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Daniela Seggewiss – Time Flies When You Are Doing What You Love

Daniela Seggewiss can’t believe that she has been working in Live Sound for ten years, because time flies when you are doing what you love. She initially caught the live sound bug when she was 13 and attended her first concert.

Daniela grew up surrounded by music, with music always being played around her house and she learned to play piano and drums, but she never could put her finger on what fascinated her about music. Until “I visited my first concert (One-Day 70ies Rock Festival – Sweet, Slade, Suzi Q, Hollies). Seeing that technical side of live music was the missing piece of the puzzle. I remember the one moment I realised I wanted to work in audio. I was standing next to monitor world watching crew, band and audience interacting with each other, that magic moment when music connects people and lets them forget their troubles. I knew there and then, age 13, that that’s what I want to be when I grow up, I wanted to be part of creating that magic. Following that fateful moment, I spent my time figuring out what career options there are in audio and how to make it happen for me.”

Her family was not quite sure how to deal with Daniela’s choice for a career, mainly as they had no idea what it meant to be a sound engineer and could only imagine the world as one of Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll. They did their best to support Daniella, while her teachers and career advisors in high school tried to stir her into more conservative alternatives.

After finishing her A-Levels (high school), Daniela would apprentice as an event technician at a German national broadcasting station, learning about sound, lights, and rigging. This provided her a solid foundation in audio knowledge and stagecraft. She would eventually start out in audio taking care of the live sound for WDR’s (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) events in Cologne, Germany.

“Our team of three handled live audio and projection for every in-house event from planning to overseeing or operating the event itself. The events ranged from conferences to literature readings, and award shows to orchestra and big band performances and the occasional jazz or rock show.”

She would spend her summers working in Ireland for a festival, as an audio engineer on the second stage and the main stage audio tech. “My day started midday with the 2nd stage soundcheck followed by the gig and me running to the main stage to make the load in for the evening gig.”

Daniela would eventually leave Germany, to study and work in Leeds. She is a registered freelance sound engineer and was able to work in venues throughout Leeds. Rotating between four venues, with different size rooms from 100 -500 capacity. More often than not, she was the only tech working the gig, doing monitors from FOH and assisting the bands with the backline.

“The venue I spent most my time was the Cockpit in Leeds, which had three rooms in three arches under a railway bridge with aluminum stuck to the arched ceiling, literally a gig in a tin can. A shift in there would involve several power cuts, water dripping off the ceiling and stage invasions by the whole audience. After surviving that nothing a gig throws at me nowadays takes me by surprise.

The Cockpit main room had a monitor desk, and most engineers did not like mixing monitors there, so I got that shift regularly and figured out quickly that I prefer that side of the multicore.”

Working at those venues, led to working with a local music festival, Bingley Music Live. It is a three-day, 15,000 capacity festival. She started as 2nd stage audio tech and worked her way up to main stage monitor engineer.

She currently works mainly as a freelance monitor engineer for the bands The Sweet and Opeth. Her year fills ups quickly between the two groups. She fills in the gaps with festivals and local gigs in Leeds.

In 2017, she finished her BSc from Leeds Beckett University (Hons) in Music Technology, which has increased her knowledge of recording. She continues to learn by taking part in manufacturer training, d&b, Shure, Midas, etc. to make sure she stays up to date with the newest technology.

Her long-term goals are to start working with sound companies, so she can work her way up to working on larger-size tours. Although she does enjoy the medium size productions, being part of a small team that is family. And for now, feels that she could Mix Bands and See the World forever.

What do you like best about your job?

It’s two things for me.

The touring family & seeing the world! The friends I’ve made on the road from as early as that first concert are family to me! The part I like best about these deep friendships is that it does not matter how often we see each other, whenever we do, we can pick up right where we left off, and it feels like we haven’t been apart at all! I have “family” all over the world now, which is very handy considering I love to travel, too.

My family always traveled a lot. We own a campervan and would just go to the coast for a weekend. I always loved going on trips, exploring new places, meeting new people. Now I get paid to do that.

What do you like least?

