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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!

All I Ever Wanted

 When Your Passion Becomes Your Work

I was just 12 years old when the thunderbolt struck. Standing behind the FOH guy, watching him mix my favourite band, I suddenly knew what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t know at that point what monitors were – that refinement would come later – but I was going to be a sound engineer, and that was all there was to it. I had no clue how to make this auspicious event actually come about, but the spark was lit – a sound engineer I would be, and no one and nothing was going to stop me. Stand back, world, here I come!

It helped that I was (ok, am) extremely stubborn when I know what I want.

It helped that I was (and still am) passionate about music, and was hugely inspired by the behind-the-scenes video footage of my beloved rockumentaries. (I still think speeded-up time-lapse photography of arena and stadium load-ins is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.)

It helped that I was being educated by teachers who told us that we could be whatever we wanted, as long as we played to our strengths and were prepared to put in the hard yards – although admittedly they were somewhat perplexed by my epiphany. (A lawyer, an astronaut, a pilot they could understand. A sound engineer, not so much. The moral of that story is be careful what you tell a stubborn young girl because she’ll very likely take it literally!)

It’s now almost 30 years since that thunderbolt struck, and for all my adult life I’ve been a professional sound engineer. I love my job, and whilst there are most certainly a few bands that I would still give my right arm to mix, I’m incredibly fortunate to have reached the upper echelons of the industry. I did what I set out to do. I made my passion, my work.

And therein lies a thorny little issue that never even occurred to 12-year-old me. When your passion becomes your work, you can never again experience it with the wonder and innocence of the outsider. It’s a lot like moving in with your dreamy partner; you still think they’re gorgeous, and your love deepens with time, but you become aware of all their little foibles and less-than-glamorous habits, and it inevitably changes the relationship. Very often for something wonderful, and often it makes you even prouder of them when you know what their private struggles are, but it’s a paradigm shift from which there is no return.

Consequently, it’s decades since I’ve been able to go a gig without privately critiquing the sound. It’s even worse if it’s a festival, where I can compare different bands and weigh up whether it’s the tone of the PA, the mix, or what’s going into the desk, that I’m picking apart! I’m not as hyper-critical as some engineers I know – I can usually just about get over it if the sound’s simply a bit average – but I’ve witnessed at least three very big rock bands who I was excited to see, sounding absolutely shocking. I’m afraid I spoilt it for myself so much that I had to leave! Seriously, this stuff can leave me feeling disgruntled for days – I really do hate it when bands who ought to sound awesome, don’t. Of course, everyone has off-days, but when it’s persistently bad… anyway, I won’t get into that particular rant right here. (You see what I mean?!) That said, it’s an unrivaled joy when a band I’ve been waiting years to see sounds stunning – Def Leppard has sounded fabulous on a number of occasions, and Don Henley at Hyde Park made my 2016 – hats off to the noise boys and girls on those gigs!

Over the years I’ve made two other passions – yoga and writing – into my work as well (I never learn!), and it’s the same with them. I’m enormously fussy about which yoga teachers I enjoy going to these days, and even when they’re great I’ll often be taking mental notes of excellent ideas which I might echo in my own teaching. Likewise, some writing styles can drive me to distraction, no matter how interesting the content. The next time I fall in love with something, I really must try to remain an enthusiastic amateur…

But for all that turning my passion into my work has made me Ms Fussy-Pants, I wouldn’t change it. Sure, my great expectations have made the probability of disappointment higher, and it takes something truly outstanding to lose me in the music these days. But that’s because I’ve trained myself to listen intently; to analyse; to discern what makes a sound more pleasing. In doing that, I’ve got under the skin of my passion, and become intimate with something that still has the power to excite and inspire me, albeit with a little more awareness of the magic. Because of that intimacy, I get to spend my life doing something that I love; something that very rarely feels like actual work.

Just like a good marriage, even though the exciting becomes the familiar and you know what goes on behind the scenes, the pay-off is that you share your life with someone you love deeply, someone you understand – and who still has the power to occasionally take your breath away. If that happens less frequently than in the early days of romance, it’s because your life has been so enriched by your love that your bar for ‘breathtaking’ is set very high.

So I’m glad that 12-year-old me was ambitious and stubborn, and that 20-something me worked so damn hard to get to where I now find myself. Now, my passion is my work, and my work is my passion – and truly, when you do what you love, you never work another day in your life. And that, ultimately, is all I ever wanted.

Riding the Roller Coaster of Live Sound – Rena Kozak

Rena Kozak is a FOH engineer and tour manager based out of Calgary, Canada. She has always had an interest in arts and has played in numerous Calgary bands as well as studied painting and drawing at University before becoming a sound engineer.  

A talented dancer, Rena was studying ballet at the University of Calgary in 2002 when she injured her foot. Unsure if she would be able to dance again, she considered alternate career paths. A friend of hers, Josh Gwilliam (current chief engineer at OCL Studios in Alberta) suggested she look into the audio recording course at the Academy of Production and Recording Arts in Calgary. By a stroke of luck, Rena’s father had just given her $5,000, a bonus from his job as assistant coach of the Canadian women’s hockey team after they won the 2002 Olympic gold. The audio engineering program cost exactly that amount, and Rena enrolled. After graduating, she began working at a recording studio but found the work of recording commercials to be monotonous.

Instead of pursuing more studio work, Rena interned with an electrical engineer and learned to fix analog equipment.  In 2005, this electrical engineer recommended her as FOH for the musical Guys and Dolls. She recounts: “it was an insane opportunity in retrospect, a 24 person cast with a full orchestra… people work for decades to break into that kind of work. It was a crazy stroke of luck. I never thought I would like live sound, it seemed so intimidating, but it was exhilarating to take my knowledge and apply it in the moment to tell a story to an audience.”

After the musical had ended, Rena got a job with a local production company Sound Art, working on shows and maintaining gear in their shop. In 2007, she did a national tour as a monitor engineer for a dance show that featured a live band. Rena felt the road wasn’t for her and found that touring took away her ability to create music or art. She took a house gig in 2008, as house engineer for Mac Ewan Hall.  child_actress

In 2012, her boyfriend passed away suddenly. After grieving, Rena found that she was in a different place mentally: “I wanted fewer physical attachments. I didn’t know where I wanted to live, I didn’t want possessions, I didn’t want to attempt to have a lifestyle that resembled anything permanent for a while so I approached the boys in Preoccupations  – who were called Viet Cong at the time and are long time friends – about using me as their touring FOH.”

Preoccupations agreed to hire her, and Rena found herself thriving as a touring FOH. She has worked as FOH for Operators (Montreal), did a run of festival dates with Holy Ghost! (Brooklyn) and even had the chance to fill in on monitors for Beirut for a couple of shows, which she describes as a career highlight.

