If you ask the women with successful careers in professional audio, how they got to where they are, I think most of them would tell you that they made their own way into the business. You would also find several common themes: they were persistent, driven, showed initiative, and had the right attitude, and they went after their jobs whole heartedly. (more…)
How did you get that gig?
I’ve been asked this many times over the years. There is no secret formula. It as much as being in the right place at the right time as it is in who you know. It’s also being really good at your gig and being available at a moment’s notice. I’ve had more than one gig come about last-minute- getting a phone call asking, ‘Can you be on a plane in the next 24 hours to start a tour?’ (more…)
By: Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato
Tuning the system and ringing out wedges. There are many different techniques and everyone has their favorite- from simply speaking into the lead vocal microphone to utilizing tools like Smaart. SoundGirls.Org spoke to several engineers to find out what techniques they employ. (more…)
Beginning her career in live sound at the age of 18, Karrie Keyes has been the monitor engineer for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder for 27 years. She’s also spent ten years 1990-2000 as a monitor engineer for Red Hot Chili Peppers and has mixed a very diverse list of additional artists.
As a teen, Karrie wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she knew one thing – she wasn’t going to conform to society’s standards and soon found that the punk rock scene gave her the philosophy and ideals she found most suited her. “During my teen years, I rebelled against all things that sought to mold and conform me; school, church, societal norms, and expectations. I mainly hung out with two groups of guys as I found I related to them easier than girls. The commonality between the two different groups was music, one group mainly listened to rock music, and the other group listened to punk rock.” Karrie eventually began to hang out more and more with the punk rockers and during that time started dreaming about traveling the world as a writer. “I would have none of the trappings of society; no mortgage, no boss, no husband, and no kids. Each of the guys had similar dreams, but theirs revolved around touring the world as a punk rock band.”
“I watched and listened as they learned to play their instruments and write songs. They never once asked if I wanted to be involved and I did not have the courage to ask. I could be a spectator, a fan, a girlfriend. One day we went to a friend’s rehearsal space, and I saw a soundboard for the first time and wondered if I could run it? Our friend, Ben, was older and in a band that got paying gigs, he laughed at me and told me girls couldn’t run the soundboard. I wondered what other skills were needed to run it or if the only qualification needed was being a dude.”
“I then started to wonder what other jobs there might be in the music industry and had only a vague sense of what roadies did or what it took to put on a live show. I was in orchestras and band through school and knew I wanted to be involved in music but did not know how.” When Karrie inquired in high school about careers in the field, she was told that no one made a living in the music industry. “I wondered how that could be. I saw bands and artists all the time on MTV and thought – they must be making a living? I only had the vaguest sense of what it took for a band to make an album or to put on a concert, but I sensed Fleetwood Mac was not setting up their equipment and I was sure Van Halen was not just paying their roadies with beer and pizza. I had no idea how one would go about becoming a roadie, but sensed that being a woman would be a huge obstacle.”
After high school Karrie ‘half-heartedly’ enrolled in a community college where she did what any other 18-year-old with no idea of what they want to do does: “I worked part-time, showed up at some of my college classes, and went to punk rock shows.”
“As it is with so many things in life, my path would instantly change over a simple decision. The decision was- what punk rock show to go to Fear or Black Flag? The choice was pretty simple as my friends were going to Fear and I could get a ride – Black Flag was to be attended on a public bus that stopped running at 10 pm, which meant I would be stranded until the morning. Black Flag it was! I never did things the easy way!”, she laughs. “The show was a video shoot for the In My Head Tour and Painted Willie and Gone opened up. I managed to weave my way up to the front. Minutes before Black Flag went on, one of their roadies came over and talked to me and I explained I wanted to learn what he did, to learn to do his job! He told me to hang out after the show, and he would show me. Of course, I had no idea what he actually did. So I hung out after the show and he taught me one of the things he, as a sound engineer, had to do: wrap a mic cable. The next day I found myself in Palo Alto with Black Flag and by the time we returned to Los Angeles I knew what I wanted to do – Sound – and my new friend Dave was going to teach me. He inspired me not to give up. Shortly after Black Flag finished their tour, I started working every gig I could with Dave and Rat Sound. I eventually was able to quit my part-time job and never went back to school.
