Save Early, Save Often

If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of them don’t directly relate to sound. That’s because sound is actually such a small part of what we do on a day to day basis. Being an incredible mixer is all well and good, but if you crumble under pressure or can’t show up on time, you won’t work for long. If you’re an A2 or monitor engineer and you can’t communicate with people, you won’t even know what people need so you can effectively do your job.

Today I’m going to wander well off the sound waves into what I consider one of the most all encompassing topics for dealing with life: Money.

Now, I’ve been writing blogs for five years at this point. I can’t tell you how many drafts of this very topic I’ve written and hated. Money is such a taboo topic that we probably know more about our best friend’s sex life than we do about their bank account, so it hasn’t been easy trying to find the best way to talk about it. However, I’ve never been known for my subtlety, so we’re just going to dive in head first.

Money is important. We can go through all the overused sayings that money can’t buy happiness and that it isn’t everything, but the fact remains that money is a major factor in our lives. Having a savings account with a few months of expenses tucked away can make all the difference when emergencies or life changes come your way.

We all have different relationships with money. Part of it is nurture: the environment we grew up in and how we saw our parents handle money, but just as important is nature: who we are and what we value in our lives. My parents taught my sister and me similar things about money, but we have different priorities and habits that have developed because we’re different people with different life experiences in different careers.

This blog won’t have all the answers for every situation, but what I really want it to do is put financial literacy on your radar and maybe show what it can do for you, given time. That way you can start to figure out how you personally relate to money and what your priorities are.

Because time is your greatest asset. Even if you start small it can make a huge difference.

So, money is important, we get that. Where do we start?

First, start to pay attention to your money. Do you know roughly how much you make in a year? Do you know how much you spend? That’s the basis of all personal finance. You don’t have to go full forensic accountant on your life, but check your bank and credit card statements and start to see what your big picture is.

Personally, I don’t have a strict budget of “I can spend $X on groceries, $Y on clothing, and $Z on social activities,” but I do track my expenses, so I know roughly what I spend in a month or over a year. I use Quicken (any similar personal finance software will do a similar thing) which imports my transaction, lets me put them into categories, and I can generate a report if I want to check on things. You can also just use a spreadsheet: it can be a basic accounting tool, or you can go nuts with formulas and formatting if you really want to go in-depth and customize.

Once you’ve taken a look at that, you’ve found your baseline and rough expectations. Do you have extra money some months that you might be able to start saving? Does your income vary wildly each month so you need to put some into savings for your slow season? (Welcome to being a freelancer. By nature of our schedules, we have to be more financially aware than our 9 to 5 counterparts.)

Did you learn that you’ve been spending more than you make and your credit cards have made up the difference? Or that you’re making just enough and working paycheck to paycheck, but if anything out of the ordinary happens you’re operating on a razor thin margin?

If you’ve hit this point and you’re looking at things thinking, “oh shit!” take a moment and breathe. It’s okay. That feeling just means you have a goal to work towards.

Now that you know where you are, it’s time to look at where you want to be. Ideally you want to have minimal debt and be making more than you spend so you’re able to save. This process looks different for everyone, and Paula Pant, who runs the site Afford Anything, covers it more completely than I can in her post about “Growing the Gap.”

TLDR: you can try to grow your income (asking for a raise, monetizing a side hustle, investing, etc) while keeping your spending the same, or decreasing your spending while you income stays consistent. Doing either of those create a “gap” between what you make and what you spend, so you’re able to put that into paying off debt, savings, or eventually investing.

Once you can start saving, your money will start to work for you. Which is a concept that’s difficult to really understand until you’ve seen it in action. You may have heard the term “compounding interest” bandied about like some magic phrase, but what does that actually look like?

It means a savings account will pay you interest, and that interest will keep adding up.

It means a business can make a profit, which you can put back into it to make it bigger and more productive.

It means a stock might pay you a dividend which can be reinvested, adding more shares to your portfolio.

Let’s look at an example savings account. A high-yield one might pay 4% interest per year:

At 25 years old, you put in $100 a month. At 55 years old, you would have put in $37,000 ($1,200 per year for 30 years), but the account balance would actually be $74,000. It’s double what you put in it, but where did the other $37,000 come from?

The interest.

So the first year you put in $1,200. The interest on that was $48.

Total of $1,248.

The next year you add $1,200, now the balance is $2,448, and interest on that is $97.

Total: $2,545.

Next year is another $1,200, the balance is $3,745, and interest on that is $149.

Total: $3,895.

Screenshot

And so it continues with the interest getting just a little bit bigger year after year.

At 35 you’ve put in $13,000 and the account would be $16,000.

At 45 you’ve put in $25,000 and the account would be almost $40,000.

Time is the magic ingredient in a lot of financial success. If you give it some training (invest it, put it in savings, start a business, etc), soon it’ll start working all on its own.

One of the favorite financial tools to illustrate the benefit of compounding interest is called the “Jack and Jill” comparison. It looks at Jill, someone who started saving/investing at the beginning of her career, and Jack, who decided to wait a few years.

Let’s look at this in a couple different scenarios:

First: Jill starts investing $1,200 per year when she’s 25, stops when she’s 40, and just lets the account grow on its own from there.

Jack starts investing $1,200 per year at 40, until he’s 55.

Screenshot

Both contributed the same amount: $19,200. But when they’re both 55 Jill’s account is almost $50,000, while Jack’s is only $27,000. Those extra 15 years of interest make a $23,000 difference for Jill.

In another situation, Jill starts investing $1,200 per year when she’s 25 and keeps going until she’s 55.

Jack starts investing at 40, but he puts in $2,400 per year so he can catch up.

Jack actually ends up contributing at little bit more than Jill: his $38,400 to her $37,200.

Her account is still ends up being $20,000 more than his: hers is $74,000 to his $54,000.

The moral of the story? Start early. Time is your friend, not only in compounding interest, but the sooner you start paying attention to your money, the more you learn and the better you get at managing it.

There’s a proverb that says “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Since most of the readers of this blog are fairly early in your careers, my hope is that in 20 years you can look back at this “tree” and be happy you planted it when you did.

Hypothetical scenarios are all well and good, but how do you start digging?

If you’re just starting out and all this feels completely overwhelming, take a look at Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps. He’s built an empire around financial literacy, but I recommend you treat it as a good place to get your bearings, but not the gospel truth. Steps 1-3 are a good place to start and once those make sense, look around at other philosophies (like the ones below). I don’t agree with everything he recommends (doing away with credit cards and investing in mutual funds being the main points of contention), but his method can be a helpful resource to get yourself started.

For anyone who feels financially stable but doesn’t know the first thing about investing, take a look at JL Collin’s blog. He does a good job of talking about the stock market in accessible terms and is a proponent of simple, set-it-and-forget-it investing. (He also has a book that I highly recommend.) Paula Pant, who I mentioned early, is at Afford Anything, and offers another take on managing your money as well as talking about investing in property and other business instead of stocks.

If you want to do a really deep dive, Google the “FIRE movement” or “Financial Independence” and jump down that rabbit hole. (If you get easily overwhelmed, maybe save this for later. There’s a whole world of information out there, so it can be easy to feel like you just started drinking out of a firehose, but that also means there are plenty of resources to help you.)

I’m not a financial expert, but here’s my own two cents:

First, figure out where you stand. What do you have? What do you owe? Just knowing that can put you miles ahead of the crowd.

Second, open a savings account somewhere familiar (If you don’t have a checking account yet, open that first.) A “high-yield” savings account should give you 3-4% interest, so look for that. You might use the bank where you have your checking account or even the same company as your credit card. Starting somewhere you already know will make it easier to take that step, and if you want to switch banks later, you absolutely can.

Next, open an IRA. These are retirement accounts that you put your own money into and get tax benefits when you fund them. My general rule of thumb is: if you make less than $150,000 in a year, open a ROTH IRA. If you make more, open a Traditional IRA. If you’d like to learn more about those, there’s a good explanation here at DowJanes.com.

After that, use some of the links I’ve included to start looking at ways to increase your net worth. Whether that’s paying off debt, putting money into your savings account, or opening a brokerage account for investments, you’re working towards that goal.

As you’re setting financial goals, take a moment to think about what’s important to you. Imagine what your life looks like if you’ve got $100 in savings, or $1,000, or even $10,000.

Does that mean you won’t have to panic when your show closes with two weeks notice (or less) because you know you have enough to pay your bills for a few months while you look for another job?

It might look like taking on a passion project that you want to develop and love working on, even if it doesn’t pay much right now, and might grow into something later.

It could be realizing you’re in a toxic work environment and knowing you don’t have to stay in an unhealthy cycle while you look for another job.

It’s having a retirement account that’s accumulating quietly off to the side as political pundits debate if Social Security will still exist in 40 years.

Personally, having savings means I have freedom and my priorities are about making time for my family and my friends.

When I moved to the city, I made the decision to pay for an apartment that was bigger than I’d need just for myself, because it meant I had room for people to stay with me when they came to visit.

I could afford a vacation to meet my parents in London as they make the most of their retirement.