It is the travel pace that I like least. I don’t even mind long flights too much, yet anyway. Give me another ten years, and I’ll probably hate them, too. But for now, it’s not having enough time to explore a gorgeous part of the world due to the brief time we spend in one place. I can tell you my bucket list of travel destinations is becoming longer and longer instead of getting checked off.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

The most significant obstacle for me was to find the way into the industry, especially into the rock’n’roll side of things, as there was no clear career path that I could follow and come out as a sound engineer.

I was very lucky to make connections early on with a network ever-expanding. However, even with some contacts, I felt like I did not have many options after finishing school as there are no sound companies in or near my hometown.

However, working through these obstacles confirmed that I was really passionate about becoming a sound engineer. And my way through the industry starting in broadcasting, followed by tiny clubs to medium venues and finally festivals and touring is exactly the “education” every sound engineer should experience. You have to grow in the industry! It is a hands-on job that has to be learned through hands-on experience.

I know there is still a lot of discrimination happening in this male-dominated industry. Either it never really happened to me, or I just didn’t care.

The local crew that thinks I must be the merch girl, just makes me chuckle nowadays. However, I have encountered local engineers, who thought I didn’t know what I was doing. In most of those situations, my touring crew family was more upset by the situation than me. It was only encouragement for me to show these guys that I know exactly what I was doing. And the band gave me the thumbs up at the end of the show was the best thing to shut these people up.

How have you dealt with them?

I feel like I just run through any wall. It was in my head that I would be a sound engineer, so any dead-end or obstacle was ran over.

Thinking about it now I realise that there were a lot of “No’s and “You cannot do that” involved, but I was so determined that I just kept going until I found a “Yes.” I came out the other end stronger and even more determined. So my determination and passion for this job help me with all the obstacles.

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

Never give up! Be persistent.

Your best shot is to get to know sound engineers in your area, your local venue. I know this is the cliche answer. Networking! It is still weird for me to know to advertise myself and network to get my name around but that is where jobs come from, at least as a freelancer.

What helps me is to remember that we are all tech geeks and love to talk about it. Also, most engineers, however big their current gig might be, started out exactly where you are right now and provided the timing is right, are happy to give you advice!

As there is no clear, academic career path to become a live sound engineer, persistence, and professionalism, from the beginning is the key, as you never know which one of those 1000 people you talked to about sound might get you your first/next job. It was the monitor engineer I met when I was thirteen that got me my first job in a venue when I moved to the UK, ten years later.

Must have skills?

Such a simple question it seems but oh so complex.

The big picture:

Technical understanding – managing all those buttons

Music – it’s all about the music, you have to have a feel for music to understand the musician’s needs and requests and translate that into technical terms.

People – in my opinion the skill that’s the reason you get/ lose you the job

You’ll spend a lot of time with your band & crew so be easy to be around.

Especially as a monitor engineer you are working with people and need to be able to understand them almost on a psychic level, translate whatever they throw at you, in context of their daily mood, to a sound.

On a more practical level, it has to be Tidiness!!!

A tidy stage doesn’t only look good and professional but also you make your life so much easier for changeovers and fault finding. And this applies to 50 cap bar gigs to arena shows.

What other jobs have you held?

I am proud to say that I have managed to work as a sound engineer all my adult life. I was lucky enough to make some important connections early on and had that little bit of luck to be in the right place at the right time, so whenever one job opportunity ceased another opened up and I grabbed it tight and did not let go.

Do you ever feel pressure to be more technical than your male counterparts?

Not really. I am German and a perfectionist, which makes for a highly efficient combination. I demand a lot from myself. So no male counterpart, may he be oh so ignorant of my skills, has ever topped the expectations I have towards myself.

Is there anything about paying your dues you wish you would have paid more attention to that came back to haunt you later in your career?

On a more general level. Maybe. I wish I would have been more in the moment in the past couple of years. So many great things happened and kinda just flew past, again coming back to this rapid pace of life.  I am proud that I have grabbed every opportunity that presented itself to me if anything it has been my private life that had to pay the dues so far.

I actually regret not continuing to play music regularly … I can still play a bit piano, taught myself some chords on guitar and love playing drums but I wish I would have continued to improve my playing … well, it’s never too late for that I guess.

