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10 things you need to be successful (and they’re all free!)

We have made it to June! 6 months into 2021, halfway through the post-pandemic year. Things are looking a little brighter, shows are starting to get booked, calls are coming in for work. You might be thinking about getting back on track with finding yourself a job on tour. In my book, I write about the 10 qualities or attributes you need to be successful. Let’s take a look at them.

Being on time

This is huge. You need to respect everyone’s time on the tour. If 10 other people have sacrificed sleep, a coffee, a workout, or whatever else to make sure they’re on time for lobby call, then you’d better make sure you’re on time too! Oh and on time is late, make sure you’re there 15 mins before you’re meant to be. The bus WILL leave without you!

Work ethic

If someone doesn’t want to be on a tour or doesn’t want to be part of a team, they won’t last long. If you have a strong work ethic and make yourself indispensable, you’ll have a long career.

Effort

Make sure you are putting some effort in, try a little harder, it’ll get noticed. Also see point 9.

Body Language

Whether we like it or not, we all judge and are all judged on how we look or stand. Quick first impressions or even people you’ve worked with a long time. This is something totally within your control to change the attitude of the room and the people around you, which in turn will make a more pleasant experience for you too.

Energy

It can be very tiring on tour, and as the above point, it is easy to slip into a negative mindset here and there. If you aim to bring the highest energy every day, you can pick someone else up which is a win all around.

Attitude

It may be a cliche but a positive mental attitude will get you very far in life. It’s difficult out there, don’t get me wrong.. but we can try to improve our mental state with things such as meditation or working out or just making sure we get enough sleep. We can then tackle each day with the best attitude.

Passion

It’s the reason why we’re here. We love what we do. If you stop loving it, maybe try a different path, a different job on tour, but always be passionate about what you do. As the saying goes “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”.

Being coachable

Even having a lifetime of experience doesn’t mean you know everything. Be open to learning from others.

Doing extra/going the extra mile

This will always get noticed and come back to you down the road. Remember why you’re doing your job, remember the sacrifices that got you to where you are now. Keep working harder and pushing harder and you will reap the rewards.

Being prepared

As they say, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. Know what you are doing, where you’re supposed to be, what’s happening tomorrow, the week ahead. Be on top of things. Carry a notepad, make notes, set reminders, whatever you need to do.

You see, you don’t need to be an expert at your job to start with, you just need the right attitude and to arm yourself with these attributes and you’ll do just fine.

To read more about breaking into the world of touring, check out my book on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Road-Touring-Female-Perspective/dp/B084QGRKVW

Maxime Brunet FOH Engineer, Tour Manager, & Road Warrior

 

Maxime Brunet is a freelance live sound engineer, primarily mixing FOH & tour management. She also works in music venues as both a FOH & monitor engineer. She has been working in live sound for ten years and touring for six. She has toured with a variety of artists over the years, including Wolf Parade, Chloe Lilac, Operators, TR/ST, Kilo Kish, Marika Hackman, & Dilly Dally.

Early Career – DIY Punk, Radio, & Trial By Fire

Growing up in Ottawa, Canada, Maxime played in DIY punk bands, promoted shows, & attended as many concerts as she could. She started her professional audio journey when interning at a community radio station in high school. After completing her internship, she was offered a position as the production coordinator: she recorded ads and station IDs, as well as helped volunteers edit interviews, and trained them on how to use the recording equipment and DAW. She developed an interest in mixing and began recording and mixing her own bands, in which she played bass & sang.

Maxime attended the University of Ottawa, where she studied political science. During her undergrad, she started shadowing live sound engineers around town. Eventually, she was hired at Café Dekcuf/Mavericks, a popular two-story venue. It was ‘trial by fire;’ she recounts learning something new every shift and really having to work on understanding how to fight feedback, properly run a soundcheck, and learning how to mix. Though she had already toured as a musician, she really wanted to try her hand at being a touring tech. She asked bands who said they liked working with her to take her on tour. In 2014, her hard work led her to tour North America & Europe with the noise metal band KENmode.

In late 2014 she moved to Toronto, where she got a job at The Mod Club, a 650 capacity local venue. This position was instrumental in helping her to hone her abilities. For the first time, she was working in a venue where there were 2 engineers on her shift – FOH & monitors. She found & worked with a community of inspiring audio techs in Toronto, who pushed each other to increase their skills, shared job postings, & looked out for each other. This was the first time she really felt like she was part of an audio community.

Perseverance & Breaking the ‘Grumpy Sound Guy’ Stereotype

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

I learned perseverance through mixing my first shows – my mixes certainly didn’t sound great at first, but I realized that if I didn’t keep working at increasing my skills I’d never get anywhere in this field. Audio is a long-term job, we’re all continuously learning new skills and improving.

❖ What did you learn while interning or on your early gigs?

Sometimes it’s not about being the most skilled, it’s about how you work and relate to the people you’re working with. I certainly wasn’t the most technically skilled mixer when I started working in venues, but I genuinely cared about the sound the artist wanted to achieve and tried to develop relationships with the musicians instead of just demanding they turn down their amp. I realized from working alongside one too many “grumpy sound guys” that I would get further if I was nice to the artists, promoters, & crowd.

❖ Did you have a mentor or someone that helped you?

I’ve had many mentors, and they’ve all been instrumental in helping me achieve success in this field. From Slo’ Tom at Zaphods teaching me the ropes, to Ben at Mavericks answering all my questions and helping me improve my mixing skills, to Keeks in Toronto pushing me into the professional touring world, I’ve had a lot of support and I am very grateful.

Current Career & Adapting to a Post-Covid World

❖ What is a typical day like for you on the job?

As a touring tech, waking up in a hotel, answering emails before we start our daily drive, loading into the venue, making sure hospitality has arrived, soundchecking, making sure the band is comfortable, making sure the show runs on time, mixing the show, settling the show, loading out, & getting everyone settled for the night in the hotel.

❖ How do you stay organized and focused?

I use apps like Mastertour to upload day sheets and Google Drive to keep documents remotely – it’s always important to have important documents (insurance, passports, etc) on a cloud. I upload as much information as I can before the tour starts; as a tour manager, it’s important to be organized and know what each day looks like ahead of time in order to plan drive times, etc.

❖ What do you like best about touring?

Mixing in a different city every night. I am a person who loves daily challenges, I don’t love routine (though there is a certain routine to load in and shows).

