If you haven’t figured it out by now, the sound industry is just getting past school graduations, which mark the official start of the busy summer season. As anybody who works at a local soundco can testify, handling two weeks of back-to-back college and high school graduations can make for some crazy times. In a busy scholastic market, like the San Francisco Bay Area where I live, there are at least a dozen or more colleges and a multitude of high schools that all seem to schedule their commencement exercises the same week. Trying to juggle coverage and setups of all that can equate to a logistical nightmare.
Graduation Day!
If truth be told, there is something odd about setting up a rig in front of some football field bleachers or in an auditorium, where two-thirds of the entire ceremony consists of nothing more than reading the names of one graduate after another. If you’re lucky, the monotony might be broken up somewhat by an opportunity to also mic the pep band or school orchestra doing a clam-riddled version of Sir Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D.” I don’t have anything against the song per se, but hearing it poorly performed eight or ten times over a one-week period can drive anybody insane. There should be a law requiring combat pay for sound techs who have to put up with this sort of torture.
However, if you thought sitting through the name roster and bad music was painful, it pales in comparison to having to endure the valedictorian speech, usually by some kid who had no real interaction with school life except to get straight A’s and screw up the curve for the rest of us. And listening to a week’s worth of droning speeches about “the vast uncharted sea before us” goes beyond combat pay and may qualify the sound tech for sainthood.
CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE THE VIDEO PREVIEW OF THE JUNE FRONT of HOUSE
The Real Argument for Education
Folks might say that the whole point of education is academic enlightenment, but if truth be told, it’s all about scoring a job after your post-commencement Disneyland trip. Of course, once you’re out you eventually learn that the real value of a college education is proving that you were somehow able to endure years of dealing with arcane campus bureaucracies required to complete that degree. And after graduates of audio programs discover there really are no jobs in the recording studios they dreamed of working in, they figure out that other than manufacturing and retail, the real opportunities for people to work in production lie in sound reinforcement. You don’t even have to be a rocket scientist to simply follow the money trail: the recording market is depressed, and the live industry is booming.
Unfortunately most of what you need to know about real-world audio doesn’t come from books, but practical experience. What may seem to be a simple concept, packing a truck is an art form that has been passed down though centuries of practical know-how. Here, rule number one is that the toolboxes DO NOT go in first, unless you really enjoy unpacking all that gear by the side of the road, just to get to a jack, screwdrivers or some vice grips when your truck breaks down on the way to the gig. Oh, and while you are repacking that truck, please try to avoid stacking the amp racks and quad-18 bass bins on top of the backline gear.
A routine task like changing a high-frequency diaphragm isn’t overly complicated, but I don’t know of any schools that tell students why the procedure is best done with a non-ferrous screwdriver. And if you don’t know why, please don’t offer to fix any compression drivers for me, unless you’re willing to pay for the diaphragms you trash in the learning process.
An audio grad may have memorized every knob on the SSL console in the school’s studio, which is admirable. But how quickly can that same person figure out the signal flow to a new digital board they’ve never seen? And no, it’s not necessarily the genius that made the best mixes for his student project who — once out of school — is on the fast track to paying gig. That person is more likely someone who can troubleshoot a LAN, understands dealing with digital protocols such as MADI or Dante, and maybe even can correctly coil a cable or deal with an advanced troubleshooting topic, like how to fix a busted XLR cable.
Once upon a time, owners of sound companies had time to teach the ropes to a kid off the street, but those days are long gone. Employers want workers with solid job skills, and much of that doesn’t come from the classroom. Fortunately, there is hope and this month’s InfoComm (infocomm.org) is a great place to learn, whether from its structured learning or simply by absorbing from the show floor experience.
Speaking of InfoComm, we can usually be found walking the show floor looking for cool new gear or checking out the audio demo rooms and we’ll provide complete show coverage in next month’s issue. If you’re in Orlando, stop by our booth (#6751) and say hello. See you there!
