FOH at Large

Every event has a budget. Whether it is a speech for 20 people or for 20,000 people, a children’s birthday party or a concert at an amphitheater, a one-off or a long tour, make no mistake about it there is always a bottom line. We in the FOH community spend many discerning hours reading, learning and debating about which company provides the best products, the technical aspects of said merchandise and the proper ways in which to use these commodities. It is our job to know impedance, phasing, frequencies, speaker placement, microphone placement and coverage as well as how to set up and use the equipment to achieve the best results for its intended purpose. When a client calls upon us to provide audio for their event we have to know which equipment to bring and how to design the system that best suits their needs.

“It’s the economy stupid,” and despite it all we still carry on with our business albeit on shaky ground. Fortunately, the bulk of the summer touring season ended just before the disastrous reports from Wall Street became headline news — thus leading us to wild speculation regarding what the future might hold in store for the upcoming winter and spring season. 

What’s in a name? We live in a culture of branding and brand names. We wear company logos and names on practically every piece of clothing we own. From bags and jewelry to T-shirts, jeans and footwear, we have all become walking advertisements for clothing manufacturers, loudspeaker companies, microphone producers, bands, audio consoles, speaker cables, beer, motorcycles, cars, sports franchises, cymbal makers and on and on ad infinitum. In the last millennium, there was a phrase, “you are what you eat,” which was used to describe the pitfalls of choosing the wrong diet.

At this time of year — when the members of our celebrated audio industry descend upon one town or another and fill massive convention centers with miles and aisles of new, state-of-the-art audio technology — my thoughts turn to control. After all, every item on display at AES is purporting to present the user with more control of their mix along with the promise — spoken and unspoken — that each new piece of technological wizardry will offer a newer, faster and more efficient way to manipulate and manage the mechanics of their audio world.

I caress the smooth spool of solder as I wait in anticipation for the soldering gun to heat up. I strip the rubber from my cable just enough to give myself a workable amount of copper, and with heated iron in hand, I touch the tip to the end of the solder melting just enough to coat the end of the cable. I repeat the process over my solder point and leave a perfect shining spot where I then touch the end of my cable and hold for a moment before I release the iron. A thin line of smoke wafts up and tickles my nostrils with its delicate fragrance. Ah, I love the smell of solder in the morning.

I have devoted quite a bit of this column space to the virtues, struggles and wages of the audio labor force. I am still convinced that the best equipment is only as good as the people using it. That said, I believe that free enterprise and competition make for good business. Audio, lighting and staging companies make their money not on labor, but on the equipment itself, and therefore, equipment-based companies assume the responsibility of placing a fair market value on each piece of gear that goes out the door.

I take a fair amount of pride in my writing, so I was humbled when an audio engineer with whom I was working with told me he enjoyed my column in FOH and that it made for great reading while on the crapper. Although storing FOH in the bathroom — whether it’s on a tour bus, a venue or in an audio shop — seems totally logical, his comment, nonetheless, seemed like an underhanded compliment. My first reaction, after all, is that I am an author who writes words that convey lofty ideas. I articulate the inexpressible. I transmit cosmic truths to thousands of readers who hang on my every word — and this dumb schmuck reads my vaulted letters while sitting on the toilet. The nerve of him! OK, I’m humbled. It’s neither the first time, nor will it be the last time, and I’m sure I’ll recover. After all, humbling experiences are often a chance to reevaluate one’s perspective and grow past previous misconceptions.

Politics, slander, innuendo! Who’s qualified to lead? Who is all talk and no action? Who’s tainted by scandal? Whose decisions and reasoning are questionable? Who drinks too much? Who does too many drugs? Who visits hookers? Who takes kickbacks, which one steals, who never has the correct information and then refuses to take responsibility and back-peddles when challenged? Who leads through coercion and intimidation? Who, what, when and where? With so little time and yet so many questions, it’s amazing that anything gets accomplished… and this is just office politics.

On Nov. 10, 2007, right before the busiest season of the year, the Broadway stagehands decided to go on strike and piss off quite a few tourists and theatergoers who made the trek into Manhattan just to enjoy a show or two. Of course, these same stagehands were also finding themselves lam-basted in the media as spoilers for not only the Broadway patrons, but also for the producers, actors and ushers, as well as ancillary businesses such as restaurants and shops. In the mainstream media, the stagehands were collectively portrayed as “The Grinch” who, due to their own avarice, ruined the top moneymaking season for all the aforementioned and more.