Favorite equipment

I love DiGiCos. I seem to agree with their workflow.

I tour with a SD9 whenever I get the chance, and since I first used one, it felt like any given function I was looking for was exactly where I thought it would be.

I also always carry my RF Explorer which saved me and my IEM loving artists several times.

Parting Words

Keep calm! It took some club shows with power cuts and over-enthusiastic young bands knocking the PA over to teach me always to keep calm.

I bought my RF Explorer after getting an Arabian prayer through a GTR wireless, luckily only mid soundcheck. I did not want to take that chance ever again though.

Thinking outside the box.

The heaviest thunderstorm I have seen to this day at an outdoor gig in the Czech Republic taught me to think outside the box and just make it work with whatever you have available. That day the whole stage & backstage was flooded. But in good old “the show must go on” fashion we found as many towels as we could in an attempt to dry the stage and played the show with pedalboards on towels. Having learned a lesson, we played a show in Norway right after heavy rain with all pedalboards and wireless in zipper bags.

In the end, it all comes down to the ability to make it happen, which in my opinion is one of the main characteristics of the live sound / live concert industry. There is no second chance. We have the one chance to get it right so if something goes wrong we look around and use whatever we can find around us to make it happen!

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Up Close and Personal

Last month I talked about the nuts and bolts of how I run monitors at the Glastonbury Festival. This month, I’ll share some tips about how I mix monitors at the other end of the spectrum – a solo artist and their band.

Running a large festival requires a different set of ‘soft’ skills from working closely with an artist. They both take a great deal of preparation, but whilst at Glasto, that means collating tech specs, session files and stage plots for 24 bands, with solo artists it’s more to do with rehearsals and relationships. And whilst at Glasto, I have the artistic input of making sure that the house EQ and any necessary time alignment on sidefills and wedges mean the stage sounds fantastic, with an artist it gets a lot more refined, particularly if I have a long working relationship with them. My two current artists are both fantastic singers whom I’ve been working with for nine years and seven years respectively, so by now, I have a fairly intuitive understanding of what they want to hear. Both have excellent bands playing with them, are lovely people, and I enjoy their music, so it’s a very nice position to be in.

Relationship

The quality of the relationship between the monitor engineer and artist is an important part of the job, and as with people in any walk of life it doesn’t always click. You can do a great technical job of mixing, but if the artist doesn’t feel a connection with you, you may not get a second run. As I’ve said before, they need to feel that you’ve got their back, because they really are reliant on you. Put yourself in their shoes – it’s a vulnerable position, standing on stage in front of thousands of people, and their ability to hear what they need is totally in your hands. That goes for all bands, but is amplified for a solo artist – the backing musicians are a big part of the show, but the audience is watching the star most of the time, so they’re very exposed and they have to trust you. Part of it is down to personalities – you might gel and you might not – but you can help build rapport by being reliable, consistent, calm, professional, prepared and confident.

Hierarchy

Being friendly with the artist, but not overly so, is important – you want to establish an easy working relationship with them, whilst remembering that they are still your boss. I’ve found that balancing friendliness with a little professional distance is a wise move. Friendly, not friends.

Of course, in most cases, you’re not just mixing for the artist but for the band too. I’ll always soundcheck with the band by themselves first, so that I can make sure they’re happy before turning my attention to the artist – and often an artist will stop soundchecking when they’re comfortable with the engineer. I never stop watching the artist once they’re on stage – you can guarantee that the moment you look away is the moment they’ll look over!

During the show, I keep half an eye on the band, but my main focus is the artist. So how to make sure that the band feels taken care of too? I ask the stage tech and backline techs to keep an eye on the musicians and alert me if I miss anyone trying to get my attention. I also give every band member a switch mic, so that they can talk directly to both me and the techs. I set up a ‘talk to me’ mix on my console, and I feed my own IEM pack off a matrix, pulling in that talk mix as well as the PFL buss. In that way I never miss someone talking to me, even when I’m listening to the artist’s mix.

