Developed Countries

Touring with full production in first world countries is, let’s face it, not easy street. Like a family of hi-tech snails, you carry your home and everything you need; and beyond power and rigging points, you don’t need a whole lot from the local production/promoter. Even when you’re not carrying all your gear, picking up what you need locally in the western world is usually straightforward as long as you’ve advanced it all properly, especially in countries where we all speak the same first language.

But what happens when you start to travel further afield, to countries where the language, culture and wealth-status is very different? Touring in far-flung places is fabulous – you get to see parts of the world you might never have even considered visiting. You get to experience different cultures, meet people of all nationalities (and realise we’re all the same), taste wonderful and unusual foods, explore cities where you can’t read the roadsigns, see natural beauty and temples and monuments that you didn’t even know existed, and step far, far outside your comfort zone and grow as a person more than you knew was possible.

You’ll probably also get frustrated, feel out of your depth, and feel like you’re being stared at a lot, especially if you’re a woman working on a gig.

You know what? It’s all really good for you, both as a human and as an engineer.

My first world tour was 13 years ago, and I’ve wound up somewhere unusual every year since then. Some tours have been big enough that we’ve carried everything except racks and stacks (PA, wedges and amps), and others I’ve carried little more than a multimeter and sense of humour – both of which are VITAL! I’ve picked up plenty of tricks and tips along the way to make life easier, which I hope you’ll find useful the next time you find yourself on a long-haul flight to somewhere you never dreamed you’d find yourself!

– Speak very plainly. When you start to write your spec, remember that English is not these people’s first language – keep it simple. Lose any slang, colloquialisms and unnecessary words in specs, emails and conversation. It avoids confusion and means you’re more likely to get what you need with a minimum of fuss.

– Make plain in your specs, things that would be taken for granted back home. For example, I offer a couple of alternatives for acceptable IEM systems, then add ‘all EITHER x or y please, no mixtures’. Likewise amps and crossovers – I once walked on stage to find the wedges I had asked for, but all sounding completely different from each other. I asked my babysitter to show me the amps, which were buried under the stage, and sure enough, amongst a horrible snakepit of cable, there were several different sorts of amps and crossovers. I certainly improved my chops that day! To things like mic stands, I add the words ‘clean and in good working order. This extends to the production world too – things like toilet roll are not a given in some countries. Assume nothing and put it all on the rider!

– When advancing, don’t take a reply of ‘yes, everything is fine as confirmation that everything is indeed fine. Many cultures around the world are very concerned with ‘losing face’, and want to be seen as stepping up to the mark in their dealings with you. Unfortunately, this often means that they will agree to everything on paper, and wait till you’re on-site to tell you that this bit of kit was broken or that piece of gear is not available in their country. Ask them to list exactly what they have. You might be lucky and you might not, but better to know and have the conversation about substitutes and contingencies now, than when it’s 10 hours till showtime.

On a side note to this, always communicate respectfully, both because you’re a nice human, and because the ‘face’ thing can’t be overstated – if you make certain cultures feel disrespected, you’ll make life very hard for yourself indeed.

– Invest in a good quality multi-meter if you don’t have one already, and take it everywhere. It’s good practice to meter the power before you plug in wherever you are, but it can quite literally be life or death in less developed countries. I’ve come across readings that could have killed someone had I blithely carried on without noticing. Local gear will often already be rigged and powered up – find an outlet and meter it anyway. If it’s not what it should be, don’t go any further till you get it sorted.

– Make friends with the interpreter! If you’re very lucky you might have a member of the audio crew who speaks good English or a technical translator, but the likelihood is you’ll have a dedicated interpreter who doesn’t have any technical knowledge. Nonetheless, they are going to be a big help, so learn their name and keep technical questions that need translating as simple as possible.

– Have a stash of wipes and a paintbrush for cleaning your gear and the desk. In a lot of places, you’ll be faced with gear that hasn’t been well-maintained and sometimes is downright filthy – and there are few things grosser than a stinky vocal mic!

– The food in some countries is fantastic, but that doesn’t mean all crew catering will be great. Some days it will rock your world, others days it really won’t. Having a supply of nuts or muesli bars is a good idea for those days. Likewise, it’s smart to carry a kit of basic medicines for common ailments – something I’ve done ever since trying to explain a UTI via sign language to a pharmacist in Russia!

– Be sensitive to where you are. In very poor countries, the local crew might not be earning 1/100th of what you are each day – I’m not kidding. Understand that they don’t have the same experience or opportunities as you; be kind, patient and if they seem interested in what you’re doing, take the opportunity to share some of what you know. There are often keen members of the local audio company who are eager to learn from you, and if you can teach them something that helps them, however simple, they’ll never forget you.

