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How to Bid on a Project

One of the hardest parts of being freelance is knowing how to bid on a project. You want to be competitive but you don’t know who the competition is. If it’s a client you haven’t worked with before, you may have no idea what their expectations or budget are. “Small” budget for one gig could be $100 and for another, it’s $10,000. On top of it, bidding can be a game of poker where no one wants to be the first to throw out a number.

To give a good bid, you first have to understand who, what, when, where, why, and how. Some people will request a bid and give little or no information but it’s hard to give an accurate bid without knowing those details.

Approaching a bid

Here are some tips when approaching a bid. Never throw out a number or commit to any work without first having a conversation about it (whether it’s by phone or in-person). The main reason is to make sure what they’re asking for covers everything they need. At least half of the people who ask me for a quote need something different or additional from what they say (for example, a film mix may also need editorial or sound design).

Talking to someone also gives you a sense of how professional the project is and the temperament of the people you would be working with. I once had a singer inquire about a music mix and when we talked I learned she had no recordings, couldn’t play any instruments, no band-mates, and had no songs written (I passed on the gig). Sometimes you see red flags that someone is going to be really picky or difficult to work with which could mean extra hours that need to be factored into your costs (assuming you don’t pass on it – which is ok to do).

I always ask for materials to check out before giving a bid for a few reasons. One is to get a sense of sound quality, technical issues, organization, etc. Every project has unplanned time-suckers – tasks that take longer than you budgeted for (or didn’t budget at all). The more you can do to identify those time suckers beforehand the more accurate your bid will be.

Another reason for looking at materials is to evaluate content. Sometimes a project turns you off and you can afford to say no (like a boring movie or a band who’s music you don’t like). Sometimes there’s more to it – Years ago I bid on a film after only seeing the trailer. They told me it was a mystery/thriller but it was more like a horror film with a lot of graphic violence against women (two types of content I don’t like to work on). They were happy with my bid and willing to work around my schedule so it was awkward to back out.

If it’s a music mix, ask for a rough mix or for a sample session (which will give you a good idea of how many tracks/overdubs and organization). If it’s someone who needs a recording, ask for a demo or temp mix. For film, I ask for a rough cut (a video I can download or watch online) and maybe an output of a few minutes of the AAF/OMF to gauge how much time it’ll take to organize (more on that here)

The basic details to find out before giving a bid

Managing expectations

Part of this conversation is managing expectations. If a band expects a full album recording, overdubs, and mix in a weekend for $500 it’s a joke. If they’re willing to book a multi-room studio and crew, put up the cash to work around the clock, and accept it’s not going to be perfect, it’s a legitimate (but challenging) gig. It helps build trust if the client understands the limitations (what’s technically possible, the resources needed, and what you’re able to do or not do). It’s best, to be honest and only promise what you can actually deliver. If they are convinced they can find someone to do the impossible, then good luck to them!

Writing a bid

To write the bid, you’ll want to break down each element of the project and the time/resources necessary to do the job. I send some options based on the quality they are looking for. A low-budget “get ‘er done” job may cover the basics. Medium budget will be a solid job – taking a more in-depth look at everything and including some extras (if time/budget permits). High is going all out – spend as much time/money as it takes (within reason) to do an awesome job. You should have an idea already of what budget range they are in and what extras they might want from talking.

It’s a lot easier to estimate if you’ve kept track of these hours on past projects (if you don’t track hours, it’s a good reason to start!) For example, a 90-minute comedy film with a month deadline, a 5.1 mix (intended for theater), standard deliverables, and a moderate “indie film” budget the breakdown might be:

A recording/music mix of a band would have tasks like recording, studio time, overdubs, comping, tuning, editing, mixing, mastering.

I apply a day rate to each task (plus studio time) and tally up the total (keeping the optional items as separate add-ons). The exact numbers/dates are for my own reference and I usually send a condensed breakdown for the actual bid. I also like to pad hours a little bit in the bid because that helps cover unforeseen issues/changes without having to say “we’re going to be over budget” (unless it’s something major or time-consuming). Some people bid using a day rate but don’t mention that a day is calculated at 9 or 10 hours.