At Rat Sound, Karrie started out at the bottom, loading and unloading trucks full of PA systems and working every show she could from punk rock to gospel and everything in between. This gave her the opportunity to learn all about the gear, how it works and how to troubleshoot. She found the hands-on time with the equipment and opportunity to try things that were not exactly the norm, were invaluable learning experiences. “I did everything – load in and load out, setting up the sound system, wiring the stage, and doing the set changes on weekends for like 20 dollars a show or something ridiculous.”
There were two partners in Rat Sound- Dave and Brian, who each had their system. Karrie worked for Dave. “Dave and I did every show by ourselves for years. Sometimes we would hire a third person, but for the most part, it was just the two of us.”
Rat was hired for many Goldenvoice shows, and Goldenvoice promoted most of the punk rock shows in Southern California. Rat first was hired because the punters could not climb the sound system. Goldenvoice and the So Cal Punk Rock scene were somewhat accepting towards everyone, and Karrie did not face obstacles because of her gender. “The Heavy Metal scene of the ’80s in LA was not very inviting for women ‘roadies’, but for Punk Rock and Alternative, it was hardly an issue. In all of them, Rat, Goldenvoice, and Punk Rock, the common thread was; we were all underdogs working towards a common goal.”
“Being a woman. I just worked as hard as I could. Working for a small sound company had its challenges as well, I was either proving myself as a woman or as a small sound company.” In her early days at Rat Sound, she ran into cultural bias. “I always had a difficult time working with Middle Eastern acts, who just could not wrap their heads around a woman in my position. It was just so against their culture. I use to get very upset, and I now realize it was probably very confusing and upsetting to them as well. When I started doing sound almost 30 years ago, I took a lot of heat from people. You just didn’t see women doing monitors, you still don’t, but I can say it has mellowed a bit. Either that or I just don’t care anymore and tune it out.” Karrie recalls that the core crews she’s toured with have always been respectful, and being a woman has not been an issue. “Although there is always the jerk on tour. I ignore them at this point, and often they are only touring with us for a short period. Usually, I don’t even know about it, as they would not dare say anything to me. I get more shit from the local crews.”
On tour with Danzig and Soundgarden 1990
What are some of the lessons you’ve learned throughout your career?
Karrie’s experience of mixing so many styles of music (Jazz, Metal, Country, Punk, Reggae) in her early days with Rat has helped contribute to her job mixing Pearl Jam, who is not your straightforward rock band. The five members have widely ranging monitor needs with each mix being completely different from the others.
“I still think the way to gain the most experience with live sound is by being on the ground and working as many shows as you can. Working for a smaller sound company affords these experiences. The diversity in shows provides you with so much experience when it comes to mixing. The sheer number of engineers you end up working with, and you get to see their ideas and processes working or not working.”
A terrible show in her youth would have devastated her, but now she realizes that you just can’t always have perfect shows. However, she does try to draw from the bad shows and analyze what she could have done differently. “I’m always learning”.
What are the benefits of working with the same band for so many years?
“You can keep evolving and perfecting. Eventually, you all know each other so well and navigating the other personalities becomes natural. However, you cannot become complacent in the job. You have to keep working on issues or progressing forward, whether by learning new gear, or learning new tricks, but you get to a point when you’ve really got it down and no longer need to be changing things and starting over with new gear. Sometimes it can get old when you keep hitting the same issues, such as the volume on stage. I am trusted so have more leeway to try different things – but I also know my band very well and don’t expand trying new things into areas that I know are not going to fly.”
Advice for those getting started:
My advice is just to keep going and not to give up – if one door is shut on you, try another door. You are going to knock on a lot of doors, but the ones that open for you – walk through and keep going.
Always keep learning- take advantage of all the online courses and information out there.
Network – find a mentor.
Show up when you say you will – be reliable, ask questions, and take risks
When you are given an opportunity, take it.
Hone your diplomacy skills – they will benefit you on the job and also help you navigate through any sexist crap that you are going to have deal with.