Operators

Operators

Although she enjoys being on stage, she has realized she likes touring as an engineer more than as a musician. She thrives on mixing the same show every day and enjoys the challenge of having to work in different rooms.  Rena notes that touring can be a psychological roller coaster: it is hard to get to know new people and sharing tight spaces like a van or bus can be taxing. To offset the stress, she tries to eat well and do as much hotel room yoga as possible.

Her favourite piece of gear is her old TAC Scorpion recording console, which she is slowly re-soldering and fixing. In a live setting, Rena likes using guitar pedals as live mix effects – on the fall Preoccupations tour, she was running a couple of FX chains for vocals and drums, in the hopes of recreating the album’s sound. She hopes to get other gigs that allow her to be as creative with equipment.

Regarding must-have skills, Rena believes a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the show done is crucial.  “This job is mostly problem-solving – whether it’s solving the actual technical problems with the sounds themselves or repairing broken equipment or figuring out how to safely get the gear through a mud puddle into the venue. There is no problem that cannot be solved; you just haven’t found the solution yet.”

It’s also important to have a solid technical understanding. Knowing how the physics of sound works, knowing how your gear functions and why, understanding the equipment and systems in detail – these things are so important to achieving a good product. The more you know about your tools the better you will be at manipulating them. It can be easy to get by without knowing details – a lot of people work for a long time with very little knowledge, but reading up and building a foundation of knowledge is what will set you apart.”

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Rena’s long-term goals are to keep touring as a FOH, and to work on her own artistic projects. She has recently finished recording and mixing her first solo record (under the name Child Actress) and is looking forward to writing more music.  You can find her on the road with Preoccupations in 2017.

Rena shares some words of advice on the barriers she has faced as a woman in the audio industry, and how to overcome them.

“I’ve been tremendously lucky to have had an exceptional amount of support from so many people I’ve worked with. Of course I’ve faced the obvious challenge of being a girl. While it’s never prevented me from landing good jobs or enjoying my work, more often than not it has absolutely been a factor.

Fortunately, I had a lot of very real support. A lot of dudes who were well respected in the business saw my passion for it and believed I knew what I was doing gave me work and helped me learn and progress. I don’t think most people are as lucky to have as much support as I received.

That being said, it’s been a constant issue. It feels funny answering this question right now because of how I’ve continued to struggle with being female at work even in these last two months. From the guy who wants to carry my case for me (fine, you want to help but it’s my case, it isn’t even heavy, I don’t need you to look after me we are peers here) to the old house sound guy who tries to tell me how to EQ my wedges until I demonstrate to him how my EQ curve was actually cleaner than his, to the TM who makes side comments about not liking “having to listen to a woman”. It isn’t gone. I’ve been at this for nearly 15 years and it’s still there. But, it’s better. There are more of us, and things are changing.

I have always been great at handling the old-school sound guy personality type. I’m great with a quick joke and talking to them like I am their equal. I’m rarely intimidated, and I’m quick to win most of them over with my personality.

I’ve also recently found I’ve needed to deal with my own internalization of systemic sexism. Trying to remain calm and remind myself why I love this work and that I deserve to be here doing it, and trying my best not to react with anger as much as possible. I am very actively working on this right now, trying to be Zen and maintain confidence at all times. I find the best way of thinking about it is to remind myself that I have to COMMAND respect and not DEMAND respect. Don’t get angry, just be confident and execute your work as perfectly as you know-how and this will generate respect from your peers.

Do you have advice for women and other young people who wish to enter the field?

“Do not be intimidated by anyone. You have as much or more right to be there as anyone else.

And for those who are just beginning and feeling intimidated by the equipment or the technical side of it, shake that off and remember that you are capable of comprehending anything technical – and remind yourself of some of the sound guys you’ve met along the way.They aren’t all geniuses, are they? If they can do it even just a little, you can do it epically well. 

And call me up! I love to teach; I’m happy to take on any ladies who want to apprentice or just ask questions.”

You can contact Rena and find out more about her upcoming projects through her website

NAMM Mentoring Session

SoundGirls.Org Presents NAMM Mentoring Session – Hosted by Heather Rafter

Join us for a Mentoring Session with Women Leaders in Professional Audio

You must be a member of SoundGirls.Org. You Must RSVP for this Event as Space is Extremely Limited. You will receive venue address with your confirmation. RSVP to soundgirls@soundgirls.org

This event will be a casual mentoring session – where you can get advice and answers to your questions. Groups will rotate between leaders specializing in Live Sound, Recording and Mastering, Broadcast Engineering and Professional Audio Sales.


Industry Leaders Include

working-tara2LESLIE ANN JONES

Leslie Ann Jones has been a recording and mixing engineer for over 30 years. Starting her career at ABC Recording Studios in Los Angeles in 1975, she moved to San Francisco in 1978 to accept a staff position at the legendary Automatt Recording Studios. From 1987 to 1997 she was a staff engineer at Capitol Studios located in the historic Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood. In February of 1997 she returned to Northern California to accept a position as Director of Music Recording and Scoring with Skywalker Sound, where she continues her engineering career mixing music for records, films, video games, television, and commercials.

She is a past Chair of The Recording Academy’s Board of Trustees and is the recipient of 4 Grammy Awards, including 2 for Best Engineered Album-Classical. She serves on the Advisory Boards of Institute for Musical Arts, Ex’pression College for Digital Arts, and is an Artistic Advisor to the new Technology and Applied Composition degree program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

20160717_113247-1Karrie Keyes – Monitor Engineer for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder – Executive Director and Co-Founder of SoundGirls.Org

Karrie has spent the last 25 plus years as the monitor engineer for Pearl Jam. Karrie started out doing sound for punk bands in Los Angeles in 1986 under the tutelage of Dave Rat of Rat Sound, where she spent twenty years helping to establish the company. She was able to gain an immense amount of hands-on experience and technical knowledge at Rat, which eventually led to her becoming the monitor engineer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers from 1990-2000. She first met and started working with Pearl Jam who opened for RHCP on their 1991-1992 Blood Sugar Sex Magic Tour. She has worked with Sonic Youth, Fugazi, and Neil Young.

10329981_10202734866705629_3189953941176639467_oErika Earl – Director of Hardware Engineering for Slate Digital and Slate Media Technology

From pulling out the soldering iron to setting up microphones around a drum kit, Erika Earl brings experience from all sides of the professional audio business. Her understanding of audio electronics was earned through more than a decade of experience repairing, servicing, and performing quality control for a wide range of top manufacturers, including Tube-Tech, Drawmer, Focusrite, Daking, Bock Audio, Avid, Little Labs, and many others.