❖ What do you like least?

The long hours & being away from friends and family. I’ve made a lot of great friends touring, but it can be difficult to miss events that family and friends can attend (for example I am always working Friday nights, which is often when people who work 9-5 host parties).

❖ What is your favorite day off activity?

Exploring new cities, eating local food (particularly sweets!), having a good coffee, and catching up on some reading. I also love sending postcards.

❖ What are your long-term goals?

I’d like to get back into studio mixing. I recently purchased an audio interface again and a pair of studio monitors, I’d love to mix friend’s musical projects. When touring comes back, I’d also love to get back on the road – I miss it so much!

❖ What are your short-term goals?

Making it through 2020. This year has been quite a challenge,  but I’m grateful to have a strong community of tech friends who checked in and supported each other through these tough times.

❖ What, if any, obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I, fortunately, haven’t faced too much sexism in the field, but I’ve definitely had to explain to club owners that I was qualified to mix or had bands tell the local crew to not make rude comments about me.

❖ How have you dealt with them?

I remind myself that sexism is, unfortunately, a part of modern society and try and brush it off as best as I can. I have a job to do, someone’s rude comment about me being a woman won’t stop me from having a great mix that night. As I was told by a musician: “we hire you because we know you’re great at your job”.  I still think about this comment, and it reminds me there’s a reason I’m mixing on these tours – I am talented.

❖ How has your career been affected by Covid-19, & how have you adapted to the current situation?

As a live engineer, my work disappeared in March for the foreseeable future. As things are very uncertain for the music industry at the moment, I decided to return to school to increase my skills. I am currently a student at Concordia University in the Graduate Certificate in Communication Studies. I am planning on applying to Masters programs in 2021.

❖ Favorite gear?

Digico consoles, Telefunken & Sennheiser microphones. I’m fortunate enough to tour with talented artists: a good band will sound good on ”bad” PAs and lower-end mixing consoles, but it’s nice to have good tools on hand. I always travel with my own vocal mics (my personal favorite is the Telefunken M80); it’s a definite advantage to use a mic with a tighter pickup pattern on loud stages to really make your vocals pop in the mix.

❖ Must have skills in the industry?

Problem-solving and the ability to multitask.

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

Be determined, persevere through those first few rough gigs and keep looking for opportunities. No one is instantly great at their job, we have all had bad gigs. Live audio isn’t the kind of field where jobs will just appear on a website, you need to constantly network and look for the next gig. It will be harder to be taken seriously as a woman and you will face barriers, but I do think that artists and management are starting to understand the value of hiring women.

More on Maxx:

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

This Show Must Go Off – Episode 3

 

Backstage On Broadway at The Bowery Ballroom

The event I want to talk you through today is another private rental. This was the venue’s first video live stream since the pandemic began. Generally, events like these are pretty rare for us. All systems are set up to enjoy a great experience in the moment. Looking ahead to the future of events, live streaming is going to be a great tool to reach a large and diverse audience, and promote accessibility to more patrons. We look forward to the future of these events and are excited to share all that we have learned from this broadcast.

To achieve the video broadcast our client was after, hi-speed Internet service is required. In our case, a separate and dedicated Internet hardline was put in by a service provider, which could be used exclusively for live streaming. The goal of this event was to broadcast approximately 60 minutes of a well-rehearsed “backstage on Broadway” experience involving show tunes sung by loveable Broadway stars. The streaming host was Chase Private Client, and this was a way for the company to give back to their customers, in lieu of the Broadway and live events shutdown.

Chase hired a team of producers to achieve their vision. The producers then work within a set budget and hire in the talent, subcontract the video, audio, and lighting, and scout the location (which is where we came in). The job of the venue was to provide a covid-safe location to film, assist with security, and supplement production needs. After the completion of the initial advance, it was determined that the house would provide power, use of our lighting rig (with a supervising LD), use of atmospherics (including our in house haze machine), use of our monitoring systems (including an engineer) and use of our front of house desk for a broadcast mix. House was also in charge of fabricating a staircase for the stage. It was clear from the start that I would be stretched thin on this event, so I put a network of systems in place to ensure all departments, including myself, could have necessary support if things were not running on time, or if any issues arose. 

The producers of the event were fairly new to the world of Broadway and concert production. The more advances you go through, and the more time you spend on the job, the more you can catch the nuance, and know what questions to ask, to give you a clue as to what to expect. It was much easier for me to deal with each department and their needs separately, rather than having the producers act as a middleman. Each event is different in this way, and can also apply to tours and Tour/Production management. You do not need to know every detail of every aspect of the production/tour, but know what you need to make your job easy. PMs- have your designers/department heads type up riders, plots, and inputs/instrument lists that speak the language directly to those that need it. TMs- same thing, have all of your riders and show needs together before you hit the road. If questions come up, do not hesitate to ask the person the question is intended for. It is less important for you to know all the answers, than it is for you to know who to get the answers from. 

The Covid Compliance team on-site was incredible. The testing process, a little less so. This client had our team schedule virtual testing, with testing kits that were mailed to us, and needed to be mailed back. For me, this was an easy process, but I recognized it is also problematic and prohibitive. First, all those being tested needed to have access to a personal electronic device capable of handling video conferencing, they needed to be fluent in English, have a permanent home address where they can receive mail, and needed to be able to access a UPS mailing point. I would not recommend this system unless you have pre-screened all employees and they feel comfortable to test in this way. In-person testing at a fixed location near the venue or area of work is preferred, with language assistance available. Our venue is currently working closely with Spotlight Medical to ensure fair, effective, and accessible testing for all of our staff, once we begin our own events.

The audio team was a broadcast engineer, (incredibly talented, extremely intelligent, and long lover of analog who I greatly enjoyed working with) and an RF provider with tech for all 3 days, who doubled as an A2. He was another great talent, who gave me a laugh as I watched 16 Shure RF mics go into foil containers typically used for leftovers. All in the name of Covid Compliance. House supplemented staff with a monitor engineer. In hindsight, a backline tech/stagehand would have been extremely helpful. 

The lighting team was fantastic and old pals. They consisted of a designer/programmer, grip, and lighting vendor with tech for all 3 days. House supplemented with our LD, doubling as an electrical supervisor.  One fixture would be hung, and the rest were ground supported on pipe and base in the balcony wings. The designer chose to use intelligent fixtures for all of his design, and stay away from our incandescent/conventional lighting. This allowed the designer to color and flicker or pulse width modulation correctly using the console.  

