Mixing: Down to the Details

My previous two blogs were about how to get started mixing first with the vocals, then working with the band. Once you start to feel like you’ve got mental energy to spend on other things, it’s time to zero in on the subtleties. These are the details that take the sound from a functional mix to part of the story. You as the mixer start to have room to make the show your own and add some artistic flourishes!

So what does that mean? At this point you have the vocals at good levels, you’re blending the band and pushing solos, so what else is there to do? In my very first blog, I talked about what makes a functional mix versus a good one. Up until this part of my mixing series, it’s been about functionality, so now we’re going to look at how to shape a show.

First, it’s time for an extra bit of script analysis. Some lines in a show will ask for special attention. These are plot points, setups, and punchlines for jokes, and sometimes special moments like ambient noises or ad-libs you want to highlight. Plot points are things like character introductions, foreshadowing, and establishing scene/time that might get lost. On Saigon, there is an abrupt jump three years ahead, something the characters briefly reference, so I’d try to pop those lines out to help the audience understand what was happening. On Mean Girls, when the Plastics make their entrance and each character gets a little bump as they start their introductions, especially Gretchen where we also took out the vocal verb to help make her quick, wordy bit more intelligible.

Sometimes you’ll have sections where multiple people are all singing at the same time. In Phantom of the Opera, you go from “Notes” or what we call “Managers,” a scene where the seven people on stage have rapid-fire lines back and forth to “Prima Donna” where those same people are now singing on top of each other. Your job as the mixer is to highlight the parts that are important to the story: Carlotta making her distress abundantly clear, Raoul and Mme Giry debating about the Phantom, and the managers bemoaning dealing with the aforementioned Prima Donna. You’re keeping everyone up so you maintain the musical texture that the song uses, but make sure to push the important bits just a little bit more.

Script Excerpt from “Prima Donna” in Phantom of the Opera

This was a scene that made me fall in love with mixing every time I got it right. Managers are technical and all about getting the mics up at the right time and Prima Donna is a complete 180 into artistic blending. It’s a section where you have to bring your best every single night and I thrive on that kind of challenge. There was a while between when I learned how to do a good mix with multiple faders up to finally making it to the point where I could truly do it line by line, but that show when I finally managed it was a highlight of my early mixing days.

Back to the more technical bits, we have laugh lines. For these, you have the setup, the punchline, and the return. You typically have to push all three of these: if the audience can’t hear the set up they won’t get the joke, and then you need to signal that we’re returning to the flow of the show again with the return, usually over some last bits of laughter. Frequently, the set up comes right before the punchline, but there are sometimes the punchline will be a callback to a previous scene or act. These setups are even more important to accentuate for a later payoff.

Along with the plot, you can shape emotional volume. The goal is that the overall sound for a show is cohesive and smooth, but that doesn’t mean monotone; you’re trying to make sure that all the levels make sense in the context of the show. My favorite songs to mix are the most dynamic ones. Both “World Burn” from Mean Girls and “Little Brother” from Outsiders are great examples of songs that start very quiet and work their way all across the emotional spectrum to a big dramatic moment by the end. In both, the end wouldn’t have the same impact if you started the soloist at a normal speaking level because you wouldn’t have as much room to build. The range from deathly quiet at the start to all-out power at the end can drive the emotion home.

playbill.com Studio sneak peek at “Little Brother” from The Outsiders

As you work on more and more shows you’ll start to develop an ear for how the dynamics of the band want to shape a song, but there will always be some element of trial and error. Until you find what the band is consistently doing, there’ll be some shows where you build too fast and don’t leave yourself anywhere to go and other times when you don’t start early enough and have to rush to the end. Once both you and the band settle into the pacing of the songs and you learn how dynamic your actors are throughout a song, you’ll get more accurate and more consistent on how far and how fast you can push everything.