Once a bid is accepted it can be a legally binding contract so it’s important it’s accurate and includes details like when the work has to be done when you expect payment, what is included or not included. If you’re working on a project that might have updates/revisions (like a film or music mix) it’s important to clearly state what is included and what isn’t. For example, it’s common for indie filmmakers to make picture changes or ask for mix tweaks if their film gets into a festival or lands a distribution deal. This could happen as long as a year after finishing the film. I generally don’t include this work as part of the bid – I’ll have something written in the bid like “any conforms or audio changes after the final mix is delivered (or xx date) are considered a new version of the project and not included under this contract” or “any future changes after the mix is delivered will be billed at an hourly rate of xx”. It’s important to set limits so everyone knows what you’re going to do (or not do).

But, if the fixes they need later are minor (only take a couple of hours) I might comp the time (especially if I didn’t need all the buffer hours). Sometimes offering a small service for free can really benefit the relationship, which can bring in future projects and work.

Following up after sending a bid

Once I send a bid, I like to follow up with the client and feel out what they think of it. Is it in line with what they were expecting or do you sense sticker shock? If we’re in two totally different places and it’s a project I’m really interested in, I’ll be honest that I want to work on it and suggest ways to accommodate. Some ideas:

Bids become easier the more you do them. Sometimes you’ll land the gig and other times you’ll never hear from the client again. It’s not personal and maybe there’s nothing wrong with your bid – it might be that you’re not the right fit for the project. All of it is experience which makes it easier to do next time.

Practically Perfect

Recently for a RADA show that I was sound designing, it seemed that there was scope to make a practical radio. Practicals are some of the best fun in theatre without the audience knowing that there are little bits of trickery happening.

The show was Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris in RADA’s GBS Theatre, in-the-round, directed by Michael Fentiman and designed by James Turner. The story is told in two halves; the first Act being set in 1959 in a suburban Chicago house, and we are introduced to a married couple. As the Act goes on we learn that their son died, and that the remaining parents are moving to escape neighbourhood gossip; what follows is a heated discussion as to who should be allowed to move into the house after they’ve gone. Introducing Act 2, we have moved on 50 years and are now in 2009 in the same house. A group of people from the neighbourhood are discussing what should become of the house, and who exactly should move into it (which echoes Act 1). More arguments ensue and the play ends on a flashback to 1959, with a conversation between the deceased son and his mother. It’s a politically charged play full of dark humour and uncomfortable truths.

Here is the end product:

Clybourne Park 2016 – GBS Theatre, RADA)

 

I found that 1950’s-era replica in Deptford Market for a tenner, and it’s the best practical I’ve ever made (and I must confess that it functioned as a real radio before I destroyed the inside of it). I’d decided to go ahead and make the practical myself, by way of a challenge in between attending rehearsals and dealing with paperwork.

So I bring the radio back to the sound workshop, and I’ve ordered a mini-amp online that will sit inside the radio, along with an IEM, and I’d been hoping to hook it up to the speaker that came with the radio itself. Quite happily, my mini-amp arrived that same day so I can get started straight away.

One problem, however.

Now I don’t know what I was expecting, but I certainly didn’t expect that the amp would come in pieces and I’d have to solder it all myself.

So now I had to solder this thing having never really paid attention to circuit boards before. I dug out some instructions (all 2 pages of them) off the company’s website and set to work.

That said, this is probably the most common way to create a practical in theatre with the basic workflow as such: Qlab – Sound Desk – IEM Transmitter – IEM Receiver – Mini-Amp – Speaker

Most mini-speakers will simply be attached to the IEM because they’ll be self-powered, however, my system just so happened to need an amp because it was just the cone that sits inside the radio. Below is my system diagram for the show, so that we can see where the practical will sit in the larger scale of things (relevant signal flow is highlighted).