Day One

The event slated two days of load-in, setup, and rehearsal, and 1 day for last touchups and broadcast. My biggest concern was the analog desk and outboard. I feared after 12 months of lying dormant, things would not work. At this point, my brain has forgotten about the funny little nuance of the desk. The channel with the scratchy fader I needed to replace, the auxiliary buss that behaves funny, the gate that does not gate, etc. There is such a joy of analog, of touching buttons and faders and mixing with your hands, but they require a dedicated and consistent level of maintenance and care, which you can imagine becomes difficult when you are a sweaty, smoky, packed rock club that sees a different show every night, and your responsibilities encompass more than audio. On our first day with the broadcast engineer, I was immediately put at ease. He saw the joy that I see in the desk and had the immense level of experience and knowledge to not only make it sound great but even open up and clean some faders. Prior to load in, I had managed to clean all 1800 of the knobs on the desk but ran out of time for the faders. I welcomed the assist. 

Lighting and video loaded in first, audio and backline followed after that. The first day ended with setting the backline, pinning the stage, and getting the bulk of the lighting programming complete. The video team was able to get set up and a majority of their cabling was completed.

Day Two

Consisted of even more programming and our first run-through of the performance. We were given start and stop rehearsal, and a direct cue to cue which was about 75% of show ready.

Day Three

Started off with a bit of a hiccup from our end. I do my best to make sure our venue staff has all that they need to succeed at their job- resources, time, support, etc. Even still, I can forget that we have been out of practice for a year, and we are navigating new waters from the usual rock show. Our Monitor engineer, unused to theatre cue to cue style mixing and speaking on coms, found himself in the weeds. Unprepared for how to quickly and effectively use snapshots, he lost his work from the day before. The A2 and I quickly rallied in support of the monitor engineer to go through the program ahead of talent, and make sure the wedges were all dialed in, cue to cue. I am sure by the end of it our engineer became a pro at snapshots.  Unfortunately, it only reinforced his lack of interest in theatrical mixing. 

This was another note to myself to hire effectively and hire people who are excited by the event itself, not just the mixing aspect, or the need for a paycheck. We spoke at length about his experience afterward, and throughout it all, he handled the situation calmly and with a great attitude. The last rehearsal before the broadcast was rock solid.

Come the broadcast, I was huddled with the A1 watching a display monitor, hoping there were no streaming hiccups or issues on our end. Sure enough, the show looked beautiful and I only wish I could have heard the mix! It has been 14+ months since I listened to a mix from an engineer I love, on the Midas desk. Nonetheless, it was extremely nice to work together and talk shop, as well as share our love of motorcycles. 

Loadout happened in record time, unfortunate for our dinner break which we worked right past but grateful for a sigh of relief that everyone made it out of the building safe and sound, after a great few days of work. We started on stage-  breaking down backline, audio, and lighting, before moving to the balcony and front of house. This schedule gave the video and communications team a chance to organize and break down and left space for us to finish our loadout without interruption or breaking compliance. 

As of now, we are still taking it easy at Bowery, and remaining cautious to reopen. It is not yet beneficial to us, or to the health of our patrons to open just yet. We are going to continue to focus on some important upgrades, study the data, and figure out a way to make artists, staff and patrons safe and excited to come back to music again.  I cannot wait to share all of our new projects with you, so keep tuning in, and stay safe! 

More Resources

My Take on Line-By-Line Mixing for Theatre

 

What Is a FIR Filter?

The use of FIR filters (or finite impulse response filters) has grown in popularity in the live sound world as digital signal processing (DSP) for loudspeakers becomes more and more sophisticated. While not a new technology in itself, these filters provide a powerful tool in system optimization due to their linear phase properties. But what exactly do we mean by “finite impulse response” and how do these filters work? In order to understand digital signal processing better we are going to need to take a step back into our understanding of mathematics and levels of abstraction.

A (Very) Brief Intro To DSP

One of the reasons I find mathematics so awesome is because we are able to take values in the real or imaginary world and represent them either symbolically or as a variable in order to analyze them. We can use the number “2” to represent two physical oranges or apples. Similarly, we can take it up another level of abstraction by saying we have “x” amount of oranges or apples to represent a variable amount of said item. Let’s say we wanted to describe an increasing amount of apples where for every new index of apples, we add the sum of the previous number of apples. We can write this as an arithmetic series for all positive integer number “n” of apples as:

Where for each index of apples starting at 1, 2, 3, 4…etc onto infinity we have the current index value n plus the sum of all the values before it. Ok, you might be asking yourself why we are talking about apples when we are supposed to be talking about FIR filters. Well, the reason is that digital signal processing can be represented using this series notation and it makes it a lot easier than writing out the value for every single input into a filter. If we were to sample a sine wave like the one below, we could express the total number of samples over the period from t1 to t2 as the sum of all the samples over that given period.

In fact, as Lyons points out in Understanding Digital Signal Processing (2011) we can express the discrete-time sequence for a given sine-wave at frequency f (in Hertz) at a given time t (in seconds) with the function f(n) = This equation allows us to translate each value of the sine wave, for example, voltage in an electric signal, for a discrete moment in time into an integer value that can be plotted in digital form.

What our brain wants to do is draw lines in between these values to create a continuous waveform so it looks like the original continuous sine wave that we sampled. In fact, this is not possible because each of these integers are discrete values and thus must be seen separately as compared to an analog, continuous signal. Now, what if the waveform that we sampled wasn’t a perfect sine wave, but instead had peaks and transient values? The nature of FIR filters has the ability to “smooth out” these stray values with linear phase properties.

How It Works

The finite impulse response filter gets its name because the same number, or finite, input values you get going into the filter, you get coming out the output. In Understanding Digital Signal Processing, Lyons uses a great analogy of how FIR filters average out summations like averaging the number of cars crossing over a bridge [2]. If you counted the number of cars going over a bridge every minute and then took an average over the last five minutes of the total number of cars, this averaging has the effect of smoothing out the outlying higher or lower number of vehicles to create a more steady average over time. FIR filters function similarly by taking each input sample and multiplying it by the filter’s coefficients and then summing them at the filter’s output. Lyons points out how this can be described as a series which illustrates the convolution equation for a general “M-tap FIR filter” [3]:

While this may look scary at first, remember from the discussion at the beginning of this blog that mathematical symbols package concepts into something more succinct for us to analyze. What this series is saying is that for every sample value x whose index value is n-k, k being some integer greater than zero, we multiply its value times the coefficient h(k) and sum the values for the number of taps in the filter (M-1). So here’s where things start to get interesting: the filter coefficients h(k) are the FIR filter’s impulse response. Without going too far down the rabbit hole in discussing convolution and different types of FIR windows for filter design, let’s jump into the phase properties of these filters then focus on their applications.