Sometimes there’s a request that comes at a critical point in the performance; for example, the drummer wants a little more hat overall, but I have a show cue. I’ll nod to let them know that I’ve seen them and hold up one finger to say that I’ll be with them in just a moment. Then, when I’ve made the change for them, I’ll glance over and catch their eye to check that they’re happy. I encourage musicians to give me immediate feedback when they’ve asked for something – it’s no use finding out after the gig that something wasn’t quite right!

Avatar

Mixing artist monitors is like being an avatar. I need to develop a real understanding of what they pitch to, time to, what they’re used to hearing, and what helps them to enjoy the gig. I don’t usually alter the backing band’s mixes unless asked to do so, but I’ll subtly ride elements of the artist’s mix as necessary during the show, once I have a good understanding of their preferences – if an element of the mix sounds too loud or quiet to me, then it probably does to them as well. I tend to tap along with my foot, which keeps me aware of whether they are wandering off the beat and might need a little more hat or snare.

My latest trick

In rehearsals for my current tour, I had a few days alone with the band first, as usual. Once they were happy I set up my artist’s mix and dialed her vocal mic in. Then I tried something new – I sang along! BEFORE I sent the mic to anyone else, and I ‘may’ have temporarily pulled the XLR split to FOH so only I could hear it, but wow it’s a helpful exercise! It really helped me to get a feel for how easy the mix was to sing with. A more discreet way is simply to keep one IEM in, close off the other ear with your finger, and see if you can pitch reasonably easily. If you can’t find the note you need, what can go up in the mix to help your singer out?

Audience mics

Whilst we never needed these when wedges were the only option (showing my age!), with the widespread use of IEMs they can help the artist feel the vibe of the show. Currently, I’m using three mics on each side of the stage (near, wide and rifle), mixed down to a stereo channel to give a nice spread of audience sound to the ears. I hi-pass them at around 600Hz to keep the low-end out and have them on a VCA which I ride up between songs and when there’s audience participation. On the subject of VCAs, I also use one for the vocal reverb, backing it down during chat between songs.

Split vocal

With solo artists, I always split the vocal down two channels: one to themselves and one to the band. That means that I can keep the mic live in the artist’s ears the whole time, so they can hear themselves after a costume change (when jacks can get pulled and volume pots knocked), without disturbing the band. If we’re using both IEMs and wedges, as one of my artists does, I’ll actually split the vocal three ways to allow for a different wedge EQ and muting when he goes off stage. I always safe the ‘vocal to self’ out of all snapshots, but keep the ‘vocal to band’ within snapshots so those mutes are programmed in.

Keep it clean

Finally, I do a little in-ear and mic housekeeping every day. It’s the monitor engineer’s job to keep the artist’s molds clean and wax-free, so I carry wipes and a little poky tool to make sure they’re always in good condition. Alcohol swabs are great for cleaning the vocal mic, which I do right before handing it over – apart from the fact that a stinky mic is gross if the artist gets sick and can’t perform the whole tour could be in jeopardy, so hygiene is really important.

I hope you’ve found something useful here – every engineer will do things slightly differently, but a can-do attitude, hard work, and attention to detail are great foundations for any engineer, no matter what you’re mixing!

The Art of Listening

How often do you listen to music? I don’t mean throw some tunes on in the car or play the radio in the background, I mean really listen…. the kind of listening where you give the music your full attention, focusing on the qualities of individual sounds and noticing things which are not immediately obvious. That distant layered guitar chord; the faint timbale in the background; the different harmonies of the violins. The nuances of the reverbs, the tuning of the drums, the positioning of sounds within the stereo image. How often do you do that?

If you’re aspiring to be a successful professional sound engineer, I hope the answer is ‘a lot’.

This is the art of critical listening; the vital skill that every mix engineer needs, whether in the recording studio or TV suite, at front of house, or behind the monitor desk. Anywhere you find yourself with your hands on the console, you need the ability to zero in on sounds with Jedi-like focus, to discern what they add (or not!) to the overall mix. Only then can you begin to manipulate them to enhance the experience – because simply adding more and more sound sources indiscriminately can leave you with a nasty audio ‘mud’ from which it’s difficult to extract yourself. It’s a skill that is honed over time, but the good news is that can you start anywhere, with no fancy gear whatsoever.