I can take time off to go visit old tour buddies in DC, Vegas, and Chicago or help my friend with her Christmas show in Pittsburgh.

The goal is to get to play as hard as I work. Sure, last year I didn’t have any vacation time from January to June because we were getting Outsiders up and running and then immediately went into Tony voting season. I didn’t mind it because I knew the expectations of the schedule and I like my job. (And that’s why I have the apartment. When I can’t get away, my friends are welcome to come to me.)

But that meant when we had subs trained, I made a point to follow through with plans and take time off to see people.

Recently, having that savings cushion (the FIRE community calls it “F-You Money,” which I do quite enjoy) meant that I made the decision to leave Outsiders this summer without a lot of extra worry. For some people, a hit show that’s going to run for at least a few years brings security and they’ll stick around for a while.

Honestly, I’m ready for the next challenge, and I planned ahead and talked to Cody (my designer) and made a plan. Part of that is getting the Outsiders tour set up. I’ve missed touring, so even just getting to go through tech and then handing it off to the crew will be a fun way to dip my toes back into that life.

Past that, there isn’t much of a plan. I’ll switch to being the sub on Outsiders and return as a sub for SIX (ah, that freelancing life!), and I’m looking forward to the change. I know I have the resources set aside so a couple months of light work isn’t a death sentence or anxiety inducing.

None of this would have been possible if I hadn’t started saving and investing while I was on the road.

And that’s what money gives you: freedom. It may not buy happiness, but it certainly does buy options. Everyone’s goals will look different, but do you and your future self a favor: get started on saving because there’s no better time than now.

Joanna Lynne Staub – Sound Designer, Composer, and Audio Engineer

Joanna Lynne Staub is a highly accomplished freelance sound designer, composer, and audio engineer with over 30 years of experience spanning Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatre, as well as live events, corporate audio, concerts, television, and podcasts. As an independent contractor, she is a proud member of USA829 as a sound designer and IATSE as an audio engineer.

Currently, Joanna is engaged in exciting projects, including sound design and composition for George Street Playhouse and American Players Theatre. Currently, Joanna is working on the renovation of the sound system at the Hayden Planetarium and the creation of the new Space Show at the Museum of Natural History in NYC. In addition to her theatrical work, she is an audio engineer for ABC Television, Clair Global, and the podcast Playing on Air.

Early Life & Passion for Audio

Joanna’s deep connection to music and audio was ingrained from childhood. Growing up in a family of musicians and audiophiles, discussions on music production, performance, and history were a daily part of life. Surrounded by an eclectic mix of records and radio broadcasts, she developed an early fascination with sound and live performance.

Her interest in audio as a career path emerged during undergraduate studies, fueled by a passion for music production and the culture of live performances. Attending concerts at a young age, she became captivated by the behind-the-scenes execution of live sound.

Educational Background & Training

Joanna holds a Bachelor of Science in Audio Engineering from Ithaca College and a Master of Fine Arts in Sound Design & Technical Theatre from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her formal training encompasses music, sound design, audio engineering, and technical theatre. As a classically trained flutist, she also has a background in composition and orchestration, which informs her work in sound design and music integration.

A Multifaceted Career

Throughout her extensive career, Joanna has worked across a wide range of theatrical productions, live events, and broadcast audio, demonstrating expertise in both creative sound design and technical engineering. Her work continues to shape the auditory experiences of audiences across multiple entertainment industries.

With an unwavering passion for sound, storytelling, and performance, Joanna Lynne Staub remains a respected and sought-after professional in the field of audio and theatrical design.

Career Start

How did you get your start?

My first job doing sound for theatre was as an intern audio engineer at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY. Then, I took a gap year between Undergraduate and Graduate School. During that year, I worked as an Audio Engineer at the Santa Fe Opera and then at the Arena Stage in Washington DC. I moved to NYC after completing Graduate school, and have been based there ever since.

How did your early internships or jobs help build a foundation for where you are now?

While in undergraduate school, I did internships in both theatre & recording studio engineering, learning fairly quickly that I prefer doing sound for live events. I enjoy the interaction with live audiences. But I deeply appreciate the skills and connections I made while working in a recording studio – and I have a great appreciation of the level of detail & creativity required to do studio engineering well.

What did you learn interning or on your early gigs? – Never look down on anyone you are working with. Someone who is your assistant today may be your boss tomorrow. Everyone in the room has skills that you can learn from – and you should.

Did you have a mentor or someone that really helped you? – While studying at Ithaca College, Dr. Peter Rothbart & Dr. John Bracewell were incredibly influential in starting me out on my career path. After I moved to NYC, Carin Ford & Beth Berkley were mentors who helped me learn how to navigate the Broadway community.

Career Now

What is a typical day like?

What I love about my job is that it is ever-changing, and no two days are the same. Different points in the process have vastly differing days – also changing based on what job I am working on a particular project.

Early in the production process, known as pre-production, I spend a lot of time at my home office preparing shop bids and design paperwork, along with taking creative meetings with the director and other collaborators.

Once a show is in rehearsal, I will go as often as possible to see what the director and actors have dreamed up, as well as look at timing for required sound design and compositional effects, which I am building at the same time. Whenever possible, we will add recorded sound cues into the rehearsal process for the actors to work with and see if they are appropriate for the production. If a show is a musical, I will also attend band rehearsals and provide audio support for the Sitzprobe rehearsal – which is the first time that the cast and band are in a room together rehearsing.

If a show or project has hired all or part of a sound system, the audio team will spend a chunk of time at a rental shop. During this process, we work with the shop gathering all of the gear into one space, setting up the entire sound system, and testing every piece of gear to make sure it works as specified. This includes everything from setting up computer programs and FOH console programming to running test rigging of speaker hangs, along with testing every piece of cable in between. After the testing is complete, we have to organize and pack all of the gear to be shipped to the theatre or performance location in a manner where we can find everything we need whenever we require it.

Loading in a sound system can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months depending on the size and scope of the project. Broadway Theatres have almost no sound gear permanently installed – entire sound systems are loaded in from scratch at the start of every show, and have to be loaded out at the end. This includes the sound system for the audience, pit orchestra, onstage effects and foldback, as well as backstage communications at CCTV required for the show. It is an extremely laborious process that takes a skilled crew to accomplish safely. I often tell people to imagine the largest show you’ve ever worked on, and put it in the smallest space you’ve ever been in. That’s Broadway – big shows in theatres that are 100s of years old and never meant to hold shows of this size. But we make it work with a lot of planning and hard work.

After load-in is complete, technical rehearsals begin. These are long days at the theatre making sure every cue and every sound level is perfect and works with performers and other design elements. This quickly moves into the preview process – where we work during the day making adjustments to the show, while giving public performances in the evening. This process allows us to “test out” how a show works in front of an audience while making changes during the daytime rehearsals. After we complete the preview process, a show is frozen – when we stop making changes, but continue to perform preview performances to practice the final show – until the show officially opens.

Once a show is open, the process of running & maintaining a project begins. Some Broadway shows can run for years – and keeping them maintained is a whole other procedure. It often starts with cross-training staff, which means that the various audio engineers on the show learn how to do each other’s primary jobs so they can cover each other when necessary. The backstage audio engineer will often learn how to mix the show, and vice versa, as well as additional substitute staff training. Gear is tested daily, and maintained with proper cleaning & replacement as needed. This is in addition to executing eight or more performances per week. The designers and production staff who work on the show will not be at the theatre every day, but will often visit to check in and make sure that things are running smoothly and supply support as needed.

When a Broadway show reaches the end of its run, all of the gear must then be loaded out and returned to the rental house. Again, this is a multi-day process of removing every item that the show rented and returning it to the rental company. Every piece of audio gear – from large speakers to the smallest adaptor – needs to be accounted for and returned. If a piece of gear is missing, the show must pay the rental house for the replacement cost of the item.

Most Broadway theatres are considered historic landmarks, and therefore must be restored to their landmark state at the end of each production. This work doesn’t always fall to the show’s staff – but is usually completed in the days following the end of load out.

What is important to note is that many people who work on Broadway are often working on several projects simultaneously. It is not unusual for an independent contractor like myself to be working on the pre-production stage of one project while sitting in technical rehearsal for another. It’s a huge balancing act that is often only accomplished by having a skilled team working with you.

How do you stay organized and focused?

To stay organized, I take a lot of notes & write everything down. 95% of what I write down, I never look at again. But, the process of taking notes has always been how I learn & remember things. I recently moved to being paperless, which has been huge. Finding the right software to use to keep files organized & to be able to find the information I need when I need it was key.

Staying focused is a different story. I have often found that the best way to stay focused is to not do too much at once – not always an easy task. Pacing myself & not leaving things to the last minute is key. But also acknowledging that if I find my mind wandering or I get distracted, taking a break or walking away for a second (when possible) makes it easier to restart a project.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

All of the interesting people I meet, the amazing places I get to go, and regularly getting to be a part of “once in a lifetime” experiences. I also love NOT working in a cubicle.

What do you like least?

Long hours & sore feet. And constantly hustling for the next job.

If you tour, what do you like best?