The major advantage of the FIR filter compared to other filters such as the IIR (or infinite impulse response) filter lies in the symmetrical nature of the delay introduced into the signal that doesn’t introduce phase shift into the output of the system. As Lyons points out this relates to the group delay of the system:

When the group delay is constant, as it is over the passband of all FIR filters having symmetrical coefficients, all frequency components of the filter input signal are delayed by an equal amount of time […] before they reach the filter’s output. This means that no phase distortion is induced in the filter’s desired output signal […] [4]

It is well known that phase shift, especially at different frequency ranges, can cause detrimental constructive and/or destructive effects between two signals. Having a filter at your disposal that allows gain and attenuation without introducing phase shift has significant advantages especially when used as a way of optimizing frequency response between zones of loudspeaker cabinets in line arrays. So now that we have talked about what a FIR filter is and its benefits, let’s discuss a case for the application of FIR filters.

Applications of FIR filters

Before sophisticated DSP and processors were so readily available, a common tactic of handling multiway sound systems, particularly line arrays, with problematic high-frequencies was to go up to the amplifier of the offending zone of boxes and physically turn down the amplifier running the HF drivers. I’m not going to argue against doing what you have to do to save people’s ears in dire situations, but the problem with this method is that when you change the gain of the amplifier for the HF in a multiway loudspeaker, you effectively change the crossover point as well. One of our goals in optimizing a sound system is to maintain the isophasic response of the array throughout all the elements and zones of the system. By using FIR filters to adjust the frequency response of a system, we can make adjustments and “smooth out” the summation effects of the interelement angles between loudspeaker cabinets without introducing phase shift in-between zones of our line array.

Remember the example Lyons gave comparing the averaging effects of FIR filters to averaging the number of cars crossing a bridge? Now instead of cars, imagine we are trying to “average” out the outlier values for a given frequency band in the high-frequency range of different zones in our line array. These variances are due to the summation effects dependent on the interelement angles between cabinets. Figure A depicts a 16 box large-format line array with only optimized interelement angles between boxes using L-Acoustics’ loudspeaker prediction software Soundvision.

Figure A

Each blue line represents a measurement of the frequency response along the coverage area of the array. Notice the high amount of variance in frequency response particularly above 8kHz between the boxes across the target audience area for each loudspeaker. Now when we use FIR filtering available in the amplifier controllers and implemented via Network Manager to smooth out these variances like in the car analogy, we get a smoother response closer to the target curve above 8kHz as seen in Figure B.

Figure B

In this example, FIR filtering allows us to essentially apply EQ to individual zones of boxes within the array without introducing a relative phase shift that would break the isophasic response of the entire array.

Unfortunately, there is still no such thing as a free lunch. What you win in phase coherence, you pay for in propagation time. That is why, sadly, FIR filters aren’t very practical for lower frequency ranges in live sound because the amount of introduced delay at those frequency ranges would not be practical in real-time applications.

Conclusion

By taking discrete samples of a signal in time and representing it with a series expressions, we are able to define filters in digital signal processing as manipulations of a function. Finite impulse response filters with symmetric coefficients are able to smooth out variances in the input signal due to the averaging nature of the filter’s summation. The added advantage here is that this happens without introducing phase distortion, which makes the FIR filter a handy tool for optimizing zones of loudspeaker cabinets within a line array. Today, most professional loudspeaker manufacturers employ FIR filters to some degree in processing their point source, constant curvature, and variable curvature arrays. Whether the use of these filters creates a smoother sounding frequency response is up to the user to decide.

Endnotes:

[1] (pg. 2) Lyons, R.G. (2011). Understanding Digital Signal Processing. 3rd ed. Prentice-Hall: Pearson Education.

[2] (pg. 170) Lyons, R.G. (2011). Understanding Digital Signal Processing. 3rd ed. Prentice-Hall: Pearson Education.

[3] (pg. 176) Lyons, R.G. (2011). Understanding Digital Signal Processing. 3rd ed. Prentice-Hall: Pearson Education.

[4] (pg. 211) Lyons, R.G. (2011). Understanding Digital Signal Processing. 3rd ed. Prentice-Hall: Pearson Education.

Resources:

John. M. (n.d.) Audio FIR Filtering: A Guide to Fundamental FIR Filter Concepts & Applications in Loudspeakers. Eclipse Audio. https://eclipseaudio.com/fir-filter-guide/

Lyons, R.G. (2011). Understanding Digital Signal Processing. 3rd ed. Prentice-Hall: Pearson Education.

Explaining Effects: Reverb

“Can I get some (more) reverb on my vocals, please?”

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked that, I’d have… a lot of money. Reverb is one of the most-used audio effects, and with good reason, since natural reverb defines our perception of everyday sound. In fact, we are so used to hearing it that completely dry sounds can seem strange and jarring. It’s no wonder that everyone wants a bit of reverb on their vocals.

What we perceive as reverb is a combination of two things, called early reflections and late reflections. Early reflections are the first reflections of the source sound that make it back to our ear; they are the reflections that travel out, reflect off of something once, and head back. Late reflections are the reflections that spend time bouncing off of multiple surfaces before returning to our ear. Because we experience such a large number of reflections arriving at our ears so closely together, we do not hear them as an individual, echoed copies – instead, we get the smooth sound of reverberation.

Analog Reverb

There are two main types of mechanical reverb systems: plate and spring. Plate reverb was one of the first to come along. It revolves around the suspension of a large, suspended steel plate, roughly 4×8 feet, in a frame with a speaker driver at one end and a microphone at the other. When the speaker driver vibrates the plate, the vibrations travel through the plate to the microphone, mimicking the way soundwaves travel through air. The tightness of the plate controls the amount of delay – the tighter the plate, the longer the decay, as the energy of the vibrations takes longer to be absorbed. Additionally, dampers may be used to press against the plate and fine-tune the amount of delay. Of course, the unwieldy size and design of plate reverb present some pretty significant logistical challenges. Aside from the amount of space needed, its microphone-based design means that any external noise is easily picked up, so keeping the units away and isolated from any noise is also essential. For these reasons, its use was relegated almost exclusively in studios. A famous example of plate reverb is the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon – plate reverb (specifically the EMT-140) is the only reverb used on that album.