System diagram for Clybourne Park

Practical radios are almost two a penny in theatre amongst other fan favourites such as doorbells, telephones, intercoms, etc., all of which would have their own tried-and-tested ways of being produced.

For instance, we’ve had a couple of shows that require practical mobile phones, and for this we use an app called StageCaller that works over Midi/OSC – you’ll need an iPhone to do this and Dropbox, and for the best results, a stable WiFi connection that is used solely for the practical phone.

To get the sounds onto the StageCaller app you’ll need to download them from Dropbox and upload them in the app – all you’re doing in Qlab is sending OSC commands – all of the audio lives in the app. So from here you can trigger the sounds via OSC from your Qlab file (with relevant IP addresses) and in the most recent version, the app allows you to set up ‘heartbeat’ pings so that it doesn’t become completely inactive and triggers precisely when you want it to. There are various other little tricks that you can set up, too, including the sound cutting out as the character lifts the phone to their ear, or no sound at all and just a text vibrate.

You can find out more about the functionality of StageCaller on the Figure 53 website

 

The amp inside the radio hooked up to the internal speaker – IEM not pictured

Back to the radio, I powered through and soldered the entire circuit board and tested it by plugging my phone into the mini-amp via a mini jack-mini jack cable, and hooking up 2 other speakers (L/R) that also came free with the kit from the online shop. Miraculously – it worked!

So now I had a working system, and all I had left to do was to find a way to attach all of this inside the radio (lots of glue and velcro was involved here – not my finest prop-making) and plug up my IEM – for this I was using a Shure PSM300 System – and have a go at sending audio to it via Qlab.

It worked like a dream and was the most stable practical that I’ve used – of course, I had a backup in place just in case something went wrong with it, which is also quite common practice. The backup was simply an assigned key on my sound desk (a Yamaha 01V96i) which my operators could press, and the audio being sent to the radio would be internally reassigned to a JBL Control 1 speaker rigged above the stage, which would hopefully not interrupt the action! (As it was, the ops never had to use the backup, but it’s very good practice to have something in place anyway). My Operators, who took turns opping the show every day, then had the task of looking after the practical radio and changing the batteries before every show.

Practicals to me are little bits of fun that we can add in to a show to represent something that otherwise, a good few years ago, would have ended up being played from the nearest speaker, or being mimed. We’re quite fortunate that we now have such wide ranges of technology to play with, and again little tricks up our sleeves to truly create our own version of reality.

*all production photo credits belong to Linda Carter for RADA

Norway – Sound Check with Sound Engineer Sune Snellman Jakobsen

Sound Check with Sound Engineer Sune Snellman Jakobsen

Sound Engineer Sune Snellman has invited us to shadow him doing soundcheck for ‘Trentemøller’ at the ‘Rockefeller’ venue in Oslo. Q&A afterwards. There may be a chance to view John Dee and Sentrum Scene venues housed in the same complex. 

There are only six spaces available – Please register here

 

The Modern Working Parent

the boysI recently spoke with someone who piped my interest in a concept, mother’s who work. Seems there is always someone with an opinion about that subject. However, it’s not something that is much discussed in the audio engineering world. There simply aren’t too many of us. I thought I could give some insight into how I’ve seen myself in this mother/audio engineer role and how that relates to society and how you can form your feelings and thoughts on the matter.

I have two children under ten, I graduated college with a bachelor’s and now I’ve been working as a freelancing audio engineer for over eight years. With these experiences, I think you can look on the subject of motherhood in this industry in a couple of different lights. One thing I hear from folks who have children, “how can it be done?” I like to respond with the question, “how do nurses and ER doctors function and have kids?” I was also a single mother for five years of my audio career. Can you have kids and be in this industry? Absolutely. Can you be single and have kids in this industry? Absolutely.