She has also engineered for studios and run FOH throughout Arizona and California. Erika served as Head of Technology and Chief Technician for LA’s landmark studio The Village. When she’s not thinking through a schematic or evaluating the subtleties of a tube compressor, you’re likely to find her sifting through her collection of vintage records and rare books.

imageLeslie Gaston-Bird Vice President for the Audio Engineering Society’s Western Region  & Associate Professor of Recording Arts at the University of Colorado Denver

Lesie has over 25 years of experience in audio for film and video, music recording, and radio. She graduated from the Audio Technology program at Indiana University in 1989. She also holds a BA in telecommunications and an MS in recording arts. She has worked for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., Colorado Public Radio in Denver, as recording engineer for the Colorado Symphony and as a sound editor for Post Modern Company in Denver. She has performed soundtrack restoration on films from the Sony/Columbia Pictures archives and is one of the pioneers of a music video production style she calls “Music Video Vérité”. She runs her own freelance audio post production company, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC. She is also a Fulbright Scholar.

fullsizerender-1Grace Royse – Live Sound Engineer and Production Manager

Grace Royse is a Live Sound Engineer and Production Manager with 11 years of experience in world touring.Clients include Sublime with Rome, Fitz and the Tantrums,  Maintaining a background in studio productions, business management and artist development, she has mentored several young men and women over the years, all successfully working within the industry today.”

 

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Jett Galindo Audio and Vinyl Mastering Engineer at The Bakery

Jett Galindo is an audio & vinyl mastering engineer from The Bakery, located on the Sony Pictures Lot in Culver City. With credits spanning different genres and legendary artists (Bette Midler, Nile Rodgers, Colbie Caillat, to name a few), Jett carries on the legacy left behind by her late mentor, mastering legend Doug Sax of The Mastering Lab.

A GRAMMY Voting Member (P&E Wing) & Latin GRAMMY nominee, Jett is also an accomplished soprano who specializes in choral ensemble music. Jett also ​devotes part of her time writing for Soundgirls and volunteering for Berklee College of Music as an Alumni Ambassador.

sara-coversdolliesimg_1024Sara Elliot VP of Operations and CoFounder of VUE Audiotechnik

With more than 20 years of experience in professional audio, Sara has held strategic marketing and operational positions with numerous sound production companies including Burns Audio, A-1 Audio, and PRG. Sara also served as Director of Marketing and Sales for Live Sound International Magazine and ProSoundweb.com, two of the industry’s most respected news and technical information sources. Sara brings to VUE Audiotechnik a wealth of industry relationships and a deep understanding of business operations.

dawn-birrDawn Birr – Global Commercial Manager Sennheiser and Neumann

Dawn Birr is the Global Commercial Manager, Audio Recording with Sennheiser & Neumann.  Dawn started out as temporary receptionist and with strong mentors and a nurturing culture has been able to work her way to the top.  During the 16 years she has been with Sennheiser she has held these positions, Neumann Product Manager, RF Product Manager the Sennheiser 3/5K series, Channel Manager for Installed Sound, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Installed Sound in the U.S.

download-40Fela Davis Sound Engineer and Owner of 23db Productions

Fela Davis is a co owner at 23db Productions based out of New York City. She’s a graduate of Full Sail University and has over a decade of experience in audio engineering. Her past experiences includes working for industry power houses Clair Broadcast and House of Blues. When she’s not mixing or mastering songs for 23db Productions, she’s mixing front of house engineer for the 5-time Grammy award winning jazz artist Christian McBride and Grammy nominated Ottmar Liebert.

img_5006Claire Murphy Guitar and Backline Tech

Claire holds a Bachelors degree in Music Technology from Hertfordshire University in the UK. She has 7 years of professional touring experience as both guitar/backline tech and as Tour Manager. She recently moved from London to California (Los Angeles). She has a business in the UK providing storage for bands in London, and previously provided rental sprinter vans but sold these when she moved.

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Catharine Wood Recording – Mix Engineer – Owner Planetwood Studios

Catharine Wood is a Los Angeles-based composer/producer with a recording studio in Eagle Rock. With a background in audio post-production for commercials, Catharine engineered on the first iPhone commercial among hundreds of national and international campaigns – including the Geico Caveman and Priceline Negotiator spots. As a mix and mastering engineer, she has engineered on over 200 commercially released songs – including her own custom compositions which have aired on NBC, ABC, BBC, ESPN and more – both nationally and abroad. She is a GRAMMY® Voting Member and Producers & Engineers Wing member.

Catharine currently holds a position on the LA Recording School’s Recording Arts Program Advisory Committee and is the former Director of Southern California for the West Coast Songwriters organization. She is a proud Professional Member of the Society of Composers & Lyricists and in 2016, Catharine was elected to the California Copyright Conference board of directors. Her company, Planetwood Productions, specializes in producing singer-songwriters and providing engineering and composition services to the TV and Film industries.

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Tiffany Hendren Live Sound FOH and Monitor Engineer

Tiffany Hendren is a monitor engineer at The Pageant in St. Louis and the House Engineer for the Del Mar.  She tours as the FOH Engineer for “A Silent Film”. She has been involved in sound professionally for around seven years, full-time about five. Tiffany is the Co-Director of SoundGirls.Org.

 

loanneLoanne Wullaert Venue Manager and Owner of the Phoenix a Stagehand Labor Staffing Company

Loanne is not a sound engineer. She does not know the difference between a NL4 and a Noitrix.  She cannot spell that either. However, she is a venue manager, and performer and runs The Phoenix a successful stagehand labor company. She has worked in the industry since 1986 and knows what good sound is. She also knows flattening the EQ and turning it up to 11 does not solve anything.

About Loanne:  In her spare time she sings and plays piano, works on restoring her 1850’s house and has helped to save hundreds of dogs in the last year from being euthanized at Los Angeles shelters.

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Jessica Berg – Tour Manager and Live Sound Engineer

Jessica is a freelance TM/FOH/MON engineer and is currently touring as the TM for Phoebe Ryan. Jessica is SoundGirls.Org’s Director of Development. She is honored and excited to be volunteering with a growing organization and community that is achieving its mission – to help empower the next generation of women in audio, expanding opportunities for girls and women in the audio and music production fields, and sharing resources and knowledge through cooperation, collaboration, and diversity.

dan_profilepicDaniella Peters – Head of Sales and Management Team at Rat Sound Systems

Daniella has been with Rat Sound for over 15 years building their sales dept from a concept to a multi million dollar part of their business. She started off her career working for an international cosmetics company doing their live event production. She then transitioned to HHB Audio and Ashdown Music, Emap Performance (Kerrang and Q magazines) in London and now with Rat Sound.