Spring reverb, developed a little later, is much smaller, more portable, and what you will find built into most amplifiers today. Unlike plate reverb, it relies on electrical signals and does not need any speakers or microphones to function. Like plate reverb, it relies on creating vibrations but does this by sandwiching a spring between a transducer and pickup. The transducer is used to create a vibration within the spring, which the pickup then converts into signal. Spring gained popularity as the defining sound of surf music, where you will find it used in copious amounts – any Dick Dale record, for example, is a good way to get familiar with how it sounds.

Digital Reverb

Like analog reverb, digital reverb can also be divided into two main categories: algorithmic and convolution. Most digital reverbs are algorithmic reverbs. Algorithmic reverbs require less processing power than their convolution-based reverb counterparts, and most of the pre-stocked reverb plugins you’ll find in your DAW will fall into this category. Algorithmic reverbs work by using delays and feedback loops on the samples of your audio file to mimic the early and late reflections that make up analog reverb, creating and defining the sound of a hypothetical room based on the parameters that you set. The early reflection component is created by sending the dry signal through several delay lines, which result in closely spaced copies of the original signal. Late reflections are then created by taking the already-generated early reflections and feeding them back through the algorithm repeatedly, re-applying the hypothetical room’s tonal qualities and resulting in additional delays.

Convolution is the more complex method of creating digital reverb. It involves capturing the characteristics of physical space, defining a mathematical function called an impulse response that can apply that space’s characteristic response to any input signal and doing an operation called convolution to get the (wet) output. Essentially, you are using a mathematical model to define the reflective properties of a physical room and imprinting that room’s unique signature onto your digital sample. The entire process is based on the measurement of a room’s response to what is called an impulse, an acoustic trigger meant to engage the acoustics of the room. These are usually atonal sounds, such as a white noise blast or sine sweep. Microphones are used to register both the trigger sound and the resulting acoustic response. This audio is then fed into a convolution processor, which separates out the triggering sound and defines the room’s impulse response. With the impulse response obtained, the convolution processor can now use convolution to apply that room’s response to any input signal it receives, essentially multiplying the frequency spectra of the input signal and impulse response together and coloring the output sound with the harmonics and timbre of the impulse response. The end result is a signal that is a convincing model of the input sound being played in the space the impulse response defines.

The versatility of digital reverb means that the sound of just about every space you could want, real or imagined, is at your disposal. If used well, it can add completely new dimensions to your mixes or create wild effects. Just be careful not to wash yourself away in the process.

Working with Hands from Uber Works

2020 brought a variety of topics concerning gig workers in the US to light. From addressing unemployment for independent contractors to the House of Representatives introducing the P.R.O Act, Covid-19 is changing the conversation for the classification of gig workers. Florida introduced Uber Work, Uber’s new on-demand staffing business, in December 2019 to launch in its second city ever, Miami. Since March put a strain on the need for gig-based workers in the right-to-work state, I only recently had the pleasure of working alongside people utilizing this new app.

Some background information

One of the many struggles with event logistics during this time has been maintaining labor lists. Florida has fewer restrictions for venues drawing the attention of companies with events that don’t entirely rely on a live audience. Broadcast events like award shows have been navigating how to keep crews safe while still creating impressive rigs. Labor companies are eager to work and make promises to fill large calls, maybe biting off a little more than they can chew. Infrequent work has forced talented and knowledgeable hands to leave the industry temporarily to find steady day-work to make ends meet or leave entirely to transfer their skills to jobs less affected by the pandemic. You can’t always take off of work to take a few days of 8-hour calls.

It’s been interesting. When there’s one large event in my market at a time, I see the same friendly faces repeatedly regardless of which company is filling the call. You can almost work full-time under multiple companies. But it’s a little more complicated for those companies when there’s more than one event and as we’ve gotten further away from March 2020. Two different companies needing to fill 100+ calls can become very difficult very fast. Everyone is going to take the sweeter deal first.

What company is giving more days? How many hours a day? Who provides the better rate? Is there Covid testing? Parking? Hotel? Food?

What happens to the labor company that gets shorted by people being unavailable?

This is where one company that I was working for turned to Uber Works. A major selling point for this app is that people can take shifts for jobs that are entry-level and require very little previous skills. I can say with confidence, that is not the live entertainment industry. This job took place in a good-sized arena in Downtown Miami. I would never consider a fast-paced arena environment to be entry-level. We were already multiple days into this gig building the staging, raising video walls, flying line array, and lighting truss out. It’s an active work zone so I figured the crew of about 20 people would be coming in with tools and their own personal protective equipment. Most had no tools and just wore ankle-high boots (couldn’t say if they were safety toes). PPE was provided by the labor company but many of these workers would misplace their gear and it would be returned to supervisors by the end of the day.

Uber Works’ flagship city was Chicago. Miami has a very different logistical landscape when employing people. I’m not sure the company truly thought out some of the challenges different cities may have. English isn’t necessarily the default language for our work environment. Our crew is diverse and we tackled issues the company didn’t consider head-on with multiple translations for safety meetings, giving directions, and assisting anywhere we could. Uber Works didn’t consider possible accommodations they’d need to make to have this crew integrate smoothly. Language barriers become more apparent as things get more technical. Not every crew lead was bilingual. I found it challenging to try to explain signal flow to someone who has never seen XLR before. I was grasping at words to explain stage directions when they’ve never been on a stage before. This was taking on-the-job training to new levels.

It became very clear that while this technically solved the problem of not having enough hands, it came at a high price. How can I get frustrated with someone who was basically set up to fail?

The people from Uber Works who agreed to take on this difficult challenge were some of the sweetest, eager, willing to work people. They were pleasant to be around, they were patient and willing to learn, they tried to be aware of their surroundings in a possibly dangerous environment. I found that they shared some solidarity within their own group sharing a difficult experience and worked well as a team. I appreciated their enthusiasm but I personally can’t agree with ever having Uber Works on my job site ever again. Uber Works has a lot of kinks they need to fix and it’s not a solution for our industry.

