Sound Design Live

Build Your Career As A Sound Engineer

For Live Sound Engineers: Surprisingly Simple Tips to Prevent Back Injury on the Job

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In this episode of sound design live I speak with Brandi Smith-Young, a fellow at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy, board-certified orthopedic specialist, and founder of Perfect 10.0 Physical Therapy, about preventing back injury. She specializes in injury care, injury prevention, and performance training for gymnasts, dancers, parkour athletes, and performing artists.

We answer these questions:

  • Is your job as a sound engineer breaking your back?
  • Is your job in a chair taking years off of your life?
  • What’s wrong with caffeine?
  • Does work count as exercise?
  • How often should you replace your work shoes?

Smith-Young discusses:

  • How to breathe for stability.
  • The top ways that people lift incorrectly.

Details from the podcast:

  1. sound-design-live-sound-engineer-prevent-back-injury-brandi-smith-youngAll music in today’s episode by Trash80.
  2. Brandi’s DVDs: Finding Your Inner Core, Finding Stability Within
  3.  Clips
    1. Thank You clip from arytopia
    2. Japanese clip from Reitanna
    3. Thank you please wait for assistance from shadoWisp
  4. Brandi’s list of priorities for preventing back injury on the job through proper recovery:
    1. Diet & nutrition
    2. Sleep
    3. Core strength and stabilization
  5. My interview with Wendy Jo Peterson
  6. 2 Tbsp. almond butter + 1 Tbsp. coconut oil = complete protein/omega lift that helps with your energy level.
  7. Daily cardiovascular routine (3-4 days/week)
    1. 2min warm-up (jumping jacks, jogging, etc.)
    2. 30sec sprint (Start with 50% of your max heart rate where you can still have a conversation, work up to 90% of your max heart rate where you can’t talk.)
    3. 90sec recovery
    4. repeat no more than 8x
  8. Functional Movement
  9. Quotes
    1. The extreme ranges, where you are constantly lifting or constantly sitting, you’re at risk for injury.
    2. The chair takes years off of their life.
    3. People eat too many processed foods. Stay on the outside of the grocery store.
    4. You need some form of cardiovascular activity every day outside of work.
    5. It’s all about functional movement and postural alignment.
    6. A dysfunctional core is one of the main contributors to injuries. [28:38]
    7. The rubber in tennis shoes only has a 1-year shelf life. After a year, they start to degrade. [37:47]
    8. You need to replace your work shoes every year at minimum. [39:14]

The good, the bad, and the ugly of being a Tour Managing FOH Engineer

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In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with Brian Adler about good and bad of being a tour managing FOH engineer and how he lost his passion for audio in the recording studio and rediscovered it in concert sound. We discuss:

  • Why getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to his career
  • The benefits of working at smaller concert venues
  • How to control your relationship with an artist (even if you work at a shitty club)
  • One important demand you should make when taking tour managing gigs
  • Staying healthy on tour
  • Brian’s industry secret for optimizing a sound system on tour 😉
  • Brian’s #1 trick for controlling stage volume
  • How to give guitarists and vocalist plenty of volume on stage
  • How to double a vocal channel at FOH for separate monitor control

And we answer these questions:

  • Do the places you work affect your reputation?
  • Should you go after tour managing jobs to get more audio work?
  • What are the responsibilities of a tour manager?
  • What’s it like working at a museum?
  • Where do you get the best burritos in San Francisco?

sound-design-live-tour-managing-foh-engineer-brian-adlerYou can’t control whether someone has a good time or a bad time with a venue. You can control whether someone has a good or bad time with you and your sound system.

Details from the podcast:

3 Simple Ways That Busy Sound Engineers Can Protect Their Hearing

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Noise induced hearing loss is a slippery(1)With the frightening realization that noise induced hearing loss is compounding, that is, the more you get, the more vulnerable you are, I decided it would be good to put together a short list of the best ways to protect your most valuable sense for a long and happy career.

#1 Overexposure

How do you know if you are experiencing over exposure? Well, if you come home every night with your ears ringing, then that’s a sign, but exposure is cumulative over a day and over your lifetime so you might want to fill out the dosimetry spreadsheet from the last post to see if you are at risk.

Because daily exposure is cumulative, avoid loud environments when you are not working. You need about 10 hours of quiet for your ears to reset.

  • Make your home a sanctuary of peace.
  • Turn off the radio on the way home.
  • Wear ear plugs or noise reducing headphones on the subway, train, and BART.