She is passionate about women’s issues and spends a good portion of her spare time using her production skills to produce and host music and fashion fundraising events for various women’s non-profits.

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Meegan Holmes – Global Sales Manager Eighth Day Sound Los Angeles

Meegan graduated from California Institute of The Arts from their Technical Theater program in 1993; she entered the live production industry before graduation as a local stage hand with LA Stagecall in Los Angeles. In 1997, she began her 18-year audio career with Delicate Productions where she worked as a touring technician and engineer. Meegan wore many hats simultaneously during her time with Delicate Productions including Labor Coordinator, Project Manager and Account Manager.

This past March she joined the international touring audio company Eighth Day Sound to open and manage their new Los Angeles operation. Throughout her 24 years in the industry, she has worked hard to elevate others through hiring and mentoring. Her new position as a Global Sales Manager with Eighth Day Sound is no exception, hiring a full-time staff and expanding the company’s west coast-based freelancer pool as well as building the company’s touring and west coast based clientele.

Broadcast Engineer Jeri Palumbo, Production Manager and StageHand Hire Loanne  Wullaert, Touring Production for Rat Sound Systems Kim Sawaya Levine. Stay tuned for more announcements.

 

 

 

The Road Less Travelled

Tips for Touring in Less Developed Countries

Touring with full production in first world countries is, let’s face it, not easy street. Like a family of hi-tech snails, you carry your home and everything you need; and beyond power and rigging points, you don’t need a whole lot from the local production/promoter. Even when you’re not carrying all your gear, picking up what you need locally in the western world is usually straightforward as long as you’ve advanced it all properly, especially in countries where we all speak the same first language.

But what happens when you start to travel further afield, to countries where the language, culture and wealth-status is very different? Touring in far-flung places is fabulous – you get to see parts of the world you might never have even considered visiting. You get to experience different cultures, meet people of all nationalities (and realise we’re all the same), taste wonderful and unusual foods, explore cities where you can’t read the roadsigns, see natural beauty and temples and monuments that you didn’t even know existed, and step far, far outside your comfort zone and grow as a person more than you knew was possible.

You’ll probably also get frustrated, feel out of your depth, and feel like you’re being stared at a lot, especially if you’re a woman working on a gig.

You know what? It’s all really good for you, both as a human and as an engineer.

My first world tour was 13 years ago, and I’ve wound up somewhere unusual every year since then. Some tours have been big enough that we’ve carried everything except racks and stacks (PA, wedges and amps), and others I’ve carried little more than a multimeter and sense of humour – both of which are VITAL! I’ve picked up plenty of tricks and tips along the way to make life easier, which I hope you’ll find useful the next time you find yourself on a long-haul flight to somewhere you never dreamed you’d find yourself!

– Speak very plainly. When you start to write your spec, remember that English is not these people’s first language – keep it simple. Lose any slang, colloquialisms and unnecessary words in specs, emails and conversation. It avoids confusion and means you’re more likely to get what you need with a minimum of fuss.

– Make plain in your specs, things that would be taken for granted back home. For example, I offer a couple of alternatives for acceptable IEM systems, then add ‘all EITHER x or y please, no mixtures’. Likewise amps and crossovers – I once walked on stage to find the wedges I had asked for, but all sounding completely different from each other. I asked my babysitter to show me the amps, which were buried under the stage, and sure enough, amongst a horrible snakepit of cable, there were several different sorts of amps and crossovers. I certainly improved my chops that day! To things like mic stands, I add the words ‘clean and in good working order. This extends to the production world too – things like toilet roll are not a given in some countries. Assume nothing and put it all on the rider!

– When advancing, don’t take a reply of ‘yes, everything is fine as confirmation that everything is indeed fine. Many cultures around the world are very concerned with ‘losing face’, and want to be seen as stepping up to the mark in their dealings with you. Unfortunately, this often means that they will agree to everything on paper, and wait till you’re on-site to tell you that this bit of kit was broken or that piece of gear is not available in their country. Ask them to list exactly what they have. You might be lucky and you might not, but better to know and have the conversation about substitutes and contingencies now, than when it’s 10 hours till showtime.

On a side note to this, always communicate respectfully, both because you’re a nice human, and because the ‘face’ thing can’t be overstated – if you make certain cultures feel disrespected, you’ll make life very hard for yourself indeed.

– Invest in a good quality multi-meter if you don’t have one already, and take it everywhere. It’s good practice to meter the power before you plug in wherever you are, but it can quite literally be life or death in less developed countries. I’ve come across readings that could have killed someone had I blithely carried on without noticing. Local gear will often already be rigged and powered up – find an outlet and meter it anyway. If it’s not what it should be, don’t go any further till you get it sorted.

– Make friends with the interpreter! If you’re very lucky you might have a member of the audio crew who speaks good English or a technical translator, but the likelihood is you’ll have a dedicated interpreter who doesn’t have any technical knowledge. Nonetheless, they are going to be a big help, so learn their name and keep technical questions that need translating as simple as possible.

– Have a stash of wipes and a paintbrush for cleaning your gear and the desk. In a lot of places, you’ll be faced with gear that hasn’t been well-maintained and sometimes is downright filthy – and there are few things grosser than a stinky vocal mic!

– The food in some countries is fantastic, but that doesn’t mean all crew catering will be great. Some days it will rock your world, others days it really won’t. Having a supply of nuts or muesli bars is a good idea for those days. Likewise, it’s smart to carry a kit of basic medicines for common ailments – something I’ve done ever since trying to explain a UTI via sign language to a pharmacist in Russia!

– Be sensitive to where you are. In very poor countries, the local crew might not be earning 1/100th of what you are each day – I’m not kidding. Understand that they don’t have the same experience or opportunities as you; be kind, patient and if they seem interested in what you’re doing, take the opportunity to share some of what you know. There are often keen members of the local audio company who are eager to learn from you, and if you can teach them something that helps them, however simple, they’ll never forget you.

– There aren’t many women doing what we do in a lot of the world, and staring is not considered rude in many cultures. This adds up to the fact that, as a lady roadie, people are going to be curious about you and you’re going to get looked at. 99% of the time it’s completely innocent and they’ve just never seen a woman do what you’re doing, so try to ignore it. (It goes without saying that if it gets creepy, you don’t stand for it – trust your instincts.) There’s also less concept of personal space in some countries, and having people close behind me when I’m trying to mix the show is a personal pet hate of mine. I deal with it by either creating a physical barrier, such as a cable trunk behind me as a ‘table’; or if that doesn’t get the message through, I’ll smile and say, ‘I’m sorry, could you give me some more space please?’ Again, the culprits are usually just trying to learn what you’re doing – I’ve known people take photos of channel EQs!

