Sound Design Live: SAMPLE CHAPTERS · PDF fileSOUND DESIGN LIVE: Build Your Career As A Sound Engineer By Nathan Lively

SOUNDDESIGNLIVE:

BuildYourCareerAsASoundEngineer

ByNathanLively

HumblydedicatedtoSteveBrown,whosuccumbedtocancershortlybeforethisbookwas

published.

Hisworkembodiesthecommunity-buildingsensibilitytowhichIaspire.Hewillbevery

muchmissedintheglobalcommunityofsounddesignersandtheatre,inwhichheplayedamajor

part.July8,2013

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The material in this book comes from themassivegenerosityofthe19peopleIinterviewedduring my first two years producing theSoundDesign Live podcast. Their desire to spreadvaluable information and see others succeed inthe area of professional audio is inspirational tome,andcomprisesthebackboneofmywork.

I would also like to thankElis Bradshaw andBenKates for performing literarymiracles withmy talky words,Mark Winslett and MercedesGroff for the cover design, andCraig Sullenderforcontinuedsupport.

FOREWORD

Audio engineering technology has changed,but the work is still all about connections. Notthrough CobraNet®, Dante® orAVB but ratherthe personal connections of telephones, email,social media, and old-fashioned face-to-face.Connecting to creative artists, crew, managers,producersandaudiences.Ifyouarealreadyinthisfield, you are somewhere in this interconnectednetwork. If you are wanting to get involved,welcome to the ultimate work in progress. Thisbook is all about connections and why they arethe most important, valuable, and motivatingforces in the industry. Nathan Lively plays therole of network hub andmonitors traffic in thisbook to give you a glimpse into the absolutelyreal experience of our peers andmentors in thistrade.

The voices in this book have vastly differentviewpoints,passions,andexperience.Artistswhouse technology for self-expression, technologists

whothriveonbeingaconduitforartiststoreachtheir audience, and folks who have worn manydifferent hats. If Nathan had brought them alltogether in one room to discuss audio, therewould be at least as many passionatedisagreements as points of concordance. Twopointstheywouldallagreeonaretheimportanceof having a passion for this field of work, andattention to networking and relationships. Somuch of this field is serial monogamy, andtherefore we must be careful to maintain goodrelationships, not burn bridges, and keep thatlittleblackbookuptodatewithallthefolksyoumight want to see in the future. This bookexamines the relationship issues that are soimportant for getting into, and staying in, thisbusiness.

Nathan's choice of speakers and topicsprovides a mix of information and experiencesthat I have not seen collected in one place. Theviewpointsarerefreshinglyhonestandfreeofthelaundry lists of gear that characterize 90% ofwordswritten about this field. These are not all

superstar designers with mega-million dollarprojects. Dive bars, home studios, educators,starving artists, and manufacturers are here aswell. The contributors are very real people inwhom it is impossible not to see a part ofyourself,justasmuchasitimpossibletonotfinda viewpoint that you had never considered orunderstoodbefore.

Nathan'sSound Design Live podcasts havebrought these people's voices to the internet andwillcontinuetodosointhefuture.Hereandnowis a collection of assembled wisdom andexperience that Ibelievewillopenyourmind tothemanyways you can expand your role in theaudioprofessionalnetwork.

—BobMcCarthy

INTRODUCTION

WhyIStartedSoundDesignLive

I started my podcast,Sound Design Live, tofind answers. I hadmany questions thatweren’tbeingsatisfiedbythetrademagazinesandbooksIwasreading.Sometimesanauthorwouldcovera really interesting event, but wouldmerely listfactswithoutfindingoutwhythosechoicesweremade.Other times Iwould read agreat bookonaudio that would leave me with new questions;hosting the podcast allows me to discuss myquestionsdirectlywith theauthors. Iguessother

peoplefeltsimilarly,becausesincethepodcast’screationin2011ithasgained37,000followersonSoundCloud.

Irealizenowthatthereisamiddleareaofproaudio education and reporting that is widelyignored. Between learning to connect amicrophone to a mixer and delivering whitepapersatanAESconvention,peopleareontheirown as far as continuing education. Onlineforums try to fill this gap, but the availablematerialisprettythin.ForthisreasonIdecidedtodocument my own education and technicalknowledgeasaproaudiofreelancer.

The language in these interviews should beaccessible to any audio professional and moststudents. There are no footnotes, but manyacronyms and concepts are hyperlinked forfurtherexplanation.Also,thereisnofinalindex,butyoureBookreadershouldallowyoutosearchthetextforanyterm.

HowToUseThisEBook

You can read this eBook from start to finish,butIfinditfunctionsbestasamanual.Checkthetableofcontentsandfindthosetopicsthatappealtoyou. Interviewsarepresented in theiroriginaldialoguewithmycommentsandquestionsinreditalics.Somecontenthasbeeneditedforclarity.