I had to relearn that on Outsiders. The music is different from a traditional musical theatre show and it took me a while to resist the urge to push for that big opening number or a huge finale when the music didn’t actually want to do that. For days I ended up fighting with myself on the faders, trying to get mics up hotter so I could push the band more, but reaching a point where there was only so much that I could do. I left rehearsals feeling like the mix was okay at best, and I do not like that feeling. When I got the note to pull things back and let the music sit where it wanted to, I could finally see what was supposed to be happening. When I didn’t try to force it into something it wasn’t, I didn’t have to manhandle the dynamics or push the actors too much because I was going too big with the band. That made all the difference and drew me back to take a hard look at the rest of the show to see if there were other times I was working against myself.

Something that will start to set you apart as a mixer is learning to correct on the fly when people are inconsistent. This could be an off day where an actor is sick or a sub-musician is in or you have someone who is just consistently inconsistent. Ideally, everyone does the same thing every day, but our job is based on dealing with the human elements and the reality is that nothing will ever be exactly uniform day in and day out. This means staying engaged and focused on the show with your fingers on the active faders and keeping your ears engaged. As you learn how an actor sounds, you can start to tell when something sounds off (they’re tired, sick, not paying attention, someone they want to impress is in the audience, etc) and even sometimes anticipate when they might go off course and you either have to give them some help or rein them in.

Sometimes those anomalies and small mistakes help you find things that work better. I’ve had times when I left the band to focus on something else and realized there’s a fun feature for someone that I want to highlight. (Or you learn that the musicians will make noise as soon as they’re done playing and it’s imperative you pull them out quickly.) On Mean Girls, our Aaron would give a little chuckle after he repeats Cady’s embarrassed “grool” (“great” + “cool”), and when I noticed he did that, I left his mic up for that extra beat. It gives his character a cute moment where you see he’s starting to fall for Cady and it draws the audience in.

Adante Carter as Aaron Samuels and Danielle Wade as Cady Heron in the 1st National Tour of Mean Girls (photo credit: Joan Marcus)

With all the talk of getting into details, this is a point where we can easily fall into the trap of over-adjusting. Sometimes for long scenes or songs, we’ll feel like we have to change something or we’re not doing our jobs. It’s hard to accept that sometimes doing nothing is the most effective path. On Les Mis, at the end of “Bring Him Home” there’s a moment when Valjean and the orchestra would start their final note. Most days I didn’t have to do anything: they did a natural resolution to the end and I’d learned that trying to push it didn’t sound right, so it was one of the very rare moments I would actually take my hands off the faders and step back. For a beat, I got to take in the picture of the stage and just breathe. To this day, whenever I hear that song, I still have a physiological response where the muscles in my back and shoulders will automatically relax because it triggers that subconscious reminder of that beautiful moment and being able to trust my coworkers and simply let go.

Nick Cartell as Jean Valjean in the 2017 National Tour of Les Miserables (photo credit: Matthew Murphy)

As the mixer you are in the unique position where you’re simultaneously in the middle of the show and the middle of the audience at the same time. Lighting and the spot ops are in booths and everyone else is backstage. You’re the only one who gets the chance to breathe with the actors and the flow of the music as you hear every reaction from the audience at the same time. Theatre is one of the few places where we find ourselves comfortable to let emotions loose in public. I love it when you can hear people start to sniffle or cry in the audience or feel the entire theater gasp as one because it means they’re with us. Shows are so much more fun to mix when that happens and digging into these details takes the audience from simply watching actors to investing themselves in stories where they care about what happens to these people.

The best thing you can learn to do is pay attention to what’s going on around you. Listen to the notes that the director is giving the actors or the composer is giving the band. Get your head out of the script and off your hands and see what’s happening onstage. The more you watch and listen, the more you’ll learn about what the vision for the show is and the better able you are to make intentional choices to further that goal. If the creatives can tell that you’re heading in the right direction, they’ll give you some leeway to figure things out. If the actors and musicians can trust that you’re there to support them even when they’re having an off-show, they’ll give you better performances. None of us work in a vacuum in this business and the sooner we learn that, the better we can make the show.

