Personal growth and professional growth work hand in hand for me. The more I expand my mindset, the greater the possibilities. Julia Child said it best “You’ll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.” So why should we stop learning, right?
I started my journey in media at a young age within a place of worship. Audio has always been my focus point. But I noticed as an in-house engineer once communication was set and audio was brought up to a standard of excellence there was still more work to be done. Which led me to expand my reach as a freelance technician.
Once I set up a multimedia platform for one worship center I continued to research equipment that could take the worshiping experience to the next level. From audio consoles to projectors, from lights to CD duplication. From live broadcasting to DVD production, they all played a significant role in creating this great experience. The leaders loved the thought of having all these outlets to help spread the gospel. Not only did it help the leaders and the congregation. It helped me gain experience, which births excellent technicians.
After working in places of worship for over eight years and graduating from a Media Tech Institute with a diploma in audio engineering and multimedia. I choose to see what other routes I could go with this passion and experience. I then found the wonderful world of AV (Audio and Visuals). A place where being proficient in all areas of event technology is golden. I had been in AV for years and didn’t even know it. I just specialized in worship centers; now I’m branching out even more. Seeing what all the world has to offer a young audio engineer willing to learn and grow.
Being an audio engineer can take you in many different directions, but no matter which route you take, the more you know, the more you grow. You can start as a monitor engineer and then move to mixing at FOH. You can be a boom microphone operator and develop into recording and mixing Foley. I started in AV as a stagehand just doing load in and load-outs. You never know, continue to keep an open mind. Never stop learning. The possibilities are endless, so is the amount of growth within the industry. Once you feel you know everything there is to know, you put a cap on yourself and opportunities. Don’t be a know it all, be willing to learn it all.