I enjoyhaving conversations about audio, butI’m not a great writer, so aside from shortintroductionstoeachtopic,Ilettheprosdomostofthetalking.Ihaveincludedthebestshortclipsfromeach interview; if you’d like to hearmore,please find complete recordings available atsounddesignlive.com.Usethesearchboxtofindaspecific name or skip totheir bios at the end,whichhavealinktotheinterview.Keepinmindthatthesearetranscriptionsofliveconversations;thisisnotatextbook.

As an example of style as well ascorroboration of mymission, here is an excerptfrommyinterviewwithLarryCrane:

LarryCrane(soundengineer)Crane is the founder and editor ofTape-Op

Magazine. Here we commiserate on the lack ofcompelling pro audio journalism, which lead usbothtostartpublishingonthesubject.

Thething,too,thatwasreallyapparentisthatwith something likeMixMagazine orwhomever—EQ, Electronic Musician—and almosteverybody, is that they’re much more likely totalk about the recording equipment than thetechniques and the choices that led to using thatequipment.Icallit,TheList.“IputaD12onthekick and blah blah blah…” Imean, I’m not toointerested in reading that stuff unless it’ssomethingreallyoddlyuniqueorabrilliantlittleidea.[laughs]

Iwasreadingthatstuffwhilerecordinginmybasement. I just thought, “Yeah, right. I don’thaveanyofthatstuff.Ican’taffordit.Howabouttelling me where to place the snare drum, nottellingmewhatmictouse?”[laughs]

Yes. I had the same experience with live soundtrade magazines. There are a lot of lists ofequipmentandstuffthatpeopleareusingontour

andunless you’reworking on the nextMadonnatour,thoselistsdon’treallyhelp.Iwanttoknowwhy theymade those choices. I want a lotmorecriticalinformation.

It’seasytoreadthatthenewbigtourhasa500input MIDAS automated console. I’m sure theydo.That’sgreat.Therestofusaregoing,“What?I’vegotaMackie.”[Laughter]I’vegotaMackiethat someone poured beer on lastweek. Imean,I’m a little bit of a socialist at heart, so tome,whenyou see thatpeopleonlydiscuss theupperechelonsofthebusinessthatwe’rein,yourealizethatthere’ssomethingreallymissing.

WorkingWithTechnicalLimitations

“Theenemyofartistheabsenceoflimitations.”—OrsonWelles

OneoftheproblemsIhavewithreadingtrademagazines is gear envy. Since I was a kid, I'vewanted toworkongiant showswith lotsofcoolequipment. Unfortunately, there are only ahandfulof thosecompared to thesmallgigs thatmostofusworkonfromdaytoday.So,whatdowedowhenthejobcallsfora$1,000microphonebutweonlyhavea$50mess?

RoyTaylor(soundengineer)Taylor is anAustin-based soundengineer and

sounddesigner.Hereheexplainshowlimitationsbreedcreativity.

Itsoundslikeflyingbytheseatofyourpantshasbeenarecurringthemeinyourwork.

I’ve kept the wide-eyed innocence of, “How

amIgoingtodothis?”WitheachnewchallengeIlookontheinternettoseehowpeoplehavedoneitbefore.Ilookatmessageboardstogetideas.Ialways remember a quote by OrsonWelles thatsaid, “The enemy of art is the absence oflimitations;”youhavewhatyouhave.Itmightbea six-channel mixer, you might have thismicrophone and that microphone, a certainamountofwires, and abudget of $75, and thereyougo.

Youfigureouthowtodoit,anditisn'talwaysthebestway,butit’swhatispossible.IthinkI’velearned a lot of things through that process.MaybeIwouldn’thavelearnedanythingif Ihadsaid, “You do that and it’s going to cost sixhundredbucks,oritwillcostsuchamounttorentthis.” It’sbetter to askyourself, howcan I do itwithwhatIhave?I’veaccumulatedanarsenaloflittle toys and things that I like, but they’re notnecessarily the traditional toolsusedout there. Idon’tknow.I’musingalotofshotgunmicsnow,which make people ask, “Isn’t there combfilteringandphasingandstuff?”AndI’mlike,“I

don’thearit.”Sometimes, like in the case of music

production,it’swhatyoutakeawaythatmatters.Sometimes it is more powerful for theinstrumentstodropoutandleavethevoiceonitsown, rather than build up and use twenty cellos.Less is more. There are tools that do lots ofthings.I’lldoshowsattheVortexwhereI’vegottwo six-channel boards strung together. Then Irealize, wait, now I have the facility to run twoseparate sound systems. What if I run somespeakersontheback?Ithasledmetotrythingsthat I wouldn’t have thought to do. If I’d had adigital board with recall, then maybe I wouldhavejustdonethetraditionalthing.

When doing sound for artists like EmmylouHarris, what is most important to you on atechnicallevel?

