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Ringing It Out

Part One: Strategies and Standard Operating Procedures for Festival-Style Monitors

Introduction

After immersing myself in the fast-paced world of live sound from a young age, I’m taking a step back this winter to refine strategies and establish best practices for delivering consistent sonic success moving forward. This SOP is intended to streamline workflows and help achieve reliable, high-quality monitor mixes in festival-style settings. It condenses years of hard-earned experience into actionable steps to ensure artists have the monitor support they need to perform at their best.

Kiesza at Calgary’s Olympic Plaza on August 30th, 2023

The Non-Negotiables

Proven Equipment:

Comprehensive Event Information

Venue and Stage Details:

Pre-Production Logistics

Console Prep

Familiarize yourself with the desk ahead of time. Lay out buses, sends, and channel layouts for efficiency.

Ringing Out Wedges

Setup and Workflow

Identify Feedback Frequencies

Feedback Management SOP

  1. Gradually increase the mix fader on Wedge One until feedback starts.
  2. Identify the ringing frequency using the RTA and your ears, then call it out.
  3. Apply a 3dB or more cut on the closest band of the graphic EQ.
  4. Repeat this process 2-3 times until multiple frequencies ring simultaneously, achieving an optimal balance.
  5. Save (or document if on analog gear) EQ settings in case adjustments need to be revisited during the performance.
  6. Be prepared to make aggressive EQ cuts for performers who cup the mic or move around frequently.
  7. Sometime you will have to prioritize a feedback-free environment over perfect tone, adjusting in real time as needed.

Optimizing for the Room

Save the Start Scene

Save a “ready-to-go” scene if you can that includes:

Conclusion

By focusing on preparation, communication, and precision, this SOP will help you deliver consistent, high-quality monitor mixes, even under festival-level pressure. Remember: your ears, clear communication, solid preparation, and a calm demeanour are the ultimate tools in your kit. Let’s make 2025 the year of flawless stage sound and sonic excellence!

Thanks

I would like to express my gratitude to Darrell Smith, Fred Boehli, Kiesza, UVS and SoundGirls.

Mastering the New Workplace: The Art of Being a Sponge 

As a 22 year old female who is growing in this industry everyday, I have been told on multiple occasions how important it is to be a “sponge” in a new workplace. What does this mean? And why does everyone say it?

Well, it means to:

  1. Soak up as much knowledge as possible.
  2. Observe keenly.
  3. Adapt to the environment quickly.

I completely understand how nerve racking this feels. Its hard to find the balance between being helpful and not being in the way. So how do we change our mindset so that it focuses on growing in this field?

BE CURIOUS! it’s so crucial to approach every interaction and task as an opportunity to learn. Show your genuine interest in your colleagues and the production. Volunteer on things that will immerse yourself in the team’s workflow. I have also found that it is really helpful to familiarize yourself with all of the gear before the gig, if possible. And if you are unsure about a piece of gear, ask someone to explain its function and application. Ask thoughtful questions in quieter moments about why certain decisions are made.

CHILL. It has taken my fair share of gigs to learn how crucial it is to stay calm under pressure. Watch how others handle sudden issues and take notes. Offer help when it is needed or simply shadow the troubleshooting process. Being able to resolve problems effectively will ensure smooth operations and prevent issues from happening in the future. This will ultimately increase your confidence in yourself and others, building the core trust that is needed for a strong production team.

MASTER THE INTANGIBLES! Besides the technical details, you must learn the intangibles! Notice the informal norms like when and where decisions are made, recognize the way the A1s, music A2s, Production A2, Monitor techs, System techs, etc collaborate with one another, observe how a crew talks to the talent. Learn the dynamics and integrate quickly. Even being proactive in a production meeting with a friendly introduction can go a long way.

SEEK FEEDBACK. Asking for feedback and embracing the outcome gracefully is an amazing skill to have and will help you improve. Reflecting has always been a key part of the load out for me. Analyze what worked and recognize what could improve. It’s important to evaluate your progress and assess what you’ve learned and identify the gaps. Everyone has room for improvement.

OWN YOUR EXPERTISE. Lastly, be confident! You deserve to be here as much as everyone else does. Focus on your own qualifications and what you bring to the table. Advocate for yourself and ensure that your contributions are recognized. I believe that authenticity fosters respect and using the inevitable challenges to strengthen your skills will make you that much more resilient.