I toured for about 7 years with various Broadway 1st National Tours. I was very fortunate to be touring at a time when large shows did long sit-downs in big cities – more than they do now. I loved bringing Broadway shows all over the country while having enough time to explore and learn about the places we were visiting.

What is your favorite day off activity?

When I’m at home in NYC, I enjoy bike riding & yoga, and also having good food & drinks with friends. When I’m traveling, I like to get lost in whatever city I am in – exploring, finding new things & meeting new people.

What are your long term goals? –

Getting more women hired as sound designers on Broadway – including myself. Broadway has a long history of having a lot of women audio engineers. But, very few women have reached the top levels of sound design – especially for large musicals. Before the pandemic, only 2-3% of Broadway shows in a season were sound designed by women. Since Broadway re-opened in 2023, closer to 8-10% of Broadway shows are designed by women – but a majority of those shows are done on smaller shows with smaller paychecks. We can and must do better. There are a lot of extremely talented women designers who are not being afforded the same opportunities as our male colleagues.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

The same barriers that almost every woman of my age who works in audio has experienced. “Backwards and in heels” is a real thing – women have to work harder and be better to get half the distance of our male colleagues. Women of my generation had to keep our mouths shut and tolerate – if not play along – with bad behavior and mistreatment. It is getting better. And I owe a lot to some of my younger women colleagues for teaching me to finally speak up. I’m glad to see the culture is changing.

How have you dealt with them?

Lots of dinners and drinks with the girls. Having a strong support system of allies makes all the difference. In recent years, feeling able to speak up when things are wrong has been a huge change from what we dealt with previously. And just staying determined.

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

Find the places that are the best ways for you to learn. Not everyone will benefit from a college degree or a master’s program. But you have to find out how to learn the skills required for the position you desire. There are options.

Understand that you will always be marketing yourself. Do not hesitate to reach out to the people you want to work with and introduce yourself. They are rarely going to seek you out. Know that, at some point in their career, they were doing the same thing to someone they admired.

And lastly – know where you want to be at the end of your career and plan for it as early as possible. If that means having a family, or children, or retiring in the Caribbean, you have to think about it as early as possible. (I admit that I am stealing that one from some amazing female colleagues who said it to me once).

Must have skills?

Theatrical Sound Design has become far more complicated than it was when I first started in the industry. If you are going to work in commercial entertainment, you need to understand both artistic/creative design AND technical system design, even if your work is primarily focused on one or the other. Having a baseline understanding of music and acoustics is important. And lastly – computer networking. Almost every aspect of professional audio involves networks now, and the more you know the better off you will be.

Favorite gear?

iZotope plug-ins. Neutron, Nectar, Ozone & RX Suites. I use them as limitless tools while working in content creation, composition, editing, and post-production work.

Closing Thoughts

I’ve been in this industry for a very long time. I started out in regional theatre, then off-Broadway, touring, and Broadway. I’ve worked in every job there is in live theatre. But I have also worked extensively in live television, concerts, corporate events, and sports. I’m very proud of all of the work that I have accomplished – having depth to my skill set allows me to fluidly shift between jobs & provides me with more opportunities. Not everyone can offer that. This level of flexibility is essential if you are going to work in live entertainment – especially as an independent contractor. The more you bring to the table, the more options that should be available to you. Don’t pigeonhole yourself. You will find amazing experiences in places you were not necessarily looking.

Understand that it’s still not uncommon to be one of the only women in the room. Despite a lot of people’s best efforts, women are still not treated equally. Even our closest colleagues don’t always realize that. Be prepared – and find the people who are your true allies quickly. It takes a lot of courage and resilience to get & stay here.

Don’t get down on yourself – you are not imagining how hard it is sometimes. I know a lot of people who think they suffer from imposter syndrome. Just know that you are not lesser than anyone else in the room – you are often just working with amazing people who are challenging your skills. Challenge theirs in return. You deserve to be there.

Old Script, New Tricks

Sound people have a lot of opinions so there are always things we can debate. One of the bigger ones concerns scripts. Do you always have one in front of you or should you memorize the show? Is a digital or paper script better? Everything has its pros and cons, even down to what’s the most efficient way to turn pages.

For several years, early in my career, I worked with a designer who preferred that his mixers be off-book as quickly as possible, so I developed the habit of memorizing the show and getting rid of the script. Now I find something satisfying about walking up to a console that is clear of all clutter: no script tray, no extra lights, no knick-knacks, just you and the board.

There are sometimes you have to use a script. For shorter shows (a couple months or less) or readings and workshops (typically a couple days at most), there simply isn’t enough time to confidently be off-book. With any new show things can (and will) change daily and it’s always better to have a script in front of you to document and stay on top of everything.

On Outsiders I ran into a new situation. I was on a show that would hopefully run for a while, so the goal, as usual, was to get off-book. However it was a new show, so from December when I saw a reading of the show until we opened five months later in April, I needed a script to keep track of all the changes.

I found prepping a new show was a completely different process from an established one. On tour, you can memorize months ahead of time, knowing things may change, but they’ll likely be minor at best. On a new show everything is in flux: pieces of songs were added or rearranged, lines got reassigned, and whole sections got cut, added, or moved on a daily basis. There were things we were running for the first or second time during a preview performance, so trying to memorize ahead of time would have been a pipe dream at best.

On my previous shows, I was completely off-book within a month or two of opening. With an April opening for Outsiders, operating under a similar timeline put the show in the middle of having Tony voters in the audience, a time where making any mistakes would be frowned upon, let alone missing something because I chose not to have my script in front of me.

With that in mind I knew that I’d be on-book until at least mid-June, after the Tonys, what I didn’t expect was how hard it would be to get off-book once I was so used to having it in front of me. I’d learned to rely on it instead of having the show memorized and it was a comfortable safety blanket. Logically, there’s no reason besides personal preference to not have my script in front of me so it was another two months before I felt completely comfortable putting it away. And I only pushed to do that because I was training a sub on the mix and I’ve always found it easier when you don’t have to share the script dolly or swap back and forth between books.

After seeing both sides of things, what’s my recommendation?

Whatever works best for you, maybe with some weight given to the specific preference of the designer.

Having a script means you don’t have to rely on your memory and the show typically drifts less because everything is right in front of you. However, there is more of a tendency to look only at the script and pay less attention to what’s going on onstage.

This is especially true for newer mixers who have to look down at their hands to make sure they’re hitting the correct levels for pick ups and read the script for the next thing. That’s a lot to do on it’s own without adding in looking up at the stage.

More experienced mixers tend to have a muscle memory for fader throws so they don’t have to look at their hands as much to know they’re hitting close to -5dB or -10 or whatever they need. For them it’s easier to divide their attention between two places (script and stage) instead of three. Which was true for me. So even though I was still on-book for Outsiders, I already had the habit of getting my head up and paying more attention to the stage and was able to find a happy medium.

The benefit of being memorized is that you don’t have anything in front of you besides the show. When you’re looking at the stage you automatically start to connect what you’re hearing to match the visual onstage.

Physically you don’t have as many things covering the console when you need to make adjustments (the script dolly for the SD7 blocks a lot of real estate). But, you’re relying solely on memory which can be faulty: it’s easier to forget things and miss pick ups or drift as you think you remember the levels you usually hit, but it starts changing slowly over time.

Again, do whatever makes you the most comfortable.

Now I know that I like the comfort of having a script just as much as I like the look of an uncluttered console. On the flip side, I also realized that I pay better attention when I don’t have the script in front of me.

I went through a few waves as the show progressed. At the beginning I was focused while I was still learning the show. Once I got comfortable my mind started drifting. That was when I started trying to get off-book, and that challenge pulled my focus back in again. Honestly, I think I’ll stay off-book for the majority of the time, but still pull my script out every once in a while to make sure I haven’t drifted or if I gone for a week or two on vacation.

The biggest improvement is that I wouldn’t beat myself up for having (or choosing) to pull out the script. Before it would have been a failing that I’d “lost my touch” or didn’t know the show anymore, but now it’s getting to revisit an old, helpful friend.

I had a taste of that when I hopped back to the Les Mis tour last year to cover the A2’s vacation. I had a couple shows out front to refresh on the mix and, even though I’d been off-book when I was on the tour before, it would have been egotistical to a fault to think that I still remembered everything six year and four shows later, so the script came back out.

Past the opinions of on- or off-book, there’s also a debate on using a digital script (iPad, Surface, etc) or sticking to a physical hard copy. I prefer a digital script: I find it easier to make clean changes, and it was very useful when I was subbing on multiple shows because all my scripts were in my iPad instead of carting around multiple binders. On the flip side, paper never runs the risk of running out of battery, and if you need to change a page you just pull it out and put the new one in instead of dealing with transferring files. I never ended up needing them, but I still had a paper copy of my script at each show, just in case.

So, I guess I do a hybrid approach. I use my digital script (with a charger set up at the console) but I also have that hard copy. Which would also come in handy if I got hit by a bus: there’s always a copy of the script at FOH for someone to grab.

Again, it’s all about your own comfort level.