I hear folks say, aren’t you away from home too much? There is a yes and no answer here. This can vary in how you feel as a parent and how you’ve conditioned your kids to function. I grew up respecting that my father had to work, I respected that was his duty. When I was younger he was in the military, there was duty. He got out and that idea stuck. In the same way, if I am off work for a week I can’t just keep my kids home from school. It’s their duty to go to school. It’s my responsibility to let them go. Just as it’s a child’s responsibility to grow with an understanding and respect that you are not “leaving” them.

Something I want to really stick with fellow parents in this industry is, yes, you will miss events. You aren’t alone. If you left this industry, you will still miss events. There is no magic wand where if you wave it you won’t miss things. You’re job as a parent is to lead your children to understand they are important regardless of events or activities in their life.

Recently I gave a parent advice that if they couldn’t find support within our industry that they could try to find it outside of it. This business tends to lend itself to the idea that we are rare and so unique a regular person couldn’t relate to us. I disagree, there are working parents in all sorts of fields who are gone frequently (IT, Medical, PR, Service Industry, etc.).

“But, how do you do it?” I like to agree with what several other mother audio engineers say, “you just do.” How do you get chaotic festival stage going? By doing it. There is no magic answer. It’s like freelancing. I get asked a lot “how do you find your gigs?” I don’t know, I just do.    

Another light I like to look at this in is, entrepreneurship. We are our own business. There are small business owners out there who also face all of the same problems we as audio engineers do. You have to learn how to adapt and how to plan. Maybe one day they have to close up because their kids are sick and they have no one able to come in. Maybe one day you have to stop doing your gig because your kid is sick, disabled, in trouble. Maybe that happens. But maybe you don’t have any kids and you one day get disabled, in trouble, or sick? These variables exist already in our life. The difference is once you have children you plan, you think through the day, the week, your year. You think through as many what-ifs as you can.

I had someone else recently who also said to me, “young people in the music business aren’t planning to have kids.” What they thought that meant was, you can’t have kids and be motivated, career-oriented, and successful in audio engineering. Statistically more and more young professionals are waiting to have children. This isn’t only in our industry. This is throughout society. A parent’s life in this industry may follow a different curve than a single person’s. But, as is said, “a gig is a gig.” If you’re spending too much time worrying about what you won’t have as a parent, you won’t be as successful as a parent or an audio engineer. We are all unique, but as a parent you bring an edge that no none person can. You learn how to be professional on a show and still continue to juggle all the balls.

When the show is over and a happy attendee comes up to you, “Wow! How did you get all those complex things to happen?!” You will stand there and think of all the crazy complex interpersonal and technical things you just made happen. Then you’ll just say, “It’s my job, I just did it. I made it happen with hard work.” That is exactly how motherhood is.

Aubrey Caudill

Aubrey Caudill lives in the Dallas Fort Worth area and works as a freelance audio engineer. She currently works for several area wedding bands and runs monitors at The Potter’s House North Dallas. She is also a mother to two boys.

   

Norway – SoundGirls Presents Sound Reinforcement of Acoustic Instruments

SoundGirls Presents Sound Reinforcement of Acoustic Instruments

With Asle Karstad – Oslo – Norway

Description:

Asle Karstad is a well know sound designer and engineer having worked with The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and the Norwegian Jazz and Folk Music. Through his work, Karstad has found different ways of micing various acoustic instruments. Karstad will demonstrate different techniques and the results that can be achieved. Karstad will be joined by well-respected musicians (providing an all women string quartet) from The Norwegian Radio Orchestra,  to help demonstrate the techniques.

The workshop will be both theory and hands on.

Program:

10 am – 12 pm

Introduction to the work of Asle Karstad

Karstad will discuss resonance issues on the acoustic guitar and how to deal with these.

12:00 to 1:00 PM: Lunch (can be purchased at the venue)

1 pm – 5 pm –  Run-though of reinforcement of the brass, cello, violin and the contrabass.

Following the Workshop: Please join us for a woman in tech networking session with KRETS.