For Uber Works to willingly send untrained people into an arena was reckless. There are inherent dangers to our field in dealing with heights, power, heavy machinery, and large loads. To add possible room for miscommunication exponentially increases that risk. These were people risking their lives to make ends meet during a pandemic where jobs are scarce and they were going in with their eyes closed.

The wonderful people who make up our industry are not easily replaced by someone deemed “unskilled” by a large corporation. We have a wealth of knowledge that is often built up from years of experience and dedication to our craft. I’m hoping in the future labor companies will be more willing to split bids with other companies in order to properly fill calls for clients. I’m also hoping companies like Uber Works don’t continue to devalue our labor. You can’t penny and dime our skillsets or take a commission on an hourly rate. A low-balling bid war during this time wouldn’t just set back rates; it would push so many more away from an industry that they love.

The gig was chaotic, but I think that says more about the companies who agreed to these terms than the working hands.

Rising Star – Carolyn Slothour Live Sound Engineer

Carolyn Slothour is an up-and-coming independent FOH and Monitor engineer, who has been working in the industry for just over five years. She works as an A1 and A2 at a few production companies based in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, including a company called Zero Fossil which is a clean energy/solar-powered production company. She is the house engineer at a local venue called Brillobox and fills in at several other local venues while not on the road. The past year she has been touring as FOH, tour manager, and playing flute with a variety of artists including Mija, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Alison Sudol, & a rock theatre group called Squonk Opera. She has several tours planned for 2020 as well.

Carolyn has always been passionate about playing & performing music and decided to move from New Jersey to Pittsburgh to attend college at the California University of PA to follow her love of music, while not really knowing what path she would ultimately take within the industry. The Music Technology Bachelor’s degree she received covered a wide range of things, including music performance & theory, music business, and recording & live sound technology. During her time in college, she interned at a recording studio and production company. While interning, Carolyn discovered she was most passionate about live sound. Having attended and performed in live concerts throughout her life, she says “I realized it made sense for me to work in an environment I’ve always loved and felt at home in from the start.” From there she started picking up freelance sound gigs and has been building her diverse resume of audio work since.

Her current goals are to mix at more large-scale festivals and continue to grow in many different ways. “I have always loved to attend festivals, and working them has become some of the best times of my life, despite the usual “throw-and-go,” high-stakes style mixing at them tends to be. I enjoy the rush and the feeling of accomplishment when it all comes together. I also hope to continue to grow in several different areas of the music industry – including live sound, performance, studio engineering, sound design, composition, and production. I love to learn and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”

Can you tell us about a tour or show that you’re proud of? A challenge that you pulled off?

My last FOH tour with !!! (Chk Chk Chk) was one that I’m very proud of because I was able to combine my two passions – mixing FOH & playing the flute. When I first met the band, they asked if I would be interested in playing flute with them on a couple of songs of theirs. I was absolutely interested and ended up playing flute on 2-3 songs every night from FOH. It could be a little challenging at times to take my focus away from mixing and put it on performing, but playing the flute is like second nature to me and it felt great to play in front of large audiences with such a great group of musicians. I’m a huge fan of their music, so it was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had at work. I also recently mixed FOH for Mija at Corona Capital Music Festival in Mexico City, along with some extremely talented musicians & engineers. The festival brings in around 146,000 people, so that was a pretty special gig for me as well.

Can you tell us about failure and what you learned from it?

I wouldn’t necessarily call this a failure, but one mistake I made recently was creating a show file at a venue while on tour within someone else’s show structure. It all worked fine until I loaded it up at the next venue with that same console, & there was a lot of basic setup that did not work for the new venue. The house engineer and I spent a while trying to figure out why a variety of things did not work correctly and I ended up finding that certain settings were set very strangely when the show file was initially created. After all that trouble, the show ended up sounding great and it was a good night. But I definitely learned the hard way to only travel with show files that I personally created from the start.

What do you like best about touring? 

My favorite thing about touring is that every day is never exactly the same as the last. There are always different challenges & different people, in a different place, so it’s never boring. It’s taught me to take life one day at a time – not only in my career but in all aspects of my life. It can be a stressful job, but it also takes a certain amount of ‘letting go’ and just going with the flow. And I feel really lucky that my career enables me to travel around the globe and see places that many people only dream of.

What do you like least? 

My least favorite part about touring is being away from my cat, & not being able to focus on playing music & my other interests as much as I’d like. I try to make time for my hobbies on the road as much as possible though.

What is your favorite day off activity? 

My favorite day off activities is finding crystal shops & beautiful nature spots where I can relax and spin poi or play the flute. I also enjoy searching for good vegan restaurants in whatever city I’m in.

What, if any, obstacles and barriers have you faced? 

Freelance audio is a competitive industry, and every engineer has to prove themselves in order to build a reputation. Sometimes it’s a little harder to prove myself to those who may not have faith in women to do a great job, but it’s to be expected when less than 5% of audio engineers are not men. Women tend to be held to a higher standard, but that is a blessing in many ways. We work harder and better in order to make it. If you’re truly passionate about your job & have a solid work ethic, you won’t have trouble finding gigs.

How have you dealt with them? 

I’ve grown a thicker skin since I started freelancing. As in any job, there are people who are unpleasant to work with or don’t believe you will do well. The key is to focus on your own work & put in 100% effort so that they have nothing negative to say after seeing/hearing you do your job well. It’s important not to compare yourself to other engineers because everyone is on a different path and will come across opportunities at different points. Having a positive attitude helps immensely.

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

Take the time to learn the basics and do prep work – read manuals, ask questions, & have the initiative to figure things out on your own. Then when you’re put in front of a new console, or any new piece of hardware or software, you’ll have some base knowledge to figure out how it works quickly. Never be discouraged by your lack of knowledge. Most of the learning you’ll do will be on the job, so try not to worry too much about what you do & do not know. No engineer knows EVERYTHING. It’s also very important to not have an ego about your knowledge and experience because it will keep you from learning and is generally just a bad attitude to have. There’s always something to be learned from a situation, as well as from fellow engineers. Plus, the more knowledge you have, the more you’ll realize how much more there is to learn. As long as you keep the drive to learn & adapt, you will go far.

Must have skills? 