– Pack your sense of humour. On one memorable stadium show, the stage was deemed unsafe by our production manager and we all had to walk away whilst it was put right. An hour later we returned to find a large dead chicken, several garlands of flowers, and a lot of incense centre stage – and for once the incense wasn’t mine. When we asked the locals what was going on, they cheerfully explained that they had made an offering to the gods responsible, and the stage would now be fine. Needless to say, we went back to the dressing rooms for a little while longer!

Touring further afield is exciting, daunting, and a wonderful experience. It’s a privilege that most people can only dream of – to travel the world with a bunch of buddies and get paid for it. Some days amazing things will happen, some days things will go horribly wrong. But you’ll truly live life to the full – and if you ask me, that’s what this whole rock and roll business is all about!

 

Ready to Rock? A Beginner’s Guide to Life on the Road

So you’re heading off on your first tour – congratulations! It’s an exciting time and you’ll never be this new again, so enjoy it! You’re going to learn a lot on the technical front, but it’s also a lifestyle, and there are certain ‘soft-skills’ and behaviours which make life a lot more comfortable – so from someone with a couple of touring decades under her belt, here’s some non-technical advice for life on the road.

– Rule number 1: no pooping on the bus! You’ll get a heavy clean-up penalty, or at the very least, serious bad vibes from the bus driver (who’s responsible for cleaning the toilet) for the rest of the tour. So no solids down there – we put tissue paper in the bin to avoid blockages.

– Whilst we’re on the subject of toilets… bus slippers or flip-flops are a REALLY good idea. You’re likely sharing this moving bus with a lot of guys, which can be an unhappy barefoot experience… not everyone’s aim is true!

– Tidy up after yourself on the bus and in catering. Clear your cups and plates away and leave the place as you’d wish to find it.

– Dress appropriately, both at the gig and on the bus. That doesn’t mean you have to dress like a guy, you can absolutely retain your femininity – I wear light make-up at work, and I love getting a bit dressed up on a day off. But low-cut tops and revealing nightwear won’t help you to be taken seriously, so be mindful of what’s on show.

– Be cautious around tour romances, especially in the early years of your career. As one of the few women on the road, you’ll probably attract a degree of interest, and you might meet someone who sparks your interest in return. But you don’t want to discover, a few tours in, that you’ve been more-than-friends with a bunch of your touring colleagues – live production is a small world. I’m not saying you should disregard the idea of another crew member as your partner – hey, I met my husband on the road. Just tread carefully and respect yourself – if you treat yourself with respect, others will follow suit.

– On the subject of self-respect, go easy on the post-gig temptations of drink and drugs. By all means, be social and have a few beers if you enjoy it, but remember that you have a responsibility to be fully capable of doing your job the next day, and it won’t go unnoticed if you repeatedly show up late or hungover. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the same rules apply to you as a brand-new audio tech, as to the guitar tech who’s been with the band for 30 years.

– When you mess up (yes, you will), hold your hands up – nobody likes the person whose fault it never is. Own up, apologise, correct it and move on.

– We all have days when we’re feeling a bit jaded. Sometimes there are legitimate problems to discuss, and we all have a little moan sometimes – I’m just as guilty as the next person. But moaning can be very insidious on tour and it really brings the vibe down, so check yourself. A lot of people would give their right arm to do what we do, so if we can’t be positive then let’s at least be quiet!

– Get enough people to lift heavy cases: there are no prizes for slipped discs, and you don’t prove anything by hurting yourself. Learning to direct local crew is one of the skills you’ll acquire over time, but being confident, clear and polite in your instructions is a great place to start, as is asking names and shaking hands.

– Get used to the fact that there are lots of daily jobs that aren’t that much fun but are 100% necessary, and as a new member of the audio crew, they’ll probably fall to you. Just smile and get on with it – the more experienced members of the crew have all had their time doing the exact same thing, and if you bring the right attitude to work, someday you’ll be one of them. What’s more, it cements you as a team player, and for a woman, it has the added value of showing that you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty.

– Life on the road is tough, great fun and hugely rewarding. Glamorous it ain’t! It takes time to work your way up, but the journey can be really exciting, with many great perks and happy times. So be friendly, professional, reliable and above all – ENJOY it!

From the Mosh Pits of Orange County – Whitney Olpin

hdotd2015Whitney Olpin has been working in Live Sound for the last six years, working as an Independent monitor engineer and stage manager. She has spent the last year touring with Fitz and the Tantrums. Based in Los Angeles, when she is not on the road she picks up local work through Live Nation.

Whitney grew up in Utah and took part in church and school choirs as well as the internationally recognized Salt Lake Children’s Choir. She would teach herself piano at age 12. Whitney says she was always interested in music but growing up in Salt Lake her exposure to music was limited. “In middle school, my family moved from Salt Lake City to California, and I suffered complete culture shock. I went from being a Mormon raised, Mariah Carey listening kid to living in mosh pit loving Orange County, CA”.

Whitney remembers during the early 2000s when she was in high school that Orange County had the best alternative music scene –

“It consumed my life, all music — all the time. We’d pile into cars and drive to shows all over Southern California. Sometimes we didn’t even know who was playing. This was before smartphones or iPads; there was no Googling the set times or previewing bands on Spotify first. That wasn’t what it was about. It was about the scene, the music, and the experience. I’d be in the crowd waiting for the next band to start just watching all the techs setting up and checking microphones, etc. I’d see them outside loading the van, talking about where they were going and where they’d been. I made a lot of friends that played in bands locally. I think the first ‘gig’ I ever had might have been loading their drum kits into their trucks or carrying a guitar or two. I just wanted to be part of the action. If it hadn’t been for that music scene, I wouldn’t have all these tattoos, and I’d probably have been a lawyer by now. Sorry, Mom”.whitneyleigh

After high school, Whitney would go on to attend college in Orange County. She enrolled as a music major and took a few basic electronics and tech classes for fun. She realized quickly that tech was more her speed and transferred to an audio engineering program in Massachusetts. During this time, she would strike up a friendship with someone who worked at a local theatre, he would recommend her to the local sound company, where she would start working and interning. She also worked as a bartender, a runner, and stage-hand, and sold merch in the local punk/metal scene.