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What I Learned This Week

Four things I learned about sound design this week

This week I took a bit of a break from sitting in a dark theatre (or studio) to go off and learn more about sound design at the Association of Sound Designer’s Winter School. From Foley to speaker system optimisation, the seminars covered a wide range of topics in and around sound for theatre, and there were several social events as well, so we could meet fellow soundies. Of the many interesting and useful pieces of information I’ve encountered this week, I’ve picked out a few to share:

There’s a lot of Foley in nature documentaries

When you think about it, it’s not that surprising that nature documentaries require extensive Foley work. It’d be a bit tricky to get a boom operator close enough to record polar bear footsteps across the snow, for example. I was impressed by the layers of Foley required to create complex sounds, like the sound of an active volcano. Top tip: shampoo rubbed over your hands can be used to create a whole world of sounds, from a large animal licking its young to liquid lava flow (when pitched down).

Recording sound effects will always require more time and more preparation than you think – especially when recording outdoors

There are many variables to consider when recording sound effects in nature, most of which you can’t control – including the weather and external noise. Thorough preparation and patience are attributes to develop if you ever want to invest time and money in recording sound effects. Sound design guru John Leonard told us several entertaining stories which highlighted the need for research before you embark on a location recording session, especially checking if it’s the right time/season/weather to capture the sound you need. He learned this the hard way after standing for several hours late at night (when it would be quiet) waiting for a clock to chime, only to find out the next day that they turned it off every night at 10 pm.

You don’t have to invest in a pricey mic to experiment with surround sound

I investigated using ambisonic (surround) microphones last year as part of my explorations into surround sound formats but was a bit put off by the price. A Sennheiser Ambeo will set you back around £1500GBP or $1650USD, and a DPA 5100 Mobile Surround mic is even more. So I was delighted to learn (thanks again to John Leonard) that there’s a cheaper alternative if you want to experiment with surround before investing. The Zoom H2N (a much more affordable £120GBP/$160USD) has a firmware upgrade that allows for four channel surround sound, combining the X/Y and MS in “Spatial Audio” mode. Also worth keeping an ear out for are Sennheiser’s AMBEO Smart Surround compact earphones (yes, consumer-level) with binaural recording capabilities.

Adding an audience won’t affect the overall level as much as you might have thought

I’ve always considered audience size when setting my levels for a theatre show, in particular, the absorptive effect of a large number of human bodies. It turns out that I don’t need to worry as much for those venues which already contain a high amount of absorbent materials. Bodies sitting on soft seats, for example, won’t increase the amount of absorption. Of course, it’s still important to consider venues with a lot of reflective surfaces and hard seats.

There’s always something new to learn

It’s not just about new gear and technical know-how. More than anything, this week has reminded me how important it is to get out and expose my ears to the world outside my studio. This week was the perfect opportunity to not only learn about techniques and software that have been on my list for a while but also meet and learn from my fellow peers. As well as discovering more about Max DSP and DMEs (Digital Mixing Engines), I also increased my list of preferred theatre sound hire companies,  got a great recommendation for a film composition course and learned more about why and how colleagues choose a particular system.

If you have the opportunity to get out of your particular box this month, I would recommend it. You never know what useful tips you might pick up.

Norway – Join SoundGirls at KRETS Networking

Join SoundGirls for a meeting with KRETS

KRETS is a side project that the Norwegian music organization ‘Musikkutstyrsordningen.no (MUO) launched in connection with the hundred-year anniversary in 2013 for women’s right to vote in Norway. This project is a platform for female technicians in the Norwegian music industry to meet and interact with each other.

Link: www.musikkutstyrsordningen.no

More info contact SoundGirls Representative Malle Kaas @ mallekaas@gmail.com

A Life in Insurance Diverted – Holly Ann “Boots” Latcham

linecheckHolly Ann Latcham (Boots) is a touring FOH engineer and Production Manager. She also works as a system tech and monitor engineer for venues such as First Avenue 7th Street Entry, Mill City Nights, the Turf Club, and the Fine Line. She also runs her own company Holly Ann Audio, offering gear rental for small to medium-sized events and tours, FOH and monitor engineers and occasional tour management. She recently has started doing some corporate work with Damron Production Services.