The less ambient noise you have to overcome, the lower you can keep your volume. -Jovie Havard Strzelecki

I use a few of different noise protection strategies at work.

  1. If I’m the A2 or stage tech and I’m not doing a lot of critical listening then I’ll wear my molded ear plugs or just regular foam plugs that I can pop out if I need to have a conversation or listen more closely.
  2. If I’m the A1 for an all day festival, I’ll try to mix as much as possible with my molded ear plugs in. It’s not the same as mixing without them, but I can remove them regularly and train myself to get the job done. If I get breaks, I’ll try to find a quit(er) spot to relax.
  3. If I were mixing stage monitors on a regular basis I would drop $1,000 on a good in-ear-monitor system.

Use custom-made filtered earplugs. For around $200, you can have a pair of custom-molded plugs which attenuate evenly across a broad range of frequencies, preserving sound quality and verbal communication while protecting your hearing. Some filtered plugs come with the option of removable filters so that you can choose your attenuation level. Call an audiologist to find out if they offer this type of plug. Custom plugs can also be made for maximum attenuation, which is around 30 dB and can be worn under circumaural earphones [surround the ear] for even more protection. -Jovie Havard Strzelecki

#2 Dehydration

First of all, noise exposure can cause fatigue, even if you aren’t running around tiring yourself. One of the best ways to combat fatigue is by staying hydrated.

  • Drink a little every 15 minutes instead of trying to gulp it down once every 2 hours.
  • Your urine will be pale or clear if you are hydrated.
  • Avoid energy drinks. Processing the extra sugars spends more of your body’s energy.

sound-design-live-hearing-protection-audiogram#3 The Audiologist

Do you rely on feeling to decide if you will visit the dentist? Do you hope you won’t get an STD and use that as an excuse to avoid getting tested?

Then why would you avoid a simple, needle-free test procedure that could give you real insight into your hearing health?

Get a baseline hearing test! A 20 minute audiogram can reveal your current hearing status so that you can track changes to your hearing and patterns such as noise-induced hearing loss. A change in hearing may indicate the need to further limit your noise exposure and/or change your method of hearing protection. -Jovie Havard Strzelecki

Stealing Athlete Nutrition Techniques

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sound-design-live-stealing-athlete-nutrition-techniques-Chuck_NorrisIn this last post in my series on food and drink at work, I’d like to share with you some of the diet and nutrition techniques that I’ve been introduced to while hanging out with athletes. In my interview with Wendy Jo Peterson we mentioned energy gels, caffeine, and recovery drink, and I want to say a few more things about each of those to put some new ideas in your head about eating healthy on the job.

Gatorade/Red Bull/Monster Energy

A popular slogan going around the world of athletics right now is “Hydration in your bottles. Food in your pockets.” Remember it. When you try to quench your thirst with a drink that has a lot of carbohydrates (sugar), your body actually has to take water away from your muscles in order to digest the drink — not a great way to hydrate. Stay away from calorie-and-sugar-rich energy drinks like Gatorade and Coke. It’s tempting to have a soda because they are readily available, and you may feel justified in having a Red Bull because you are working long hours, but you’ll feel a lot better on a long day if you avoid these and stick to drinking water throughout the day and eating solid food when you need to up your energy stores.

sound-design-live-stealing-athlete-nutrition-techniques-energy-gelSnack tip: For long low-intensity work, like sitting behind a mixing board at an all-day corporate event, break up your snacks. Your body can only process so much food energy at once, so if you want to get the full benefit of your food, instead of eating an entire energy bar at once, eat a couple of bites every 20 minutes. For high-intensity work, such as large load-ins, have an energy gel or another simple-sugar/low-fiber food (jelly beans, pretzels, etc.) every 45 minutes for the duration of the work.

Caffeine

Did you know that your body builds up a tolerance to caffeine? Many endurance athletes use products during competition that have caffeine in them, but that won’t do them any good if they slam espressos all the time when they’re not competing.  Coaches frequently recommend that athletes have one cup of regular coffee in the morning (about half the amount of caffeine they will consume during one hour of competition), and then switch to decaf.

If you wash down your 5-hour Energy shot with a Red Bull, you’ll quickly become desensitized. You might feel a little bump, but you’ll definitely feel a big crash. Go easy on the caffeine in your day-to-day life so that when you really need that extra energy for heavy lifting, your caffeinated energy gels or espresso will actually do something for you.