The promoters will get us, for themost part,what we need. I bring microphones. That’s theonethingIwon’tdoatourwithout.IbuyorrentwhatIthinkIneed,andthenduringthefirstweek

orsoofatourIhoneitin.I have some favorites and I’ll bring several

optionsthatIlike,butIthinkagoodpartofitisconsistency.Forme, that’s theear.Microphonesarewhatheartheinstrumentorthevoice.Ifthereare five singers on stage, I’ve sometimes hadthreedifferentkindsofmicrophonesout there; Idon’tcarethatthey’remismatchedifthey'rerightforthevoices.That’swhat’simportant.

CliffCaruthers(sounddesigner)Caruthers is a San FranciscoBayArea sound

designer and composer who thinks that big,expensivetoolsaregenerallyunnecessary.

This show that Iamworkingonnow isata tinyspace,andtheyhavethesecrappyoldCDplayers.I was thinking, should I tell them to get acomputer, or just get better CD players? In theend I told them to get CD players because theycanspend$150andatleastgetsomeCDplayerswithbiggerbuttons,sothatoperatorshavebiggerthings to push. If I tell them to get a computer,

then I will probably have to come in and makesure the operating system is up to date, tomakesure everything is set so that there aren’t anylittlebugspoppingup, especially if theywant togetaPC,and then it’sall theseotherproblems.Maybe I'm just describing the benefit of ahardware show-control system like a [RichmondSound Design] AudioBox® or a [Meyer Sound]LCSoverjustusingQlabwithacomputer.

Well, talking to me personally, I don’t seemuch of an advantage anymore. In fact, I thinksomething like LCS in particular is a colossalwasteofmoney.That'smyopinion,especiallyinaclimateliketheoneweareinrightnowwhereyoucan’tfindthemoneyforanextrarollofgafftape,letalonethingsyouactuallyneed.

I really feel like, particularly if you are justdoingsoundeffectsplayback—ifyouaregettinginto live processing and stuff like that, that’s awhole other discussion — but as far as juststraight-up sound effects playback, I think youcan do anything you are doing with LCS usingQlabandalittleelbowgrease.

AndyGraham(soundengineer)Graham is a sound engineer and sound

designer on London’s West End. I interviewedhimwhenhecametoBerkeleyRepertoryTheatrewithKneehigh’sTheWildBride.

I believe all of the actors and instruments aremiked except for one of the actors, AudreyBrisson, who can't be miked because she getscoveredinmudduringthefirstact.

We did try, though. It's part of theKneehighway.Tryit!Itmightcostamicrophone,itmightbeasillyidea,butwhoistosaythatitwon'tworkunlesswetryandprovethatitdoesn't.Soyes,wetriedandfailed.

She does eventually sing, at which point one ofthe other actors brings out a replica of a Shure55Sonastand.

Yes.

I think that's significant, because up until thenmostofthetechnicalelementsarehidden.

UsingapairofSM55’s is sortof aKneehighsound icon. Many shows prior to the last fiveyearsorsowouldn'thavebeenradiomiked.Therewouldn’thavebeen thebudget for it, orperhapseven the technical creative team to facilitate it.WithSimon[Baker,sounddesigner]comingin,Ithinkthatliftedafewmoreproductionvaluesbyprovingthatwecanuseradiomics.

The companyhasbeengoing for thirtyyears,andthey'veprobablytriedradiomicsandit'snotreally worked out. We've managed to change afewfeelingsandsayyes,wecanuseradiomics.We can deliver what you want, hopefully eighttimesaweek.

So, Kneehigh is very used to having cabledmics onstage. If you get to a point in aperformance where you need someone to bemiked,itwouldbea58.Wedidashowlastyear,The Red Shoes, which was brought back forKneehigh's30thanniversary.WeusedacoupleofSM58s on cables and no radiomicswhatsoever,and I thought, that’s strange. We've gottechnology.Wecanmicthem.Wecanhidemics.

No, it'spartof theKneehigh lookand feel. Ifwe change toomuch,we take away some of thebeautyofsaying“This isacable, this ishowwedo it.” A cabled mic is absolutely acceptablewithintheKneehighworld.

NevinSteinbergSteinberg is a Broadway sound designer who

declinedtobeincludedinthiseBook,butIhighlyrecommend listening tohis interview on SoundDesign Live for a good discussion aboutcommunicating with a production teamconcerningthewayseverydecisionwillaffectthefinalresult.

JohnHuntington(professorofentertainmenttechnology)

While there aremany people involved in theaudio quality of an event, Huntington identifiestheartistastheresponsibleparty.

We are a very tiny market. I will have todouble check the numbers, but the last time I

comparedtherevenuesofGEandourindustry,IthinkGE’srevenuealoneexceededourentireliveperformance industry. Compared to otherindustries, we are pretty small. Compare us toApple or Google or somebody like that and asinglecompanycandwarfourwholeindustry.

So,wearealwaysadaptingandabusingthingsfrom othermarkets. Something on tourwith thecircus, for example, is going to get beat up anddamagedinawaythatprobablyonlythemilitarywouldexceed.