Boots was introduced to the world of live sound at the age of 19. Growing up in a small town of 800 in the heart of Minnesota, she never met anyone that played in a band or even played an instrument other than in the school band. The music she was exposed to was limited to church hymns and her mom’s favorite country artist Shania Twain. That all changed when her brother came home with a Blink 182 album and she was blown away, listening to them every day on the way to school. That would eventually spill over to other artists including Linkin Park and Creed.

As Boots got older, her obsession for music increased and she dreamed of writing her own tunes. That is when she discovered there was an arts high school in the Twin Cities that had a music program “I begged my parents for weeks to at least take me to the open house. I recorded and submitted an application to audition for a spot for my senior year. When I got the letter of acceptance, my teenage-rock-emo-punk self could hardly contain the excitement I felt about being able to finally see more than the cornfields surrounding my tiny town. I packed my bags and cried as my parents convinced me that I had to sell my horse to be able to attend Perpich, and I moved to the Big City”.

She started her senior year at Perpich with enough credits to graduate from her previous high school and opted for no class until after lunch when the arts portion of the day started. Perpich had a world-class recording studio in the music department, and Boots practically lived in one of the iso booths. Here she learned what microphones were and how to connect them, what mixing was, what compression and reverb were. “I spent every day in that studio from the second it opened until the lunch bell rang”. Here she learned that she could do this for other people in the studio and it was called audio engineering. When it came time to pick a college she searched all over to get as far from Minnesota as she could and still study the art of recording. Boots would end up at the University of Montana in Missoula.

It was while attending UM, she finally met her friend’s non-existent roommate. Non-existent because he was “always out on tour”. “Finally, he was home for a month. Between shots of tequila and smoking cigarettes, I got him to tell me stories from the road. He showed me pictures of him and a crew traveling overseas and taking days off in places like Barcelona. He told me stories of my favorite artists at the bar after their shows. Finally, he started talking about the Clair Brothers PA system and his role on these massive arena tours as a systems tech. “I was fascinated. Starstruck, Obsessed, even. How do I do that? How do I get to be a roadie for a living?” He told Boots that he had attended Full Sail University. 

tour-life-3

Within a day of learning this, Boots was applying to private schools across the country with a greater focus on recording and live sound. Believing she would get her start in the studio, she found a program dedicated to teaching studio engineering and landed back in St. Paul, Minnesota at McNally Smith College. Boots was determined to finish college as fast as possible and move out of state. She finished her studies at McNally in a year and a half and while there discovered she did not have the patience to become a studio engineer. She decided to focus on live sound and getting out on tour. “Before I graduated, I started running sound at a local bar with original acts for $50/ night. I worked my way in with stagehand crews around the city and was as friendly as I could be with anyone I met in the industry. For the first five years after college, I worked round the clock to move towards being strictly FOH or monitors at the venues around town, trying to get the locals to take me seriously, even though I lacked experience”.

No one ever said this industry was easy, and after five years Boots had almost given up, she was working seven days a week, working FOH for almost every venue in town, but the pay was so horrible that she could hardly pay bills and still by groceries. She had signed up for classes with the Farmer’s Insurance Company and told everyone she was quitting sound. She was one test away from becoming a licensed insurance agent when she got an email from Bobnet.org. It was a call looking for a Minneapolis-based engineer to work with an up-and-coming band. “Thinking I had nothing left to lose, I wrote a witty cover letter and sent in my resume – two pages of five years in audio. Twenty minutes later, the phone rang. Hippo Campus was looking for an engineer, and no one knew who they were yet. I was asked to meet them at an upcoming gig for free and run sound, just to see if we all clicked and would get along. Thank god we did, because four months later, I was in a van on my way to SXSW 2015 with these boys and tearing up my insurance license”.