The Untouchables were a popular Southern California Ska band; No Doubt often opened for them. It was my first gig as an engineer for the band. It was an important step as I took over for the ME as he moved to FOH. That organization not only gave me a chance but Rat Sound as well and always believed in us. The gigs were always full on and taught me how to work fast and to deal with the needs of ten musicians.
Social Distortion – I worked and was hired for many shows Social Distortion did in the Southern California area. They were one of my favorite bands and I spent a lot time pinching myself. Social Distortion taught me that one size does not fit all. Mike Ness wanted his mix to sound as if it was coming from FOH. It was not as easy to achieve as you think.
Touring with Fugazi -The best live band ever! Every show made all the driving, the Motel 6’s, the Denny’s, the gigs with no local crew, security, barricade, or catering worth it. Every single day. If their indefinite hiatus ever comes to an end, I will gladly climb back into the truck. It was a privilege.
Pearl Jam – VH1 Tribute to The Who
Again there have been so many gigs that were important, challenging, fun, and played through tears and pain over the years – but this one stood out. It was a marker of how professional our organization had become. How our team pulled together, dropped all ego, and did what we needed to do so the band could do what they needed to do. Anyone that has seen it knows that Pearl Jam nailed it.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Woodstock III
While there are many memorable shows over the ten years I worked for them, Woodstock III stands out. This gig happened after I left their organization to be off the road for my daughters. This gig fell in between one of the firings of the ME and hiring a new one. I would always fill in until another engineer was hired. I remember being happy and relieved that I would not have to mix this show.
We had played the second Woodstock, going on before Peter Gabriel, who headlined. It was a complete disaster. We did not have a line check earlier in the day, did not have any monitor equipment and were stretched thin with a bare bones crew. I let the sound guys push me around and mix position was about 80 feet from the band.
Needless to say, I was not happy when I found myself being asked to do this gig. I made a few demands – we were bringing in our system (which is not uncommon now, but was not standard practice then) this made our production manager less than happy as well as production on the Woodstock end.
We only had one promo warm up gig before going in, so the mixes were not dialed, and the system was not set up to go into a festival. I worked thru the day doing whatever I could during other band’s set changes so I would be ready. The sound and production guys were awesome and helpful.
When the band hit the first notes, I knew I had nailed it. It sounded great, and I knew the band was happy. At the end of the gig, I discovered Pearl Jam’s site coordinator and stage manager was head production on Woodstock and had told everyone to help me and listen to me as I knew my shit. The sound crew came up after the gig and said it was so nice to see an engineer that knew what they were doing. And three weeks later at a band rehearsal, Anthony told me that the sound was perfect.
With a career in live sound that spans nearly 30 years, Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato has been the sound engineer for some of the most recognizable names in music.
Since her first tour with the band ‘Spin Doctors’ in 1992, Michelle has been touring the world as an independent Engineer, mixing a variety of Rock and Pop artists including
Indigo Girls, Jewel, Gwen Stefani, Ke$ha, Mr. Big, Melissa Etheridge, Goo Goo Dolls, Styx and many more.
In 2015 Michelle was inducted into Full Sail University’s Hall of Fame. She is an active mentor and coach to those seeking a career in Live Sound and Music Production and has been a frequent speaker on industry and university panels and conferences.
Michelle did her first tour as FOH Engineer in 1992. It came about as a result of years of hard work, making sure everyone she met knew that her goal was to get on the road, and a little bit of fate.
“I had been working in live sound for a few years, moving back and forth between Pennsylvania (where I was from) and Florida trying to find enough work to survive. When a job I was promised at a sound company in PA fell through, I had booked a ticket on Amtrak to move back to Florida where I had plenty of work. As fate would have it, on the day I was supposed to leave for Florida, Amtrak went on strike, putting my plans on hold. That very afternoon my friend, John Heidenriech, called to see if I would be interested in taking over his mixing gig with a band doing a national club tour. He needed to leave the tour and was looking for a replacement. They would be coming through my area in a few days and knowing how hard I worked and how badly I wanted to be on tour, he decided to offer me the gig. I was to meet the band a few days later at which point I would begin a two-week trial period. I had never heard of the band and didn’t care. I just wanted to get on tour. My trial by fire was a success, and I got the gig.”
