Hi fellow audio humans. So it occurred to me over the past few weeks that there might actually still be room in the internet for another audio blog. Specifically one on touring and live sound which seems to be lacking compared to the amount of studio-centered information out there. So here I am!
What I hope to do with this blog is really write down my findings and learnings along the way. Maybe play with some new gear and tell you a little what I think about it. And hopefully get some feedback (the good kind) what you all are liking, how you’re using it; and in general, a good place to talk shop. I have not been on the road long, but long enough that maybe I can share some things that make the next wave of first timers a little bit easier. So enjoy, comment, share, and let’s help each other out!
A little bit about me - I grew up in the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC and was raised in the band program there. One day my band director hours before a jazz band concert said to me “you’re pretty good at technical stuff, how about you go up in the sound booth and run sound for the jazz band. Take your best guess for your own mic.” Obviously, I had not a clue what I was doing, but somehow the 24x8 or whatever it was Mackie console just kind of clicked for me. The idea that with a small manipulation of a small piece of electronics, I could alter the way someone feels about a sound. I was hooked.
After high school I knew my life would somehow revolve around music. At the behest of my parents to get some kind of bachelor’s degree, I found Shenandoah Conservatory. I landed there because it was very much a musician’s school first, technical school second and I thought to myself ‘make great music and the rest will sort itself out.’ I’m really happy with that decision to this day. 4 years later I had a BM in music production and recording technology and fancied myself an audio engineer. Then the cold hard reality of being a young person with a fresh college degree and no experience hit. I soon found a job at a local venue in Northern Virginia called Empire. It was a down and dirty punk and metal venue. 500 capacity, sometimes 7 bands a night, one X32 for monitors AND front of house. I learned to grow a thick skin, work quickly under pressure, and eventually how to slam out a half decent mix.
Soon I learned that mixing in a small venue full of broke AF punk bands was certainly not paying the bills in one of the most affluent counties in America, I decided it was time to follow the music and in March of 2015 I packed my bags and moved to Nashville. I soon found myself in an eerily similar situation, running sound for a bunch of punk and metal bands at a non-profit venue in Nashville. The only difference was I could actually pay rent! Eventually just enough word of mouth had spread that I got the chance for my first tour, a pop act named Jacob Whitesides was looking at bringing on an ‘intern’ sound engineer. I went on the road for 7 weeks for only per-diem and an SC48 running in-ears and FOH. I loved it. And through the people I met on that tour, it seems like I never went home after that.
Since then I have been fortunate enough to run for a number of really cool artists; Lido, EDEN, Mikky Ekko, NeverShoutNever, Greta Van Fleet, Sara Evans, Why Don’t We and Scotty McCreery. And I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the world; I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve looped the US, but I’m only missing Alaska as having never played a show there; all over Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada and Japan. One thing I’ve figured out is that I am nowhere close to done learning, and I think that might be the main fire behind the making of this blog. I want to share what I’ve learned and have it be a place for more knowledge to coalesce and spread in this wild, weird and sometimes secretive world of live sound.