If you like the convenience of having everything self contained and don’t want to deal with an extra light at the console, digital is the way to go, just make sure you keep an eye on battery level and have a charged pen to go with it.

If the possibility of your script dying at a random point in the show gives you anxiety, stick with the tried and true hard copy.

There are endless other debates: do you use the version that the SM gives you or make your own? If you have a digital script do you want to minimize how many times your hands move off the faders and add in a foot pedal to turn pages for you or do you bite the bullet and doing it manually?

For me, I make my own script and put page turns in the most convenient spots which makes adding in a foot pedal feel too complicated for a minimal benefit. If I want to turn pages less I just get off-book and call it good.

Does any of this mean that’s how you have to do it? Absolutely not.

I try to give you multiple opinions of whatever I’m talking about because nothing in this industry is one-size-fits-all. Listen to people and their opinions. Use what makes sense to you, but maybe try something new to see if it might work better for you. Before I did Outsiders I never would have thought that I’d actually like having a script in front of me, but I got to try something new and it worked. Doesn’t matter how old the (road) dogs are, we can still learn new tricks.

Mixing: Down to the Details

My previous two blogs were about how to get started mixing first with the vocals, then working with the band. Once you start to feel like you’ve got mental energy to spend on other things, it’s time to zero in on the subtleties. These are the details that take the sound from a functional mix to part of the story. You as the mixer start to have room to make the show your own and add some artistic flourishes!

So what does that mean? At this point you have the vocals at good levels, you’re blending the band and pushing solos, so what else is there to do? In my very first blog, I talked about what makes a functional mix versus a good one. Up until this part of my mixing series, it’s been about functionality, so now we’re going to look at how to shape a show.

First, it’s time for an extra bit of script analysis. Some lines in a show will ask for special attention. These are plot points, setups, and punchlines for jokes, and sometimes special moments like ambient noises or ad-libs you want to highlight. Plot points are things like character introductions, foreshadowing, and establishing scene/time that might get lost. On Saigon, there is an abrupt jump three years ahead, something the characters briefly reference, so I’d try to pop those lines out to help the audience understand what was happening. On Mean Girls, when the Plastics make their entrance and each character gets a little bump as they start their introductions, especially Gretchen where we also took out the vocal verb to help make her quick, wordy bit more intelligible.

Sometimes you’ll have sections where multiple people are all singing at the same time. In Phantom of the Opera, you go from “Notes” or what we call “Managers,” a scene where the seven people on stage have rapid-fire lines back and forth to “Prima Donna” where those same people are now singing on top of each other. Your job as the mixer is to highlight the parts that are important to the story: Carlotta making her distress abundantly clear, Raoul and Mme Giry debating about the Phantom, and the managers bemoaning dealing with the aforementioned Prima Donna. You’re keeping everyone up so you maintain the musical texture that the song uses, but make sure to push the important bits just a little bit more.

Script Excerpt from “Prima Donna” in Phantom of the Opera

This was a scene that made me fall in love with mixing every time I got it right. Managers are technical and all about getting the mics up at the right time and Prima Donna is a complete 180 into artistic blending. It’s a section where you have to bring your best every single night and I thrive on that kind of challenge. There was a while between when I learned how to do a good mix with multiple faders up to finally making it to the point where I could truly do it line by line, but that show when I finally managed it was a highlight of my early mixing days.

Back to the more technical bits, we have laugh lines. For these, you have the setup, the punchline, and the return. You typically have to push all three of these: if the audience can’t hear the set up they won’t get the joke, and then you need to signal that we’re returning to the flow of the show again with the return, usually over some last bits of laughter. Frequently, the set up comes right before the punchline, but there are sometimes the punchline will be a callback to a previous scene or act. These setups are even more important to accentuate for a later payoff.

Along with the plot, you can shape emotional volume. The goal is that the overall sound for a show is cohesive and smooth, but that doesn’t mean monotone; you’re trying to make sure that all the levels make sense in the context of the show. My favorite songs to mix are the most dynamic ones. Both “World Burn” from Mean Girls and “Little Brother” from Outsiders are great examples of songs that start very quiet and work their way all across the emotional spectrum to a big dramatic moment by the end. In both, the end wouldn’t have the same impact if you started the soloist at a normal speaking level because you wouldn’t have as much room to build. The range from deathly quiet at the start to all-out power at the end can drive the emotion home.

playbill.com Studio sneak peek at “Little Brother” from The Outsiders

As you work on more and more shows you’ll start to develop an ear for how the dynamics of the band want to shape a song, but there will always be some element of trial and error. Until you find what the band is consistently doing, there’ll be some shows where you build too fast and don’t leave yourself anywhere to go and other times when you don’t start early enough and have to rush to the end. Once both you and the band settle into the pacing of the songs and you learn how dynamic your actors are throughout a song, you’ll get more accurate and more consistent on how far and how fast you can push everything.

I had to relearn that on Outsiders. The music is different from a traditional musical theatre show and it took me a while to resist the urge to push for that big opening number or a huge finale when the music didn’t actually want to do that. For days I ended up fighting with myself on the faders, trying to get mics up hotter so I could push the band more, but reaching a point where there was only so much that I could do. I left rehearsals feeling like the mix was okay at best, and I do not like that feeling. When I got the note to pull things back and let the music sit where it wanted to, I could finally see what was supposed to be happening. When I didn’t try to force it into something it wasn’t, I didn’t have to manhandle the dynamics or push the actors too much because I was going too big with the band. That made all the difference and drew me back to take a hard look at the rest of the show to see if there were other times I was working against myself.

Something that will start to set you apart as a mixer is learning to correct on the fly when people are inconsistent. This could be an off day where an actor is sick or a sub-musician is in or you have someone who is just consistently inconsistent. Ideally, everyone does the same thing every day, but our job is based on dealing with the human elements and the reality is that nothing will ever be exactly uniform day in and day out. This means staying engaged and focused on the show with your fingers on the active faders and keeping your ears engaged. As you learn how an actor sounds, you can start to tell when something sounds off (they’re tired, sick, not paying attention, someone they want to impress is in the audience, etc) and even sometimes anticipate when they might go off course and you either have to give them some help or rein them in.

Sometimes those anomalies and small mistakes help you find things that work better. I’ve had times when I left the band to focus on something else and realized there’s a fun feature for someone that I want to highlight. (Or you learn that the musicians will make noise as soon as they’re done playing and it’s imperative you pull them out quickly.) On Mean Girls, our Aaron would give a little chuckle after he repeats Cady’s embarrassed “grool” (“great” + “cool”), and when I noticed he did that, I left his mic up for that extra beat. It gives his character a cute moment where you see he’s starting to fall for Cady and it draws the audience in.

Adante Carter as Aaron Samuels and Danielle Wade as Cady Heron in the 1st National Tour of Mean Girls (photo credit: Joan Marcus)

With all the talk of getting into details, this is a point where we can easily fall into the trap of over-adjusting. Sometimes for long scenes or songs, we’ll feel like we have to change something or we’re not doing our jobs. It’s hard to accept that sometimes doing nothing is the most effective path. On Les Mis, at the end of “Bring Him Home” there’s a moment when Valjean and the orchestra would start their final note. Most days I didn’t have to do anything: they did a natural resolution to the end and I’d learned that trying to push it didn’t sound right, so it was one of the very rare moments I would actually take my hands off the faders and step back. For a beat, I got to take in the picture of the stage and just breathe. To this day, whenever I hear that song, I still have a physiological response where the muscles in my back and shoulders will automatically relax because it triggers that subconscious reminder of that beautiful moment and being able to trust my coworkers and simply let go.

Nick Cartell as Jean Valjean in the 2017 National Tour of Les Miserables (photo credit: Matthew Murphy)

As the mixer you are in the unique position where you’re simultaneously in the middle of the show and the middle of the audience at the same time. Lighting and the spot ops are in booths and everyone else is backstage. You’re the only one who gets the chance to breathe with the actors and the flow of the music as you hear every reaction from the audience at the same time. Theatre is one of the few places where we find ourselves comfortable to let emotions loose in public. I love it when you can hear people start to sniffle or cry in the audience or feel the entire theater gasp as one because it means they’re with us. Shows are so much more fun to mix when that happens and digging into these details takes the audience from simply watching actors to investing themselves in stories where they care about what happens to these people.

The best thing you can learn to do is pay attention to what’s going on around you. Listen to the notes that the director is giving the actors or the composer is giving the band. Get your head out of the script and off your hands and see what’s happening onstage. The more you watch and listen, the more you’ll learn about what the vision for the show is and the better able you are to make intentional choices to further that goal. If the creatives can tell that you’re heading in the right direction, they’ll give you some leeway to figure things out. If the actors and musicians can trust that you’re there to support them even when they’re having an off-show, they’ll give you better performances. None of us work in a vacuum in this business and the sooner we learn that, the better we can make the show.

Mixing: Band Next

In my last blog, I started talking about how you can approach mixing when you’re just getting started. If you haven’t read it, here’s the cliff notes version: vocals are your first priority. Make sure you get the lines out (especially in tech), no matter how many faders you need up at the beginning. Then you can work towards line-by-line mixing from there.