The band was the Spin Doctors, and less than a month later their album broke through Billboard’s top 100 and shot up the charts. That was the start of Michelle’s 20+ year touring career as a FOH engineer.
Michelle being presented a gold record from Spin Doctors circa 1994
“Music was always a huge part of my life. I began playing piano at a very young age and in high school would accompany friends for talent shows and vocal competitions. I played for the school chorus, church choir, etc… But in all of that, I hated being on stage. I hated being the center of attention, so I always knew that a career in the spotlight wasn’t for me. But behind the spotlight or soundboard as in my case, now that was a whole different story. As a kid, I was always fascinated with how things work, taking apart my dad’s broken reel to reel tape recorder and fixing it, dismantling my record players and other electronics. So when I was in Junior High, and it came time to answer the question ‘what do you want to do with your life,’ the answer just came naturally. I wanted to be a recording engineer. That way I could be creatively involved in making music but not have to be a performer. I didn’t even know if it was a career- as a matter of fact, my guidance counselor assured me it wasn’t and I would have to pick something else.”
Knowing of her interest in the music business, a good friend introduced Michelle to a local promoter who let her shadow him at his shows in order to get a taste of the business. “I remember we once had a fairly prominent regional band play at our high school auditorium and they were looking for people to volunteer as stage hands. My best friend and I were the only two people who showed up. The band, of course, were a bit stunned to find out that we were seriously interested in working and learning about the equipment and not just there to meet them and hang out. I think they got a kick out of watching us work, and the whole time they were in disbelief that these ‘chicks’ cared more about learning the soundboard than hanging out with them backstage.”
Michelle also had a strong desire to travel from a very young age. “Growing up in a tiny, tiny town- I wanted desperately to get out and see the world. In looking back, I think my entire childhood led up to this career and I can’t honestly see how I could have ended up doing anything else.”
Mixing FOH for Indigo Girls in 1998
How did you get your start? Did you receive any formal training or education in music and/or audio?
“Once I made the decision to pursue audio engineering, I really had no other choice but to get some training or education. There was no music scene where I lived, no studios to speak of where I could learn, and I had no idea how or where to even begin. After one year of college, majoring in music, I found out about the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH. I took their 5-week course in Basic Recording Engineering and Studio Maintenance. After completing the course, I got a job at a brand new local radio station. I wanted to record commercials, but they told me I had to sell them first. I spent several months working there but quickly realized it wasn’t going to get me where I wanted to be. Next, I took a bus to Nashville to try and get a job in a recording studio. I spent three weeks walking around music row handing out my resume, (which consisted of entirely two lines- The Recording Workshop and WMGH) to every studio I could find. It didn’t take me long to realize I still had a lot to learn and this wasn’t going to happen easily. Young and naive was an understatement. But I had balls. After weeks of being graciously told ‘we’re just not hiring anyone right now,’ I came to realize that despite my five-week education, I still didn’t know enough about making records, and I needed to do something about that if I intended to ever work in this business. I moved back home and soon saw an ad for Full Sail, another technical school with a much more comprehensive 9-month program in music production. I enrolled, and it was while I was attending Full Sail that I fell in love with live sound.”
Michelle began working immediately after graduating from Full Sail, starting with interning at a local sound company outside of Phili, where she worked ‘basically for free until I couldn’t afford it any longer.’ Her job entailed spending hours in the shop helping to build road cases, cleaning consoles, prepping gear for shows, cleaning up and putting away gear from shows, loading, and unloading trucks, building mic cables, repairing snakes, etc.… “On weekends after a full day in the shop, I would load a van full of gear, drive it to a gig, load in, set up, do the gig, load out, drive back to the shop and unload it, catch a few hours of sleep and do it all over again the next day.”
Michelle and the women of Indigo Girls band and crew circa 2002
From there, she went on to do some studio work. “I got hired as an assistant which meant I made the coffee, cleaned up after sessions, ordered the takeout, got to play tape op once in a while (this was long before pro tools or the digital age of recording). On the upside, the owner was kind enough to let me practice mixing during the off hours when no sessions were booked.”