You can start right now, by listening to lots of different styles of music on lots of different speakers and headphones. Never gotten into classical, reggae, country or samba? Give them a try!  I usually, listen to downloads in your car or on headphones? Beg or borrow a decent pair of domestic stereo speakers and play a favourite album on CD or vinyl. Clear your space of all other distractions and just listen. Prepare to be amazed at all the details you never noticed before. You can make it a game by writing down every sound you identify (if you don’t know the instrument, don’t worry, just describe the sound – it’s for your eyes only). Then try drawing a picture of the stereo image as though it’s on a movie screen. Is there a guitar sound to the left? A cello to the right? Are some things higher in the air, or nearer to the ground? Do you feel like some sounds sit further back, or closer to you? Do you perhaps start to feel that the stereo image is more 3D, than flat left and right?

Did you just blow your own mind?! I know I did, the first time I tried it – I can still remember the exact room I was in, and that was 25 years ago!

Doing plenty of listening practice puts you a step ahead when you’re eventually behind the desk. As an engineer, a smart move before working with a band is to get a copy of the proposed setlist and listen to all the songs, many times over. Obviously, if you’re mixing several bands for one day only at a festival then this isn’t practical, but if you’re doing repeat gigs then it’s really helpful to understand what the original song sounds like and what the musicians are used to hearing. You won’t necessarily try to recreate that – a monitor mix is functional as well as pleasant to listen to – but the reference point is invaluable.

There’s another sort of listening which is also vital, particularly for monitor engineers, and that’s the art of listening to what your artist is telling you. This is where we get into the realms of sound engineering as psychology!

I’ve written before about the importance of developing trust between the monitor engineer and musicians, and a great way to inspire that (after doing your pre-production homework and introducing yourself in a friendly and confident fashion) is to really listen to what they are telling you. (A wise person once said that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason!) Make eye contact, give them your full attention, and check anything you didn’t quite understand. Repeat keywords back to them, to make sure you’ve got it. This not only gives you a better shot at meeting their needs quickly but also helps them to feel heard – and believe me, that is a huge part of forming trust. Do you know those people who make you feel like you’re the only person in the room? Be one of those people!

Of course, the tricky part of monitor engineering is that you need to make every person on stage feel like that simultaneously, and if they’re all talking to you at once, that’s no mean feat! Use the ‘one at a time, but I see you’ approach – stay with the person you’re talking with, but give the interrupter a nod or say ‘I’ll be right with you John’ (or whoever). As soon as you’re free, say ‘now, John, what can I do for you?’ After a few times, they’ll generally stop jostling for position, because they come to trust that they’ll get their turn. Of course, there are often inter-band politics to deal with, and sometimes you’ll be caught in the crossfire of ego-contests. Experience teaches you how to deal with those, but if you stay calm, methodical and professional, you won’t go too far wrong.

Many artists and musicians are not good at describing what they need to hear, so you have to learn to decipher their requests, and again this comes with practice. Comments like ‘my voice feels muffled’ can often be addressed with mic technique and EQ (more about that next month), but simply being curious is the way to get clues – if you don’t understand what they’re getting at, ask open-ended questions. ‘Can you tell me more about what ‘crunchy/breathy/purple feels like?’ (Yes, people do come up with the oddest descriptions!) This has the added benefit of helping them to feel that you’re on their side and again, it builds trust. As a monitor engineer, your relationship with the band really is of prime importance – when they feel that you’ve got their back, they can relax and get on with their job of playing a great gig – and that’s what it’s all about!

Part 2 goes into detail about listening to different sounds within a mix, and how I approach EQ’ing individual inputs. In the meantime – get curious, keep listening, and have fun!

Kevin Glendinning on Mixing and Teching Monitors

What goes into being a great tech that engineers request or want to work with? The second in a series of articles on system techs and their advice on what it takes to be a great tech.

kevin_001Kevin Glendinning started his professional career working at db Sound in Chicago (now Clair Global Chicago). He has toured as a monitor engineer with Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys and has been working with Maroon 5 for the last six years. Kevin took the time to share with us his experience as a monitor engineer and system teching.