The venues were full of vintage analog gear that would break all the time, and this taught Whitney to be incredibly resourceful. She also learned how small the touring world is, seeing a lot of the same engineers coming through over and over. This allowed her to make some strong connections and friends, a few that she remains in touch with and hits up often for their “Ninja Skills.”

whitfohAfter college, Whitney would move back to Los Angeles and start working at various local venues including the House of Blues Sunset and Saint Rocke. This is where she would learn digital boards and spend a lot of time mixing house and monitors. She was also introduced to mixing new genres Pop, Reggae, Jazz, Country, Hip Hop, Gospel and Acoustic acts. “The House of Blues Sunset was notorious for doing underplays, so I got the opportunity to mix for a lot of big-name artists. It was challenging and exciting”. At Saint Rocke, she would meet sound engineer Grace Royse. A few months later Grace would call asking her to fill in on a gig with Fitz and the Tantrums.

melodygardotpiano

Melody Gardot Piano

Whitney would hit the road for the first time in the fall of 2015, as a monitor engineer for blues and jazz musician Melody Gardot. “Melody insisted on picking up a different piano in each city for her to play on that night. We never knew what style we would get, and with so many live instruments on stage, that tour kicked my butt. Every place we went, I would sit down and play, move mics, phase reverse, eq, etc. until the piano sounded as natural in the monitors as possible. I can mic that instrument like nobody’s business now! But most importantly, I learned the subtle art of annoying the FOH engineer to death with Journey piano covers. Epic”.

She would move from that tour to Sublime with Rome, where she would work with Grace Royse at FOH. “Switching from jazz to punk was a whirlwind in the best way. I grew up in punk and metal clubs, so this tour felt a lot more like home. The bond between the band and crew is family strong; in fact, I still think that camp is one of the best around”. (Meet the Women Running Sound for Sublime for Rome)

Since then it has been a whirlwind of shows and tours for Whitney. She has done local and fly dates with Dirty Heads as TM/ME, FOH for SWR, and ME for Toni Braxton. She also has mixed monitors for Ms. Lauryn Hill. Whitney’s favorite thing about touring is Learning. “Every time I go out on the road I come face to face with all the technical things I have and haven’t mastered yet. You just can’t get it all from working in a club. I enjoy learning from other engineers on tour and asking their opinions”.

She also loves traveling and finds waking up in a different city invigorating. At the same time, she dislikes the lack of sleep, eating mystery food every day and being away from loved ones. On days off she likes to find a local hiking spot or drops in on a fitness class.

“When I first got started I remember hearing a lot of warnings from other people, like get out of this industry while you still can’ and stories of smelly 15-hour plane rides, sweaty summer tours, overnight load-ins, etc. So I think it’s important to for me write about what keeps the fire burning when the gig gets tough”.

Warped Tour 2011

Warped Tour 2011

“I remember one of the first shows I mixed monitors for; it was on Warped Tour, on a local stage in Boston, MA. It started pouring rain, and all the other stages shut down, but our stage was totally covered with tarps, so the singer looked at me like, ‘fuck it, I’m gonna keep going.’ So I ran out, flipped all the wedges over, and they kept playing. Since all the other stages were closed, all the fans started following the music to our stage. Suddenly this little no-name hardcore band had hundreds of spectators and kids moshing in the mud. I still think back to that moment– this band did it with no monitors in the pouring rain because they love this shit”.

“Sometimes shows don’t go perfectly; mistakes happen, it rains, whatever. I make it a point during every show to breathe and take a minute to take it all in. I take a look out at the crowd and see these fans just losing their minds. I was just like them. I’m still just like them. When times get tough, I remind myself that I got into this for a reason and I’ll keep going for that same reason. Never lose sight”.

Whitney keeps her skills up to date by attending trainings and seminars completing training for Midas, SSL, Soundcraft and Rational Acoustics. She also reads audio books when she has time. She is fascinated by how large-scale events are produced and feels it important to understand it from the production side and touring side. Her future goals include moving into bigger tours with larger productions. She wants to learn more about audio systems, and as much as she loves mixing, she would like to move into system teching.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

For me, the biggest obstacle has been juggling multiple jobs while building my career. It was scary to walk away from a steady bartending job of eight years, a job I relied upon almost my entire adult life. I used to say it supported my audio addiction.

How have you dealt with them?

In 2014 I quit my bartending job. I was beginning to get more sound gigs and just couldn’t handle the scheduling nightmare anymore. Plus the more audio I did, the more I realized I had outgrown bartending. I didn’t realize it then, but all the years I spent behind the bar would actually make me a better engineer. It taught me fundamental skills like multitasking, maintaining a sense of urgency, speed, and communication.

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

I don’t really look at myself as a ‘female audio engineer.’ I just think of myself as an engineer. However, I can’t ignore the blaring fact that  women make up just a small fraction of this industry both on and off stage. With advances in technology and social media, I think the general public is becoming more aware of live sound engineers. When I get fans asking to take a photo of me at the monitor console after the show because ‘they never see women mixing’ then I know there’s a problem. I’ve straight up had a male engineer tell me thinks girls can’t mix and we can’t hang. I still laugh thinking about it. Haters, unfortunately, are a part of life. I just think of it as fuel for the fire.

My advice for women is the same as it would be for men. Be prepared to work hard and from the bottom up. Get a job at a local venue or studio and be persistent about wanting to move up the ladder. Learn everything you can from everyone you can. Also, “Fake it ‘til you make it” never worked for me. Don’t let your pride get in the way of asking dumb questions. That’s how you learn. It’s amazing how far, “Hey, your mix sounds great. What are you doing on that vocal effect?” goes over. We’re all nerds at heart, and from my experience, we all love to geek out about it; use that to your advantage.

When the time comes, don’t be afraid to accept or reach for gigs that intimidate you. I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t apprehensive about some of the shows I’ve mixed, but some of them led to more significant opportunities. I’m still trying to master the art of not psyching myself out. I’ve been in multiple situations where an engineer couldn’t make the show, and I got to mix, which in turn led to future gigs. Don’t let self-doubt hold you back.

Must have skills?

Signal flow, signal flow, signal flow. Cable management. Maintaining composure. Attention to detail. A strong sense of self-awareness. People skills. A sense of humor. Integrity. As a monitor engineer specifically, having the ability to gain and maintain an artist’s trust is paramount.

Favorite gear?

I’ve admittedly never been much of a gear head. I learned on the basis of ‘make it work with what you have,’ but there are a few pieces I really can’t live without. One is RF coordination software (currently I use Vantage and Shure Wireless Workbench) and a good spectrum analyzer (I tour with an RF Venue Rackpro and a handheld RF Explorer). No kidding, there have been shows I couldn’t have gotten through without them. Also my JH Roxanne In-Ear Monitors. They have an adjustable bass feature and sound better than any other IEMs I’ve tried. The cables are also easy to repair on the fly if need be.