Unable to find enough work to make a living in PA, Michelle moved back to Florida, where she knew there was more opportunity. “I spent most of the next year there, working at the 50s and 60s nightclub- running lights and mixing, whenever the A1 and A2 were unavailable. I also took a job in the A/V department of a local entertainment complex, which gave me an opportunity to hone my troubleshooting skills, in between mixing various bands from oldies rock and roll to Dixieland jazz.” Michelle spent days working in the tech department, soldering, building, and repairing various pieces of equipment, setting up sound systems for talking heads and corporate functions, all the typical jobs you would find in an A/V department. “When I wasn’t working at either job I did stagehand work and also part-time work with another local sound company. I worked as much as I could, as hard as I could, and learned everything I could from everyone around me. In the meantime, I was sending resumes to all the national touring sound companies I had heard of.”
What obstacles have you faced?
“I came from a very small town with very traditional values and old-fashioned ideas; mainly that girls grew up, graduated, got married and started a family. If you wanted a job, you were pretty much relegated to one of the local factories or shops at the mall. There wasn’t much there for a strong, independent, unconventional girl like myself, who wanted to get out and see the world. When I made the decision to pursue a career in the music industry I was met with resistance everywhere I turned. My mother freaked out. My music teacher suggested a degree in music therapy, so I would have a career to fall back on. When I decided to go away to school to learn recording engineering, my friends thought I was crazy and couldn’t understand why I would move so far away all by myself. I was a pretty shy, quiet kid. I was fearless but at the same time scared of everything. So for me to pack up, leave home, my friends, and head off to school all alone was huge, but I was on a mission. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life and this was the first step.”
The music industry is a male-dominated field, which is especially evident in live sound. But that’s never stopped Michelle, and she feels it’s never really been a problem for her. “I was extremely driven from the start, and I’ve always taken the job seriously and focused on doing the best job I could. Sexism either didn’t happen or I just didn’t see it because I didn’t care. I was doing my job and doing what I loved, and I didn’t care what anyone else thought about it. When I was first starting out, I constantly heard, ‘You’re the first female engineer I’ve seen,’ and I would get a lot of sideways glances and strange looks but it’s never hindered me from doing my job. The bottom line is when you work hard and are good at your job, people notice and they respect you for that. Sure, I’ve run into the occasional sexist remark or guy who just couldn’t get his head around women being equal to men, but they’ve been by far the exception and not the norm. And there have been times I’ve felt that I had to work harder, smarter, faster than all of the guys around me to prove myself, but that just made me better at my job.”
“I’ve also had a lot of support from men in the industry. Mark Johnson of Fidelity Sound Reinforcement provided the PA for the very first tour that I did with full production. During that tour, he told me if I ever needed work to call him. I took him up on that offer and for several years early in my touring career, whenever I was home for more than a few weeks, I would head to VA Beach and work for Mark. He treated me like an equal right from the start, even though he had years of experience on me. ML Procise and Clair Bros. have also always been incredibly supportive from early in my career as well as my husband of 16 years, Production Manager Jim Pettinato.”
What are some of the lessons you have learned throughout your career?
“On my very first tour with Spin Doctors, I did one club gig with the band before we went on to join the Horde tour festival, on which we never had a soundcheck. Talk about trial by fire. I mixed my ass off learning how to pull together a mix from nothing more than a line check over headphones, and as fast as possible since our set length was only 30 minutes. This was eons before digital consoles, so I was starting from scratch every day on a console that all the bands shared, there was no- plugging in your thumb drive and loading your file from the last gig… We went on from there to headline clubs and colleges and then bigger venues. In 1994 we spent a few months opening for the Rolling Stones on their Voodoo Lounge tour. I was mixing in NFL Stadiums and NHL Hockey Arenas all over the country as well as soccer stadiums in South America where I mixed my biggest gig ever, in front of 100,000 people. Again, we never had a soundcheck, and the pressure was on to pull it together quick for our 30-minute set.”