Questions from SG Members:
When people ask what I do, I never know  what to  say because there are so many terms that can describe what abilities and knowledge I have. I didn’t even realize there were “System techs” for monitors and FOH until I read the SoundGirls.Org blog.  I know that everything I’ve learned about sound and  signal processing/electronics etc. would easily make me by definition a  “System tech” . But does that mean I should consider myself a sound engineer and technician?

Considering yourself as a sound engineer AND technician, sure why not. Plenty of well-accomplished sound mixers tend to pick up side/ downtime work from their mixing roles and wear the “tech hat”. Before being on my own as an independent, I was fortunate enough to stand behind some pretty well-accomplished monitor engineers. I learned what not to do mostly and even more valuable how to deal with bands artists and crews both on and off stages.

What type of equipment do you use for room measurement? Mics, computer programs, audio interfaces, things of that nature.

Room measurements? Well, ears first surely. If something measures up ok and looks all in proper alignment on a graph or chart but still sounds ‘off’, it’s because it is. Trust those two things every day, make sure they supersede any tool, software or device you may be using. Today with wireless, we rely more on RF spectrum analyzers to aid in our wireless allocations than anything else.

I do like looking a KT DN6000 RTA unit up to my listen buss, however. Nice to have a visual read out to aid in what you hear when you solo up inputs and outputs. Lots of times you’ll be cluttered in a funky corner or placed right near sub stacks and while you do what you can to keep the fillings from rattling out of your teeth the visual aids of RTAs goes a long way.

SpectraFoo again offers a great visual when you need to quickly located an offensive feedback ring out or even harshness across an ear mix. They got very artsy with their design, and a block or color differential notates a peak in level/ amplitude indicating where the feedback or level spike was happening in the audio spectrum.

What equipment have you worked with in the past? How does it compare to what you use today and how you are able to do your job now?

As far as the old gear vs. the new school technology it has been an interesting time spanning the last two decades. Undeniably the biggest advancement had been in digital sound desks and system processors. I’d venture to say that a majority of tours and shows out there these days use digital boards. They let the sound mixer become a bit more of a sound designer. Instead of being limited to the analog board’s signal flow and fixed layout on many of the new day digital desks you are free to lay out anything anywhere anytime. The use of automation or ‘snapshots’ song to song is invaluable. It’s one of those benefits that you think, “how did we do this before?”.

Same scope with system processors, the person, tuning and aligning a room or stage using more than just an L-R analog device (EQ or crossover unit) has a bank full of options. As well as the ability to store presets to be used night after night day after day.

What sort of ear training should be done to help in tuning monitors?

When I was 19 and working in the shop of a sound company, we would take a dynamic vocal mic, run it into the desk with no eq or fx. We would take the mic over to a wedge roughly 15 feet away from the drivers and using a 31 band EQ we would slowly boost one fader causing that freq to act up – feedback. After that, we would pull the EQ fader down, and we call the freq “160Hz, or 4K,” whatever the fader and feedback fundamental was. All this being recorded onto a DAT to be played back for anyone wanting to hone in on their ability to recognize specific freqs. One thing to be aware of however with too much level present you can cause more than one freq to take off so ease into it and just get the main fundamental freq.

Have there been any helpful books or training courses that you would recommend?

There is a ton of literature out there on live audio. I never really went that route. As much as I enjoy a good book I always found that real world knowledge was far more valuable. Do pick up The Audio Dictionary, however. I use it for explanations on terms when reading through Dave Rat’s blogs.

SoundGirls.Org Questions

What are the job duties of a stage tech vs. a monitor tech?

Stage Tech duties: Supply main power AC to the backline (band gear) and take care of all the inputs.
Monitor Tech duties: All things dealing with the mixing desk and monitor engineer, many times taking command of the speaker and IEM outputs as well. Lots of times these days the two rolls are wrapped into one position, even the monitor mixer possibly.

You currently tour with Maroon 5 as their ME, do you carry production? If so what company are you using? Do you have a dedicated tech?