Tips for Touring

Within the past couple of months, life has started to pick up, and start dates for live events seem more and more like true beginnings and not the “fingers crossed!” of last year. But after a year and a half, the landscape looks a little different. People who had been on the road for decades suddenly had extra time at home and realized that they didn’t want to head back. Others who were on the cusp of starting their careers can finally see opportunities pop up and are ready to hop on the road.

If you’ve never been on tour before, here are some tips and tricks to get you started. (For clarity’s sake, I’ve only toured in the theatre world. I would assume that some of this translates to concerts, but I’m not saying that it absolutely does.)

Most of the tour advice boils down to: don’t be an idiot and don’t be an asshole

If nothing else, remember that. So much of our life is dealing with different personalities, across departments, the touring company at large, and your local crew. If you and the people around you are pleasant to work with, your day gets immediately better. So, keep in mind:

You’re going to be working with your road crew every day for the next year, maybe more. Treat each other with respect and professionalism. This also applies to locals. You will have crews with varying levels of experience and knowledge, but never treat people like they’re incompetent (unless they unequivocally prove themselves to be so and are unpleasant on top of that). You know your show, they know their venue. I’ll usually tell the local audio head “I’ll tell you what I need to happen, you tell me how it needs to gets done.”
Help when and where you can. Give a hand carrying a cable or notice that another department’s behind and see if you can work on a project that keeps you out of their way.
Learn people’s names. Every new venue you’ll have a new set of local crew members (usually 4-6) helping you load in or out. When you meet them, ask for their names. If you have trouble remembering names, make a note of it on your phone or write it down. It’s a simple gesture of respect and much nicer than having to say “hey…uh, green shirt, can you help me?”
If you forget someone’s name, ask.
Your first priority is to learn how to do your job, after that you can worry about making friends. You’ll naturally develop friendships while you’re working and interacting with your crew, but no one wants to hang out with the person who’s constantly making mistakes, slowing down load-ins, or getting in everyone’s way because they don’t know what they’re doing.
Whenever you have a disagreement, be the first to extend an olive branch. I’ve had a handful of times when I’ve butted heads with people, usually over practices a designer has dictated, which I can’t change or the circumstance doesn’t require an exception. After the show, I made a point to initiate a conversation and say I knew our interaction wasn’t pleasant, but I was still there to help, even if I couldn’t always give them exactly what they wanted. Usually, both parties are able to speak their piece in a calmer environment and everyone can move on. (Every once in a while you get blocked on Facebook and the actor tries to avoid you for a couple of weeks.) In the end, you’ve done your part and should continue to maintain a professional relationship, regardless of their response.

Moving on to the nuts and bolts of touring

When you start a new tour, you’ll have a couple of weeks of shop prep when you head up to the NYC area and get all the gear (speakers, console, com, processing, RF, cables, etc.) and put it all together.

Pay attention to learning the signal flow of the system. The better you know it, the easier it is to follow, isolate, and solve a problem when you’re under pressure.
Color code cables and their ports. It takes far less time to look at a cable, notice it’s got green tape, and plug it into the matching green label in the rack, than it is fumbling around to read the label, then looking through the labels on the racks until you find the matching one. Spare cables are usually color-coded with YELLOW. This is usually true across all departments.
Use a system for things that go together. I usually put a cool color with a warm color if I need to pair things up, with the cool color as the main and the warm as a backup (if applicable). So, BLUE and RED are a pair, PURPLE and YELLOW (in this case, not a spare), and then GREEN and ORANGE.

This also applies to cases. If you can, color code labels according to the case’s destination

It’s quicker to say “all the PURPLE cases go to the pit” or “Everything with a PINK label goes to FOH” plus it’s easier for the local crew to remember.
Also for cases, make short, clear names. On Saigon, we started with “AUTO/SM/FLY BUNDLES” which was a mouthful. Changing it to a more concise “COM BUNDLES” made it easier both for us to say and for the crew to find when we sent them looking for the case.
The first couple of times you patch your racks, redo the bundling on the cables. If you have 6 cables in a single bundle and 2 go to one rack, 3 go to another and a single cable goes to a third place, break the tape on the cable loom back to where the cables need to go in their different directions and re-tape (with friction tape) what goes to the same place together.