– There aren’t many women doing what we do in a lot of the world, and staring is not considered rude in many cultures. This adds up to the fact that, as a lady roadie, people are going to be curious about you and you’re going to get looked at. 99% of the time it’s completely innocent and they’ve just never seen a woman do what you’re doing, so try to ignore it. (It goes without saying that if it gets creepy, you don’t stand for it – trust your instincts.) There’s also less concept of personal space in some countries, and having people close behind me when I’m trying to mix the show is a personal pet hate of mine. I deal with it by either creating a physical barrier, such as a cable trunk behind me as a ‘table’; or if that doesn’t get the message through, I’ll smile and say, ‘I’m sorry, could you give me some more space please?’ Again, the culprits are usually just trying to learn what you’re doing – I’ve known people take photos of channel EQs!

– Pack your sense of humour. On one memorable stadium show, the stage was deemed unsafe by our production manager and we all had to walk away whilst it was put right. An hour later we returned to find a large dead chicken, several garlands of flowers, and a lot of incense centre stage – and for once the incense wasn’t mine. When we asked the locals what was going on, they cheerfully explained that they had made an offering to the gods responsible, and the stage would now be fine. Needless to say, we went back to the dressing rooms for a little while longer!

Touring further afield is exciting, daunting, and a wonderful experience. It’s a privilege that most people can only dream of – to travel the world with a bunch of buddies and get paid for it. Some days amazing things will happen, some days things will go horribly wrong. But you’ll truly live life to the full – and if you ask me, that’s what this whole rock and roll business is all about!

 

Life on the Warped Tour

warped3“Oh my god! You did Warped Tour? That must have been AWESOME!” is usually the response I receive from people when I tell them I toured with Warped this past summer. From an outsiders perspective it is pretty awesome, and from an insiders, it’s still kind of awesome!

Warped Tour is one of those legendary places that all pre-teens and teens have attended or dreamed of attending since the mid 90’s. The legendary status that comes with Warped in the world of Punk Rock, Hardcore and Metal is historic. It is the longest running festival, continually propelling tens of thousands of kids (and parents!) to see acts from the radio today to artists who parents jammed to on cassette.

Then there are the people in the background, the people who never get noticed but make every day happen and run crazy schedules to make these shows happen. The hardest working people on Warped Tour, with the worst schedules, are definitely the Sound Techs, Stage Managers, backline and the setup crew. Since I don’t have experience with the latter, I’m going to tell you about the former!

Every morning you wake up tired, your body heavy with the need to sleep. You look at your phone. 6:30 am. I think “Ok I can lay here and relax for another 15 minutes. When I hear Amy moving around, then I can get up.” I inevitably nod off and wake up in a panic around 7:15 and scramble to get ready and to catering. Load in on my stage, Monster South, starts at precisely 8 am every morning. That is not true of all of the stages, but it’s definitely how mine rolls.

We wait at the back of the truck behind our stage, sometimes waiting for hours for the stage to be placed itself, or waiting hours because the local union says we can’t unload our truck until THEY get there. After those mornings the rush to get everything up before 11 am, becomes real, and kids sometimes are staring at you as you check your system for the first time that day. My Check was: The Floozies, “Love, Sex and Fancy Things” For the Bass, Trombone Shorty “Hurricane Season” and a variety of music from Sting usually “Shadows in the Rain” or “Hounds of Winter.”  So not exactly a punk rock system check.

But most mornings we wait. On our stage, we have a beta system being tested called the K-Array. It is the first thing off of the truck and the last thing on. These line array rigs are 3 boxes a cart and probably around 7 feet tall. They are heavy and awkward to get out of the truck, and definitely caused many a fallen off toenail. Slowly the members of our various bands start to show up, along with tech people from other bands. You see they have a choice. Unload the truck with us every morning or sell merch all day or some various other choices. We always had a lot of help from our bands. They really were into teamwork on our stage.

Once the truck was unpacked to the point where most of the PA was off I would break away and start working on my own. Most mornings I started by pulling our feeder across the stage and getting the PA feeder run. As the FOH/System tech for the stage, I had to make sure the PA was rigged, wired, and functioning every day as well as making sure the guest engineer’s files were properly pulled up and patched.

warped8I worked with some amazing people. My monitor engineer, Mike, has been in this business longer than I’ve been alive. He showed me some great tricks when he was feeling nice; he also helped me rig my PA for the tour, much to my dismay. I was more than capable of rigging my system, but the initial week of the tour set the load-out pace. Once we started with Mike helping me on the out, that’s how it rolled. It was a fast and efficient system, with Mike and Jon getting the whole stage down in about 15-20 minutes. Our whole stage down and loaded some nights in (our fastest time) 38 minutes! I learned a lot from Mike, unexpected things. Like how to properly align your chain bag on a single point system, or the magic of Gold Bond. Jonathan was a stage and patch ninja! He had some of the best looms I’ve seen for the stage. I LOVE neat stages! My stage manager Myles and our Backline tech Cesar were literally the best team on the tour. Our stage had 0 problems, and if they did it was handled quietly and efficiently. I have so much respect for those guys. We had a great team.

