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Life Long Learning

You weren’t born knowing anything; nobody was. Everything you do that isn’t an automated function such as breathing is something you had to learn to do, even walking. All the sound engineers you know had to learn and be taught things and never stop learning. (more…)

Texas SoundGirls.Org Chapter Forming

Meet Alesia Hendley and Takara Greer. They will be heading up the Texas Chapter of SoundGirls.Org. Alesia lives in Houston and works in AV. Audio is her passion. Takara works in AV as well, learning to do sound in her father’s church. They are both excited to head up this chapter.

The first meet up will be in Austin. Come meet other SoundGirls.Org members, network, and discuss future events and seminars.

Meetup

Sunday Dec 12 at 8 p.m.

Bennu Coffee

2001 E Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

Austin, TX 78702

RSVP

A Day in the Life

It was an insanely busy August and September for me.  A veritable hurricane of huge shows,  little shows, corporate events, prime time live television shows, one-day shows, studio installation for long-running shows rinse and repeat.

I really wanted the blog after my Aviation and Audio Part 1 to be Part 2…it makes sense right?

But as I was walking to our workshop the other day, I was chatting on the phone with a friend about the bizarre spectrum of things that can be a challenge to my workday. And then it occurred to me that it really does give some insight about what I do.  So I’m delaying Part 2 of Aviation and Audio  and instead giving you:

The Incomplete-Ever-Growing-List-of-Things-Impacting-My-Day

….all of which were experienced in the last two months and are not listed in any particular order.

  • Not having anywhere to place my antennas – Can I clamp to something? No, there’s nothing to clamp to or it’s too high. Can I put a stand-up? No, every surface is a walkway to the stage.  Can I put it out of the way? No, it’s too far away to be of any good. What about here then? No, it’s in the camera shot. Ever notice how lighting always seems to get a pass on visible cables but audio doesn’t?

image00 (3)Me placing an antenna up high to shoot over the LED screens

  • Is the show up some stairs, on a boat…or on a boat and up some stairs- I did an Alicia Keys music video shoot that was on a boat floating around Manhattan. It was great and she’s an incredible artist. But loading in involved getting my cases up narrow stairs to the second deck.

image06This is what happened to the audiences’ phones at the music video shoot. The production wisely didn’t want to have any footage of the shoot released early, but the skyline views of Manhattan from the boat were just too tempting for most people.

  • Only one point of entry or exit to the stage or building– Having all of your gear packed and ready but stuck waiting in a queue to get out is the worst! I know I learned in kindergarten to wait my turn but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. This includes gangplanks on boats, forklifts instead of gear ramps, small doors and hallways.
  • Interfacing with Tour Audio people, or House Audio People- Up to a certain point I understand that having a TV crew must feel like an invasion of their space. But we’re all on the same team people! Especially when it comes to wireless.  I approach the audio person (whose job often includes getting their show’s wireless to work) in a spirit of understanding and comradery. Wireless isn’t their specialty and yet they’re the one who has to make it work for every show. Now here I am trying to get them to coordinate and most likely change frequencies. It’s a big deal and I get that. Some audio people make it easy and some make it hard. On a personal level, I don’t care too much if someone has a holier-than-thou attitude, but it’s not okay when it puts the success of a show’s wireless on the line.
  • Celebrities’ Outfits – as a general rule, I’m not the one pinning mics on people. Sometimes I do, but mostly that’s left to others. We do however supply the equipment for them to do it. Different colored lav mics to match different types of skimpy, tight-fitting dresses, cable extensions for people who want to wear transmitters on their ankles. We had to figure out a way to do waterproof IEMs that fit in a wetsuit tuxedo for an act at AGT that went underwater but needed to hear track.

image07This was absolutely as awesome as it looks. This guy danced and flew around and went under water.

  • Celebrities’ and/or their team’s general outlook on life and the audio people in it.
  • Product Endorsements – this isn’t usually a big deal because usually acts are booked in advance and their riders are made available. But last-minute changes can lead to some last-minute scrambling to get equipment to show up quickly.
  • If the President, Pope, or United Nations are in town- In September I did a show at the Waldorf Astoria, and as you may have noticed from the news coverage the Pope, the President, and a wide variety of heads of state were in NYC because the U.N. was in session.  This not only meant traffic to the show, it meant getting into the Waldorf- where those various heads of state were staying – was a long process. I managed to get into the building in a five-minute window before dignitaries were leaving the building; if I had missed the window my load in would have been about 2 hours late.  Having a lot of security in NYC also means that at any moment your wireless could start behaving in odd ways.

image01 (2)It took me 30 minutes and walking 3 blocks to get through the security lines to a Starbucks that’s 50 feet away from the stage door of the Waldorf that I exited….and it was closed.