As you start moving the show, another set of organizational skills comes into play. You develop a flexible routine, which sounds like an oxymoron, but the reality is that there will always be a few cities thrown in the mix where things just won’t be able to follow the usual plan. However, the individual tasks in your routine should retain a flow that you follow as much as possible.

Make a checklist of everything you do during load-in. The more you move, the more you might get a sense of deja vu as you wonder if you’ve actually tested com, or you just remember doing it in the last city….
Be consistent. Especially with cables. When you have twelve cable bundles coming to Ampland from seven different locations, load out will quickly turn into a mess if you try to unearth the one on the bottom first. When running cables on the load in, have an order. Say you always do FOH runs first (these are usually the longest runs, so it helps to get them first), then Crossovers (multiple), your Towers (Far and Near), next the Balcony Rail, then Pit (also multiple), and finally the shorter com runs (Automation, Fly Rail, SM Desk) to finish the day off. If this is how the bundles (almost) always get run out, it’s easy to remember that you simply go in reverse order on the out, pulling up what’s on top first and avoiding tangling them all together.
Learn what you should do yourself and what you can hand off to the local crew. Personally, I prefer to plug in the cables at the racks myself. I’ve had enough times where a well-meaning local has plugged something into the wrong spot (or even upside down) and it ends up being quicker and less error-prone if I do it. Prep the complicated bits so you can give the crew simple instructions. Again, with cables bundles (so much of your life is about cables), I’ll unpatch and organize the ends of each bundle in various coils so I can point to one and say “that’s the next bundle you’re going to pull, it goes in the Tower Bundles box, and the other end is at the tower on stage left.” Then the crew can take it from there. Or when I would hang underbalc speakers, I’d go up to the balcony rail, measure out where I wanted things to go and mark it with tape. Then I could send the crew up and say, “hang one speaker at each tape mark” and tell them how to cable them.
In that vein, make instructions concise and clear. There’s a delicate balance between too much information (hard to remember everything) and too little (not enough to get the job done). Pictures and diagrams can be helpful if you have the time, like having a pit layout for the local crew to look at so they can which player sits where. Clear labels are a must. Re-sending a local for a case with an ambiguous name or getting a wrong case because names are too similar is frustrating and wastes time. A name could make perfect sense to you, but might not to the local crew who’s seeing your show and organizational structure for the first time. Learn the phrases that locals are used to. Pay attention to your crew members who have been out on the road longer and what terms they use. Most crew members know if I say “This cable is a half box coil, cinnamon bun,” that means I want the bundle coiled up in one half of the case, making almost a spiral to fill up the center of the cable coil as well, which looks like a cinnamon roll. Or in the truck, I’ll tell the loaders to “ninety” something when I want to rotate a case 90 degrees or “as is” if it’s on the truck in the correct orientation, and then either “driver” or “passenger” to tell them which side of the truck it goes on. In situations where something has to flip upside down on top of another case, you use “wheels to the sky” (or in some cities “wheels to Jesus”).
If you find that local crews across multiple cities are consistently having trouble completing a certain project, take a look at the instructions you’re giving them. True, some people don’t listen or don’t understand what you’re asking, but those should be exceptions. At some point, the information they receive is the common denominator and that’s what should be tweaked until you figure out the best way to explain it.
Never ask your local crew to do anything that is unsafe. If you wouldn’t do it, you shouldn’t ask them to. Also, if you’re willing to hop in and help them when you can, they tend to like you better than if you just stand there giving orders.