Parting Advice:

Whitney’s offers this advice to those wanting to go into audio I knew early on that I wanted to go to school for music technology but had trouble finding a good fit, program wise. I think society imposes this idea that you need to get a degree, so I shied away from anything that didn’t offer one. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t. When anyone asks me what I think of audio schools I tell them what one of my engineer friends said to me once, “ You could’ve bought a console with that money!” That has always stuck. He’s right. Look, I’m not saying school isn’t important. Just be wise in what you choose. Maybe take a workshop and see if it really interests you before you jump in. I believe strongly in music performance and electronics degrees, but audio engineering can be learned on the job. I got book smart in school and street smart at the venue. There’s no reason you can’t do both economically”

Everyone’s journey in audio is different, and opportunities arise when you least expect them. My best advice is whatever path you choose, make sure you live every moment. Get the most out of every relationship and connection you make along the way. I’ve been doing audio for only six years now, but not once has someone looked at my resume. I would be ignorant to say I’ve gotten to where I am all on my own. I’ve always gotten gigs by endorsement from someone I know who has a little faith in me. Trust me when I say it counts to call and check in with the people who were there from the beginning. The ones that make you re-wrap all your cables because you do it wrong, or call you out because your mix sucks. Embrace the tough love. It might sting in the moment, but they are preparing you for the battles ahead. There are a few of these engineers in my life that I will always look up to. They are constantly setting the bar higher and higher. Surround yourself with people that inspire you, and you can do great things.

We caught up with Whitney in August of 2019:

Since talking about her touring in the original interview, she continued to tour with other acts like Sofi Tukker, X Ambassadors and Walk the Moon. She currently mixes monitors at the iHeartRadio Theater in Burbank and production manages for Live Nation Clubs & Theaters in Los Angeles.

Trevor Waite – On Monitor Teching and Mixing Monitors for The Who

20160919_211500Trevor Waite has been part of the monitor team for The Who since 2007. He has worked along side The Who’s two monitor engineers Simon Higgs and Bob Pridden. Trevor has recently taken over for Bob Pridden, who has recently retired from the road and has mixed monitors for The Who and Pete Townshend for 50 years.  Trevor has some big shoes to fill but with his experience working with The Who and his positive attitude he will step up to the occasion. Trevor was kind enough to share his experiences, advice and tips on teching with us.

What is your background and how did you get your start?

My career started out as a part time job in college.  Prior to college, I was an electronics technician in the US Navy, serving aboard USS John F Kennedy (CV-67).  After my 4 years (during Desert Storm), I left the Navy to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, which proved to difficult for my simple mind, and ended up dropping to Electrical Engineering Technology (essentially, an over-trained technician).  

The college had a small production company on campus that took care of stage, lights and sound for the smaller gigs, and provided labour for the larger acts that came through. Tech Crew, as it was called, was set up such that the boss taught the first batch of student employees, and they continued.  It was brilliant.  In order to advance, one had to get signed off on even the most basic of skills…cable coiling.  Probably the best way to learn. As I got better, I managed to start teching at a local club.  This helped hone my troubleshooting skills, as some of the gear needed attention.  

After college, I managed to get a couple of jobs in my field of study, but quickly got bored with it.  My final day of working a 9 to 5 happened after getting to run monitors for Ted Nugent at that same club.  I quit working in my field, and followed my passion.  I continued with a regional company, but still wanted more.  I sent out resumes to multiple sound companies, and only got one response.  But that response launched an amazing career.  Eighth Day Sound gave me a chance, sent me out on Prince with two really good engineers and another great technician, all of whom taught me the ropes of touring.  14 years later, here I am, loving every minute of my career and meeting some incredible people and the bands they work for.

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 a blog on SoundGirls.org. I know that everything I have learned about sound and signal processing/electronics etc. would easily make me by definition a “system tech” already, but does that mean I should consider myself a sound engineer and technician?

There is a major difference between a sound technician and an engineer.  I consider myself a very good technician, but an average engineer.  I am fine with that, because a good engineer has a very unique gift…that of above average hearing. While I can hear well enough to EQ a monitor to get very loud without feeding back, a true engineer will make it sing. Sometimes a great engineer has no idea how the electronics work to create an amazing mix, and that is where a great technician is needed.  I am proud to have teched for some brilliant engineers, and have no regrets being “just” a tech.

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

When I am teching FOH, room measurements are essential to put the PA in correctly. Half the battle is getting the PA hung right.  To do this, a Leica Disto capable of both distance and angle is essential for indoor venues, while an Opti-Logic range finder does very well in outdoor or amphitheater venues.  Once the measurements are taken, the manufacturer of the particular PA will have a program to design the building and PA to cover it.  

Once the PA is hung, I use Smaart, with a Focusrite Scarlett, to time align and get a general EQ going while running pink noise.  Once the curve is relatively flat (don’t over EQ using pink noise), listen to it with your favourite song.  It may irritate the lighting guys after the 20th show, but there is a point…consistency.  We need to hand our engineer a PA that sounds as close to yesterday as possible.  The engineer needs consistency, and that is the tech’s primary goal.  

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

I got into the industry when there were no computer programs to design PAs.  We would stack and adjust chains on a trial by fire basis until the PA looked like it should cover the room.  Experience helped make fewer trips up and down as the PA was adjusted.  These days, you can accurately design a PA without stepping foot in the venue.  CAD drawings are available for most venues, and the prediction software for most major PAs can either directly import these drawings, or can easily be deciphered.  Then the PA can be simulated until the system tech is happy with the virtual coverage.

Then there’s the consoles.  The industry has come a long way in the time I’ve been in it.  If we knew we were going to work with a band again, we would have to manually chart every knob and fader position, which was painstakingly slow.  Now with digital consoles, simply throw your USB key in from the last show, and off you go.

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

The only way to learn your frequencies is to make a system feed back and listen.  I learned by rote.  After hearing a frequency enough times, you will know it the next time you hear it feeding back.  Once the feedback is done, learn the sound of your voice.  This may sound strange, but try this.  Record your voice, then play it back.  It is different than you perceive it to be.  Therefore, know what you should sound like, then make the monitor sound like you.  There you have it…safe then sound.

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

I got very lucky that my college had a production company that handled the smaller shows, and provided labor for the big acts that came through.  Essentially, The boss taught the first batch of students, then had them teach the new hires every year.  You start of with the very basics of coiling cables, taping cables down, proper lifting, etc. before moving on to bigger and better things.  To this day, he was the best boss I ever had.  Always there but never micromanaged.  He is still there today.  

The Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook was also a very good reference.

SoundGirls.Org Questions 

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

Stage tech and monitor tech can be one and the same in some instances.  When I tech for The Who, I was both, but as it was far too much for one person, I had to rely on the SL PA guy to cable up stage.  In that case, the PA tech became the stage tech.  This is what I believe to be the difference:

A stage tech patches the stage, gets power out to backline, and cables up the monitors. Once everything is verified to be correct, the stage tech is done until load out.