Michelle credits the early days of having to mix on ‘whatever crap PA of the day’ in making her a better engineer. “You really hone your skills by having to pull off miracles.” It also helped improve her troubleshooting skills. “9 times out of 10 there would be something wrong with the house system, and oddly enough, the house guy rarely seemed interested in fixing it. So I would spend half my day tracking down bad lines, mismatched crossovers, bad amp channels, you name it. Back in those days, the quality of the equipment left a lot to be desired. You could have a top of the line system one day and a pile of proprietary garbage the next. Sometimes it was completely different speaker cabinets on the left and right! Everyone and their brother was building a PA in their garage, and most of them had no idea what they were doing. Luckily things have progressed tremendously; it’s rare to find a really bad system these days.”
Mixing Gwen Stefani’s -Harajuku Lovers tour 2005
Mixing Gwen Stefani’s -Harajuku Lovers tour 2005
What do you like best about touring?
“The relationships you build with people. Your fellow band and crew become your family. You can form some really close bonds with the people you work with. I met my husband on tour and some of the bands and crew I’ve worked with over the years are my closest and dearest friends. The nature of the job is that we are our own little rolling community and we’re all in it together working for the same result- to make the show happen no matter what.”
“I also love and hate the travel. I love getting to see the world and touring Europe/ Japan/ Australia, but I hate the excruciatingly long flights to get there. It’s time for someone to invent the transporter!”
“It’s always been about the music. It’s never been about doing the biggest tours or mixing the most high profile artists. It’s been about mixing good music, and I am lucky to have witnessed some great musical moments and have had the opportunity to work with so many inspiring and incredibly talented musicians. Best of all, when the lights go down in the arena and the crowd goes crazy, and the air is buzzing with energy and excitement as the band hits the stage, the feeling of knowing that you played a part in making all of that happen, is pretty great.”
Advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?
Be Persistent and don’t wait for someone to offer you your dream gig, you have to go out and make it happen.
Learn everything you can from every job you have and never stop learning.
Learn signal flow, proper gain structure, and basic troubleshooting. If you have these skills, you can mix on any console.
Train, trust, protect, and use your ears- They are the most valuable tool you have, and best of all they are free!
Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Don’t be afraid to network and let everyone you meet know what your goals are.
Work hard, work smart, and know your craft.
Have confidence in yourself and your abilities and don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know, no one expects you to know everything.
Be ready for opportunities and have the courage to take them.
Most importantly- USE YOUR EARS! Your ears are the most valuable tool you have when mixing. Train them, learn how to mix with your ears and not your eyes.
Must have skills?
Along with working well with others, being a self-starter, and having a thick skin, you’ve got to be able to hang with the guys and be comfortable around men, because you will be working and living with them. It’s a male-dominated field and if you don’t like working and living with a bunch of dudes- this isn’t the right place for you. Just as someone who can’t deal with the sight of blood shouldn’t be a doctor. Guys are guys, and while there are always exceptions, more often than not they are respectful of their fellow crew women. I’ve actually been told on more than one occasion by the TM and/or PM, that they like having at least one woman on the crew, it tends to bring the whole testosterone thing down a notch.
Final thoughts
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. When I decided this was my path, everyone told me I couldn’t do it, and I just said ‘watch me.’ It doesn’t matter where you come from, what your background or resources are if you work really hard at following your dreams, set goals, and tell everyone you know what your goals are, you’ll be amazed at how the right people will come into your life. If you stay true to your dreams and goals, things will happen for you. But it takes work; it doesn’t mean saying I want to be an “insert occupation here” and sitting around on facebook all day whining and wishing for it to happen. It means setting goals and knocking on doors and going after your dreams. Be dedicated, be motivated, and show initiative, when people see that, doors will open for you.
We caught up with Michelle for a 2019 update:
Michelle recently created and launched Mixing Music Live, an online video course for live sound and mixing. She continues to be a full time touring sound engineer and can be currently found on tour mixing Elvis Costello.
