I blinked, apparently!
Since my last blog, two shows opened and closed, and the Bistro, following a grand send-off, was made mincemeat in the name of renovation. Now I have (largely) the first two weeks of July to loaf, bring up my “domestic goddess” average, and plan for two more summer shows. Not a bad way to kick off the summer. But before I leave May/June 2014 to the ages, allow me to indulge in some re-capping. (more…)
So in sharp contrast to the New Line space, Stray Dog does it shows in a breathtakingly beautiful old church called Tower Grove Abbey. It’s gorgeous, and it makes for a really cool place to see theatre. Hearing it is another story! To say the acoustics in there are a bit weird would be an understatement, but we made it work, and we didn’t need anything fancy in the way of gear, either. (more…)
WORK WORK WORK
For someone who only began working in live sound 2 1/2 years ago, Kerrie Mondy is a very busy woman. Along with being a FOH Engineer, Kerrie is currently the Resident Engineer/Sound Designer for New Line Theater, a little theater company in St. Louis, MO. She also works as a stagehand, freelance audio tech, part-time at several performing arts centers, and runs sound at St. Louis’ Jazz at the Bistro, which she says “is a blast! I get to see a lot of great music and meet a lot of nice people. I have, at last count, 10 regular jobs.
Kerrie started out as an on-air radio personality but quickly became interested in live sound. Making commercials and putting together shows for the station were part of her job but she wanted to learn more about audio engineering. Kerrie taught herself enough Pro Tools to get by, however became discouraged when she couldn’t get any time on the station’s engineering equipment. Soon after, she started working as a stagehand and quickly realized that she loved the theater world and doing live events. As a stagehand, Kerrie enjoyed working in many of the departments, but her boss advised her to pick one specialty and pursue it. Kerrie chose live sound. Recognizing her desire to learn, a colleague/friend from one of the venues she was working in, gave her the opportunity to work with him running sound at the church he attended. After a while, she started working her own shifts there. “In the meantime, I looked around for the smallest-fry audio work that I could find. If it was boring, small, paid poorly, etc, I raised my hand for it! 🙂 Worked my way up little by little, learning as I went.”
Things came a bit full circle as she recounts- “as an on-air personality, I remember coming to one of the venues I work at now to announce an artist on stage. I remember looking around, watching the crew, and thinking that it would probably be a neat job to work in a place like that. A few years later, I was working shows on that very stage!”
Kerrie has learned that a good attitude, a willingness to learn, and being accountable for your mistakes are essential, as well as knowing the basics- signal flow, proper gain staging, and knowing your frequencies. From her experience, these skills will get you through almost any basic audio job and help you move up. “Don’t let ‘fake it to make it’ become your mantra” she says, “You WILL get called out eventually.”
Although she is working on a BA in Digital Video/Film making and has studied marketing and technical theater, Kerrie has no formal audio training and has found so far that the best education she’s received has been on the job. “I’ve been really lucky to be surrounded by wonderful coworkers who became great mentors and friends. So many people have shared their hard-earned knowledge and experience with me – I never could have done this without them.”
The biggest obstacles Kerrie has faced have been: “money and time mostly, and my own doubts. Five years ago, I was in a completely different situation, personally and professionally, but I saw what I wanted and what I needed to do to get there.” “Staying on track has been tough,” she says, but she handles it by being relentlessly focused on controlling what she can and being ready to adapt to things she can’t control. “You have to really, REALLY believe you can have the life you want. You have to see it in your mind and know deep down it’s achievable.” “I see so many people quit before they get to the finish line- giving up, losing patience, because they just can’t see their dream life coming to fruition.” “I’ve encountered a lot of not only financial and logistical challenges, but psychological ones as well. It’s hard being in your 30s and being a newbie, not having a professional identity – being able to tell people, “I am (this)”, or “I do (this)”. You really have to develop a sense of worth and purpose apart from that.”
Advice to women wishing to enter the world of live sound:
One – Attitude is, indeed, everything. Your approach to your work, and to the people around you, will define you. Don’t feel like it’s a right of passage to become jaded.
Two – be versatile. Not just in the realm of audio, either. I’m not an expert in lighting, projection, or set building, but I can work as an electrics, video, or carpentry hand competently. I can also crew a show and manage that crew. Not only does an array of skills help you find more work and meet new people, it helps you understand how your job in audio fits into the bigger picture. And it keeps things fresh!
Her favorite gear includes Allen & Heath’s iLive T112 console. She loves the simplicity of it and the ease of accessing everything she needs quickly. “ I use it at two of my venues. Getting things up and running in a hurry is a breeze and making changes on the fly couldn’t be easier. Bossy technology bugs me. I love gear that gives the user control and flexibility without making them dig for it. I also really like Shure’s MX153 ear-worn mic. Sounds good, cheaper than the competition, and it’s rugged and resistant to sweaty actors. 🙂
For her future goals, Kerrie says she’d really love to manage a theater or music/arts venue someday.
Kerrie has been with New Line Theater for about a year and just started with the Bistro in December. She is currently featured as a Guest Blogger on SoundGirls.Org where you can read about her trials and tribulations as the sound designer and mixer for the theater’s production of Rent.
Kerrie can be reached at: kmondy@hotmail.com
Rent closed at the end of March. It was a successful show by any measure. It was a labor of love. It was also a minefield, a mountain, and in the end, a “changing” experience in a lot of ways. My last week of shows there, was also my first week of tech for my next show, Cabaret, at another small-but-mighty theater company- Stray Dog Theatre. (more…)
I had a coworker tell me one time that being an audio engineer is like being a duck – you look calm and peaceful on the surface, but underneath, you’re paddling like crazy. I’ve thought of that little nugget more than once during this process of getting the audio for RENT off the ground. And it’s actually comforting to know, really, when you have Indian music in your keyboard feed, channels that don’t output, dying mic packs, skipping CD players, and “now-you-hear-me, now-you-don’t” monitor cabinets that this IS the gig. People have been doing it with crappier gear, smaller budgets, and in pricklier situations longer than you’ve been alive. And the shows have gone on. So we’ve kept on paddling, and the result so far is a show that isn’t suffering one bit for all the trouble, and I’m extremely proud of that. (more…)
So I got to check out a Rent run-through for the first time last night.
WOW. These guys are killing it.
The cast, the set, the music, the direction, and the management of the show, all brilliant. I always have this moment, watching run-throughs, where I look around at all of the talent in the room, and what they’re making happen onstage, and it really sinks in for me what all they’re putting in my hands and trusting to me. “Butterflies” doesn’t begin to describe it. (more…)
Loading in Rent
By: Kerrie Mondy originally posted 2/15/14Today my rental guy and I did the lion’s share of my load-in for a small company I work fors production of “Rent”. The theater is a quirky little space. It’s a 200 seat venue with a steep seating rake and a flat, sort of triangular stage floor that’s maybe 30 feet at its widest point. The whole thing is brown and green. No wing space, squeaky stairs, plenty of insect inhabitants, and no exit to the bathroom for patrons during the show except to walk across the front of the stage! But it’s got a few things that make my job great (more…)