After the setup came the hard part for me. I only mixed two bands all summer, Vanna and Cruel Hand. Most of my day I spent hiding from high dB levels and screaming music. Honestly, I probably needed gun muffs on top of my 25dB filters as my ears constantly rang for that tour. No good. As we all know, you can try to give hardcore music a dB limit, but it never works out. And especially not with our system.

One of the biggest challenges of the tour for me was actually the PA. This Array was meant for a much longer throw than we needed it for. We needed the PA to throw 80’ tops on any day, most days about 35’-45’ to FOH. The system was easily throwing well over 100’ until I finally started to turn off my top two boxes and after a recommendation from Bill Black (FOH on North), I also inserted a high shelf starting at around 2k to take out the harshness of the system. It was then much easier. Not only that but we had no front end on the system. There was no unit at FOH that gave me control of my system, allowed me to see how it was performing or even if it was hitting the limit. There was no way to enforce our levels without the ability to mute the PA from a source that wasn’t the board. That is especially hard for Monster North who had bands bringing their own desk.

Warped tour is one of the most brutal tours I’ve done, in terms of schedule, exposure to the elements, and levels of exhaustion. But It was over before we knew it. One day we’re saying “Oh MAN, a month left. It feels like we’ve been out here  for a year.” To the end where it became “I can’t believe we only have a week left!”.

warped-2Warped tour was an amazing experience as a growing engineer. I had the ability to do whatever I wanted with the scenes for my bands every day. It was a festival! If I got bored with my scene for either one of my bands, I would just dump the entire thing and start from scratch. Not only did it hone my engineering skills immensely (two months potentially mixing from scratch every day) but also I learned some amazing techniques from engineers who have been doing this for a very long time. I have to say that one of the biggest benefits of the tour was the opportunity to grow as an engineer. I can also say that Hardcore is one of the hardest genres to mix, and if you can make that sound good everything else is cake! It has a very style-specific sound live; generally, it’s a super-produced sound with tracks and effects trying to resemble an album feel, less live.

warped4Some of the things I’m most grateful for are the friends I made in those two months. I toured with a fellow SoundGirl, Amy Truong, and she rocked the stage and patch on Monster North. I also had the pleasure to tour with another lady Sammy Keyes-Levine who was FOH for the Full Sail Stage, and another kick-butt SoundGirl Nikki Berna who ran Monitors for Full Sail. We had such a great crew of ladies I’m sure I’ll be friends with throughout my career.  I had never had the opportunity to work with so many women! In the ten years, I’ve been doing sound on the east coast; it took me eight years to finally work with another woman engineer! What a great experience to have so many ladies. I’m very grateful to Rat Sound Systems for their drive to hire females.

It’s important to take away lessons from everything you do. Warped Tour taught me a lot of things I needed to work on, such as my propensity to get very stressed when there is an issue. Or learning that sometimes people’s dislike of you and treatment of you is not a reflection of you, but rather a reflection of them upon you. It was very lonely for me on my stage sometimes, but being FOH for these types of festivals/tours are lonely by nature. FOH has very little interaction with the stage unless there is a problem.  I know that there was some dislike of me from some of the men on my stage who for some reason thought I wasn’t qualified for my position. A lot of muttering and starting of rumors from the men because I am female, or drunken conversations where you’re told that they don’t believe you deserve the position. But after ten years in the sound industry, being belittled by people who don’t know me becomes normal, and you become more able to ignore it and be comfortable with your skills. Sometimes to those people asking for help is seen as weak, but it’s not. The best engineers I know STILL ask questions of other engineers because to do what we do and do what we love, we must always be learning. Otherwise, what’s the point?  Our industry changes every day, in turn, we must learn.

Warped, though difficult, was one of the most important things I think I have done to date in my life. The best advice I can offer is do the thing that scares you the most, conquering your fears brings your dreams to fruition! Take the bull by the horns and get what you want, because you are the only person who is going to get it. I had absolutely no idea what I was walking into for Warped. And at the end, I had invaluable life experiences, and I would do it again.warped5

loreenLoreen Bohannon: Complete audio geek! Loreen has worked in the live sound field since the age of 16. Working from the case pusher up to audio engineer within a small local company for many years, Loreen took her skills to the road. As a freelance engineer, she has worked with a great variety of acts dealing with all positions. She has toured with Rusted Root, Warped Tour, and is currently touring with Cabinet as TM and FOH.

About Loreen: loves learning and teaching anyone who will listen about her craft! Loreen also produces and hosts a radio show that features local talent called Music on the Menu. She does as much outreach as possible to local youths in Northeast PA, showing them that there is a place where they can work, do what you love, and not be looked down upon if you don’t fit in! Loreen loves to write and read, and you just can’t get her away from small furry animals.

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