Once you’re comfortable enough with the vocals and can start paying attention to other things, what’s next? If it’s a musical, the answer’s easy: the music.

The band is more self-sufficient than the vocals. They’ll do some dynamics on their own, so they can take care of themselves to a point while you’re settling in with the vocals. For the things they don’t do on their own, you’ll tend to notice and take care of them naturally. If the music is too loud and it’s hard to hear what the actors are saying, you pull it back. If we’re heading into a song, bring them back up to support the singing. All of that is a good start, but at this point, those moves are reactive as you notice something and adjust to compensate. Once you can give more attention to what’s really happening in the music, you can anticipate and be proactive.

There’s some work you can do even before you get into the theatre. If I’m working on a show that already has a cast album I’ll do what I call a Music Map. I’ll go through each song and write down which section or instrument has the melody or is featured. Even if the recording isn’t the exact version I’m going to do, it gets me in the ballpark. It could be just the sections (brass, strings, percussion, etc), or even a best guess. So what if I mark down that it’s a trumpet that has a solo and it ends up being a French horn? It’s paperwork that’s only for me, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. More than anything it gets me to put a critical ear to the show a few times so I’m more familiar with the music and feel more prepared going into tech.

This was one that I did for Les Mis: it’s a quick jot of “Valjean’s Soliloquy” with the part of the song (usually by the lyric), which section has the focus if I picked out a specific instrument and anything else I noticed like supporting instruments. You can see that it’s a rough sketch, not the end product. There are things like the note of “Keys?” towards the end, which meant I wasn’t sure if it was an acoustic instrument or a keyboard patch. Again, you’ll find out for sure once you get the musicians in the space, but this gives you a reference if you feel like you’re missing something.

Every song has a shape to it. Some get progressively louder, building to a big musical moment at the end, other times it’s a quiet ballad that has some builds but may stay pretty quiet. Others might be a mix or jump from singing into dialogue and back again, going up and down fairly drastically in volume. As the mixer, you help maintain that shape to get the right emotional build. This typically happens in one of two ways: supporting or managing.

When you’re supporting the band your faders move the same way as the dynamics. So you’re riding the fader up with the big crescendo to give the moment a little more punch, or as the music fades you’re bringing it back at the board so they settle where you need it in time to make a pocket for the vocals. This is how you usually treat slow songs (love ballads, dramatic solos) and shows that have a larger, traditional orchestra. Acoustic instruments tend to use more dynamic control, so you’re helping them along.

On the flip side, when you’re managing, that means you’re moving in the opposite direction of what the dynamics are doing. Say there’s a moment where it feels like it should get bigger musically, but logistically what’s happening is only part of the pit was playing at the beginning and when the music feels like it’s going to bump up a notch, the rest of the band comes in. Everything gets louder naturally with the additional musicians, so you don’t need to push to get the dynamic increase you want. You might even have to pull them back to make sure everything doesn’t get too big too early or overpower the singers.

Managing happens more often with electronic instruments, which might not have as much fine control over their dynamics with pedals and presets. In some cases, they don’t have any, like if a keyboard patch is a trigger. That means it doesn’t matter how hard or soft the keyboard player hits the key (velocity), the sound it triggers will always be at the same volume.

Once you have an idea of the musical shape of the show, start noting band moves in your script. These will become a part of your choreography. I’ll use numbers if I know where the band faders usually end up, or markings like crescendo, decrescendo, or circles for quick bumps if the moves are more general.

Along with overall dynamic moments, you’ll also begin to pick out individual solos or features where you may have to give additional support or managing, just on a smaller scale. For example, if a flute and a trumpet each have a moment in a song, they’ll likely have to be treated differently. The flute is naturally quieter, so you’ll likely have to push their mic to get them out over the mix. However, the trumpet may not need any help (or you might have to pull it back) depending on the player’s lung capacity and sense of subtlety.

Try to remember that no rule is absolute. Although trumpet players are very good at being loud, that doesn’t mean you’ll always pull them back. In Mean Girls, there were a couple of moments where the trumpet had a James Bond-style riff and I’d have to push it quite a bit to get them out over the rest of the band. So treat each moment as its own entity. In sound it’s easy to get caught in traps of comfort and appearance: an eq doesn’t look quite right, and you never usually have to push the drums, so why would you need to now? Try to listen first and make adjustments accordingly. Does the eq sound right? Can you not hear cymbals in this section? When in doubt, ask for a second opinion. Sometimes you just need a set of fresh ears when you’ve been listening to the same show for weeks or months.

Once you learn where the band moves are, you can focus on the details. Different songs will want different approaches: sweeping orchestras lend themselves to fluid, continuous movements while quick, pop songs tend to have quicker bumps or more dramatic pulls.

Here’s a video of “Why God Why?” from Miss Saigon. It’s mostly one person singing, so the attention is on the band’s moves. My main focus is to make sure the vocals (faders 1-8) are always supported—not overpowered—by the orchestra (11 and 12), but I can still fill in the music around the lyrics so the overall level stays consistent. There are pushes with the orchestra in the emotional builds which are followed by quick pulls to get the band back and make a pocket for the vocals again. Around the 3:35 mark, there’s a pull where I tuck fader 11 back a little bit more than the rest of the band to compensate for a louder key patch: an example of the managing I talked about before in action. Overall, the song starts out quiet and has slow builds, each getting a bit bigger than the one before. There’s a quick pullback when we go into the faster section, the emotional build with Chris and the Vietnamese, and then the big finish at the end with a bump.

Music is an essential part of a musical, but it can do so much to enhance the story on an emotional level. As a mixer, you get the chance to put an extra flourish on some of those moments to drive them home. One of my previous blogs covered some of those times in-depth and how good it feels when everything comes together. Because the next level of working with the band is learning to adjust it live to the actors so you get that emotional impact. When they’re able to go for it, you have more leeway to make the moments bigger, or if they’re under the weather or having an off day, you adapt and pull the music back so they still land in the right place relatively. Like in “Why God,” you can literally hear Chris’s frustration building as the orchestra gets bigger, but how big the orchestra can get depends on how big Chris is going to go.

It’s these details with the music that make a lot of shows more fun to mix. There’s a feeling you get when you hit a bump at just the right moment and just the right level that keeps you coming back to see if you can do it again and again. I’ve been incredibly lucky that I’ve worked with some people who are both amazing musicians and lovely humans, and you always want to let that talent shine. I can’t count the number of times one of them has come up to me, so excited because a friend came to see the show and told them they sounded good. If they know that you’re taking care of them, you build trust, which ultimately leads to a better show for everyone. So take the time and make the effort to learn the music. Some people will actually notice and appreciate it, others will just know that the show hit a little deeper this time. Either way, it can make a world of difference.

One of Many Roads to Broadway

Happy New Year, SoundGirls followers! As I reflected on the year gone by, it occurred to me that since the post-shutdown theatre reopening in the spring/summer of 2021, I haven’t written much about my specific career journey. In particular, I haven’t yet blogged about getting to work on my first Broadway show! Making my debut was a big milestone for me, and getting there has been a long and winding path. Also, the journey is different for everyone. So even though my story is individual for me, I thought it might be interesting and helpful to share. So, strap in for a ride on my road to Hogwarts!

Intro: A Catch-up to the catch-up

I’ll try to make this quick. Starting in the summer of 2021, my life was a whirlwind of mixing out-of-town tryouts (4 in the span of 12 months) and picking up freelance gigs in CT and NYC. I did NOT get to spend a lot of time at home, and while the opportunities were good for my career, the necessary sacrifices SUCKED for my marriage and my mental health in general.

So, in the summer of 2022, I worked on changing some of that: choosing my gigs more thoughtfully, reclaiming some of my headspace, and making plans to get myself actively moving toward some of my big career goals. I reflected a lot about that journey in a blog I wrote about the potential dangers of emotional attachment to one’s work which you can read here.

How to Own Your Work Without it Owning You

That period of reflection led me to make a lot of good choices going forward. I advocated for time off from my gigs to go to family events and a friend’s wedding. I reached out to an old connection who was on a show I wanted to be involved in, and he hired me for the entire 4-week shop build. I quit a show for the first time ever (!!) because I recognized that despite it being fun to mix, the overall process was making me miserable. And as fate would have it, that reflection and work paid off in a big way just a few weeks later.

Hard Work + Network = Broadway Debut!

First day at my new workplace!

At the end of 2022, I was offered a job at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as a substitute A2. Like many opportunities in this business, this one truly was proof of two timeless career adages: 1. Luck = preparation meets opportunity, and 2. Don’t underestimate the power of the network.

Bear with me for some long but important preamble…At the very beginning of that year, I lost out on a big job I had been hoping to get. While the hiring decision wasn’t about my work or anything personal, I was still devastated. For a while, I questioned everything about that experience and what led up to it; Had I not done a good enough job during the tryout to be worthy of moving on with the show? Was I kidding myself to think I might have been ready to mix on Broadway? Had the designer been unhappy with my work in the first place, and if so, had I failed to notice?

