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So you Think you Want a Career in Live Sound.

Are you sure?  

I’m not saying it’s a bad idea; I think it’s fantastic as long as you are doing it for the right reasons.

I have been working in live sound for 30 years, and even though it can be grueling at times, I’ve never felt like I was ‘working.’  My passion for music is what drives me.  The camaraderie of my fellow touring crew and the opportunity to travel to and experience different places and cultures are all perks of the job.  When I first discovered my desire to get into this crazy business, it was so strong that nothing was going to convince me to do anything else.

That passion and desire have helped me through the struggle of the early years, years of building my skills and experience, hustling to get enough work, the jobs that weren’t my dream job but essential to learning what I needed to know for my next job.

It’s good to have an end goal in mind for where you want to be.  Equally important is to clarify your motivations so you can be sure that your expectations are aligned with the realities of the job.

Here are some questions to ask yourself.

What exactly do you want to do?

What is your ultimate goal? Why?

What do you envision that being like?

What is the driving force behind it?

What do you feel you are going to get out of it?

How badly do you want it? In other words, how hard are you willing to work to achieve it?

What do you imagine this path being like?  What is the first step?

Are you prepared to move around a lot?

How are you going to set yourself apart from all the other people who want to do the same thing?

How do you feel about getting filthy, sweaty, doing a lot of physical work and some heavy lifting?

How do you feel about working nights and weekends, holidays, and stupid hours?

If your goal is to go on tour with a band, can you live out of a suitcase for weeks/months at a time, and without all the comforts of home?

Are you a self-starter, responsible and dependable or do you just want to mindlessly punch a clock and surf Facebook all day?

How good are you at building connections and networking?

These are all things to consider when before choosing live sound as a career.

If your motivation is to make a lot of money, hang out and party with your favorite band, or just because you like music, you probably won’t make it.  I’m not trying to burst your bubble but realistically – yes you can make a lot of money in live sound, corporate work pays great and touring sound engineers can make good money, but it can take a long time to get to that point.

As far as hanging out and partying with the band, let’s think about that.  The band is your boss, and while yes, at times you can and will develop great friendships with the people you work for, there is a fine line between employee and friend.  You need to know your place, and as crew, it’s not backstage partying with the band when loadout is going on.  You are there to do a job, this a business like any other and as much as we don’t want to believe it, it’s about making money-  money for the artist, their management, the promoter… All of which depends on each person doing their job.

You love music, that’s great.  That’s a good start but is it your passion?  Is it something you are willing to bust your butt for, to work 16 hour days getting dirty and sweaty?  To slug it out in smelly bars and clubs if you are trying to cut it as a mixer?  Or working as a grunt on the audio crew for tour after tour until you are experienced enough to be the system tech?

Having a sincere passion and strong desire is a great start.  Getting your expectations in check is also helpful, which is where these questions come in.

In fact, you could ask yourself most of these questions about anything you are going after in life.

-What is it I want?

-Why do I want it?

-How do I expect to feel when I have it?

-Are my expectations in line with reality?- Talk to people who are where you want to be for a reality check.

-How hard am I willing to work for it?

Answering honestly will help you clarify if you are on the right path for you.

I wish you success in whatever path that is!

For more from Michelle, check out https://www.mixingmusiclive.com

 How to be the New Crew Person

 

 

In the live entertainment industry, you will find yourself working new venues fairly often; in the beginning, it might be every week! It’s not easy being ‘the new crew,’ and it can feel somewhat daunting at first. I remember when I started out and I used to not be able to sleep and get stomach ache because I was so stressed out that I was not going to fit in or that I was not going to be able to make some friends or do a good job.

Obviously, it was all in my head, and nowadays, I don’t lose any sleep over being new, but it took some time to get my confidence up and be comfortable with the unknown.

So let’s look at how we can tackle the basics of being new!

Pre-Gig

Look smart and wear practical clothing. Black is the standard colour in the industry because we are meant to be invisible, but it just always works. Honestly, any life situation where you feel like you do not know what to wear, wear black.

If you have got long hair or hair that tends to be in the way, put it up! It’ll be in the way when you’re working or get stuck into something you don’t want to have it stuck in.

Same with jewelry, make sure you’re not wearing anything that might come in the way or be at risk of being pulled out.

If you are new to a venue, make sure you look up the technical specifications of that venue and make sure to familiarise yourself with their equipment. If you are lucky and have got the time, ask to shadow the in-house person, or have a walk through their in-house system.

If you are working with new equipment, make sure you read the manuals beforehand, so you come prepared. Watch YouTube tutorials and make notes of handy tips and tricks to make sure your shift will run smoothly throughout the day/night.