I also want to acknowledge how easier said than done all of these things are. It’s hard to be assertive, quick, and confident in an environment where you are uncomfortable. It is hard to bypass the nerves and jump headfirst. It’s terrifying to walk into an uneasy position, but that is where transformation happens.

Leaning into discomfort will lead to incredible opportunities you may not have found by playing it safe. It’s important to remind yourself that you can only do your best, stay calm, and simply be a sponge! Every show is a chance to refine your skills and become a better technician. By maintaining a learning mindset, you can carve out your place and thrive in any workplace. Respect will grow from your knowledge, collaboration, and authenticity. So in the beginning, soak it all up, baby!

Reflections on the Touring Year

I’m going to reflect on internal dialogue I’ve had throughout the span of a 3.5 month tour. I’ll share some current mix and lifestyle perspectives that may encourage others to start conversations and consider their own journeys.

Systems 

As a FOH engineer, I find it beneficial to invite people into a conversation. For example, I can create a dialogue with the systems engineer and ask them if they’re familiar with the room, what their approach for tuning is, and make them aware of my expectations for the show. I’ll ask if they can walk around during the show and I’ll inquire about specific areas of concern. This can highlight areas of improvement for me, as well as learning how other’s ears work.

In the off-season, I’ve found it important to study and attend systems classes from the manufacturers. Meyer, L-Acoustics, and d&b all offer online and in person educational opportunities. After being in many this past spring, I’ve felt more confident than ever approaching systems engineers with more comprehensive knowledge of software and have been more equipped to articulate my needs. This in turn has helped us achieve better products and have a much nicer day.

Mixing 

Refraining from gatekeeping your mix can benefit you and also other engineers. I’ve learned a lot about my perception of sound and have gained new techniques from having intentional conversations with other audio folks.

Compression can be useful, but it’s important to become comfortable exploring my comfort zone and not always doing what visually seems appropriate, but instead trying to listen and feel to achieve the best translation between systems and rooms. For instance, you may use less vocal compression in the studio, but if you’re mixing a pop vocal live, you might find it useful to introduce slower attack and release times to massage the articulation and phrasing into a suitable place for the mix. Double compression can also be your friend. Also in some instances this last tour, I’ve felt as if the PA responded better to less compression, especially on drums. Anticipating these changes ahead of time has helped me be more efficient.

Mental Health 

Having some type of routine can make a significant impact on your well-being. Make time to exercise, journal, or read at some point in the day, either to wake up or wind down or just to get away from the noise, even for a second. Call your loved ones back home, and find ways to have connected conversations. When we are physically disconnected from people, refraining from or partaking in certain conversations can make you feel even more distanced.

Kindness and a little bit of patience with everyone goes a long way, whether it’s your tour companions or local support.

Figure out what drives you, and what you consider success. Make sure you’ve positioned yourself in an environment that helps you live out your dream and not be resentful of the life and career you’re living. You should have a team supporting you, and a team you want to support. Lastly, those people should also encourage you to have fun, relax, and enjoy the little moments.

Kitzy – Independent Touring FOH Engineer and Production Manager

Kitzy is an independent touring FOH (Front of House) Engineer and Production Manager based in Philadelphia, has been immersed in the world of audio for over 20 years. In addition to owning a small audio production and rental company, Kitzy dabbles in studio work and podcasting.

Their journey began in the early 2000s, organizing punk shows in a firehall in central Pennsylvania, using a second-hand PA system. Reflecting on those days, Kitzy notes, “Audio wasn’t really the focus, but more of a means to an end. I thought I wanted to be a promoter, but in reality, I think I just wanted an excuse to put my band on shows.”

During the early to mid-2000s, Kitzy toured with various bands, experimenting with digital recording—again, primarily as a way to support their own band’s music rather than as a central career goal. However, in 2010, after their band dissolved, Kitzy found themselves at a crossroads. With family and personal pressure to find a “real job,” they set aside their musical ambitions, entering the tech industry and climbing the corporate ladder.