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Two years later, Boots is still on the road with Hippo Campus. She says some days are really hard, but she has never gone to bed mad after a show. She thrives on being able to help an artist create that moment for people’s live and new equipment. As Hippo Campus moves on to bigger and bigger stages, the larger and larger PA’s are starting to look more like the ones in her college friend’s roommate’s photographs.

Boots longer terms are goals are to work on arena tours as a FOH/ PM and would also love to tour as the system/ PA tech. We know whatever she decides to do she will be successful with her work ethic and attitude.

What do you like best about touring?

The tour families that are created. Hippo Campus and JR JR recently finished a run with Saint Motel, and that whole band and crew feel like a new family to me! I miss them every day!

What do you like least?

Post-tour depression. Use the Saint Motel tour for example This industry will cross our paths again, but we all know it won’t be the same as this last tour. There will be more tours with a different family like it, but it is always going to be hard to share so many memories with a close group of people, see them every day for weeks, and then suddenly only see them once in a while (if you’re lucky!).

What is your favorite day off activity?

I love getting out of whatever city we are in and finding the biggest green space. Hike, bike, rock climb, just anything physical that can get us outside!

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

Typical tour barriers – There was a tour where I came into sub for the usual engineer, only the band had just gotten a new monitor rig and wireless set-up. With a flight out DOS on the first day of the tour, the flight was late and the gear was in complete disarray as the usual FOH was on tour already when the band acquired the new gear. I had 2 hours to set it up properly and do soundcheck. Doors ended up ½ hour late, and not everything was working the way it should’ve. By show #3 on that tour, I got all the bugs worked out though! The hard part is when artists are staring at you like “Why isn’t this figured out yet?” but you know it would be unprofessional to try and explain it.

How have you dealt with them?

Just keep smiling and stay calm and get it done! If you’re working hard and have a can-do attitude, people will trust it’s not your fault when things go wrong, and either way, you’re going to fix it for them.

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

There is a lot of talk about sexism in this industry. I’m not going to deny its existence, but I think we have to stop thinking that it’s the music industry’s only problem. Sexism is all over our society, no matter what field you choose to work in. Just know that how you handle it will be the difference between you going where you want to be and you being stuck in the spot you are fighting so hard against.

My general rule is to pick your battles. What I mean is, if it is not in danger of disrupting the show, try to put your best foot forward and keep working. It’s not going to help anyone or set the proper vibe for the artist if I hold up all of soundcheck just because I want to teach the local hand that calling me sound ‘guy’ is offensive. If I tell them with a smile “Hey man, I prefer to be called Boots,” or “sound madam”, I usually get a chuckle out of them, and as the day goes on, they see my work ethic and hear the room sounding great and have nothing but respect for me from then on out. My guess is that my male counterparts also have issues with this particular fellow, so it really I really won’t be doing the world any good by giving in to his pessimistic habits.

Don’t get me wrong – there might be some instances where you need to put an end to obvious and uncomfortable situations. Just don’t be afraid to speak up to whoever else is in charge that they can help you so you can focus on what really matters: the show. Also, know that most people working with you want you to feel comfortable in your work zone too. I’ve honestly had my artists and peers come to me to acknowledge that they saw the moment in question too and want to make sure I’m comfortable. If your tour family doesn’t have your back, then you need a new tour family.

Must have skills?

Staying cool, calm, and collected. ALWAYS

mym32vstheirql5Know your gear in and out. Traveling with a console? Don’t rely on others to tech it for you. With today’s internet and offline editors, you should know your desk inside and out. This way, when it comes to a moment in need of troubleshooting, you aren’t in the dark. Not touring with a console? Contact your local production companies to get some face time behind the most commonly seen boards and gear on the road: Avid consoles, Midas Pro 1’s and 2’s, and Yamaha M7’s.