The Gig

Be on time, or preferably be early! Time is not always on our side, so make sure you buy it as soon as possible. Being 30 min early might save you later on in the day, or you will have the time to actually have a little break later on. Either way, you will thank yourself later.

Introduce yourself!

To avoid assumptions on who you are, be the one to introduce yourself first. Let them know your name, who you are, and what job you’re there to do. This way, there will be fewer misunderstandings on who you are.

Ask for help, if you’re in a new venue, but there is a house technician, ask this person for help! That’s what they’re there for, and it will save you time rather than trying to figure everything out on your own. Although all venues are set up on the same basics, there are some differences due to XYZ.

Be friendly and keep the conversation light, if you are not as busy as somebody else ask them if they need a hand with anything.

Always bring a snack and water. There is nothing worse than working long hours on an empty stomach, and well, no one is pleasant to be around when they’re hungry and low on energy.

Post Gig

Hopefully, the gig has gone well, and you had a successful night with hopefully very minor to no issues at all. Before you leave, make sure everyone is OK, ask if anyone needs help with anything. Loadout goes a lot quicker with a helping hand, so make sure you do not leave anyone loading out on their own.

Drop them an email saying thanks; if you have covered someone’s shift, just let them know how everything went.

Find out whom to invoice and make sure to invoice as soon as possible to stay on top of your finances!

With these basics in the bag, you’ll make a good impression, and hopefully, with time and knowledge your confidence will come along, and you will no longer be ‘the new crew person

 

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Us VS Them?

 

With all of the forward motion in the entertainment industry over the past few years, I just can’t believe that we still live in a culture of  “Us vs. Them.” I’m talking about actors, musicians, “the talent,” vs. technicians. Even in my list, I’ve used a term I’m used to hearing: The Talent.  Here’s the thing, I am also the talent. The spot ops are also “the talent.” The stage manager is also “the talent.” The deck crew, the A2, the board ops, the wardrobe techs, etc. are all “the talent.”

We’ve stopped thinking about what language that has been used for generations actually means. I cringe every time I hear “actors on a ten” during tech rehearsals. What about technicians and designers?  Should we just power through? Obviously, this announcement actually means that this is the time everyone should take a break, but the language just needs to change. What about the rehearsal report that refers to the actor as “Mr. Smith” but refers to the technician as “the board op?” It only perpetuates an already unspoken and uncomfortable divide between those that work on the stage and those that work just off the stage.

This is not a one-way street; the sentiment goes both ways.  We always hear about “actor-proofing” gear for the stage. What does that even mean?  Does an actor suddenly lose all ability to think logically about the thing they are holding, or sitting on, or walking over once they hit the stage?  I mean, we’re not actor-proofing an actor’s day-to-day life, are we? If what we mean is we are going to make sure a cable is run properly and taped down so that it can be crossed over many times without being a trip hazard, we should probably just say that instead.

The theatre conservatory that I taught for the better part of a decade has a policy that all acting students must serve as a technician on at least one show during their training.  I love this policy, and honestly, a few of my best A2s were actors. Why just hear about the other side when you can actually experience it? The benefits are massive. The actor learns a bit about a technical trade, will be able to incorporate that new knowledge into their craft, and hopefully has a newfound respect for the life and work of the technician.

The tech crew also benefits from working with the actor-tech. One of the coolest and most functional homemade mic belts I’ve ever used was made by an actor-tech who used his prior experience of uncomfortable mic placement to develop a beneficial design. Also, an actor’s knack for memorization has come in super handy when I’ve had to rattle off a list of instructions that needed to be performed in a timely fashion.  And let’s face it, actors almost always know every character and every word to every song way earlier in the process than a technician. It is so much easier to be able to say, “Fix that mic on Sibella” without having to add, “She’s the girl that’s always dressed in pink.”

Acting conservatory classes often feature a lot of exercises that include self-reflection, group trust, and team-building.  Over the years, I’ve heard tech students talk about how awesome it was that they didn’t have to take classes like those, and that has always boggled my mind!  Why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of free therapy? I know (possibly more than anyone) how uncomfortable and difficult it is to open up about feelings and stuff, but think of the personal growth!  If we were all taking team-building classes together, actors and techs, US and THEM, just think of all of the positivity that would come from it. If nothing else, it would let us get to know one another. Maybe get coffee together, maybe collaborate, maybe learn from each other. My challenge to you all is simple: Cut this phrase in half. There is no Us vs. Them; There is only US. It takes all of us to make a show.

I wanted to say something here about symbiosis, and my first Google search turned up this definition:

“Symbiotic relationships are a special type of interaction between species.  Sometimes beneficial, sometimes harmful, these relationships are essential to many organisms and ecosystems, and they provide a balance that can only be achieved by working together.”