It is SO easy to get in your head about getting rejected, especially in this biz, and I let myself fall prey to the doubt at first. However, in the weeks that followed, a funny thing kept happening: every couple of days I would get these random emails from sound people I didn’t know saying that I had been recommended to them by the designer of this show that I didn’t book, and was I available for future work? I was relieved, humbled, and grateful every time this happened. It was a total validation of this designer’s trust in me, and getting these recommendations (plus doing a lot of unpacking with my amazing friends and my therapist) allowed me to slowly let go of a lot of that self-doubt I had been harboring.

Fast forward to August, and yet another of these emails pops up. This one says something to the effect of “Hi, my name is A, I got your name from B, who got your name from C [the designer from before]. I am looking for a mixer for this workshop of a musical and oh also by the way do you sub? I’m looking for another A2 swing for my regular show.” In the signature of the email, it said “Head Audio, Lyric Theatre,” which is where Harry Potter plays. I couldn’t believe it! At this point, I hadn’t even worked for B (the middle person in the network) yet, but this original designer’s trust in me was enough that this co-sign of a co-sign counted for a lot. My now-boss called me a few days later to talk over the details, and I started training at the Lyric (and working on the workshop) less than a week later 🙂

Broadway: the same, just bigger

So, there I am backstage on Broadway. I hadn’t been an A2 in a while, and of course I had never worked on a Broadway show aside from one shop build, so I was definitely nervous about jumping in on such a big show. It turned out, thankfully, that I had nothing to worry about. Everyone at the Lyric was so amazingly nice and helpful. From stage management to dressers to my fellow sound folks, everyone was quick to point out all the important details, like where I had to stand, what I had to do during each quick change, and even the order in which people needed to move so we don’t have a backstage collision! This may seem small, but it’s the combination of thousands of details like this that makes a show as huge as HP run smoothly.

HP is so big that, unlike many shows that just have an A1 and an A2, it takes a sound crew of FOUR to do each performance! 1 person mixes, 1 runs all the sound effects and playback, and 2 people deal with mics backstage. Any of those jobs would be too much for one person, given that there are many hundreds of sound cues, multiple mic swaps and quick changes, and 56 channels of RF to keep a handle on! When I sub there, I run either of the 2 backstage tracks and depending on whether the absent person is a FOH person or a backstage person, the other regular crew people shift around to the other positions to cover the absence.

The biggest thing I have learned/had reinforced for me the most over my year-plus at the Lyric has been that having a good attitude counts first, and then you do good work to back it up. As I mentioned, it has been ages since I had run a backstage track, but I was ready to listen hard, keep my head down, follow instructions, stay in my lane, and not make a fuss. And that almost counted more than if I’d already been great at any of the arts and crafts that go into building our mic rigs. The ability to stay calm and adapt when something goes amiss is truly the most important quality a good stagehand needs, and cultivating mine has served me well every time I am there.

Looking Ahead

All told, booking HP felt like a big culmination of my preparation and work finally paying off. I’m still chasing many dreams, but it felt perfect to have a few big doors open for me. I have gotten to work on a lot more Broadway shows as part of the shop, load-in, and load-out crews. This allowed me to network with even more people in the “big leagues,” and move into a much higher-paying tier of work at venues like Lincoln Center and The Shed. Thanks to these gigs and HP, I was even able to make my first year of Local One money. I’ll explain that in more detail in my upcoming blog series, “IATSE 101,” but basically it means I am now 1/3 of the way through the 3-year process of joining the New York City chapter of the Stagehands union, which will be a huge deal for my career when I finish. All in all, it feels really good to know I’m on the right track.

The interior of the Lyric Theatre on Broadway

So Happy New Year SoundGirls, and best wishes to you all for career and personal success in 2024! I’ll be back with the first installment of “IATSE 101” in the Spring. Until then, I’ll be in the dungeons of Hogwarts, pinching myself ☺

Who’s Who?

This is a blog I should have written years ago. But better late than never, right? So 20(!) blogs in we’re finally getting to some theatre basics: who’s who in the world of theatre audio. I’ve touched on some of the jobs in other blogs, but today we’re going to hit all of them. After all, you can’t be what you don’t know, so let’s make sure you know what your options are!

The sound team is usually comprised of

The Sound Designer

The designer is in charge of the big picture: creating a design concept, communicating with directors and designers, and delegating to their team. What their exact duties are in relation to their team will differ from team to team depending on the skill sets of each person. Some designers are composers (those tend to do a lot of plays since the music for a musical is done by someone else) or are more focused on the design aspect of creating soundscapes or effects. Others are more involved with the technical side of things: the gear, the system, etc. Either way, designers will specify the gear they want to use (console, speakers, mics, processing, etc) and collaborate with the director and other designers on the artistic scope and special needs of the show.

The strengths of a designer help determine who they look for while creating their team. Most designers end up working with associates or assistants that have complementary skills. If they’re more creative, they might work with someone who can provide insight into what gear can accomplish what they want to do. If they’re more technical, they might want someone good with coaching a mixer or creating sound effects.

The Associate Designer

The associate acts as the designer when the designer isn’t around. They have worked with the designer before (usually on multiple projects), know how to set things up to their liking, and the designer trusts them to take care of projects on their own. They might have started as an assistant or a mixer with that same designer and they work closely with the Production Audio to get the sound system put together and installed.

Sometimes a designer has multiple associates. When we teched the Les Miserables tour, the designer, Mick Potter, had three tours teching at the same time: Les Miserables, School of Rock, and Love Never Dies. Each tour had an associate to get the sound system loaded in and tech the show. Mick split his time between the three shows, trusting his associates to get everything ready and roughed in, scheduling his time so he could be at each show for their mission-critical moments like Quiet Time (when the sound system gets tuned) and Cast on Stage (the first day the cast is onstage in mics for tech). The associates could go to him with questions when he wasn’t there, and he didn’t have to actually be in three places at once, even though it very much seemed like he was for that month. As you can see, with multiple projects going at the same time, having an associate that they can trust is absolutely essential for a designer.

The Assistant Designer

The assistant’s job is very similar to the associate. However, while an associate can act in the designer’s stead, the assistant typically has to get permission before making changes. The division of labor depends a lot on the dynamic and skill sets of the team, especially if there’s both an associate and an assistant on the show.

The Production Audio

This is a job I talked about in detail in another blog when I was in Production for a tour. Production is in charge of taking the system specified by the Designer and turning it into a reality, accounting for every connection, cable, piece of gear, nut and bolt, and loading it (or installing it in Broadway’s case) into the theatre.

Advance Audio

The advance position is found on larger tours that need extra people to load in, but not during the show run. An advance crew usually has at least an Advance Carpenter, Electrician, and Audio, but may also have a person for rigging, automation, or other specialties. They get to a venue before the show-to-show crew (the ones that run the show) and start loading in. When I was on the most recent Phantom of the Opera tour, our advance crew started in the theatre on Monday while we were loading out and traveling to that city and we’d join them and continue loading in Tuesday and Wednesday, then they’d leave on Thursday. On tours like Aladdin, the advance load in lasted several days before the show-to-show crew arrived, which isn’t surprising when you consider they had a magic carpet to set up!

The Mixer (A1)

This is what most of my blogs focus on, especially the first one, but in brief, the mixer’s job is to run the show, blending vocal and instrumental mics to execute the Designer’s concept for how the show should sound. They are the head of the sound department which involves contacting the shop if there is a problem with gear, making sure the department (deck and local audio as well) have everything and all the information they need, and on tour talking to future venues and developing a plan for load in.

The Deck Audio (A2)

The A2 is responsible for running the deck track (mic swaps, handoffs, etc), maintaining microphones, and troubleshooting mid-show, and they will mix the show on a regular basis to act as a cover for the A1. (In NYC, sometimes there is a “non-mixing” A2, which means there is another person, not in the building on a day-to-day basis, who’s trained on the mix.)

Other jobs

Depending on the needs of the show, other positions may come up. Sometimes there are so many sound effects that the mixer can’t run them and accurately mix the show at the same time, so an Operator position is created for someone who is designated to run effects for the show. Or there might be lots of live instruments played onstage so an Instrument Tech is added to the show and may fall under the sound department.

That may not seem like a lot of people at a glance, but it can make for a lot of moving parts, and knowing who to communicate with for a given problem is key. So, who do you talk to when you have a question? During prep in the shop or tech in the theatre, it’s easy to get anyone’s attention because you’re all in the same room. Once the show is up and running and Design and Production have left the building, who’s your go-to now?

On tour my main point of contact is the associate; they’re usually accessible to double-check on things or so you can pick their brain. They end up being a natural choice because you end up spending the majority of your time in tech with them anyway.

For the first few moves on tour, I’d have the Associate check the preliminary speaker prediction I did, then review any adjustments I made once we were in the theatre. Once they felt comfortable that I knew what the Designer was looking for and could make informed choices on my own, they would check in less and less, unless I asked for input on something specific. They also got copied on the advance email I sent to my A2 before we loaded into a new city which had the plan for the venue, any special thing we might have to take care of, or if it would be a normal day.