  • Firmware updates – it’s new and improved! And by that I mean it doesn’t function like it’s supposed to. Despite the best testing, until everything is in play you might not know you have lost some previous functionality until you’re completely set up.
  • The weather for obvious reasons, this is a factor on outdoor shows.  Sometimes for indoor too. For example, if the roof leaks because you’re doing something trendy in an old industrial space. I’m looking at you fashion week.

image03 (1)I call this my ‘Beyonce Fan’, good for staying cool at outdoor gigs like Brasil Day, and also for making my hair look rad in the wind like Beyonce’

  • Overhead Hazards – At the Kevin Hart stadium show I did there was a Spyder Cam with lines that were above some of my antennas. The camera operators probably got tired of me asking if it was safe to adjust my antennas but a wrench dropped from great heights can do a lot of damage to the human head.  Safety first!
  • People not used to working with comms and people who freak out easily – Miss a cue? Blame it on comms.  Freaking out that the A2 isn’t talking to you because they’re hands are busy while they mic talent? Must be the comms.  People jump to wacky conclusions when they don’t know how to use comms or they don’t understand the flow of a show. To me it seems they always want to blame comms, though I’m sure that’s just because that’s what I’m on the lookout for.  I see educating people and helping them learn how to use our equipment as an integral part of my job and I’m happy to do it. It’s unfortunate that people’s nervousness or lack of knowledge can cause other crew members to worry that there are problems with comms when there really aren’t though. I enthusiastically welcome any opportunity to help further people’s understanding of wireless or comms.
  • Interfacing with outdated or shoddy communications equipment – Ideally we are the source for all the communications gear on a show. But often we interface with other vendors’ equipment and no matter what, we need it to work.  Some days this can be a serious challenge, other days it’s no problem at all. Sometimes you find yourself prying apart some TV Sports truck’s old RTS 325 beltpack that’s rusty and rattles and hoping it works because it’s the last one on the truck has.
  • Comfortable, dry shoes

image02 (5)Me sitting around in comfortable shoes waiting to get out the door….patiently waiting my turn

  • Workplace Culture and the different workflows in them– It’s important to understand the work culture I find myself in to better understand the needs of the people in it and to avoid potential non-technical problems. Productions from England are slightly different from those from the U.S. or Germany. The film world is very different from the TV world in terms of the people who make decisions and what kinds of comms people need and are comfortable with. Being aware of the major players are and their communications needs is always a good idea.
  • The thickness of the venue walls or geographic proximity to TV stations– If there are fewer DTV channels getting in the building, then I have more room for wireless devices.  At Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, the studio has some super thin walls and we can see wireless signals from many DTV channels as well as from the studio next door.
  • Parking permits
  • LED screens – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they’re the natural enemy of wireless
  • Clean tech power or any power  – A lot of the locations we show up at don’t have power intended for TV production. A lot of them don’t have power at all, like an outdoor show. Some of them switch from house power to generator power based on what’s happening that day. Some shows have power allotted for various parts of the tour, but not for us. Comms and wireless tend to fall through the cracks of audio I think.  A good day is when I show up and it’s just sitting there waiting for me. A bad day involves a lot of extension cords and chasing down the right person to get me power.
  • If the Production has poor relationships with the local unions. All of the misunderstandings that might lead to an issue are waaaayyy above my pay grade.  There are a lot of different unions involved in making a show happen.  Teamsters unload trucks, the house workers are usually in one union, the people in the TV production are all in different unions depending on their department. I’m in a union for audio people in the TV business in NYC. There are separate ones for audio people who do film work in NYC. I imagine that the contracts between the production and all the various unions are complex affairs.
  • Being next to the Kitchen – I thoroughly respect people who mainly work at corporate events. You all have the patience and fortitude of saints. Anything that involves catering involves the clanking of silverware and the smell of food being prepared all day. It’s not optimal to be near it.

image04 (1) I was thrilled to be on the 3rd balcony at the Waldorf, far away from food smells and hidden from view. Sheila E performed at this show and it was awesome!

  • News Crew and Reality-esque ENG TV crews – News crews go where the action is and usually big, huge shows count as action. In the same vein as the rest of this blog, we all have a job to do and I respect the role of ENG crews. More and more of what you see on TV comes from them. Often in their haste, and because they don’t usually have to deal with wireless because Lectrosonics gear is incredibly high-powered, operators of ENG audio bags don’t always get the importance of the coordinated frequencies we give them. Since they tend to show up right as shows start, it can be a scramble to track them down when we start having wireless issues.

image05 (1)My phone is full of crooked and blurry photos of the ENG gear that shows up.   I reference my photo to coordinate their wireless equipment when I get back to my computer and analyzer.

So those are some of the random challenges that I might come across on any given day.