Let’s talk about concert sound limitations for aminute. Let’s say that the front of house mixerreally cared about every audience memberhearing reallywell.Hemight say to the concertpromoter or the manager, “You need to hire aSystems Engineer to make sure that what I ammixingsoundsgreatatevery location,”andtheymightrespondwith,“Wecan’taffordthat.”Thenhe has to decide, “Okay, I'll do it, but it’s onlygoingtosoundgoodatmylocation.”Thatkindofthingprobablyhappensquiteoften.

Absolutely. I think I am simplifying so as tonot ramble on for too long, but we know thatthesesituationsareincrediblycomplicated.But,Ithinkafocusonsoundqualityhas tocomefromtheartist.

For example, a friend of mine, JamieAnderson,who is one of the owners ofRationalAcousticswhomakeSmaart®,wasontourasthesystem engineer forDaveMatthewsBand. Theycame to Madison Square Garden for about twonights. Between the first and second nights, theband authorized a work call in Madison SquareGarden,whichisnotcheap,andtheyre-aimedthelong throwPAelements theyhad.That’sa levelofscalethatnotalotofpeopleoperateat.

Here's another example. Patti Smith was theopeningactforanothershowIsawattheGarden,and she sounded great. The main act soundedhorrible.NochangeinthePA,butthesoundwasterrible.Theirfriendfromthebarfortyyearsagowas mixing. Nobody was telling them that itsounds like crap, and they weren't hearing itbecausetheywerelisteningonIEMs.

TherearetwothingsIwouldsaytothefront-line people.One,walk away from the console alittlebit.Ihaveafeelingifthatmixerhadwalkedupstairs, hewouldnothavebeenhappywith thesoundupthereandhemighthaveaskedfor it tobefixed.ThesecondthingIhavenoevidencetoback up, except my own experience. Myhypothesisisthatmixingandsystemengineeringrequires different brain wiring. I really enjoysystemengineering,fixingproblemsinthePA.IfI hear a distortion it drives me crazy. I canvisualizeandgoafterit.ButIamnotaverygoodmixerbecauseIdon’thave theconcentrationforthat.Things likenoiseanddistortionveryeasilydistractme.There are a lot of other peoplewhoarebrilliantmixers and theydoanamazing job,butitdoesn’tcomeaseasilytothemtovisualizethe sound waves and stuff like that. So myhypothesis,which I’d love to research someday,is that there are different aptitude sets for eachskill.

Ithinktherearetwomindsets,andtwokindsof people who really should be doing different

jobs. Obviously, that’s not practical in a lot ofsmall shows. If they are only going to hire oneperson, it’s going to be the mixer, because youcan’tdoanythingwithoutthem.

MEETTHE

CONTRIBUTORS!Alphabeticalbylastname.

“Itjusthitme:thisiswhatreallifeisgoingtobe.ThisiswhatIdo.”—RoyTaylor

DanielBaker—sounddesignerwithBrokenChordCollective

What gave you the idea towork in theatre?Didyouhavetheatreinschool?

In high school? Yes, I was in a couple ofmusicals.Youknowhowhighschooltheateris;Ireallyenjoyed it. Igrewupgoing tochurch.Mygrandmother played the piano andmymomwasalways in choir, so I was always in the churchchoirs.Ihadaninterestinsinging.

In high school I had the opportunity to do acouple of plays. I did a year of community

college in Texarkana, and the crowd that I fellintowas the freaky theaterkidswhohadnotyetleft their small town. I hated all the communitytheater people at the time. I was like, “Okay, ifI’m in this town for another year, I’ll killmyself.”SoIdidacoupleofmusicalsthereatthecommunity college, then went to the UniversityofArkansasandgotaBAinTheater.Aboutthreeyearsin,Iquitschoolandtookabiglongbreak.Ididvariousthings,andwhenIcamebackIreallydidn’twant to act.At that time, Iwas the sameage as the MFA students. They didn’t have anMFA in sound design, so there was a need forsounddesigners.

I gotmy first computer in 2000. I had neverreallyownedacomputerbefore.Igotacomputerthat had Sound Forge. It was completely new. Imade a score for Macbeth; it was really cool.Folkswere like, “Oh,wow!You can go to gradschool for that." I put a portfolio together andtook thataroundatUSITT. Imetwith the sevensound design schools that were there and gotsomeoffers.Ultimately, I did a three-yearMFA

attheUSSchoolofDrama.

SteveBrown—sounddesigner,composer,andheadofaudioattheRoyalExchangeTheatre

Canyourememberhowyougotyour first job inaudio?

I'mcompletelyuntrained.I leftschoolwhenIwas15.Iplayedabitoffootball,andIstartedto

playthedrumsandIbecameadrummerinarockband.Wemadeafewrecordsandtoured;sooneror later I realized I wasn't ever going to be therock star I had dreamed about. I was lookingaround for other things to do, and a friend'smother was a drama teacher who suggested Imightliketoworkintheatersound.