Recover Faster, Work Easier

When you do physical labor, you deplete your muscles of glycogen, which is the most readily-available energy source for your body (fat is another source, but it takes longer to turn into a form you can use). After hard work, you want to replace your muscle glycogen within an hour of finishing work, when your muscles are most receptive to refueling and repair — that’s called your “glycogen window.” Athletes usually replenish using a four-to-one carbohydrate-to-protein ratio; the carbohydrate loads your muscles up with glycogen and the protein helps your muscles repair themselves. Solid foods are best for after-work recovery, but can be substituted with recovery drink when necessary. When is that necessary? For example, if you’re done working but you have an hour commute home and you forgot to bring a snack. Keep a packet of recovery mix, like GU Recovery Brew, or a shelf-stable box of chocolate milk (a lot of athletes recover with chocolate milk because it has the correct ratio and is readily available/often cheaper than fancy mixes!) in your car and drink one of them on your drive home.  Then, have a real meal within three hours of finishing. Your body will thank you.

sound-design-live-stealing-athlete-nutrition-techniques-complex-carbohydratesCarbohydrate Loading

Carb loading is widely misunderstood, and it’s not a free pass to eat all the pasta and bread you want (sorry). Don’t eat a big meal right before work, because it will just sit in your gut and divert energy away from your muscles for digestion. You need to allow time for the food to process through your system.

So, if you are working early in the morning, eat plenty of complex carbohydrates like whole wheat pasta, brown rice, or sweet potatoes for dinner, then have a light breakfast the next day. If you are working at night, eat a big breakfast with complex carbs like oatmeal or whole-grain pancakes, and then a light lunch. The idea is that your body needs several hours to make your food available for action, and whatever you eat right before work won’t have enough time to actually to help you work, it will only draw energy you need to do your job into your digestive system. If you work with musicians or actors, you may have noticed that they like to eat dinner after the show, not before. This is why.

Also remember, it’s called carboHYDRATE for a reason — it helps your muscles store water and remain hydrated, so it is important that you drink a bunch of water with your major pre-game meal.

Food Diary

If you really want to dial in your nutrition, keep a food diary. Note how you feel at regular intervals in the day and see how that relates to what you eat. Did you feel really weak at the end of the day? Maybe you didn’t eat enough overall. Did you feel tired at the middle of the day? Perhaps you ate too big a meal right before starting work that made you feel sluggish. Did you feel rested the next morning? A diary will help you remember what you ate during your glycogen window and increase it next time.

Future Food

Now accepting human trials.

  • sound-design-live-stealing-athlete-nutrition-techniques-jetsons-food-pillSoylent: Have you heard of this kid in San Francisco who has stopped eating food? Instead, he is drinking a food substitute. Meal substitutes have been around for a while, but this is intended to supply all of the human body’s daily nutrition. As you can imagine, it’s very controversial. The original article is How I Stopped Eating Food. Not sure if that one will be up forever because they raised $1,000,000 on KickStarter and are now selling direct on this site. Please let me know if you try it in the comments below.
  • Noni juice: Produced mostly in Tahiti and Hawaii, the Polynesians have been using it has a remedy for over 2,000 years. With no scientifically proven health benefits it is, again, very controversial. I’ve been trying it for a month, but haven’t developed the super powers I expected. I’ll let you know, or you’ll just read about me in the news.
  • Honey: Honey is organic and virtually indestructible. It can be used to help you sleep and treat heartburn. It’s also basically bee vomit and it has been shown to have no nutritional value over table sugar. Keeping with the athlete theme, Tour de France champion Greg LeMond (who had a huge sweet tooth) says that the difference between sugar and honey is that one sticks to your teeth.
  • Chia seeds: These little seeds became popular alongside the barefoot running craze when the book Born to Run came out. They’re supposed to be an Aztec superfood that make you feel full for a long time and help you run long distances. Some athletes mix them with water or fruit juice in a flask to make their own custom energy gel.

What are some of your favorite food tips?

Great thanks for the considerable input from Elis Bradshaw.

BOOK REVIEW: Mediterranean Diet Cookbook For Dummies

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sound-design-live-mediterranean-diet-cookbook-dummies-bookI follow Wendy Jo Peterson on Twitter (@FuelinRoadie) because she is the the only nutritionist I’ve come across who works specifically with musicians and live event crew. As part of my series on food and drink at work, I decided to review her book, Mediterranean Diet Cookbook For Dummies. The few things I know about cooking I picked up from friends and family, and this is the first cookbook that I’ve owned and used. It’s easy to read; each recipe is simple and straightforward, requiring only a few steps. Let’s jump right into some of Wendy’s best meals to take to work:

 

Best Recipes To Take To Work

Frittata

I love meals that last for days, and this is definitely one of them. If you’ve never made one, they are super simple. Basically, you just sauteé whatever veggies you like and throw a bunch of eggs on top. I like to make a big one for the week and heat up a slice in the morning. You may or may not enjoy this cold, so it’s best to make it when you have a microwave at work.