They are also the contact for any comments or concerns that pop up in addition to the questions. Some examples are if there are audience complaints and you need some help figuring out which adjustment to make, or if the actors or management have requested something that will change the design of the show. One common request I’ve run into is actors asking for vocals to be put in the onstage speakers. This is usually something that is decided either in or well before tech and isn’t in the mixer’s purview to change. That gets sent to the associate either as a “can we change this?” or “please respond so someone higher than me on the food chain has reiterated that we can’t, and we can end this conversation.”

If the Associate needs to involve the Designer, they will. Other than that, the Designer might stop by on occasion, maybe every 6 months to a year, to check in on the show (in which case I’ll also include them on my advance emails for that load-in). Other than that, they may not have much to do with the day-to-day of the show.

If I have system or gear-specific questions, I’ll usually ask the production audio, since they’re the ones that built the system and spend a lot of their time around the gear. On tour, they might not have much to do with the show once it’s up and running, but in NYC you might contact both the associate and the production audio with questions. They might also be involved in finding people to sub on the mix or the deck track and figuring out training schedules.

One thing to mention is pay. Ideally, associates and production are paid what’s called “weekly” which is a weekly fee, past whatever salary or flat fee they got for production and tech. This is paying for their continued time and assistance to keep the show running and answer questions. However this isn’t always the case, so that’s something to keep in mind. If my associate is being paid weekly, but production isn’t, I might send my question to the associate first to see if they can answer it before asking production to spend time on something they aren’t getting paid for. Oftentimes, they are happy to help regardless because they want you to be successful and their name is still on the show, but some people may be protective of their time if they aren’t being directly compensated for it.

While we’re talking about communication, let’s touch on other departments that we regularly need to talk to

If I need to address something that involves the actors, but isn’t related to music, I’ll talk to the PSM (Production Stage Manager). They are the glue between all departments, managing the company’s schedules, communication, and on top of that running a show. Notes usually go through Stage Management so they know what’s going on and what to watch out for. From sound, our notes are usually simple: it could be that an actor’s mic placement was out of place, the A2 has adjusted it, but then the actor put on incorrectly the next show. Or someone has changed a line or blocking that affects how or when I take a cue. This communication goes both ways: they’ll let me know if someone’s sick and might need a little help in their big moments, or if there’s trouble hearing something musically onstage and can I see if there’s anything I can do at the board to help?

Anything music-related will go to the MD (Music Director, who usually conducts the show). They’re your link to the musicians as well as the actors. If an instrument consistently sticks out where it’s not supposed to, or you need an actor to give you a little more in a quiet bit of a song, you can go to the MD with notes and they will be able to pass it along or work with the actor on the note if it’s a reoccurring technical problem in their singing.

Someone in the pit, besides the MD, will be designated as a Keyboard Tech. They are there to help if there’s a problem with the software controlling the patches for the keyboards. For sound, as long as we’re patched in correctly, we’ve technically done our job. We’ll never be asked to tune the timpani or restring a violin. However, keyboards are an exception where the instrument and the gear are so intertwined that we might be asked to help the Tech troubleshoot, even if it isn’t directly our responsibility. On the other hand, when we’re checking out the system during the preshow and test the keyboards, we would call the Music Tech to help if there’s a problem that a re-boot or some simple troubleshooting doesn’t fix.

For other issues, usually departmental or personnel, you go to the Head Carpenter or the Steward. The Head Carpenter is the head of the crew, submits payroll, sends out schedules, coordinates and oversees local and show labor on load in and out on a tour, etc. They are the ones you go to with logistical questions that involve special situations or the local crew, setting up work calls, or helping if there’s an issue among crew members. The Steward is there to answer questions about the contract and help if there ever seems to be an overstep or inconsistency.

Returning back to the sound team to wrap it up: interdepartmental communication is some of the most important. The A1 is the head of the department, so gets official communications like performance reports and is likely to be the first point of contact for notes. If the information is necessary or even just helpful, the A2 should know about it. The A2, on the other hand, gets most of the informal communication. They’re backstage, so they’re the ones within earshot if someone needs to pass along a quick note if Wardrobe has heard that one of the actors will be calling out for the evening show, or if there was a last-minute change in the schedule and the official email hasn’t gone out yet. Communication is always a two-way street, and an open policy keeps both parties well-informed and valued.

Sound is one of the few departments that touches every single other during the show run. Between com/video, mics, and music, we cover it all. Which means there can be a lot going on at any given point. Hopefully, these guidelines will help if you’re ever unsure who to talk to!

Time to Train

At the beginning of this year, I made a major life change

I left a tour to see what life would be like living off the road, specifically in New York City. Touring folk tend to fall into two camps: those who are planning to eventually go to NYC to live and work full time, and those who enjoy visiting, will go there for shop prep, but never want to live there. They’re either happy to head back to their home locals when they get off tour or plan to spend the majority of their career on the road. I’ve always been of the mind that touring was a phase of my career, not the endgame. I know I’ll miss it, I look forward to visiting for vacation coverage or tech periods, but I’m ready to try something new.

It’s rare that you’ll move to the city and immediately get a full-time show tossed in your lap (although there are people that move here because they have a job already lined up), so I came here with the intention to find work subbing on the mix for Broadway shows (which would provide income, but also counts towards qualifying days to help me keep my health insurance, plus getting to mix!) as well as working in the shops (for income and the ability to meet more people in the industry, so part socializing, part networking).

Thanks to my time on the road, I have some contacts here, so I came to the city with a rough semblance of a plan. Part of which was subbing on Funny Girl. The same sound design team I worked with on Mean Girls also did Funny Girl, so when I let them know I was planning to leave the tour and move to the city, they put me on their list of people they could call. It worked out that they needed to get someone up on the mix around the time I settled in, so I was able to get approved by management and start the training process fairly quickly.

When you’re learning to mix an existing show

You usually have between two and three weeks (16-24 shows) to get from watching the show to mixing it and your training is live, during performances with a paying audience. I got approved about a week before I actually started (it took time to finalize a schedule), so I was able to get the script and an audio archive recording of the show to start. It’s a much shorter process than I’ve talked about in a previous blog, but I still retyped the script, added in my own annotations (all the while listening to the recording of the show so I could get familiar with it), and practiced mixing it all the way through at least once a day, going through my script, adjusting or adding notes or figuring out how to make page turns easier.

Once I was in the theatre I set a rough schedule of goals. I try to break it down so I watch the show at least once, only to watch so I can start to connect what’s happening onstage to what I’ve been hearing in the recording. Then I’ll use a couple of shows to watch the mixer with my script in front of me and make notes or mark questions. Next, I’ll ghost mix for a few shows, which is basically the same thing I did with my practice board the previous week, just in the theatre, during the show where I can see how my timing lines up with the mixers. Usually, you can make a side fader bank on the console blank, so I can mix at the console, next to the mixer, without actually controlling anything. After that, I’ll start mixing the show, a few scenes at a time, adding on more each show, and ghost-mixing the rest. Finally, once I’ve mixed through the full show, I’ll plan it out so I have a few shows left in the training period where I’m just mixing the show, getting repetitions so I can settle in.

It’s worth noting that as a sub, my script has far more markings than when I’m the primary where I learn the show in tech and consistently mix it afterward. A sub is someone they’ll call for sick days, vacations, or possibly for a brush-up if it’s been a while. All of this means that I might go weeks or even months between mixing (hopefully if it’s months, that’s where the brush-up show would come in), so I need to have more detailed notes instead of assuming that I’ll remember some timing or nuance.

When you’re breaking down the show into sections

There are a couple of ways to do it, based on how you learn best:

First to Last: You start mixing with the first scene of the show on the first day, the second day you mix the first and the second scene, on the third you mix the first, second, and third scene, and so on, starting with the material you already know, adding new scenes onto the end.
- Pros: You start with familiar scenes and can settle in before you get to the new material. Also, you have the option to continue past what you’ve planned if you find you’re comfortable.
- Cons: You hop right in at the beginning regardless of the difficulty of a scene. In Miss Saigon, the first scene is “The Heat is on in Saigon” and it’s one of the hardest to mix, having a lot of quick pickups as well as band moves, cues, and ad-libs all happening at the same time. It’s not a great place to throw a mixer in for their first go.

Last to First: This is the opposite of first to last. You start on the first day with the last scene of the show (say Scene 10). On the second day you mix scenes 9 and 10, the next scenes 8, 9, and 10, etc. You start adding new material on the front, with older scenes coming later.
- Pros: Your stress level declines as you’re mixing because you started with the newest piece first and then get to more familiar territory as you continue.
- Cons: Like First to Last, it doesn’t account for the difficulty of the scenes. However, shows are more likely to have a complicated opening scene than a closing number. Also, there’s no option to keep going if you’re comfortable, so there’s less flexibility

Least to Most Complicated: Here you start with the easiest scenes or songs, like solos, then add on progressively more complicated numbers: next duets, then small groups, and finally large full company numbers.
- Pros: Helps to promote confidence by starting simple. Also, you have the option to continue on in a scene if you’re ready for more complicated material.
- Cons: It’s disjointed as you switch back and forth between the mixer and the trainee.