On Maroon 5, we are currently carrying production from SSE Hire from Birmingham UK as well as a few select pieces from Sound Image San Diego. The band’s touring career has seen them use ShowCo, Rat Sound Clair Global, Gabison, as well as Jands throughout the globe.  Really comes down to budgets, geography, and what PA systems the FOH guy/gal is into using in that particular era. Rarely do the monitor mixers hold too much weight in the decision making of audio vendors for tours.

What equipment are using?

I have a VERY standard touring rig for the Maroon 5 guys. We have a sd7 Digico with 70 inputs and 20 outputs (this includes crew mixes and an array of TB miss for stage comms).
We use and basic ears system from Shure (PSM1000s) and ear pieces from Jerry Harvey Audio, their Roxanne IEMs. The Digico – JH Audio -Shure combo is a winner for us. I get a clean accurate and very detailed result from keeping those three pieces in play tour to tour. I am on year six now with them, and although I do take other shows and projects I have been loyal to them as they’re loyal to me. A great relationship I like to keep going and enjoy.

How do you prioritize your job duties and tech duties?

Prioritizing is VERY important. If there are problem(s), and yes when one pops up another is sure to follow (see Murphy’s Law) it’s imperative to keep the voice calm, think clearly and make concise, direct decisions. As the monitor engineer remember, the band, crew, and staff go to you to ultimately fix whatever is acting up or malfunctioning. Top of the list as far as where the finger gets pointed. Something to get used to and not fear.

The important part is that things are safe for everyone’s hearing. By this I mean don’t ever be the one who could ultimately endanger or damage anyone’s hearing. With in-ears, I always implement an “it can only go quieter” policy. Meaning all pads are fully out on mic and DIs. If something fails on a transducer, it will only go quieter NOT louder. 12dB swing in an ear mix can be deafening, serious stuff to be aware of. If you’re not sure about an input; start with the channel fader all the way down, cue it up, have a listen and slowly bring the fader up instead of a unity ON button and see what happens.

Teching for a FOH or Monitor Engineer requires a certain set of skills. What do you feel are the important skills a monitor tech should possess?

The whole tech – engineer relationship can go both ways really. As in partnership or teamwork in business greatly improve when everyone works together and have the same goals in mind. Do a good show, have fun with what you are doing and treat everyone fairly in the process. Getting packed up and onto the next city in a timely manner is always everyone’s top focus once the band gets off stage.

FOH and Monitor Techs are often required to help the engineer achieve their vision and goals. How can a tech help the engineer see his/her vision come to fruition?

If you’re assigned a tech that is fairly new or ‘green’ it’s always a fun task of showing them fun tricks in audio or a slick thing here or there.  Lending advice as to how she/he can improve on what they’re doing. I wasn’t born knowing it all and certainly still don’t. Many friends and superiors over the years were kind enough to show me a thing or two along the way.

What can a tech do to become irreplaceable?

The word irreplaceable should not be in anyone’s lexicon, ever. We can all be sent home at any time trust me. Remember that, always. When shows don’t go so well, it’ll surprise you how fast blame is assigned to those on the audio team.

How important is it for FOH and Stage to be working together?

The relationship between FOH and MON mixer is always colorful. One person thinks because they have 8 x times the number of inputs than the other that they’re more of an importance. Ha! I always try and get on well with the person I am sharing inputs with. Makes for a better tour and bus environment.

As systems become more technically advanced, how necessary is it to have training or to be certified on the different systems?

I think as we grow as an industry and manufacturers keeping advancing in terms of technology that it is important to keep on trends and developments. But it is also important to retain a bit of the old school. Remember that audio was around way before you and I and as long as there is oxygen will far outlast us into the future as well.

Training can be taught on all levels; bars, clubs, arenas and stadiums, all have their different quirks, and it’s crucial to be familiar with them all. Not just in terms of audio properties but you need to know how to hot wire the golf cart when catering is 8000 yards away at Wembley Stadium.

Lastly, I would say the basics are still an important thing to develop fully.
Signal flow from transducer – desk – output devices
Wireless elements – ears and mics
Frequency detection – try that 1/3rd octave set up we mocked up, still remember those days fondly in my upbringing

If anyone cares to ask further questions or chat I can be reached @ inearengineer@gmail.com

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