The first recipe I made from the cookbook was the Goat Cheese Fritatta, which was great, but I had to double the salt, pepper, and garlic to suit my tastebuds. This makes me think that the seasonings in these Mediterranean recipes might be toned down to please bland American palates.

Salad

Salads are great to take to work, but they wilt and taste like crap when they are hot, so if you are going to be outside take an ice pack with you. In the last post I mentioned Wendy’s salad in a jar, which is a great way to prepare salads ahead of time and keep them fresh. Don’t forget to include nuts and beans for added protein. And fruit salads! There is a recipe for Pomegranate Salad in the book that looks great.

If you want to turn your salad into a more substantial meal, add salmon or tuna (or tofu for vegetarians). If you want to please your stomach with more carbs, add pasta.

sound-design-live-mediterranean-diet-cookbook-dummies-polenta

Couscous and Polenta

Couscous and polenta keep well in the fridge for days. I included a great couscous recipe in my last post, Eat Healthy On Tour. Polenta will congeal when not kept warm, so you can just cut off a slice and pop it in the toaster. Peterson includes a recipe for Polenta with Prosciutto and Parmesan, but I like to use mushrooms and onion instead of prosciutto.

Beans

The cookbook includes several recipes with beans that would both taste good cold and be fine to carry around, including Black Beans with Tomatoes and Feta. The secret ingredient for most of these recipes is feta cheese. Yum.

Wendy suggests eating protein-rich food together with a bit of fat to slow digestion at meals. As you can see, all of the above recipes can be modified to have more or less protein and fat. The other recipe from this cookbook that I tried out myself was Grilled Scallops. Scallops are great! They are a little expensive and might be hard to find fresh in your town, but they are super easy to prepare on a grill or in a pan and make for a very impressive meal.

The Mediterranean Lifestyle

Research has shown that people who live in these areas have less heart disease and better longevity.

This book is more than a cookbook; it also includes a nice survey on the Mediterranean lifestyle and its health benefits. This is important because heart disease is the number one cause of death in the US. There is a great story in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers about Roseto, a US town that in the 1950s was heavily populated by Italian immigrants and had an incredibly low rate of heart disease compared with the rest of the country. After researchers exhausted all other hypotheses about diet, exercise, and location, they discovered that it was the community itself that made people more healthy. You can read the entire story here. Along with nutrition, Peterson’s cookbook covers some of these intangible qualities of work-life balance in her attempt to describe the Mediterranean lifestyle.

[quote name=”Wendy Jo Peterson” align=”left” picture=”https://www.sounddesignlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/food-drink-at-work-for-sound-engineers-wendy-jo-peterson-headshot.jpg”]Mediterranean diet is a way of life – one where you eat lots of fresh food and slow down.[/quote]

I experienced a version of Mediterranean diet while I lived in Portugal 2003-2008. While Wendy recommends eating seafood and drinking wine a couple of times a week, I’m thinking, people in Lisbon do this for every lunch and dinner! Woohoo! That’s because you can eat a complete fish lunch for the same price as buying the fish yourself. And you can get a bottle of great local wine for $4. Portugal doesn’t have a siesta after lunch like Spain, but you usually get an hour off for lunch and having alcohol with your meal isn’t taboo. (Speaking of taboo, did you know that Portugal decriminalized all drugs ten years ago? Apparently they’ve reduced national drug addiction by half. Read about it here.)

Mediterranean Diet Cookbook also has good information on incorporating more plant-based foods into your diet. This is important to me because I eat mostly vegetarian, but also because I recently watched the documentary Knives Over Forks. If you haven’t seen it, it basically blames meat and dairy for cancer. Polarizing much?

Conclusion

When I started reading this book, I thought: “I’m going to find some fast easy recipes for busy sound engineers.” In the end I found a lot more value in the recommendations for relaxation and stress reduction. There is much more to the Mediterranean lifestyle than just olives and wine. It’s gathering for food with our friends, family, and community that really reenforces our human connections and emotional balance.

Do you have a Mediterranean style life-hack?

For more about how to recover from a long work day, the best snacks for instant energy, and nutrient-rich meals for the road, listen to my entire interview with Wendy Jo Peterson.