Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Stitcher.

Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.

In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with Kenneth ‘Pooch’ Van Druten, the FOH sound engineer for Linkin Park, Alice and Chains, Kid Rock, and System of a Down. We discuss:

1. How Van Druten got his first job in audio.
2. The number one skill that gets him in the door for every job.
3. The value of microphone placement.
4. Why speaker coverage is important beyond anything else.
5. How to set gates using side-chains and virtual sound check.
6. Results and trends from Van Druten’s annual hearing health check.
7. Mixing monitors for Pantera.
8. Van Druten’s SPL strategy for Linkin Park.
9. How Van Druten managed to record and mix every Linkin Park show for two years solid.
10. Whether mixing live show recordings is a viable second income stream?
11. Good plugins for vocals.

Details from the podcast:

1. All music by Linkin Park
2. Van Druten on Twitter and Facebook
3. Linkin Park community forum
4. Berklee College of Music in Boston
5. Smaart school
6. RTA = real time analyzer
7. Interview with John Huntington
8. Waves Max Volume plugin, Waves 1176 compresser
9. Miles Kennedy
10. 808
11. LEQ = a single decibel value which takes into account the total sound energy over the period of time of interest
12. Quotes:
    1. “One of the things that you have to do to break into this industry is be willing to do anything.”
    2. “Often someone will ask me, ‘How’d you do that?’ And I’ll say, ‘I have no idea.'”
    3. “I worked with an engineer that made me spend an entire day moving an SM57 microphone centimeters around a guitar amp.”
    4. “The only kind of relationship I can have with an artist is an honest one.”
    5. “Being a great system engineer is a different skill set than the one I have.”
    6. “Coverage is important beyond anything else.”
    7. “The entire drum kit is an instrument. Not just the tom or the snare.”
    8. “There are situations when you just can’t win.”
    9. “I listen to 200 shows a year. It’s important to me not to listen to those at 106dB A-weighted.”
    10. “You mix at 100dB? That doesn’t mean anything.”
    11. “I don’t know if you’ve measured crowds recently. At a Linkin Park show, if there are 11 songs, there are 11 times where it goes to 107 dB A-weighted no problem.”
    12. “I feel responsible not only for my own hearing, but for the hearing of people that come to my shows.”

Takeaways:

• Don’t wait till after college to get an internship. Van Druten started as a studio intern at a local recording studio when he entered school and by the time he graduated he was the head engineer.
• Learn social intelligence and empathy (i.e., how to talk to crazy people) because you have to be able to get along with them before you can get the job.
• Mic placement is important. Time spent learning it now will benefit you for the rest of your career.
• People can sniff bullshit, don’t just say what you think people want you to hear. In a world of yes-men, you can be remarkable by being honest.
• When talking to artists about making changes, remind them of the big picture of production quality.
• Be precise and referential when talking sound level. E.g., “I mix at 102dB SPL A-weighted 10min LEQ at FOH 100ft from the downstage edge.”
• The audience at a loud rock concert like Linkin Park can be louder than the show itself.
• Mixing the live shows of the band you are working with is fun, but you won’t make much more money and it is a lot more work than you expect it to be.