Communication & social skills are a must – those were honestly the hardest ones for me starting out because I was always a fairly withdrawn & antisocial child. But it’s the key to getting a lot of gigs. You must be friendly, understanding, easy to get along with, and able to stay calm in stressful situations and never place blame. Generally, people will hire someone they like before someone they don’t, even if they’re a little less competent. Adaptability is also a very important skill – when you work with different people & different sound systems every day, you have to be able to work with many types of personalities and limitations.

Favorite gear? 

I’m a huge fan of analog consoles and gear in general because it tends to sound really great right off the bat. I always enjoy mixing on the classic Midas H3000, and I’m a sucker for good outboard compressors. As for digital consoles, my favorite brand is DiGiCo because they have the power to do pretty much anything I want. I’m a firm believer that if something sounds bad through a sound system while completely flat, you should change the mic first – so great mics are very important to me. I’m currently in the process of building my personal mic closet, so I enjoy testing out different mics that venues have in-house. My favorite combination of microphones varies from artist to artist depending on the sound I’m going for, but it’s usually a mixture of Sennheiser & Audix microphones. My favorite kick drum mic combination is a Shure Beta 91a inside, and an Audix D6 outside.

The SoundGirls Podcast – Carolyn Slothour: FOH Engineer and Flutist

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

There Really Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Using The Scientific Method in Assessment of System Optimization

A couple of years ago, I took a class for the first time from Jamie Anderson at Rational Acoustics where he said something that has stuck with me ever since. He said something to the effect of our job as system engineers is to make it sound the same everywhere, and it is the job of the mix engineer to make it sound “good” or “bad”.

The reality in the world of live sound is that there are many variables stacked up against us. A scenic element being in the way of speaker coverage, a client that does not want to see a speaker in the first place, a speaker that has done one too many gigs and decides that today is the day for one driver to die during load-in or any other myriad of things that can stand in the way of the ultimate goal: a verified, calibrated sound system.

The Challenges Of Reality

 

One distinction that must be made before beginning the discussion of system optimization is that we must draw a line here and make all intentions clear: what is our role at this gig? Are you just performing the tasks of the systems engineer? Are you the systems engineer and FOH mix engineer? Are you the tour manager as well and work directly with the artist’s manager? Why does this matter, you may ask? The fact of the matter is that when it comes down to making final evaluations on the system, there are going to be executive decisions that will need to be made, especially in moments of triage. Having clearly defined what one’s role at the gig is will help in making these decisions when the clock is ticking away.

So in this context, we are going to discuss the decisions of system optimization from the point of the systems engineer. We have decided that the most important task of our gig is to make sure that everyone in the audience is having the same show as the person mixing at front-of-house. I’ve always thought of this as a comparison to a painter and a blank canvas. It is the mix engineer’s job to paint the picture for the audience to hear, it is our job as system engineers to make sure the painting sounds the same every day by providing the same blank canvas.

The scientific method teaches the concept of control with independent and dependent variables. We have an objective that we wish to achieve, we assess our variables in each scenario to come up with a hypothesis of what we believe will happen. Then we execute a procedure, controlling the variables we can, and analyze the results given the tools at hand to draw conclusions and determine whether we have achieved our objective. Recall that an independent variable is a factor that remains the same in an experiment, while a dependent variable is the component that you manipulate and observe the results. In the production world, these terms can have a variety of implications. It is an unfortunate, commonly held belief that system optimization starts at the EQ stage when really there are so many steps before that. If there is a column in front of a hang of speakers, no EQ in the world is going to make them sound like they are not shadowed behind a column.

Now everybody take a deep breath in and say, “EQ is not the solution to a mechanical problem.” And breathe out…

Let’s start with preproduction. It is time to assess our first round of variables. What are the limitations of the venue? Trim height? Rigging limitations? What are the limitations proposed by the client? Maybe there is another element to the show that necessitates the PA being placed in a certain position over another; maybe the client doesn’t want to see speakers at all. We must ask our technical brains and our career paths in each scenario, what can we change and what can we not change? Note that it will not always be the same in every circumstance. In one scenario, we may be able to convince the client to let us put the PA anywhere we want, making it a dependent variable. In another situation, for the sake of our gig, we must accept that the PA will not move or that the low steel of the roof is a bleak 35 feet in the air, and thus we face an independent variable.

The many steps of system optimization that lie before EQ

 

After assessing these first sets of variables, we can now move into the next phase and look at our system design. Again, say it with me, “EQ is not the solution to a mechanical problem.” We must assess our variables again in this next phase of the optimization process. We have been given the technical rider of the venue that we are going to be at and maybe due to budgetary restraints we cannot change the PA: independent variable. Perhaps we are carrying our own PA and thus have control over the design with limitations from the venue: dependent variable forms, but with caveats. Let’s look deeper into this particular scenario and ask ourselves: as engineers building our design, what do we have control over now?

The first step lies in what speaker we choose for the job. Given the ultimate design control scenario where we get the luxury to pick and choose the loudspeakers we get to use in our design, different directivity designs will lend themselves better in one scenario versus another. A point source has just as much validity as the deployment of a line array depending on the situation. For a small audience of 150 people with a jazz band, a point source speaker over a sub may be more valid than showing up with a 12 box line array that necessitates a rigging call to fly from the ceiling. But even in this scenario, there are caveats in our delicate weighing of variables. Where are those 150 people going to be? Are we in a ballroom or a theater? Even the evaluation of our choices on what box to choose for a design are as varied as deciding what type of canvas we wish to use for the mix engineer’s painting.

So let’s create a scenario: let’s say we are doing an arena show and the design has been established with a set number of boxes for daily deployment with an agreed-upon design by the production team. Even the design is pretty much cut and paste in terms of rigging points, but we have varying limitations to trim height due to high and low steel of the venue. What variables do we now have control over? We still have a decent amount of control over trim height up to a (literal) limit of the motor, but we also have control over the vertical directivity of our (let’s make the design decision for the purpose of discussion) line array. There is a hidden assumption here that is often under-represented when talking about system designs.

A friend and colleague of mine, Sully (Chris) Sullivan once pointed out to me that the hidden design assumption that we often make as system engineers, but don’t necessarily acknowledge, is that we assume that the loudspeaker manufacturer has actually achieved the horizontal coverage dictated by technical specifications. This made me reconsider the things I take for granted in a given system. In our design, we choose to use Manufacturer X’s 120-degree line source element. They have established in their technical specs that there is a measurable point at 60 degrees off-axis (total 120-degree coverage) where the polar response drops 6 dB. We can take our measurement microphone and check that the response is what we think it is, but if it isn’t what really are our options? Perhaps we have a manufacturer defect or a blown driver somewhere, but unless we change the physical parameters of the loudspeaker, this is a variable that we put in the trust of the manufacturers. So what do we have control over? He pointed out to me that our decision choices lie in the manipulation of the vertical.

