Sound Design Live

Build Your Career As A Sound Engineer

How an improperly connected motor cable arced up the chain and almost ended in disaster

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In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with the touring FOH sound engineer for Godsmack, Erik Rogers. We discuss how he dealt with various SPL limits while on tour, console setup, and why safety is never a compromise.

I ask:

  • What’s one of the biggest things you’ve learned while working with Godsmack?
  • Tell us about the biggest or maybe most painful mistake you’ve made on the job and how you recovered.
  • From FB
    • Sam: Ask him what kind of issues does he face on the road besides the difference in venues.
    • Andreas: His Routing in his Desk (Input- Groups – Matrix etc)
    • Chris: Always interested in rock vocal chains, and mixing them with an up front guitar sound. It can be difficult to separate them at times. Tips or tricks?
    • Alfons: Does he use gates on all vocals & drums? Does he use peak or RMS compression?
    • Rob: What beard cream is best?
    • David: Compression: heavy or light? Pre or post EQ? What console are you on, what are you doing with bus compression?
    • Mark: Can I train under him ?
    • Jonathan: What tricks does he use to get that epic kick sound?

Safety is never a compromise.

Erik Rogers

Notes

  1. All music in this episode by Godsmack.
  2. Hardware: isemcon 7150, calibrator, never portico 2, shure 91, audix d6, kelly shoe,
  3. workbag: iSEMcon emx7150, calibrator, focusrite scarlet preamp, flashlight, incense, headphones
  4. Books: The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
  5. Podcasts: How I built this, Joe Rogan, Serial Killers
  6. Quotes
    1. I don’t have the same direction I did when I was 20.
    2. Sometimes you need to get hit in the face with a brick in order to focus.
    3. I guess that’s the difference between me and a monitor guy; my customer service has a barricade in between us.
    4. You’re an American and you look at 100dB and you’re like, that’s fuck’n crazy.
    5. I calibrate one microphone every day for SPL measurement and then my roaming microphone for system tuning is not calibrated.
    6. Safety is never a compromise.
    7. Anybody who’s motivated to succeed can as long as you don’t give up, and can take a shit load of criticism.

I made sure every sound engineer, tour manager, and production manager knew I wanted to tour

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In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with FOH mixer for artists such as Spin Doctors, Indigo Girls, Styx, Melissa Etheridge, Gwen Stefani, Kesha, Jewel, Mr. Big, Goo Goo Dolls, Christina Aguilera, and Adam Lambert, Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato, about how she went from mixing local bands to international tours. I ask:

  • In the book Get On Tour you write, “For several years before I started touring I worked at a local sound company, in the A/V department at an entertainment complex, as a stagehand, at a nightclub, mixing local bands, and occasionally as an assistant at a recording studio.” How did that happen?
    • The milestone in this story is that a friend of yours called to offer you the tour with The Spin Doctors and you credit that to simple word of mouth marketing. You say, “I made sure everyone knew that I wanted to be on tour. I talked constantly with friends and colleagues about touring, and when I worked with visiting bands and engineers I would pick their brain about how they got started. When the opportunity came, I seized it.” Could you talk in a bit more detail about what that looked like in practice? How did you make sure that everyone knew that you wanted to be on tour?
  • Can you explain the hiring process to me? From the initial idea where a production company or artist says, “I want to go on tour,” what are the chain of events and people that then lead to you or someone else getting hired for a tour?
  • Let’s talk about the Mr. Big tour. Could you give me an overview of the inputs you are mixing?
  • What’s in your work bag?
  • What is one book that has been helpful to you?

It’s always someone who knows someone.

Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato

Notes

  1. All music in this podcast by Niklas Harju.
  2. Books: Get On Tour, Illusions by Richard Bock
  3. Hardware: Beyer M88, RE20, EV ND76, Telefunken M80, kettlebell
  4. Michelle’s workbag: headphones Sony MD7506, flashlight, sharpies, tuning CD, karaoke mic, iPod to XLR cable, cool towel, batteries, adapters, ear plugs Sensaphonics, Gerber multi tool, e-tape, Purell
  6. Quotes
    1. That came from a classmate who I was friends with and remembered always saying that this is what I want to do and he gave me a shot.
    2. Meet the crew, production managers, tour managers, stage managers, and other crew members and build connections with them because they are the people who are going to refer you for a job.
    3. It’s always someone who knows someone.
    4. I love the kettlebell because it’s the only workout where I feel like, Wow, I just did something.

Why Andrew Stone Only Mixes For Himself

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In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with Andrew Stone from MxU about the moment on tour that changed his whole identity. Plus, Andrew and I battle for the worst complaint ever. Spoiler alert, Andrew wins. I ask:

  • How did you get your first job in audio?
  • Who hired you for your first tour?
  • The most shared article on your website is called Own It. In it, you describe a time in your life when you were working as an audio engineer and tour manager. You were in the middle of doing a bunch of shows and you were on a plane flight with the artist, your client. You guys were talking and you were explaining a problem you were dealing with and she said something to you that turned out to be a pivotal moment your life. Take us to that moment and describe what happened?
  • What are some of the biggest mistakes you see people making who are new to mixing a worship service?
  • What’s in your work bag?
  • What is one book that has been immensely helpful to you?

sound-design-live-why-andrew-stone-only-mixes-for-himself-headshotYou can’t make everyone happy. Figure out how to please yourself.

Notes

  1. MxU events, podcast, video training library, coaching
  2. Get On Tour
  3. Church on the Move
  4. Andrew’s audio analyzer: Smaart, Earthworks M30, USB Pre2
  5. The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck
  6. Quotes
    1. They said, Bus call is at midnight. I said, should I bring a sleeping bag?
    2. That identity situation is so important, of still knowing who you are apart from that situation.
    3. I sit at FOH and I mix for myself.
    4. The benchmark in my head is the highest. No one else has one higher.
    5. You can’t make everyone happy. Figure out how to please yourself.
    6. I can’t please everyone, but that does’t mean they don’t have a point.

 

Why Touring Sound Engineers Are Getting Paid Less

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In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with touring FOH sound engineer, author, and fashion entrepreneur, Dave Swallow, during his stop in Minneapolis on tour with Erasure. We discuss using timecode to trigger scenes on a Venue Profile console, starting a clothing line, why touring sound engineers are working more, but getting paid less, and what to do about it. I ask:

      • How did you get the job touring with Erasure?
      • How do you use the wireless Lake controller to tune the sound system?
      • What are some ways you used plugins to recreate specific sounds from the album?
      • What did you want to start a clothing brand?
      • Why should I care about the speed of sound?

sound-design-live-touring-foh-sound-engineer-job-dave-swallowOur wages haven’t gone up in 10-15 year in some cases and there are less shows. When you think about the future of the industry, there is a big question mark.

Notes

  1. All music in this episode by Meathook and Butler Boyz.
  2. Dave’s clothing line – Audio Architect Apparel
  3. Software: Waves H-Delay, True Verb, C6 Multi-band Compressor
  4. Hardware: Venue Profile, D&B B2, FunktionOne 221, D&B Y system
  5. Books: Live Audio
  6.  Quotes
    1. What [triggering the scenes with timecode] has allowed me to do is focus on sonically how they are sitting in the room. This is especially important when you are stuck mixing at the back of the room.
    2. The problem with putting big reverbs into big rooms, is they are twice as big. One of the things that is quite helpful is using the pre-delay. Getting it up to somewhere between 70-100ms, you give the vocal time to form the words and then you have the extension.
    3. One of the biggest problems with theatres in the US is that they lack bottom end.
    4. My self and my contemporaries are probably the first generation of touring sound engineers that have had to think about having another career. [When you set out on this path] you just think, “Let’s have fun!” But there comes that point when you think, actually, I don’t want to be 60 and living by myself in a rented flat somewhere in north London.
    5. To earn a decent living you need to be out of the house [on tour] for the whole year, to pay for the house that you’re not living in.
    6. You’re losing out to gigs because there is someone younger and cheaper than you are. Experience doesn’t seem to count for as much as it used to because it’s all budget controlled.
    7. When my son was born I only worked six months and we weren’t struggling for cash. These days, if I only work six months, we’ll have a bit of a problem.

sound-design-live-touring-sound-engineers-getting-paid-less-dave-swallow-erasure-stage sound-design-live-touring-sound-engineers-getting-paid-less-dave-swallow-erasure-mixing sound-design-live-touring-sound-engineers-getting-paid-less-dave-swallow-erasure-bus

 

 

Position Yourself for Non-stop Touring as a Stage Manager and Lighting Technician

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sound-design-live-non-stop-touring-stage-manager-lighting-technician-heatherlyn-egan-workIn this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast, I talk with Heatherlyn Eagan about how she has managed to book back-to-back tours since university by positioning herself as a stage manager and lighting technician. We discuss electricity, lighting fundamentals, and non-stop life on the road. Plus, these questions:

  • How did you get your first job in lighting?
  • Can you make more money as a designer or a technician?
  • How do you stay busy in the touring world?
  • How do you stay happy and sain on the road?
  • How does cruise work compare to bus and truck touring?
  • What are the basics I need to know to start working in lighting?
  • How do you feel being a woman in the lighting design industry?
  • What are some lighting horror stories?

Show notes:

  1. All music in this episode by Stockholm Vodou Orchestra.
  2. Heatherlyn’s book is The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Nat Nelson: Vaudevillian Extraordinaire
  3. Template = gobo = pattern = pie tin
  4. Quotes
    1. I have more work more often [as a tech] than I would as a designer.
    2. I have my little niche in the touring world. I am a stage management lighting split. Which has, on the small and medium scale tours, become a necessity.
    3. Most of these tours go out with a 25′ box truck, which doesn’t require a CDL.
    4. I’m a stage management lighting split. The minute they would see that…Ok, come here.
    5. When it came down to it, I had my pick of what show I wanted to do.
    6. If you are touring with 10-15 people, it’s important to have some alone time because you are seeing the same people day in and day out.
    7. It’s very important to understand what you need out of the day and make sure you get it.
    8. Generally whoever is asking will tell you want they want. If they don’t, ask.
    9. Generally once I dock the truck in front of a bunch of stage hands my level of respect goes up.
    10. I have a very specific genre of books that I like to read. It is historical fiction that takes place in NYC 1880-1912.