More on Michelle:
The SoundGirls Podcast – OG Soundgirl Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato on touring & live sound
Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato | Hall of Fame – Full Sail University
Pro To Pro: Catching Up With FOH Engineer Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato
I’ve recently have been training as a PA Tech at a local venue, Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica. The venue is a shed with a covered stage that seats about 5,000. It is located in Cleveland Flats and is right on the river. Each of the shows I have worked on has had the same PA and setup configuration. With each gig, I gain more experience with the sound system, which allows me to build more confidence and independence. (more…)
The start of a new tour is always interesting, seeing friends you have not seen for a while, being with your road family, and always meeting new characters. I try to figure out who is who and what is what pretty fast. So it is on the first day, after traveling twenty hours or so and finally arriving in Amsterdam, that I meet the first character. (more…)
Amy goes where the work is and where the wind blows having worked in professional audio for over 20 years. Amy most commonly works as a FOH engineer for corporate and broadcast events and as a monitor engineer on festivals. Amy has always had a love of music and electronics and has found that a career in professional audio was a perfect match. Working freelance complements her gypsy lifestyle, although, given the right circumstances, she would love to find a steady home.
Amy’s grandfather was a professional jazz musician, and growing up Amy remembers watching her grandfather practice in his basement. He played the Clarinet, Alto Sax, and Tenor Sax and would inspire Amy to take up the trumpet while in Jr. High School. She would later get to play a bit with him and she still has all of his horns. He was one of the greatest influences in Amy’s life. Amy remembers, “during birthdays, holidays and other special occasions, he would always place a mono cassette recorder on the dinner table or in the middle of the room. I still have several ancient cassettes of these occasions. So, from the time I was a very small child, I was always surrounded by music and audio equipment”
Along with a love of music, Amy had a curiosity to figure out how things worked. Her mother would always pick up old stereo equipment and other odds and ends at garage sales. A lot of the equipment did not work, which saved Amy from ever being electrocuted, but she did manage to start a few fires.
Amy’s First PA
After high school, Amy attended Kent State University for a semester, as a Pre-Journalism/ Mass Communications major with a minor in Radio/Television Production. This allowed Amy to discover a desire to work behind the scenes in a technical position. However, she found their equipment was so antiquated, and it did not allow involvement until junior or senior year, so she decided to fast-track it and enrolled in The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Amy enrolled in the Music/Video/Business program and found that The Art Institute opened many doors for her.
The first door that was opened to her was an internship at the Graffiti Showcase Cafe, working with the FOH Engineer. The Graffiti Showcase Cafe operated for 17 years and was one of the premier music venues in the country, it closed in 2000. The Graffiti Showcase Cafe hosted over 1500 acts from Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers to Bonnie Raitt and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Amy says she “fell in love with live sound from the first moment I plugged an xlr cable into a stage box”. The internship at Graffiti Showcase Cafe gave Amy practical work experience and she says she learned much more than her formal schooling would have ever taught her.
When her internship ended, Amy headed to Florida and attended Full Sail, graduating with a Associate Degree in Recording Arts. At the time, Full Sail only offered two-degree programs: Audio Recording or Video/Film. Amy says “the studio maintenance course with Hunter Menning was the most valuable in terms of knowing how the gear worked from the inside out. All of the courses taught me something, but that one stands out. She found that Full Sail gave her credibility and opened up even more doors for her.
Florida to Los Angeles
After graduating from Full Sail, Amy headed to Los Angeles with a shortlist of names and numbers. One of her first gigs was working staging for Kevin Lyman of Goldenvoice, (who would go on to found The Warped Tour) for a Meat Puppets gig in Long Beach. There she met Dave Rat who would recommend her for a gig at the Anti Club. Industrial Sound would help her out too, and Tom Santee of Auntie M, got her mixing gigs right away. Amy remembers a gig in Monterey Park doing sound for Mariachi bands, which was a first for a girl from Ohio. The Anti Club gig would help her land a gig at the Troubadour, and then the Northridge Quake hit.
Early Days
Amy decided that maybe Los Angeles was not for her and being the high-tech gypsy she is, headed to Seattle. She was able to get a gig at Moe’s on Capitol Hill and says it was the best house gig ever. Amy kept that gig as long as she could and watched as the Seattle music scene of the ’90s came to an end.
From Seattle – Amy headed back east to Chicago. She worked at Andy’s Music and Chicago Sound doing all the summer music festivals at Grant Park. As that was winding down, she got a call from The Ringling Bros. Circus about a Monitor Engineer position available on their Blue Unit. Amy toured the U.S. mixing both FOH and Monitors in major arenas with the circus band for the last four months of a two-year tour as a replacement engineer but decided not to sign a two-year contract to tour the next show.