The monitor tech’s job starts long before the tour does.  Once an engineer informs the company what is required, the monitor tech designs the racks, amps, stage patching and cabling to be as efficient as possible.  Once on tour, the monitor tech works closely with the engineer to ensure they have what they need to keep the band happy.  A good tech will go the extra mile and stand by the engineer to offer a second set of eyes to make sure all members of the band can communicate their needs to the engineer.  The monitor tech is also responsible for repairs or replacements if gear goes down.

You currently tour with The Who, and have recently taken over mixing monitors for Pete Townshend, do you carry production? If so what company are you using? Do you have a dedicated tech?

Eighth Day Sound has provided control gear (monitor system and FOH console and racks) for almost all The Who shows since 2007.  I have been their monitor tech since then, helping monitor engineers Simon Higgs and Bob Pridden.  It has been a fantastic ride so far, and it is an amazing honour to be able to continue Bob Pridden’s work as Pete Townshend’s monitor engineer.   As such, a tech has been added to take my place. Unfortunately, because of flight costs, it will not be the same tech I just trained back in the UK.  And with no production day to start our next leg, I have my work cut out for me.

Before Bob left the tour the three of you had a unique system of working together, can you explain how job duties were divided up before Bob left? And how you are working now with the loss of Bob?

Bob traveled with the band.  After being with them for over 50 years, I would say he earned that.  Because of this, setting up and EQ’ing fell to Simon Higgs, who also had to frequency coordinate all of the rest of the bands’ in ears.  Once monitor world was built, and stage was patched, I would put on ears and help Simon verify ear mixes, then watch Bob’s console during line check.  

Once the band and Bob arrived, I would wear one ear to help Simon with the rest of the band, and listen to Bob’s cue wedges with the other ear to help Bob with Pete’s wedges. Doing this, I managed to learn key parts of songs that Pete needed adjustments during the show. I was able to help Bob keep up with Pete’s needs.  Also, my eyesight was better, so I could see Pete’s requests for changes when it was almost completely dark.  At the same time, while Simon was concentrating on Roger Daltrey, so I would also keep an eye out for the rest of the band and let Simon know if one of them needed something.  

What equipment are using?

Currently, Simon Higgs is mixing Roger Daltrey and the rest of the band on a Digico SD7. I have inherited Bob Pridden’s Midas XL3.  I have been given permission to change to a digital console, and will go with another SD7 to keep the integration simple.  We will wait to make the change until after the Desert Trip shows, as there is no production day to get it right.  

How do you prioritize your job duties and tech duties?

I still show up on an early call.  Although I have a dedicated tech, I have always known this to be a two man job, so in the morning and at load out, I am the monitor tech, which eases the burden on the stage tech.  Monitor world is huge, and therefore built on a rolling riser in the middle of the arena.  I set up both consoles, and get Simon Higgs temporary power so he can start frequency coordinating when he comes in.  Until monitor world is rolled into position, getting Simon started is the first priority.  Once in place, I change hats and become Pete’s monitor engineer.  At this point, the stage tech becomes the monitor tech, and helps Simon with verifying in ears and stands by on stage during line check to fix any mis-patches.  I start EQing Pete’s wedges (something Simon used to have to do on top of everything else), and line check what is now my own console.  

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

Monitor techs should have a basic understanding of troubleshooting skills. Unfortunately, this is not taught in most sound company shops.  A tech needs to know how to meter power and why, how to half split a fault (make a logical starting point to find a problem), and to know the job is not done until the truck doors close at the end of the night.  

FOH and Monitor techs are often required to help the engineer achieve their vision and goals. How can tech help the engineer see their vision come to fruition?

Providing consistency under all but the most extreme conditions can go a long way to helping an engineer create their magic.  If the engineer walks up to a console and everything feels the same way it did the show before (assuming that was good), then the tech has done the job properly.

What can a tech do to become irreplaceable?

I always provided the candy in monitor world.  That went a long way.  Otherwise, I suppose going the extra mile, as in any job, to show you are there for more than just a paycheck.  I find that is easy when you like the crew and band, but it is also true if you don’t.  Give each client 100%.  It makes you invaluable to your company, so you will get more calls, and you can always say no once you’ve established yourself (don’t do that too often, though).

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

There’s a reason we keep them 100 feet away.  They are a strange lot, those FOH people, but  a necessary evil.  Kidding aside, it is essential FOH and Stage work together, because the sound from either one greatly affects the sound of the other.  

Some performers get distracted when there is too much low end coming from the PA, so the monitor engineer and the FOH engineer must work together to find a compromise that reduces the low end felt on stage while still giving the audience a good mix with a bit of punch.  The same is true if sidefills or drum fills get too loud, or are out of time with the FOH mix.  Sometimes playing with phase on certain channels can make it so the stage sound adds to the FOH sound, instead of detracting from it.  FOH and Stage are intertwined, and it is very important for them to work together.

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

It is essential to fully understand how and why you are putting up x amount of boxes to cover a certain area.  It is just as important to get the angles between the boxes set correctly, or the system as a whole reacts very differently than anticipated.  

Prediction software is necessary to get the most out of whatever PA you are using, and the software requires training to understand how to use it.  Manufacturers have been very good at providing training programs around the world to ensure any system tech that is flying their PA is doing it in a way consistent with the way the manufacturer intended their product to be used.  This is extremely helpful when a band uses different companies on different continents.  If everyone is being trained the same way, an engineer can expect a lot of consistency wherever he/she goes.

If so what training would you recommend on a large scale touring production? And for medium and small sized productions?

On all productions, training is the same.  If the company one works for doesn’t offer the training, go to the manufacturer.  The size of the PA doesn’t matter, as it is essential to set up a small PA properly as well as large PA.  To get to the point of becoming the system tech, start at the bottom and learn cable management, PA flying in general, amp patching and how to get along with the other departments that make up a production.   The best way to learn the basics is to do it (preferably with a seasoned crew to help you along).

Working in a festival situation what do you feel is important?

Speed and a proper prep.  If the monitor tech has laid out everything he/she needs on stage in a logical way, setting up and striking should be fairly quick.  Keep mindful of the other acts, even if they are on before you.  Give everyone as much space as you can so that all get a chance to do their gig to the best of their ability as well.

What equipment and tools do you feel that every monitor tech needs to know how to use? 

A multimeter.  Sometimes a cable checker is very handy, especially if it’s one that has a transmitter end and a receiver end for when the cable to be tested is stretched out. Whirlwind makes a Q Box that can serve as either a tone generator or a headphone amp. A pair of headphones.  And basic tools in case you need to pull gear out of a rack to troubleshoot.  It would be very useful if the tech could solder, but without real training in that, I’ve seen some very poor solder skills, so I don’t recommend it for everyone.

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