I checked it out and I got a job at my localtheaterasanoperator.Ididn'thaveacluewhatIwasdoingbutitwasagreatlearningexperience.Ididabitofstagelighting.Iwasofferedatourofa musical by Sandy Wilson calledThe BoyFriend. It was a cheap tour, shall we say, but Igrabbed itwithbothhandsandwenton the roadfor six months, touring around the UK andlearning lots about mixing a musical. It was afantastic experience. From that I was offeredsomemoreworkonmusicals,andIwasofferedajob with the Royal Shakespeare Company veryearlyon.Iwentofftoworkforthemforsixyears,touring around the world with various shows oftheirs.

Touring was a great learning experience for

me,becauseyoumightbeoutontheroadandbefacedwithahugeproblemofsomekind,andyouhavetorelyonyourownskillandwittogetyououtofthatproblem.Ithinkthat'safantasticwaytolearn.

I'vemadeeverymistakethatasoundengineer,sound technician, or sound designer can evermake,butIthinktheimportantthingisthatIonlymadethemonce.Thebestthingtodoisownuptoitandputitright.

CliffCaruthers—sounddesigner,composer

Youhavecreatedsoundscapesandmusicforovera hundred Bay Area productions, you’re anArtistic Associate at Cutting Ball Theatre and acompany member of Crowded Fire, and now atyou are teaching ACT? Are you a residentdesigner?

SoundDesignAssociate.

AnotherSanFranciscodesignerrecently toldmethatyoucan’tmakealivingasadesigner.So,myquestion is, is that true, and if so, how are you

aliverightnow?[laughter]Well,youhavetodefine‘makealiving,’first

of all. I’vebeen able to do it for thepast six orsevenyears.Ihavebeenhereforabouttenyears,and it ispretty tough todo itpurely freelance. Imanageit,butIworkalot.Ithriveonthat,soitworksforme;it’snotforeveryone.MostpeopleIknowwhoaremakinga living in theatreworkalot.They’vealsogotateachinggigontheside,orthey have a part-time gig with a theatre doingsomething outside their field. They find someway to stabilize their income so they cando thetheatre work that they want to do. So yes, it isreallyhard.

Youmadeitworkbybeingfull-timesomeplaces,anddoingothershowsontopofthat?

IendedupgettingaresidentdesignergigwithTheatre Works back in 2003. I started outdesigning half their shows one year, and then acouple years later I went full-time and starteddoingallofthem.Thatgotmethroughsomeverydry years while I was still building up clients.

They were very good about letting me take asmuchoutsideworkasIcoulddealwith.Itwasareallygoodarrangementforme.Afterafewyearsofdoingthat,IgottoapointwhereIcouldprettymuchbefreelanceandmakealiving.Iamnevergoingtoberich,andIwillneverbeabletoaffordmost of the equipment that I use; that’s at thetheatre.That’sjustthewayitis.

EddieCodel—livevideostreamingexpert

Whatweresomeofyourfirstjobs?The gig that got me the job at Ustream is a

pretty funny story.MySpace was doing a secretshow in San Francisco,whenMySpacewas stillrelevant, andWeezerwasplaying. I think itwasat...

WhenWeezerwasstillrelevant...Yes,soprobably2007or2008.Itwasamulti-

camera shoot and Ustream was broadcasting it

live.Thecameraswentoutandpeoplewerelike,“What’sgoingon?”Itwasrightinthemiddleofthe show. Iwas like, "I'll figure this out," and Ifollowed theBNCcable from theTriCaster®allthewaybacktowherethecamerawas,becauseIfigured somebody stepped on the cable. Ifolloweditallthewayback,andIwasliterallyinthepitinfrontofthestagewherethesecurityandphotographerswere.IfoundtheBNCcablerippedapartwhere the cameramanhad steppedon it orsomething.

Immediately, I was like, “Shit, well…” Thecableripped,soIhadtoactuallyre-crimpitandput it back together or find another cable. Theyhadasatellitetrucktosendavideofeedout,soIran down the truck. There was some guy fromSantaCruzjustsittingtheresmokingajoint,andhesawmeandthoughtIwasabossorsomething.I’m like, “Dude, it’s cool. It’s just the BNCcable.” He put the joint down and gave me thestuff.Iranbackupthereandreconnectedit.

You had to run through a few hundred feet of

feeds.Ihadtodiagnoseitandgetthecableallwithin

a fewminutes’ time while the showwas going,and avoid the people moshing aroundme. I didthat, and they got the camera up.When we gotback toUstream, they realized that I knowwhatI'mdoingandIwasabletosolveproblemsunderfire, so I got hired. That was a really awesomegig.

Iwasrunningproductionservicesthere,whichmeant I got to go do some really cool eventsaroundtheworld.Forexample,Iwasonaprojectwith Sports Illustrated swimsuit models for aweek in Las Vegas. I was the Ustreamrepresentative tomakesurenothingwentwrong.So I had to be on the bus with themodels, andplentyofthem.

Soundsterrible.Yes,itwasquiteanexperience.