I really can’t do better than that.  So just keep reading that definition, and thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

FOH Lisa Affenzeller – Chasing the Magic

Lisa Affenzeller is an independent FOH Engineer, who works mainly with Heavy Metal bands, such as Butcher Babies, TesseracT, Kobra & the Lotus, Devin Townsend Project, Overkill, Annihilator. She has been working in the industry for over ten years.

Growing up Lisa had always wanted to work and be a part of live shows “Every show you do has that little magic that lies within that kicks you, and you know that you love what you do.” She had a love for music growing up, although she never had much interest in actually playing an instrument. Lisa would attend SAE in Vienna and graduate with a degree in Music Production and had the full support of her parents. She says, “they love the technical aspect of my job as well as the traveling.”

After graduating she moved between a few cities across Europe before ending in Hamburg, Germany. Lisa would make ends meet with office work, stage managing, soldering, anything to get a chance to mix some smaller shows or opening bands. Allowing her to start working in small and mid-sized clubs all over Repperbahn and give her confidence in mixing live sound. It would also put her in the right place at the right time.

Starting in the clubs taught Lisa the ropes. First, she interned, then assisted, and then got to mix a few bands. From there she would start working at various clubs where she learned system engineering, mixing FOH and Monitors, stage managing, patching. And maybe more importantly how to put in long hours, fix broken equipment, and how to deal with artists and characters from all over the world.

Lisa would find herself in the right place at the right time and was able to start touring on the club level where she would learn how to mix on every possible console and PA, and how to get it set up quickly, and sound good. Although she found it intimidating at first, she now finds it fun.

Some of the challenges Lisa has faced while touring are gear breaking or failing. She says, “it sucks for sure, but it happens to the best of us, and it can happen at any time. It’s just a matter of how you deal with it and how fast you can troubleshoot, and that – again – comes with experience.

She elaborates “One time I had a massive show stopper happen on a big club show in Germany during a tour through Europe. One of the photographers in the pit accidentally broke one of the main Cat5e lines, and I was using the spare CAT5e connection to run my show on 96kHz (which, in hindsight, was super unnecessary). I had no backup and after six songs into the set and the cable broke, more than two-thirds of my input channels were not passing audio anymore — almost a total blackout. After we found out what exactly had happened, the audio team and I rearranged the patch together. We trimmed down the channel count and moved on with the show on a spare CAT5e line that we had with us.
I overcame the situation by staying focused (luckily during that time I had so many shows under my belt already I could remain calm), the team effort within the crew, support from my tour manager and indeed a lot of love and understanding from the fans around me. One of the guys in the audience even thanked me and bought me a drink.”

Lisa also finds festivals bring unique challenges. “Very often you don’t get a soundcheck and sometimes even just a 20-30min changeover time in which you have to set up the stage and line check the show and then go for it and fix a solid mix in the first couple of minutes of the show. It’s stressful for sure and challenging, but it’s possible. The upside to festivals is enjoying the other acts and getting to hang out with roadies and friends from around the world.

What do you like best about touring?

The fans, for sure! And also, the bonding you experience when you work and travel with a terrific group of people is priceless.

What do you like least?

White bread & cheese.

What is your favorite day off activity?

Exploring local bars & restaurants!

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I think the biggest obstacle that I have faced in my career was my constant fear of failure and lack of trust in myself.

How have you dealt with them?

I have been fortunate with having had people in my life who believed in me more than I did and gave me chances. There might be a grain of truth in it when they say you have to work twice as hard being a woman, but when you do, and you cut your teeth on it, and you are willing to make some sacrifices, it’s absolutely worth it in the end.

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

You will eventually need to take that leap of faith and leave your safe haven back home to enter the touring world.

It sounds like a platitude, but you have to believe in yourself, it’s really true. You will work with a lot of shitty bands, and you will have a lot of bad shows, but you will also have A LOT of perfect shows, and they will love you for it.

You will make mistakes, and you will learn from them. Your ability to troubleshoot will get better, and so will your confidence. You will hit rock bottom, and you will stand up again. And before you know it, you’ll become a kick-ass sound engineer.

Must have skills?

Apart from the obvious, such as knowing your gear, I’d say being communicative is a big plus. And confidence & thick skin.

Favorite gear?

DiGiCo SD Series
DPA 4099 & 2011
Waves SSL G-Master Bus Compressor
Waves C6 & F6
Waves H-Delay
MANLEY Voxbox
BAE 1073
JH Audio In Ears
And a very special shout out to my Leatherman and my pink Peli

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