By 2015, Kitzy had relocated to San Francisco for work. While there, they reconnected with a former bandmate, reigniting their passion for music. This time, Kitzy delved deeply into recording and producing, benefiting from the wealth of free educational resources available on YouTube. “I realized how much I had been missing working on music,” Kitzy recalls. Despite their growing knowledge, the tech world and life in San Francisco left them unfulfilled, prompting thoughts of a new chapter.

In their search for inspiration, Kitzy discovered Weathervane Music and its Shaking Through series, which sparked their desire to return to music production. With Philadelphia’s vibrant music scene and proximity to family, Kitzy saw it as the ideal location to start over.

In 2017, Kitzy moved to Philadelphia, where they built connections within the local music scene, attending workshops, shows, and eventually forming a new band. They recorded and released an album, and things seemed to be falling into place. Kitzy also bought a house and built a home studio, intending to focus on producing records. But the pandemic in 2020 disrupted these plans.

Undeterred, Kitzy adapted by launching a podcast with a friend, centered on independent music. They also invited bands to perform live streams in their studio, which marked Kitzy’s first significant experience mixing live performances. This work sparked a new passion: capturing live music as an integral part of the performance. Kitzy found the dynamic immediacy of live mixing deeply fulfilling.

By 2022, with live events returning, a band that had participated in the live streams invited Kitzy to mix their shows on the road. Kitzy vividly remembers the thrill of their first live show: “The power under my fingertips was like nothing else I had ever felt before. When the band hit their first note, I knew that this was what I wanted to do more than anything else in the world.” Since that pivotal moment, Kitzy has been pursuing live sound engineering with an unrelenting passion, rediscovering their love for live music with every performance.

Early Life

When did you discover audio as a career path?

It’s really only the last couple years I’ve been taking it seriously as a career path. I spent my whole life being told that I can’t make a living in music and that I need to get a “real” job.

Did music and audio interest you while you were growing up?

I’ve been obsessed with music, and by extension audio, ever since I can remember. A lot of my early music taste was a direct result of the stuff my mom was listening to, like R.E.M., The B-52s, Yes, James Taylor – stuff like that. My grandmother also had an influence on my music taste early on. She would play stuff like The Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffet, and Cliff Richard.

My mom would take me to the local video rental store once a week and we’d rent a movie to watch together. They had a small shelf of music related videos, and there were two that I made my mom rent so many times that she probably could have bought them several times over: R.E.M.’s Road Movie and Yes’ 9012Live. If you’ve never seen 9012Live, I highly suggest you track down a copy. The concert footage is inexplicably intercut with colorized footage from a 1950’s Edison Electric film for some reason and the visuals are truly bizarre.

I remember getting a karaoke machine one year for Christmas. It had a pair of microphones, and two tape decks. I think the intention was that you could play the karaoke version of a song and record yourself singing over it, but I quickly figured out that I could record my own music and then overdub myself playing and singing along with it. I was convinced I had invented this and that no one else knew this incredible secret.

In high school, I graduated to a Tascam 4 track tape machine, and I remember being amazed that I could change the volume of the things I was overdubbing AFTER I recorded them. With the karaoke machine, I had to get the volume balance right while I was recording. But now, I had the power to get the mix just right. It felt like magic.

Career Start

Did you have a mentor or someone that really helped you?

Brian McTear was a great mentor when I moved to Philly and thought my future was purely studio work, and continues to be a sounding board for me to this day.

I never really had a live sound mentor, but I’ve been lucky enough to form friendships with some other up and coming live engineers who are an amazing support system.

Career Now

What is a typical day like?

Every tour is a little different, but I’ll use my most recent tour as an example.

Wake up in a hotel room around 8AM, pack up my stuff and head to the van for an 8:30 van call. I’m sharing driving duties with the tour manager on this run, and she prefers driving later in the day, so I’ll typically take the first shift. We stop for breakfast somewhere and then it’s anywhere between a 3 and 5 hour drive to the next city.

Halfway through the drive, I switch off with the TM. I’ll use this time to catch up on a little more sleep, review the parking and load in instructions for the venue we’re heading to, read over their tech pack, etc. I’ll also bounce the recording from last night’s show and upload it to Google Drive for the band to review if they want. As I’m listening through, I’ll make myself a few notes of things I want to try differently tonight.