I’m a hyperactive optimist and I always say that challenges are just job security, which is probably an obnoxious thing to say, but I honestly feel that way! If it was easy, and all anyone had to do was flick a switch, we’d all be out of a job. The list above is not a list of complaints, it’s just bizarre sometimes to sit back and think of all the big and little things that can make a difference in my day.

An equally important footnote to the list above:  it’s the amazing team of people I work with that makes it possible to overcome challenges. It’s a big team and includes all sorts of people involved with the show, not just the comms or audio people.  I’m thrilled every day to be working as part of the team making shows happen. I just have to remember to tone down the hyperactive optimism first thing in the morning so my teammates don’t add me to their Incomplete, Ever-Growing-List-of-Challenges-Impacting-Their-Day

image08

Another colorful photo of Brasil Day 2015. This show involved about 30 channels of wireless mics, some wireless and wired comms, and wireless delay towers. I spent a good portion of the day policing incredibly polite, Brazilian ENG crews to make sure we not only avoided performance mic dropout but delay tower dropouts too.

 

Mentoring and Receiving Mentorship

 

I wanted to add to the great articles this month about mentoring Karrie’s blog Paying it Forward and Kirsty’s blog How to Be an Effective Mentor Part 1.

When we talk about having a mentor (or mentee), it sometimes sounds like a story right out of Star Wars. Obi-Wan Kenobi was a mentor who had many apprentices, like Luke and Anakin Skywalker. (more…)

North Carolina SoundGirls.Org Chapter Forming

1377985_667675273270114_8623908929996688664_nMeet Rachel Landy, a sophomore and Music Production & Recording Arts major at Elon University. She prefers to be behind the board during a studio session, mixing, doing live sound, producing or writing lyrics. In a perfect world, her future job would include all of those aspects while living in Nashville. Rachel’s love of music was instilled at a very young age listening to records with her father. Rachel will be heading up our North Carolina Chapter because  “I understand this business is difficult for women but I would love to be a part of something that makes it a little easier, and that’s soundgirls!”

The first meet up will be casual come meet other SoundGirls.Org members, network, and discuss future events and seminars.

Meetup

Sunday Dec 6 at 3:00 pm

The Oak House (on The Elon Campus)

112 N Williamson Ave, Elon NC 27244

RSVP

Los Angeles – Tour Managing and FOH/ME Seminar

970158_533413986723306_327024156_nPlanetwood Productions To Host

When starting out as a FOH or Monitor Engineer, many of the tours you will apply for require you to wear two hats. The Tour Manager and FOH or ME or Production Manager FOH/ME, are the most common dual roles you will find. Being able to handle both roles effectively will make you more valuable, increase your skill set, and allow you to gain the experience you need to tour solely as a Sound Engineer or Tour Manager.

What do you need to know to tour manage, how to juggle soundcheck and getting your artists to soundcheck. Come find out The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of wearing two hats.

Rachel Ryan is the FOH and Tour Manager for PHOX and Monitor Engineer for The Strokes.

Chez Stock is the FOH and Tour Manager for several independent artists, including Yuna, Dorothy, and Empress Of.

There will be plenty of time for Q&A. Feel free to send in questions you want answered – send to soundgirls@soundgirls.org.

Light Refreshments will be provided.

Catharine Wood owner of Planetwood Productions a production and writing studio has graciously offered to host the seminar. Planetwood Productions handles everything from commissioned pieces for ESPN to producing singles and albums for singer-songwriters. With full drums, production, composition and engineering capabilities — Planetwood Productions is a one-stop-shop for broadcast-ready music that can’t be beat!  Thank You Catharine!

Space is limited – Reserve Your Space and Register

Please note that financial assistance is available – please contact soundgirls@soundgirls.org for financial assistance.

The Translator

 

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Often in my job, I end up being the middle person. I don’t own the contract with the band, but I have to fulfill the requirements. Sometimes I get a say in what is allowed in the rider, other times I get to deal with cross renting items late in the game because I didn’t see the completed contract until the day before. I get to communicate with the band the possibilities for their show but must get all changes approved by the purchaser.

I’m sure many of you deal with people like me while on tour where others are in the same position as venue operators. I would like to point out that being the middle person has also given me an interesting aspect of my job that I tend to forget about the most: The Translator. (more…)

How to be an Effective Mentor – Part 1

 

Teaching is in the air this month on Soundgirls.org! Right on the heels of Karrie’s excellent blog about Paying it Forward, my blog for this month is about my experience as a mentor in sound design. (more…)

Kim Watson on Mixing and Teching Monitors

image1What goes into being a great tech that engineers request or want to work with? The fourth in a series of articles on system teching and what it takes to be a great tech.

UK based sound engineer Kim Watson has been a freelance audio engineer since 1999.  She is currently touring with The Subways as a monitor engineer.  (more…)

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