Ringling Bros. Circus
She headed back to Los Angeles, where she stumbled upon the existence of highly lucrative corporate gigs. Amy landed a gig as an audio engineer for AVHQ Staging Division in Los Angles. She remained there for over two years until they were absorbed by another production company and started to lay everyone off. Since then Amy has remained a freelance engineer working all over the U.S.
Amy has even dabbled in television work. Working on a reality show called Paradise Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico in 2001 and another one called Next Big Champ around that same time. She also mixed 26 episodes for a series for the Jim Henson Company in 2000. While the pay was fantastic, the gigs were absolutely grueling. Long days hiding in bushes with a 35-pound field mixer and RF receiver packs weighing heavily on your lower back while holding a big boom up for hours at a time. Amy did her best to avoid things like killer bees while picking up the intimate dirt of cast members attempting to secretly plot against the others. Amy says “It felt more like boot camp than a career accomplishment, and it was beating me up pretty bad. It was quite an effort to keep that boom up there when I only stand at 5’4” and they never say “Cut” on a reality shoot”. The Henson project was a rare non-union opportunity Amy was absolutely proud to be a part of. Unfortunately, the series didn’t get picked up for a second season. Amy would love to get back into television if the opportunity was ever offered.
Jim Henson Project
Being a freelance engineer has allowed her to indulge her inner gypsy, but Amy also feels that she has been forced to move around a lot. “It’s not an easy industry for anyone, but I’ve seen a lot of guys move up while I plateaued. I found that the only way to really increase my knowledge was to move around a lot. It gets frustrating when guys who can lift more weight, get more breaks, and you’re toughing it out and doing your part to the best of your ability”. Amy has stuck it out by networking and looking for work everywhere, settling into corporate work, which tends to be very lucrative and steady. Corporate work also tends to require less physical lifting of gear due to larger crew calls.
Amy reflects on some of the calls she gets for gigs because she is a woman, like the Mary Kay convention. “They actually wanted me to work the show while wearing a dress. You try so hard to blend in, and even something like that which seems like an opportunity is ultimately repressive. I’m more than happy to take a gig where they want me for whatever reason, so long as the company hiring me puts me on other shows as well. Most of the time those “we want a female engineer” shows go bust, and you never hear back about the other shows”.
Amy offers this advice to women wishing to enter the field
If like me, you are stricken with the sickness of an innate love of audio, don’t be discouraged if you get stopped at the front door. There are lots of side doors in and you can make it happen if you want it bad enough. I’m not sure spending a lot of money on education is a good idea in today’s economy. I’d take some electronics classes and volunteer to help small local sound companies in return for training and future employment opportunities. After that, hit up as many manufacturer trainings as possible. It’s a hard profession to make a living at and retain any resemblance of life, but it’s one of the most exciting careers a person can pursue. I’ve had a lot of highs and lows causing me to have a love/hate relationship with it, but I’m still here.
Must have skills
Mechanical dexterity, keen listening skills, knowledge of a wide range of musical instruments and styles of music, organization skills, electrical and wiring skills. The ability to use hand tools. Most of all, the ability to work under extreme pressure and be solution-driven when it all hits the fan, because at some point it will, and it’s more about your ability to recover from chaos than anything else.
Favorite gear
As a freelance hired gun, I don’t often get the luxury of picking and choosing my own consoles or PA system components, so if I’m going to be completely honest… My favorite gear is gear that has been well maintained and is in good working condition. When I do get to choose, it totally depends on the application.
Willie Nelson – The BackYard Gig
Guest Blog – Petra Randewijk
Doornroosje started in 1970 in the city of Nijmegen in the east of the Netherlands. The building where the club is currently held is an old building which was not designed for live
music. Over time it has been less able to meet the demands of touring productions and has outgrown its 450 seat capacity. With almost 45 years of sweat from musicians and their audiences dripping into the foundation of the venue, the memories of legendary shows and the ever growing layers of graffiti on the outside, the old place is not an easy one to replace. It holds music history. (more…)