Personally, I prefer to learn a show first to last, and this seems to be the case with most mixers. After consistently mixing shows for a long period of time, I have a system for my script and notations to make busier, more complicated scenes easier to navigate. That way, jumping straight into a difficult scene isn’t as daunting. Plus, I found I don’t have to look down at my hands as often anymore. In my last blog, I talked about how I anchor the heel of my hands on the console and that muscle memory reference helps me know how far I’m throwing the fader. That means I can keep my attention on the script and what’s coming next instead of having to always check where my levels are.

However, when I’m the one responsible for training someone (usually when an A2 is learning the mix) I like to use the least to most complicated method. It tends to be a good way for people who are either new to mixing or don’t do it on a regular basis to ease into the show.

No matter how many shows you’ve learned or how comfortable you feel mixing, it’s a daunting task

The first show I started pushing faders for real on Funny Girl (I mixed almost the first 30 minutes of the show), I was so nervous: my palms were sweating, my shoulders were tense, and I was on edge the entire time. I try to keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes, especially when they’re learning, but that only does so much to ease your mind in a high-stress environment. However, as you start mixing chunks of the lives shows, the mixer is always standing by, ready to step in if you lose your place in the chaos of a busy scene or fumble a section and need a moment to regroup. They’ll gradually give you more space as you settle in because it’s also important for you to learn how to recover if you miss a pickup, but they’re still there to support you and get you back on track.

There’s a period after you’ve mixed a few shows and you’re getting comfortable: this is a danger zone. This is where you’re prone to make more mistakes than at the beginning.

The first few times you mix a show you’re laser-focused and have plenty of adrenaline pumping through your system. As you mix scenes over and over again, that adrenaline starts to fade and you end up thinking about notes you got from the last show or a mistake you made before that you need to avoid. This is when the easy things that you thought you knew to start to slip and you make more mistakes.

I call them regression shows. In high school, we called it the “second show slump” when our first show would be great and full of energy, in the second show almost everything would go wrong, and then the third would finally be solid. Regression shows happen at different points on different shows and for different mixers, but there will likely be a point where you’ve mixed something enough times to feel confident and then out of the blue you’ll make a dumb mistake. When I was training on Mean Girls, I did well as I was learning the mix and flubbed a few smaller things like band moves or cues that were just a touch late. Then, when I was mixing the full show for the first time, I ended up missing two pickups that I’d never missed before, neither of which were in the scenes I was mixing for the first time. Same on Funny Girl: the first pick-up I missed was the fifth show I mixed, and it came with the third page (so a section I’d mixed all five times) as I was focusing on a band move.

Every time, you just have to get back up and keep going. The more mistakes you make, the better you become at recovering and sometimes you’ll even be able to catch them before you miss a line or stop yourself before you take a cue at the wrong time. The more shows you do, the more you discover better ways to help yourself learn which speeds up the process. Always ask for help when you need it: if someone’s training you to mix, they already know you can do it and they want to help you succeed.

Mechanics of Mixing

Mixing is an active experience

Anyone who’s watched me mix a show knows that I’m never standing still. I’m usually tapping my toes or bopping my head to the music while timing my fader throws. I’m constantly shifting my focus as I look up at the stage, down at my hands, or at the monitors on either side of me. I’m listening so my fingers can respond to the actors or musicians while keeping a thought on what’s coming up next. The actual mixing might happen in a small footprint, but there’s a lot going on. It helps to have a solid physical foundation to make your day-to-day life easier especially as so much of our job requires repetitive motion, which can take a toll on our bodies.

The first thing to look at is how you stand or sit at the console

If you’re sitting, it makes it easier because you can adjust your chair to the right height every time and call it good. Personally, I prefer to stand: it keeps me more alert and focused, especially when I’m on a show for months or years. Also, I’m short, so it’s easier for me to reach the top of the other fader banks of the console if I’m standing rather than having to get out of my chair or slide it any time I want to make an adjustment. If you prefer to stand as well, do yourself a favor and get an anti-fatigue mat. The floors at FOH can be anywhere from concrete to carpet to plywood, and it pays down the road to be nice to your knees now.

However, standing at the console can present a challenge if people mixing the same show are at different heights. If you’re short, you can stand on a case lid or apple box. If you’re tall, you can lift the console up with wooden blocks, or (if you already know when you’re in the shop) get racks that are taller and can make the board higher. Personally, I know that 16 space racks put the console at a good height for me to mix while standing.

In some cases, you might not able to find a good solution, or the console is already set to someone else’s height (if you’re a sub or A2 and the console is already set at a good height for the A1). In these cases, I end up using a chair, even though I’d rather stand. It’s far better to have a proper position and the minor inconvenience of having to get up if you need to make an adjustment than force yourself to mix in an uncomfortable position.

For me, a comfortable position means

That I aim for a console or chair height where my elbows are bent at a relaxed, roughly 90˚ angle so there’s an almost straight line from my elbow through my wrist when my hands are resting on the console, fingers on faders. If you’re too far above the console, your elbow ends up higher than your wrist and you put extra pressure on your joints as you naturally press through your palm with the way the wrist bends. On the other hand, if you’re too far below, your shoulders have to rotate outward to get your hands on top of the console and that puts pressure on your shoulders as well as the wrists.

Any rotation of a joint, even a small amount, can create problems over time. On Les Mis, I used my index and middle fingers to move the two orchestra faders, which is fairly common for most people. However, that rotated my wrist to an awkward angle which put stress on it. Eventually, my forearm muscles started to tighten up from that strain, which made it uncomfortable to mix. Even in the mix videos for that show (recorded after maybe 50-60 shows into the run), there are a couple of times where I have to find breaks to stretch out my hand or roll my wrist to relieve some of the tension. I went to physical therapy and got stretches and exercises to help (if something hurts, always go see a professional in a timely manner), but what actually fixed it was when I realized that I could use my middle and ring fingers for the band faders instead and that would shift my wrist to a better position. This eliminated the cause of the problem itself, and as a side benefit, I had my index finger free to make verb adjustments without having to move my hand off the band faders!

No one mixes the exact same way

So what works for me might not work for you, and that’s okay. I prefer to use my middle fingers as the primary for mixing dialogue, but some people use their index. It takes time and a willingness to experiment to develop what your mixing style looks like.

Here are a few things I’ve found that have helped me as a mixer

I use the heel of my hand as an anchor point while I’m mixing: as my hands have to move back and forth to different faders, that bone at the base of my palm always ends up resting on the same area of the console, just below the faders. From there, I have a general reference for where the fader is without having to look at my hands: I know based on how far my fingers are extended because my hand is always the same distance from the base of the fader. (With any rule, there are always exceptions: sometimes I’ll have to throw further than usual, so I’ll lift up the heel of my hand and use my pinky for additional stability, or a scene might have me jumping around more than usual so I’m not in one place long enough to truly anchor my hand. When it works, use it. If it doesn’t, find something that does.)

If my left hand (usually dialogue) is free, but my right hand (usually band, some vocals, and the button for sound effects, next scene, etc) is in the middle of a band move when I need to take a cue, I’ll cross my left hand over my right to hit the GO button, similar to playing a piano. I’ve gotten skeptical looks from mixers when doing it while I’m training on shows, but it’s something that works for me. It takes a little trial and error to make sure it’s the right choice and I’m not taking my hand off a fader when I really shouldn’t or my right hand actually does have a moment to talk the cue, but when it works, it helps to simplify my mix choreography.

I’ve spent a lot of time tweaking how my script works. While the script itself isn’t a mechanical part of mixing, how you integrate page turns definitely is. As I developed my system for marking and formatting, I made it my mission to condense the script to as few pages as possible and minimize how many times I had to reach up to flip a page. While that is a legitimate strategy, I found that it put my page turns at awkward points in the mix and had me scrambling at times. Over the course of several productions, I found that it worked far better for me to make sure that each page of the script ended on an easy (or as easy as possible) turn, whether that was a pause in the action or splitting a long line up over the end of one page and the beginning of another. This added a few page turns overall but put them at much easier places in my mix.

Something I need to continue to work on is my focus. Once I’ve been on a show for a while and I have the mix down, my mind will want to wander. Another mixer told me she uses yoga and meditation to help improve her concentration and her ability to bring herself back to the present and to the show. I’m slowly improving, but it’s another skill I need to hone, especially after I lost some of that ability while I didn’t have the chance to mix on a regular basis during the Covid hiatus.

However, consistency will help you as you develop better focus. While I obviously encourage being flexible, once you find what works, set a routine. That’s taking a cue on the same beat of a song, or presetting the band on the same word, even when you could do it anywhere in that sentence, or even taking a water break during the same line every show. Just like standing helps keep me focused when my show count-ticks into triple digits, consistency builds a muscle memory that has saved me more than a few times if my concentration slips.

The most important thing is to listen to your body and your instincts. If something hurts or feels uncomfortable, find a way to change your process so you don’t have to do that. If you have an idea for something that might streamline things, try it. The worst thing that happens is you go back to what was working just fine before and try the next idea when it comes along.

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