Favorite gear?

roland_m5000_930clubCurrent favorite is the Roland M5000 console. It is perfect for the size of bands I am touring with from many angles: price, functionality, and tone. The timbre of the board is easy and more transparent than many in its immediate competitive range. The processing gear offered on each channel sounds beautiful and transparent in ideal ways, and the number of options they give without having to have an expansion pack or dongle is amazing. Want D-essers on every channel next to your comp? No problem! Want 10 band parametric EQ’s and 32 band graphic eq’s on all your outputs? EASY! I was able to run monitors from FOH for Hippo Campus by running a double input list so they couldn’t hear my FOH changes in their ears. The board has enough processing power to handle all 32 channels twice no problem, and the functionality shortcuts they built in made it so easy to run my shows this way.

The Nativity

The Nativity is one of three plays adapted by Tony Harrison. The plays are a version of the medieval English Mystery Plays. The play is set in the north of England and uses a northern English dialect. As the play was being performed in London and not in the North, I thought intelligibility might be an issue.

Here is a link to an earlier version of the play performed at the National Theatre you can hear the dialect used. An added complication for intelligibility was the venue. A church, you can hear the acoustics here in the welcome to the church from Fr Paul. The performance space was also in the round, in front of the altar, in the aisles, and more importantly for sound often in front of the speakers.

As you can see, we had some challenges to overcome. We visited the church before rehearsals to get an idea of how voices would carry without amplification and assess if the band area would be suitable. It was an actor/musician show meaning the entire cast played instruments and there would not a separate band. The musical director (MD) came with us so he could hear the space before he started the arrangements. The music was arranged with mainly acoustic instruments, though they would be amplified and there was also an electric guitar and bass.  

I chose Meyer UPJ’s as the speakers, knowing I could achieve a tight coverage pattern if I needed it and would help with limiting the natural reverb of the space. We utilized six UPJ s, subs and a few SFX speakers as well. I set up multiple groups for the vocal system one that went to front left and right, one that went to the side left and front left and one that went to side right and front right. This allowed us to facilitate the cast moving around the space and create vocal zones. Jenn Goodheart-Smithe, the operator, faded between vocal groups that corresponded with the zones as the cast moved around. It worked quite well as long as the cast didn’t stand directly in front of a speaker when they were delivering dialogue.  

EFX

I pre-recorded the voice of God announcing to Mary the virgin birth so that the angel could mouth the words and we would hear the voice of God. It was played through a small speaker hidden very close to the actor to give the illusion of God speaking through the angel.

The play starts with the book of Genesis before the world was complete and everyone that spoke had a reverb to emphasize their other-worldliness. There was also a sound effects bed to help with the setting of that space.

Death is a character in the play, and I gave her a bit of a pitch shift on her mic. Obviously, you could still hear her acoustic voice, but there was an underscore of something a lot deeper as well.  

The band lineup was mostly mic’d acoustic instruments. There was a large brass section, strings, organ, reeds, woodwind, and electric bass and guitar. We decided to divide the musical numbers into two parts; one would numbers performed in the band area and numbers performed in a surround mode. In the gentler moments, it worked well to have the acoustic instruments in amongst the audience, giving an immersive feel to the show. It also allowed us to control the natural acoustics of the church.

Actor-musician shows can be a challenge there is little parallel rehearsing, the band can rehearse in one room and the overall rehearsal time is effectively less. Often, the band is large and some instruments will be played for only half of one song there can be a lot of double use of microphones. This can be trickier to be accurate with the mix but Jenn our operator did a good job with that.

This was a working church, so that meant every evening we had to be out of the building for two hours so that they could perform evening mass. We also had to be out of view entirely for the Sunday service. We took everything down and had to rebuild it for the Monday evening show. That took a huge chunk out of our rehearsal time. It meant we had to label and photograph everything. I chose a digital snake and a Rio rather than a copper multicore and stage box as this would make for a quicker setup. The speakers were powered, so no amps, and the radio receivers were by the sound desk, so hopefully, there would be minimal unplugging for the turnaround.

Remember a successful show run is in the details and the preparation that starts well before rehearsals.

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