Entire books and papers can and have been written about how we can control the vertical coverage of our loudspeaker arrays, but certain factors remain consistent throughout. Inter-element angles, or splay angles, let us control the summation of elements within an array. Site angle and trim height let us control the geometric relationship of the source to the audience and thus affect the spread of SPL over distance. Azimuth also gives us geometric control of the directivity pattern of the entire array along a horizontal dispersion pattern. Note that this is a distinction from the horizontal pattern control of the frequency response radiating from the enclosure, of which we have handed responsibility over to the manufacturer. Fortunately, the myriad of loudspeaker prediction software available from modern manufacturers has given the modern system engineer an unprecedented level of ability to assess these parameters before a single speaker goes up into the air.

At this point, we have made a lot of decisions on the design of our system and weighed the variables along every step of the way to draw out our procedure for the system deployment. It is now time to analyze our results and verify that what we thought was going to happen did or did not happen. Here we introduce our tools to verify our procedure in a two step-process of mechanical then acoustical verification. First, we use tools such as protractors and laser inclinometers as a means of collecting data to assess whether we have achieved our mechanical design goal. For example, our model says we need a site angle of 2 degrees to achieve this result so we verify with the laser inclinometer that we got there. Once we have assessed that we made our design’s mechanical goals, we must analyze the acoustical results.

Laser inclinometers are just one example of a tool we can use to verify the mechanical actualization of a design

.

It is here only at this stage that we are finally introducing the examination software to analyze the response of our system. After examining our role at the gig, the criteria involved in pre-production, choosing design elements appropriate for the task, and verifying their deployment, only now can move into the realm of analysis software to see if all those goals were met. We can utilize dual-channel measurement software to take transfer functions at different stages of the input and output of our system to verify that our design goals have been met, but more importantly to see if they have not been met and why. This is where our ability to critically interpret the data comes in to play. By evaluating impulse response data, dual-channel FFT (Fast-Fourier Transform) functions, and the coherence of our gathered data we can make an assessment of how our design has been achieved in the acoustical and electronic realm.

What’s interesting to me is that often the discussion of system optimization starts here. In fact, as we have seen, the process begins as early as the pre-production stage when talking with different departments and the client, and even when asking ourselves what our role is at the gig. The final analysis of any design comes down to the tool that we always carry with us: our ears. Our ears are the final arbiters after our evaluation of acoustical and mechanical variables, and are used along every step of our design path along with our trusty use of  “common sense.” In the end, our careful assessment of variables leads us to utilize the power of the scientific method to make educated decisions to work towards our end goal: the blank canvas, ready to be painted.

Big thanks to the following for letting me reference them in this article: Jamie Anderson at Rational Acoustics, Sully (Chris) Sullivan, and Alignarray (www.alignarray.com)

So you Think you Want a Career in Live Sound.

Are you sure?  

I’m not saying it’s a bad idea; I think it’s fantastic as long as you are doing it for the right reasons.

I have been working in live sound for 30 years, and even though it can be grueling at times, I’ve never felt like I was ‘working.’  My passion for music is what drives me.  The camaraderie of my fellow touring crew and the opportunity to travel to and experience different places and cultures are all perks of the job.  When I first discovered my desire to get into this crazy business, it was so strong that nothing was going to convince me to do anything else.

That passion and desire have helped me through the struggle of the early years, years of building my skills and experience, hustling to get enough work, the jobs that weren’t my dream job but essential to learning what I needed to know for my next job.

It’s good to have an end goal in mind for where you want to be.  Equally important is to clarify your motivations so you can be sure that your expectations are aligned with the realities of the job.

Here are some questions to ask yourself.

What exactly do you want to do?

What is your ultimate goal? Why?

What do you envision that being like?

What is the driving force behind it?

What do you feel you are going to get out of it?

How badly do you want it? In other words, how hard are you willing to work to achieve it?

What do you imagine this path being like?  What is the first step?

Are you prepared to move around a lot?

How are you going to set yourself apart from all the other people who want to do the same thing?

How do you feel about getting filthy, sweaty, doing a lot of physical work and some heavy lifting?

How do you feel about working nights and weekends, holidays, and stupid hours?

If your goal is to go on tour with a band, can you live out of a suitcase for weeks/months at a time, and without all the comforts of home?

Are you a self-starter, responsible and dependable or do you just want to mindlessly punch a clock and surf Facebook all day?

How good are you at building connections and networking?

These are all things to consider when before choosing live sound as a career.

If your motivation is to make a lot of money, hang out and party with your favorite band, or just because you like music, you probably won’t make it.  I’m not trying to burst your bubble but realistically – yes you can make a lot of money in live sound, corporate work pays great and touring sound engineers can make good money, but it can take a long time to get to that point.

As far as hanging out and partying with the band, let’s think about that.  The band is your boss, and while yes, at times you can and will develop great friendships with the people you work for, there is a fine line between employee and friend.  You need to know your place, and as crew, it’s not backstage partying with the band when loadout is going on.  You are there to do a job, this a business like any other and as much as we don’t want to believe it, it’s about making money-  money for the artist, their management, the promoter… All of which depends on each person doing their job.

You love music, that’s great.  That’s a good start but is it your passion?  Is it something you are willing to bust your butt for, to work 16 hour days getting dirty and sweaty?  To slug it out in smelly bars and clubs if you are trying to cut it as a mixer?  Or working as a grunt on the audio crew for tour after tour until you are experienced enough to be the system tech?

Having a sincere passion and strong desire is a great start.  Getting your expectations in check is also helpful, which is where these questions come in.

In fact, you could ask yourself most of these questions about anything you are going after in life.

-What is it I want?

-Why do I want it?

-How do I expect to feel when I have it?

-Are my expectations in line with reality?- Talk to people who are where you want to be for a reality check.

-How hard am I willing to work for it?

Answering honestly will help you clarify if you are on the right path for you.

I wish you success in whatever path that is!

For more from Michelle, check out https://www.mixingmusiclive.com

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