LarryCrane—recordproducer,soundengineer,founderofTapeOpmagazine,

ownerofJackpotStudios

Iwasamusicianandplayedinabandforeightyears, plus I did home recording as far back asprobably 1979,when Iwas a teenager. I studiedelectronics in high school. I studiedcommunicationsandartincollege.ThenIwasinaband,andIwastheonehandlingalotoftheco-productionsidefromthebandstandpoint:runningus through rehearsals, recording rehearsals,working on arrangements. At the time I didn’t

realize that I was learning how to producerecords.

Ihadbeenwritingfordifferentmagazines,andallofthemsimultaneouslywentdefunct.[laughs]I wanted to keep writing because I had beenwriting record reviews and concert reviews anddoinginterviewsandstufflikethat,andIwantedanoutlet.

TheotherthingwasIstartedrecordingpeopleinmy basement, trying to learn. Iwas trying tofigure it out. I went to the library a lot to doresearch.IreadeverybookIcouldgetmyhandson.Ireadalltheothermagazines.Ispentalotoftimedoingresearch,andIwouldcallmyfriendswho were professional engineers and pick theirbrains. All of a sudden it made sense that themagazine writing outlet could also be therecordingoutlet.

PierreDupree—AudioSupervisorattheAlleyTheatreinHouston,Texas

High school is when I started getting intotheatre. I went to Jesuit College Prep in Dallas,and we had a very good theatre program overthere.Wedidalotofreallygoodplaysthatweregreatforhighschoolerstodo.ObviousthingslikeHamlet, but we also did Arthur Miller’sTheCrucible, some shows with a lot of sound.OneFlew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest . We even didAuntie Mame, and that really got me excitedabouttheatreandeverythingIlovedaboutmusic,

including the creation of music, creation ofsound, using various different playback devices,andspeakerplacement.It’smostsatisfyinginthecontextoftheatre.

Honestly, there were a lot of pretty girls intheatre.ThatinitialmotivationinhighschoolsetmeonthecoursetowhereIamnow.

HowieGordon—studiomusician,collegeprofessor

Gordon has been an active musician in thePhiladelphia area for over twenty years. Hegraduated from Philadelphia’s University of theArtswithaMaster’sDegreeinJazzPerformancewith concentrations in composition and musictechnology.He is also an experienced studiomusician, working extensively with Grammy-nominated producer David Ivory, and hasperformed session work at Dylanava Studios,SigmaSound,Studio4,PhiladelphiaInternationalRecords,andcountlessotherrecordingstudiosinthePhiladelphiaarea.

Gordon is a recipient of the SteinwayAwardfor Outstanding Pianistic Ability, Musicianship,andArtistic andAcademic Scholarship. He alsoreceived theNationalAcademyof theRecordingArts and Sciences Award for Excellence in theField of Music and the Recording Arts andSciences.

AndyGraham—sounddesigner,soundengineer

Iwant toknowhowyougot into theWestEnd.Iimagine there is a lot of competition for thosejobs.

Ithinkit’soneofthosethingsthatisstrangelyeasy toget into,becauseweworkverymuchbyrecommendations. You can do drama schooltraining, that's what I did. I'd always doneamateurtheatre,andItookayearouttoworkinproducingandreceivingbeforeIcametocollege

inLondon.Igottoknowhowtheindustryworksfrom a more professional point of view. Then Iwent to London and spent two years at dramaschool,whichwasafantasticopportunitytogettoLondon from Liverpool. That's about 200 milesaway.Itreallygotmeintotheculturebymeetingpeople.

In terms of how I actually got into the job, Iwas very fortunate. I met up with a friend oneafternoonforacoffee.HewasanA2operatoronashowtwelveor thirteenyearsago,andhesaid,“Oh,you'restill interested.That'sfantastic.Whydon'tyoucomein thiseveningandseehowit isfromadifferentpointofview.”Thentwenty-fourhourslatersomeonegotsickandtheysaid,“Well,youwere inyesterday.”Thatwas a realbaptismbyfire,goingfromthinkingyouknoweverythingasafourteen-orfifteen-year-old,torealizingyoudon't know much as a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old, to being nineteen and realizing youknownothingandyouhavetobetaughtandhereyougo.

You were making connections, but you weren’tnecessarilypromotingyourself.

Alotof it isaboutbeing in the rightplaceattherighttime.Wedon'thaveastrongunionlikeyouguysdohere,sowedon'treallyhavetoproveanythingtoanyone,apartfrom,canwegetalong?Can you do the job? Are you competent? Dopeoplewanttohaveyouaround?

[onworkingwithKneeHigh]Justkeeptrying.That’swhatI’velearnedtodo

wellwithKneeHigh.Withthisshow,forexample,there are many cues for thunder for variousentrances and exits. What if we said, we're notgoing to do thunder? Instead, we have a waterphone. We have crashes. We have bangs. Don'ttake everything at face value. Try and thinkoutside theboxabit,andsometimespeoplewillthink you're an absolute genius. Other timesthey'llturnaroundandsay,“Where’sthethunderIaskedfor?”