We get to the venue early afternoon and unload the trailer. It’s a self-contained tour, so we’re carrying backline, our own console, IEMs, and mic package, and a lighting ground package. We also have a few set pieces. As the FOH engineer and defacto Production Manager on this tour, I’m responsible for all of it. I get my big items placed on stage first, and then work on setting up FOH while the band sets up their backline.

If I have time, I’ll put up a few measurement mics and verify the PA with Smaart, and try to get the tonality of the PA close to my target curve. Then I walk the room with my reference playlist and make sure it sounds good.

If I don’t have time, I throw on some music and EQ the system by ear.

Then I move on to micing and patching the stage, and I’ll do a line check with my iPad. If I have time, I’ll pull up the multitracks from last night’s show in a virtual soundcheck and see how the room sounds. I’ll also go on stage and listen to each musician’s IEM mix while standing/sitting in their spot to see how it sounds for them. I might make some minor adjustments to their mix here if something obvious sticks out to me.

Then I bring the band on stage for sound check. My FOH mix is pretty dialed at this point, and the room is going to sound different once we fill it up with people anyway, so my main focus here is to make sure everything is working (i.e., that the timecode from the playback rig is firing our lighting cues and console automation) and that the band is comfortable with their IEM mixes. Once the band is happy, I bring the principal artist out and we run through whatever she wants to run through. Once she’s happy, we end sound check.

We have an opener on this tour that I’m not handling production for, so I’ll strike our front line to make room for the opener and hand things off to the house crew. At this point, I swap the batteries in all of our IEMs and RF mics/packs with freshly charged batteries. I deliver the IEM packs to the green rooms so that the band knows where to find them before the show.

I’ll use the time between sound check and our set to eat dinner, take a nap, answer emails, and if the venue has a shower I will probably take a shower. At the very least I’ll put on a fresh pair of socks. Something about a fresh pair of socks really makes a world of difference.

In the changeover before our set, I re-set our front line, tune the principal artist’s guitar, and line check EVERYTHING. I send the console’s listen bus to my IEM pack, and I use my iPad PFL each channel one by one with my IEMs in and make sure I’m getting the sound that I expect. I even check that the timecode channel sounds like timecode. I always do this from the stage so that if there’s an issue that needs to be addressed, I’m already there.

Then it’s showtime. Perhaps counterintuitively, I’m doing the least amount of work during the actual show. This is a pop tour with backing tracks, so the same things happen at the same time every night. I’ve automated most of my moves throughout the show, like muting the acoustic guitar when it’s not being played, and boosting the electric guitar during the big solo. I’m just there to make sure nothing catches on fire, and I get to enjoy the show.

Once the show is over, I’m in a race with our merch manager to see if I can get all of our production packed up and loaded into the trailer before she has merch packed and loaded. I do not know if she is aware of this race.

Once the trailer is packed, we head for the hotel for the night and get ready to start the process all over again.

How do you stay organized and focused?

Early on, I would get super overwhelmed with everything that I had to do, especially during set up and strike. I’ve found that the best way to combat this is to just focus on the next thing I need to do. I don’t worry about needing to strike the entire stage, I just focus on collecting all of the microphones and putting them in their case. Once that case is packed, I move on to the next one. Rinse and repeat until I look up and everything is packed.

Whenever I’m in the moment, I’m only focusing on the next thing that I need to do. I trust my planning, my prep work, and my team around me, that things won’t go too off the rails if I’m not constantly stressing over every little thing that hasn’t happened yet.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

I love when a band is really locked in and playing well to a room full of people who are enjoying every moment. I love knowing that I’m a small part of making that happen.

What do you like least?

Chasing people down to pay my invoices.

If you tour what do you like best?

I love traveling and seeing new cities every day. I love working in new venues with new people. I love seeing how a show changes and develops over the course of a tour.

What do you like least?

How long the days are, how little sleep I get, and when house crews are shitty to me because I don’t fit their expectations of who a sound engineer should be. I also hate the grind of always having to figure out what my next tour is.

Oh and being away from my dog.

What is your favorite day off activity? 

Sleep.

What are your long term goals

I’d love to have a long, sustainable career with a small handful of artists who are doing well, where I’m making enough money that I don’t have to stress about it.

I’d also love to get to a point where I’m not driving, and have enough of a production budget to hire a crew so I’m not doing everything alone. That sounds really nice.

