I worked for three years at a 310-capacity room in Ottawa called Mavericks. While to most readers that might seem small, it was the city’s mid-sized venue. Ottawa has a population of roughly one million. To get into tour lingo, it’s a B market. Most American & European tours that make it up to Canada skip Ottawa. They favour doing shows in Montréal and Toronto (even though Ottawa is barely a 45-minute detour) due to their larger populations. (more…)
I have curmudgeonly hate for modern technology. I like roll-up windows and faucet handles and telling stupid electronics what to do, when, and at what volume. I avoid the automated doors at stores in favor of the pull-handle ones. I park far and walk more. I’d rather be in the driver’s seat than the recliner. I think there’s something to human beings, to humans BEING, that technology at its zenith can’t beat. In the world of life, this makes me a dinosaur. In the world of audio, it makes me an amoeba. (more…)
Amanda Davis is an independent sound engineer based in Atlanta, GA. She graduated from Roosevelt University with a BA in Vocal Performance in 2008. She went on to attend SAE Atlanta, where in 2010 she graduated with an associates degree in Audio Technology. She recently joined the Wondaland team, and is currently the FOH Engineer for Janelle Monae. (more…)
There are days in this business that are really dreadful. Days where nothing goes right. They can be full of technical problems and circumstances that make for the most trying of times where things are incredibly difficult. When you’re terribly exhausted, nothing wants to work, people and equipment don’t want to cooperate, or things just go so wrong that you start to wonder if you really know what you’re doing. Days when you wonder why you chose this crazy life instead of something normal like a desk job so you could sleep in your own bed every night? (more…)
No matter how dedicated you are to a process, there comes a time when you lose patience with it. Have you ever stopped to wonder why that is? It doesn’t make sense, in a way. You know you’re doing the right things, for the right reasons, and you’re sure that given enough time, your efforts will yield great results. And you’re still doing the same stuff that you were psyched about a few short months ago. So why does the shine rub off? (more…)
We are super excited to be able to offer to our members a Dave Rat Seminar on April 30, 2015. The Seminar will take place at Rat Sound HQ in Camarillo, CA and is only open to SG Members. (more…)
March 19 – Come Tour the dark and dingy club on the Sunset Strip that Johnny Depp made famous. During the 90’s the Viper Room had a celebrity roster of fans from ranging from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Counting Crows (more…)
I’m Kirsty, sound designer, sound engineer and voice artist, a native New Zealander now based in London, UK. I’m delighted to be joining SoundGirls.org as a new regular blogger. I’ll be writing about sound design, live and theatre sound, and what I’ve learned over my 14+ year career so far. For my first post, I thought I’d dive right in and talk about why you should always do the hard jobs. (more…)
At one time, thought to be the stuff of myth or folklore, much like the Yeti or Bigfoot, stories and sightings of the elusive woman audio engineer are becoming more widespread. With the abundance of digital cameras and smartphones, there has actually been some credible evidence verifying that they do in fact exist. (more…)