JohnHuntington—Professorof

EntertainmentTechnologyatNewYorkCityCollegeofTechnology

WhenIgraduated,IgotajobatTheaterCraftsandLightingDimensions.Ithinkit’stheonlyjobI ever sawadvertisedand thenapplied for. I didthat for a couple of years, and then Steve Terryhired me to work at Production and I workedthereforacoupleofyears.

ItooktheLocal1Stagehand’sApprenticetestsomewhere along the line, and seven years latertheyofferedmethejobofhandingoutdrillbitsat

the ABC Carpentry Shop. At the time I wastraveling to Italy to install lighting systems oncruiseshipsandIhadalreadystartedworkonthefirst edition of my book [Show Networks andControl Systems] .I said no, and everybodythoughtIwascrazy.

I left thereand Iworked for theMetropolitanOpera. I had a friend at theMet and I ended upworkingthereforthreeyears.Iwasluckybecauseit was at a time when they were getting muchmore serious about sound.We really rebuilt thewholesystem.Thegroupupgradedtheskilllevelthere by six orders of magnitude, and now theyhaveareallykickasssounddepartment,whichisgreat.

I left that job toworkforoneofmymentors,GeorgeKindler,whodideverycoolshowcontrolthinginVegas.PRGboughthim[out],andIwasworking in the PRG office when they wereacquiring everything. Unfortunately, that didn’twork out, and I leftwhen I got an offer at CityTech.IactuallygotthatofferbecauseIgotinanonlineargumentwithmycolleagueDavidSmith.

Wegot arguing about something andDavidwaslike, “Hey, you want to grab lunch? We’relooking for somebody.” I’ve been there now fortwelveyears.

EllenJuhlin—sounddesigner,projectmanager,gamedesigner

Myfirstsounddesignprojectsforshowswereatschool,but there isactuallya ratherextensivetheatre community in Pittsburgh. Most of them

have connections toCarnegieMellon, because itwasactuallythefirstuniversitytohaveatheatreprogram in the United States. So, there were abunch of people around town who were veryfamiliarwiththeprogramandknewmanyofthefacultyandstaffmembers.

My first sound design job outside of schoolwas at the Benetton Center, working with ChrisEvans on the Civic Light Opera, which is thesummer season inPittsburgh.Theywere createdtobringintalentfromNewYorkandLosAngelesand put on big shows. They have a six milliondollarbudgetand theydofiveorsixshowsoverthe summer, big musicals sometimes involvingtouringproductionsorco-productions.

InmysenioryearatCarnegieMellonIwenttoUSITT, which is a big technical theatreconference. That’s also where a bunch oftheatricalsounddesignersgettogethereveryyear,and companies likeDisney andCirque duSoleilshowup tohire internsandupcominggraduates.That’s where I first got connected with Disneyandgothiredtoworkintheparksasan...

YouplayedMinnieMouse?No, I ran monitors for a show at American

Gardens.TherewasashowwithareallyawesomebandcalledOffKilter,whoarestillthere.AlsoatUSITT I met BC Keller, who at the time wasHeadofAudioatSouthCoastRepertoryTheatreinCostaMesa.Ihadheardaboutitbecausetheyhad anLCS Matrix3 system, which was thepredecessortoD-Mitri.

I’d been at DisneyWorld for maybe twomonthswhenIsawthattheSouthCoastRepwashiring an audio technician. I knew BC, so Iapplied for the jobandsaid, “Please,getmeoutof Orlando.” [laughter] “Please, please, please.”He relented and hired me, and that’s where Istarted using the Matrix3 system with theCueStationsoftware.

It sounds like USITT is a pretty sweet place tomakeconnectionsandgetjobs.

It’s great for students, especially for anybodywhoisinterestedinworkingatDisneyorCirquedu Soleil. Both of them show up and they have

great internshipprograms.Youcan talk to someproaudiomanufacturers.MeyerSoundisalwaysthere,aswellasD&Bandsomeothercompanies.

Iknowpeoplewant toknowhowyougot the jobatMeyerSound.

WhileIwasworkingatSouthCoastRepIwasusingCueStationsoftware,andLCS,thecompanythatmade theprogramwasup theroad inSierraMadre,aboutanhouraway.Sinceitwasrepertorytheatre,wehaddifferentshowseverymonthandwewereabletobeabetatestsitefornewreleasesofCueStationsoftwareandfirmware.Iwasfilingbug reports and askingquestions, sharingwhat Ilikedanddidn’tlike.IgottoknowthepeopleatLCS.

Theyhadajobopeningforaproductspecialistright at the end of the South Coast Repertoryseason, so I applied for that jobandmanaged toget hired. I was managing the beta program forCueStation, getting feedback andwriting releasenotes and documentation. Shortly after I washired they announced that Meyer Sound was

going to acquireLCS. I got acquired alongwiththe rest of the company, and that’s how I endedupworkingforMeyerSound.