I’d still like to work on records in my downtime between tours as well.

Oh, and I really want to mix a show at Red Rocks.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

Being both transgender and autistic has been a barrier, not in my ability to do my job well, but in other people’s ability to see my value. That said, I have been coming across a lot more neurodivergent people in the industry lately and it’s been so refreshing to be around other people with brains like mine.

I think the biggest obstacle I’ve faced has just been finding consistent work. All of the artists I work with are on really tight budgets, so even if I do a tour with an artist and they want to work with me again, there’s no guarantee that they’ll have the budget to hire me on the next tour.

I think I’m in a weird spot since I started my live sound journey so late in life. Because my live sound resume only goes back a few years, I get a lot of absurd offers like $500-700/wk, which would be fine if it was 2005 and I lived with my parents and was on their health insurance, but that’s not my reality. I know that this is an industry where you need to grind and work your way up, but I’m still trying to figure out how to survive while doing that.

How have you dealt with them?

I’m still figuring that out. I’ve been focusing on networking, making as many connections as possible, and putting myself out there as much as I can.

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

If you love it, do it. Keep doing it. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you can’t. Find your tribe and then hold on for dear life.

Must have skills?

In my opinion, the actual audio engineering skills are only like 10% of it. They’re important, and you need them if you want to work in this industry, but I think that people skills, communication, organization, planning, delegation, and a positive attitude are more important and will take you a lot further than being the best mixer. At the end of the day, nobody cares what ratio your compressor is set to or what your reverb decay time is.

The people skills are probably the most important. The grumpy, bitter, and jaded sound tech stereotype exists for a reason. I don’t care how good of an engineer someone is, if they’re an asshole, I don’t want to work with them.

Favorite gear?

The Beyerdynamic M 201 is the GOAT on snare.

New Perspectives

Several weeks into this tour, I’ve come to realize how much positivity exists within this nomadic career. While it can be hard to maintain traditional relationships with friends and family, touring also presents unique opportunities to strengthen those relationships, even if they’re brief.

There are many days when I feel disconnected from folks back home, and even today’s technological advances can’t make up for differing schedules. Not only that, but my occasional lack of energy can certainly also contribute to making it hard to send a simple “hello” to a parent or friend.

Living on the road full-time is one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in my life. It is so satisfying to be able to wake up with ever-changing views, be it a retail parking lot or the venue, or essentially the backyard of Banff in Alberta, Canada. The gig comes with constant adventure and being able to mix for a living brings me immense joy, as does being immersed among other creative individuals and people who mirror similar values and expectations to mine. Saying I’m lucky is an understatement; in fact, there are no words to describe how deeply I feel about this career.

In the midst of tour currently, I find myself settling into a groove. I love it. I love the challenges, I love the places we’ve seen, and the music I’ve been able to help make. However, as the tour continues, it’s increasingly obvious how much of a gap there is between myself and the individuals I love who are not on the road with me.

Don’t get me wrong. I love being a pilgrim. Personally, wandering and making music with my road family is the most satisfactory way to spend most of the year. However, it can be difficult to navigate the interpersonal relationships you have with people back home. I miss my pets and movie nights with my roommates. I miss giggling over failed trivia nights and losing track of time in my hometown with loved ones. Feeling like you’re constantly playing catch up with people post-tour can also drag you down, and FOMO can really bite you if you’re not self-aware and grounded.

A few weeks ago, while visiting with my aunts before a show at Red Rocks, I realized how a tour can present so many opportunities for connection. We bonded over old memories, told stories, and explored a cute town in Colorado, dreaming of adventure and making plans for the future. Many more of my friends and family have made efforts to visit me across the country since then, and because of these visits, each week has brought me someone new to look forward to, whether it’s briefly on a show day or trekking around old and new cities on off days. It’s been fulfilling and enlightening, and I feel like I’ve been able to lean into the discomfort of missing individuals and exchange that discomfort for more meaningful memories. It’s been beautiful and wholesome.

I offer this as a new outlook for anyone struggling on hard days. Beyond the physical distance you may initially see, this kind of gig presents so much room for true quality time and novel memories. We get to do what you love for a living, we get to travel the world, and we get to see so many people as you do both, time permitting.

Working at a Summer Classical Music Festival

This summer I had the opportunity to work as an audio engineer at a classical music festival – a unique experience in which I got to further hone my audio skills, work as part of a great team, and see behind-the-scenes of how a large festival is run. Here are my reflections on various aspects of the job, the skills needed, and the overall experience, that I hope might be helpful to consider if you’re looking for a similar summer experience.

Be prepared to be flexible and problem-solve

Most festival environments involve an intense schedule of many concerts and events over a short period of time. Going in with an open mind, a willingness to help out as needed, and being mentally ready for moments of intense activity contrasted with times of low activity, will serve you well. You might have little time for planning and may need to troubleshoot things quickly. I found I honed my abilities to problem-solve and think flexibly, and learned when not to fixate on something and to move on – skills that can be useful for life in general.

Be ready to give things a go and learn new skills

I finished the festival with many more skills than I went in with. It was a great opportunity to get hands-on experience in many aspects of audio engineering, in a team environment with colleagues who could help me with what I didn’t know, and with whom I could share my knowledge on aspects that I knew more about. The work that we undertook at the festival included recording all concerts for archive or for future broadcast, editing and archiving audio, audio, and video for live-streamed concerts, manual and remote camera operation, PA setup, live sound amplification, audio for board meetings and multimedia presentations, installation and maintenance of recording systems and equipment.

The challenges

Depending on the festival, the working hours can sometimes be long (due to early morning rehearsals and late night concerts) and tiring both mentally and physically, so making sure you get to rest and enjoy recreation on your time off is important. At the start of the festival, there is a lot to learn: the audio procedures and expectations specific to that festival, how to use gear that you haven’t seen before, what is involved in certain audio roles, and getting used to working with different members of staff. I found it was always best to ask for help if I was doubting something or couldn’t figure it out myself, and I would write it down so as not to forget. As with any new job, it can be challenging and a little stressful at the start, but as time goes by it becomes easier as you become more fluent in each aspect of your job – and you can focus more on enjoying the music and creating excellent sound!

An adventure in a new place with new people

One of the great perks of summer festival jobs is that they are often located in beautiful places (such as in the mountains), and you have the unique experience of living in that place for a few weeks and being immersed in a different environment. Festivals often provide accommodation for staff, and you might be sharing living spaces with colleagues, making it easy to get to know people and make friends. Spending a lot of time together with people who are all there for a new and positive summer experience creates a great feeling of community, and an opportunity to meet interesting people and make meaningful connections. It’s also fun to experience being a resident of a different town, city, or state for a few weeks or months, and to go exploring and sightseeing on your time off.

A great way to get experience

You don’t need to be a classical music nerd to work at a classical music festival! While some of the audio and other staff had backgrounds in classical music, many others came from other audio specialisations, other genres of music, or theatre. A festival is a great way to get experience in recording classical and acoustic music, learn more about how orchestras sound and are run, and hear a lot of incredible music played by top-level musicians. It allows you to experience this kind of job for a short-term period and see if it’s something you want to do more of in the future.

If you’re thinking about working at a summer music festival – classical or otherwise – I say go for it, and be ready for a memorable experience that may turn out to be a life highlight!

Everyone’s Favorite – What’s In My Pelican

A favorite conversation among touring techs centers around the tools we carry in our pelicans or bags. It’s taken me years to refine my kit, but the pieces have become incredibly personal to me in how they support my career. Some items in my FOH kit tend to shock people, but I maintain that even though I typically have a “speciality,” I’m not free from responsibilities as a tech. Equally, while these items don’t always directly benefit me, they’re oftentimes helpful to others I may be working with.

Hopefully, this can serve as a guide for someone building their first kit. While none of these are necessarily outside of the box/unconventional, I consider them must-haves for either backup on tours or as part of my fly rig.

First, I carry a small tuning rig. This includes a Smaart Suite license purchased from Rational Acoustics. Along with this, I have a 2-channel Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, a 100-foot cable, and a couple of measurement mics such as the Isemcon 7150 or dbx RTA-M. I also carry a Manfrotto 156 BLB stand with a couple of adapters and clips.

Next up, testing tools are a must. This includes fiber cleaner, a Rat Sound XLR Sniffer/Sender tool, and a Sound Bullet. They’ve come in handy countless times for double-checking my work on stage or in the shop prepping.