Finally, some general housekeeping tips

Keep things neat. Clean up after yourself, try not to put your cases and gear in other people’s way (if you can). And stay on top of this as you’re loading in. It’s a lot easier to lay all your bundles neatly at the beginning of the day than try to clean up a rat’s nest of cables currently forming its own mountain (which always just happens to be on the pathway the actors will need to use).
Keep load in priorities in mind. As the A1, your focus is making sure everything in your department is progressing as on schedule as possible, and you’re in a good position to get the system up and ready for the show. As the A2, your job is to set up the infrastructure of the show and be ready when the A1 calls for something (she’s ready to power up FOH, check the mics in the pit, turn on the speakers to check the system, etc).
Set realistic expectations and be aware of the big picture: I’ll plan to set up FOH early in the load in so I can patch it by myself and send the entire crew to the A2. Then she can do all the long cable runs which require more people. Then we split the crew so I can build the towers and cluster and she can get some smaller com projects set up. All of these jobs have to get done for the show to happen, and if we can alternate big and small projects, trading off the crew, we’re always able to work on something and keep moving.

I’ll say it again: if you follow nothing else on this list, don’t be an idiot and don’t be an asshole. Some common sense and a positive attitude go a long way in an industry that is so much smaller than you think.

The Best First Impression

Taking the time to evaluate and critique your resume is vital to putting your best foot forward, and as we’re all at a pause, there’s no better time to do that than now. That piece of paper (or pdf file) becomes your first impression to designers, production managers, and other employers. But all too often, even starting to write your resume can feel like an impossible task. Even more so because there’s very little standardization of what they should look like for theatre. Sifting through websites with tips and helpful hints for a traditional, corporate-based structure can range from confusing to downright frustrating when you’re trying to apply it to a completely different world.

At its heart, your resume is telling a story. Where did you come from? What have you done? How have you progressed over your career? You’re just telling it in bullet points instead of prose. Anyone looking at your resume is trying to do a couple of things: they want to know what skills you have and what shows you’ve worked on, or people you’ve worked with, but they’re also looking for information about who you are and if you’d be a good fit for a team they’re building. Your resume gives them small indications of that based on its presentation: did you slap together a slipshod line of things you’ve worked on with your name pasted at the top? Or does it look like you took some time and pride in presenting yourself to potential employers?

Over the course of your career, you’ll end up with a couple different versions of your resume. When you’re first starting out and have less experience, you may include some details about what your jobs entailed, but once you’re established in your career, your resume neatens up and becomes a list of the shows you’ve worked on and what your role was. Even then, you still may have a couple versions to focus on different skills or shows: if you’re looking for design work as opposed to mixing work as opposed to production work.

For example, when I left college, I broke my experience in a few categories: Touring, A1, A2, Corporate, and Other Experience. It was busier than it needed to be and didn’t have much organization other than dividing up my experience. After working for a few years, my resume shifted to two categories: Touring and A1. That simplified things by getting rid of my college experience, starting to use sound designers instead of directors for shows, and formulating a better narrative. Instead of throwing every show, I’d done in the mix, I used my touring experience to highlight my progression from an A2 to A1, and selected certain shows I’d mixed off of tour to show that I’d worked at the same festival multiple years in a row (i.e. people wanted to work with me again).

Looking forward, if my goals shift to getting off the road in (likely to find a mixing-focused job where I could stay in one location), I would make a new resume that focuses on my A1 experience (including touring, sit-downs, festivals, one-offs, etc), and pushes my A2 work on the road into a less prominent category.

When you start writing your resume, it helps to break it down into manageable chunks. In my experience, most resumes have four general categories: Identifier, Experience, Skills/Education, and References.

Identifier: Your name and contact info. It might also include if you’re a union member or have a website. Make sure that your name stands out on the page. The entire point of having someone read your resume is so they’ll start to know who you are.

Experience: What places have you worked, positions have you held, shows you have done, etc. Your “story” portion.
Skills / Education: These can be two separate categories or one with multiple sections. If you’ve recently graduated, these will sometimes separate with Education at the top of your resume, and Skills after your Experience.
References: Who will vouch for you.

