FOH Interview

In a time when pop music careers are measured in weeks instead of decades and the next big thing will fade by tomorrow, the second biggest tour of the year featured two old friends both in their 60s doing a show that felt like it could be in a small club – or sometimes in your living room. James Taylor and Carole King took a show that started out as a short series of dates in L.A. and put it on the road, consistently selling out 20K arenas and sounding great at every stop. Manning the console was veteran mixer David Morgan who had an advantage going in. He had the trust of everyone on stage.

His is one of the names that comes up first when talking about people who are influential in the migration of studio technology to the stage, but it might surprise people to learn that he designed a system that allowed Tom Petty to record two albums playing with two bands as an ensemble as if they were onstage. In other words bringing the stage to the studio.

Marc Carolan was having a rough day. The Irish-born engineer who has spent the past nine years mixing Muse, in venues ranging from stadiums to theatres and headlining to opening for U2 on the 360° tour is not used to the dry Vegas climate or the blasting air conditioning inside the Mandalay Bay Event Center, where his clients have a sold-out show in a touring season that has been very tough for a lot of acts. Not that he does not like the weather. "Ireland is great," he says. "If you like rain. We have a saying there that our two favorite days in Ireland are Christmas and summer."

When it comes to the world of live performance audio – be it from a perspective on production, mixing and even system and console design – Howard Page is one of "the guys." To say he has an impressive résumé is such an understatement that it is actually laughable. When A-list mixers including guys like Cubby Colby invoke your name as one of the people they really learned something from, then you know your legacy is pretty much assured.

I first met David Eisenhauer when he was mixing Paul Simon for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame shows in NYC. We only got to talk for a couple of minutes, and he said he would really like FOH to come out and cover the opening of the new Giant's Stadium with Bon Jovi.

It was more than 20 years ago today that Paul "Pab" Boothroyd first put fingers to faders as FOH engineer for Paul McCartney.

What is it about Nashville acts and their crews? It's like there must be something in the water, because I have met my share, and they are all accommodating, humble and just a joy to be around. And the Brad Paisley crew – Kevin Freeman (FOH, PM), Mark Gould (monitor engineer), Alex Moore (monitor tech, Pro Tools), Jim Miller (system tech) and Mike "Moses" Beck (fly guy) – are no exception.

When you live and work in the live entertainment capitol of the world, it is easy to forget just how many world-class audio guys make their homes here. When I sat down with Mark Dennis in his office at the KÀ Theatre at the MGM Grand, we started ticking off a list of the amazing audio people who have moved to Vegas for a steady gig that did not mean touring. World-class guys are working in just about every show up and down the Strip. And Mark is one of those guys and has been since '94.

Thirty-three acres, a school, two venues, a new 65,000-square-foot student center, 5,000 worshippers – and one sound guy who still finds time to feed his "musical monkey" on the side.

Danny Leake runs a company in Chicago called Urban Guerilla Engineers, through which he runs, as he says, "all my sound stuff" – both studio and live work. For almost two decades, that live work has included FOH duties with the legendary Stevie Wonder.

John “J.C.” Convertino reaches the peak of his workday before most of his industry peers have even woken up. By 7 a.m., he could be mixing U2 live for television, as he did last month, when the band played ABC’s Good Morning America to promote their latest record or any one of hundreds of other acts.

The Aerosmith Crew of Jim Ebdon, Tony Luna and Brad Johnson Were Settling in For a Long Stretch of Touring Work Until a Stage Tumble Put It all On Hold