Small organizational items also make it into my pack. A label maker is always present, as are zip ties and cable ties, a variety of colors of e-tape, and some gaff. Allen wrenches come in handy, as well as screwdrivers. Extra thunderbolt/usb adapters, drum keys, and RJ45 cables are also generally seen in my kit.

These items are generally organized within a Pelican 1510, but I also make sure my backpack is packed with essentials. Other expected items I include are my JH V2 16 in ears and a pair of HPH-MT8 headphones. And of course, I never leave the house without a notebook and flash drives.

More Resources

What’s In Your Go Bag?

Living In and Out of A Big Fat Suitcase

Going With the Flow

This spring I had the opportunity to step back into my roots and mix a loud rock band. The goal was simple: make sure it’s loud and doesn’t get in the way of their groove.

The opportunity came with a rocking stage (many guitar cabs, something the “luxury” of amp modelers softens us to) and PAs that ranged from questionable, to what is one of my favorite Cohesion systems that I’ve ever mixed on.

The tour brought me back to a sense of reality and perhaps grounded me in many ways. Sometimes the systems and consoles made me feel less than comfortable, either with their inability to work “flawlessly” or because of the fast-paced and unexpected nature of the show. I had to create a dialogue daily with house venue staff to learn about how they managed the system or room and try to employ their techniques when necessary.

The overarching observation is that this was such a valuable learning experience, providing opportunities to re-think the show and challenge myself with varying mixing platforms. I saw the gamut of nearly every mainstream console: PM5, X32, S6L, DLive, and even a Pro2. Sometimes these consoles worked flawlessly. Other times, they didn’t, forcing me to be creative with my layouts and workflow.

These shows solidified my technical understanding, and sometimes lack of. I had to quickly become comfortable with the fast-paced environments. It was also critical to maintain my composure in tense situations.

Efficiency was a must, as was learning how to prioritize daily tasks. It equally forced me to sit back and enjoy the show because I had to lean into what the band was doing, let them take the reins, and trust their input.

I offer this story to encourage you to be willing to step out of your comfort zone and enjoy the spaces you’re in. These moments teach us how to pivot and take things in stride. Being open-minded to these moments allows you to be creative and shows you how to be flexible when facing challenging circumstances. It’s another piece in the journey of continual improvement.

What matters about our unique careers doesn’t change:

These moments provide a ton of direction, self-reflection, and opportunity for growth. They can also increase your confidence in yourself, especially if you can learn to excel at keeping a cool, level head when moments are tense or stressful. So, next time you’re faced with something different, don’t be afraid to lean into it, learn from the challenges, and enjoy the present moment.

Managing Sonic Expectations – Part 2

Maintaining Sonic Expectations From Clubs to Stadiums: Part 1

Critical to building a mix is establishing a foundation. Having said foundation also ensures that if circumstances potentially compromise the system you’re working on, you won’t lose sight of your role as a mixer.

Genre-dependent, a mix should be near album quality but include some feeling, which may insinuate impact that is established in low-frequency information like kick or bass. However, venues aren’t consistent and occasionally prevent the same end result, in this regard, from being achieved.

The specific instances I have in mind occurred a few summers back when the position of the subs was compromised, the venue felt overpowered, and we were forced to pull the power of the system back. This resulted in me having to work with the systems engineer and instead of producing a full-range mix that also had impact and punch, we ended up with a mix that still provided a nice listening experience and supported the production.

A few things came to the forefront when we made the adjustments. Losing significant sub-information meant the tonality had to be adapted so it felt balanced and wasn’t painful or uncomfortably bright. Also equally important was ensuring certain elements were adjusted to maintain the musical motifs and intelligibility of lead instruments. Percussion and bass elements were also examined so they were still heard, but they lost their oomph instead. The mix still felt big, still had depth, and all around was more comfortable for the audience and the individuals on stage.

Imagining a pyramid, you should be able to build and maintain a mix based on a foundation. At the base, you’re probably prioritizing the integrity of the sources and musicality, and supporting it with a mix that’s pleasant to the ears and equally translates the message of the client. Following this you can include the pieces that make it flashy or provide a visceral feel. Your mix should still be supported and can be well-adjusted if the situation calls for it.

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