Typically the hardest part of a resume to write is the Experience category. While your name, contact info, education, and skills are cut and dry lists, here you have to look through your jobs and sort out which ones you want to use. To help, start by asking yourself what story you want to tell:

Where are you coming from? Your resume will look different depending on where you are in your career. My jobs on tour don’t need explanation other than if I was the A1 or A2 because most people reading my resume are familiar with the job responsibilities of those roles. However, if you worked at a theatre where your official title was “Audio Supervisor,” but your job included designing, mixing, A2-ing, etc, it’s helpful to include that. Giving additional information on a job can be helpful if you’re at the beginning of your career and have less experience to put on your resume. Be clear and concise (i.e. lean towards bullet points vs sentences) and make these things the first to go as you work more and can streamline your resume.
How have you progressed in your career? Did you climb the proverbial ladder from one position to another? Have you consistently worked your way up to bigger and bigger shows? Your resume should help showcase not only what you know now, but how you’ve grown in your professional life.
What are you looking for? Tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for. If you’re applying for a mixing position that highlights your design experience, you’ll want to create a new version of your resume that focuses on the relevant skills.
Don’t discount “Other Experience”: Any work you’ve done is valid experience. Non-theatre or non-sound related jobs can display a wider range of skills and shouldn’t be completely ignored. It won’t be the focus of your resume, but can absolutely be included.

Once you know what you’re going to put in your resume, here are some overall notes to keep in mind:

Keep everything clean and concise. More often than not, your resume will be skimmed rather than read, so make sure information is clear and easy to find.
Include when you worked on a project. Context of when and how long you worked on something is important. Your most recent experience should be first in any section, then older from there.
Stick to one page. That’s regarded as a norm, and most people have strong feelings on adhering to it, so better safe than sorry.
Make it a PDF. If you’re emailing a file, your resume should always be in a format that cannot be changed, so you know exactly what the end-user is going to see.
PROOFREAD! Double and triple check your resume for spelling or grammar errors, to make sure your contact information is correct, and for general presentation (like having an extra blank page in the pdf file).
Be honest about your skills. You can always say you’re “familiar” with something, but there’s a difference between having seen software open on a computer once and actually having used it before.
Don’t go overboard with designs. The focus should always be on you and what you’ve done. Not the crazy font you used because it was “eye-catching” or a giant graphic design decal that draws focus away from the actual resume you’ve written. Fonts, colors, and lines are useful tools to differentiate sections or draw attention to specific items, but try to limit them to the headings, and don’t let a tool become the focus of the page.
Don’t be afraid of having some blank space on the page. Aesthetically, cramming every single thing you’ve ever done on to the page will make your resume seem messy and difficult to read. Choosing to create space on the page can help emphasize important information (think: your name) and lend additional clarity to your organization (putting an extra space between two sections to help the reader register that they are separate, or making lines 1.5 instead of single-spaced so your eye has an easier time reading).

Finally, references. This can be the most important category of your resume. A first-hand account of your abilities and work ethic from a trusted source has more influence than any words on a page. This is another area where you can choose to personalize your resume on a job-by-job basis if you have mutual acquaintances with the reader.

When picking a reference, it depends on your job. If you’re a designer, you want to choose directors or other designers you’ve worked with. As an A1 or A2, use designers, associates, or production colleagues. (I’ll use resident directors or music directors as well, but it’s better to prioritize other sound people first.) A2s can also use their A1s.

Always ask for permission before you include someone as a reference. It’s the polite and professional thing to do as well as letting them know if you’re sending out resumes, especially if they might get a call. In the age of telemarketers and spam phone calls, all of us default to ignoring unknown numbers.

You should always include your references. There are a couple of exceptions to this: if you’re sending resume-blasts out to a variety of potential jobs, or if you’re posting your resume online in a public forum where your reference might not want their personal contact information displayed.

So, let’s take a look at a not-so-great resume:

And if we make some edits:

And this is what my actual resume looks like. “Other Experience” is simplified down to a list, and it’s simple, concise, and easy to skim:

Once you have a resume written, always double-check for typos, inconsistencies, etc. (Then have a friend check, or two or three to be on the safe side.) This is something you’ll constantly add to and change as you progress in your career. After doing research for this post, I went back and made several tweaks, and that was a resume I’ve used for several years. Eventually, your reputation may proceed you enough that you don’t use your resume as much, but until then, make sure you make the best first impression you can.

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Search

Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio