FOH at Large

There is no definitive way of setting up gain structure and mixing a show but, after much time and years of practice, we all learn the right way to go about achieving our desired results. While the “art” of mixing may not be an exact science, there are still many precise and defined rules to which we need to adhere as we master our craft and practice our “art.” The rules that define right from wrong are not only imperatives for mixing, but are also the tenets that extend to every aspect of a given production.

Three guys are traveling together, and they stop at a hotel to spend the night. To save money, they decide to rent only one room, and they ask the hotel clerk what the price of the room is for the night. Upon learning that the room is $30 for the night, they each chip in $10 and head for the room.

From the Encarta Dictionary: "Relevant (adjective) 1. Connected: having some sensible or logical connection with something else such as a matter being discussed or investigated. 2.Having social significance; having some bearing on or importance for real-world issues, present-day events, or the current state of society."

One nice aspect of getting older is that one gains perspective through a personal history. The downside to this new outlook is that it is as humbling as it is enlightening, especially when it comes to technology. I remember a moment in time when we started to replace our black and white televisions with color. Having grown up with a black and white TV set, I took television itself for granted, but as archaic as it sounds now, color TV was a new and transformational technology that changed the average viewer's life.

I spend my days taking requests for a variety of equipment. From audio and lights to backline, tents, video and anything else pertaining to production; the requests keep coming in. All too often, these requests come from people who are not necessarily in our field and, therefore, certain requests employ malapropisms, misnomers, misspellings and just plain typos.

There are a lot of great things about live audio and what we do as engineers that I really appreciate. It can be fun, exciting, entertaining and rewarding while, at the same time, providing us with a decent livelihood. The hours are often long, but we are neither shoveling manure, risking our lives (unless you're a rigger), nor are we working in a dead-end 9-5 job.

In a few months I will be 60 years of age and, as in the past, I usually spend the year before these milestone birthdays acclimating myself to my new surroundings by reminiscing about the past and trying to map out the future. Recollecting the history of my triumphs and failures is the easy part of the equation; disseminating all the previous information and trying to create a cohesive plan for the imminent change becomes the challenge. Nevertheless, by the time of my birthday, I have already accepted and settled into my new decade armed with the wisdom of the past and a blueprint for the upcoming years. Ha ha ha! As John Lennon once said "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."

Patience is a virtue, as well as a virtual necessity when dealing with most clients in need of audio equipment. It would be nice – in a perfect world – if everyone who called for audio gear knew exactly what they were doing and what they were requesting, but alas, it is not the case.

All too often, we get a call for the infamous "Microphone for 500 people" and then patiently explain to the prospective client what that entails in the real world of audio. As tedious as these calls can be, taking the time to discern exactly what the client is attempting to achieve and building a system around their needs and desires is what we do.

One century ago, 146 immigrant workers died in a horrific fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City. It was a tragedy that brought to light the exploitive nature of sweatshops and the disparity between workers and owners in a country where a good portion of the workforce was made up of immigrants from around the world. Instead of coming to an idyllic new world, they found themselves struggling to overcome a language and cultural barrier that left most of them enduring atrocious working conditions and a life of paucity.

Everyone I know is a production manager and, most likely, if you are reading this column, you're a production manager as well. Apparently it is a prerequisite for anyone in our line of work to have a business card that not only announces a technical bent but also alerts the world to the fact that the bearer of the card is also a production manager.

Many of the audio engineers I know possess enough versatility to mix any type of music or event that should come their way and, just like the great musical session players who have a grasp on a multitude of styles. they are able to move with ease from one gig to another. Of course, it's not really that difficult to mix a wide variety of music and speech, since we are dealing primarily with the technical aspects of the audio program, but while our job is of the utmost importance, we engineers need to be aware that we are not the content but rather the conduit to carry the program to the listener's ear.