BobLentini—soundengineer,softwareprogrammer,andentrepreneur

Youworked inelectronicsrepair, thenrecordingstudios, then live concerts, then softwaredevelopment, and none of it ever seemedpremeditated.

Well,that’sprettytrue.Iwenttocollegewitha plan to take electronics engineering. Iwent toDrexelUniversity nearPhiladelphia.During thatstudyIfoundthebooksandtheprocesstobetooboxedinformytaste,basically.

I didn’t leave just to be a rebel and throw itbackinsomebody’sface.Ilistenedandlookedatthe norm andwhat their trained skilled setwas,andthewaytheyapproachsoundandmath.ThenI deviated from that when I felt that somethingcould be done differently, maybe a little moreeffectively,togetbetter.Whatreallymattersarethe results. I got into one thing, which led toanother, that led to another, which led toanother…

BrianLinds—actor,sounddesigner

IbecameanavidlistenerofmusicwhenIwasthirteenyearsold.Sounddesignprobablystartedforminginmyheadbackthen.Ilikedtolistentomusic that was outside the norm. People likeFrankZappareallyinspiredme.Theyweredoingamazingthings.

Iwasalwaysamusic collector. I got into thehabit of buying records somuch that we had tobuy a house that would house my recordcollection, because I have over ten thousand

records. It got a bit crazy. It isn’t necessarilydesigning,butIhaveahugekindoftreasuretrovetogothrough,tofindinterestingstuff.

When I was younger and starting to be anactor, Iwould always have people over and say,“You gotta hear this piece of music, it’samazing,” either because the musician wasunbelievablygoodorsobadyouhadtolistenandlaugh.That turned intomedoing radiowork forcommunityradiostationsatuniversities.

AsaDJ?As a DJ, yeah, hosting a radio show called

Uncle Brie’s Funhouse on CFUV radio inVictoria. I did that for about twelve years. Istartedtoaddinlittlebitsofsamples.Iwoulddothemes on trees and throw in Pioneer Chainsawcommercials from the 50s, that kind of stuff.Istartedtolearntheeditingprocess.

Thatgotmeplayingaroundwith someof thesoftware,butreallyIwasanactorfirst.In1981Igraduated from theatre school and workedprofessionally for about twenty-five years. Then

someone asked me to do a sound design ‘causetheyknewaboutmybackgroundinmusic.

AaronMeicht—musician,sounddesigner,andcomposerwithBrokenChord

Istartedmylifeasamusician.I’matrumpetplayer, and that’s what I went to school for. Ilived inPhillyandplayeda lotofmusic there. Ididn’t do theater until about ten or twelve years

agowhenIdidaproductionthatrequiredmusic,notreallysounddesign.Ididn’tevenreallyknowwhatthatwas.

Ialsostudiedcomputermusicandcompositionin Europe. That was my base, but I alwaysenjoyed theater. I startedgettinga few jobsas asound designer. Most of them includedcomposition.Thatwasmyprimaryinterest.IwasinNewYork, and adirector friendofminewhoknew both of us separately and said shewantedme to write music for a production and DanielBakertodosounddesign.Shethoughtwewouldhititoff,andwedid.

Moldover—electronicinstrumentdesigner,musician,andteacher

You run a blog,Controllerism, have your sitemoldover.com, and you produce some showsthroughLoveTech.Oneof the things thatyoudobesidesperformancesissoundcontrolplayshops.Iwaswonderingifyoucouldgiveanoverviewofthose?

We like the termplayshops becausewe thinkmusic should be fun. Workshops don't get meexcitedaboutmakingmusic.Soundcontrolisthe

termIcameupwithtotalkaboutwhatIdo.It'sinthesamespiritascontrollerism.

SoundControlandcontrollerismplayshopsareabout playing sound with new instruments.Typically they last two hours. I do them inuniversities, colleges, and on Skype. I did onewith a group in Italy not long ago. I have slidesand other stuff to provide visual interest, and Iplayalittlebitoflivemusicanddoquestionandanswer.Ivalueeducationveryhighly,andIthinkthat'sthemostimportantthingyoucando.

MarkMosher—electronicmusician,composer,performer,socialmediamaven

EversinceIwasachild,I'vebeeninvolvedinmusic in some form. I actually grew up playingorgan,notpiano.Itookorganlessons.Later,asIgotintohighschool,Istartedgettinginterestedinelectronicmusic. I started listening to the iconicclassics — Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, all thosethings—andplayinginbandsforfun.OfcourseI got into synthesizers, and I had to learn toprogramsynthesizers tocoveraparticular soundsothatwhenweplayedliveitsoundedsomewhatlikethealbum.

Itwasnot like todaywhereyouhave a lot of

online tutorials. You had to be self-motivated.There were very few people in any given areadoing this sort of thing, so there was a lot ofexperimentation.

Later I moved on to doing musicprofessionally as amusician in bands thatmademoney. I've been playing professionally sinceprobably '89.Around 2002 I started getting intocustom composition using a combination ofhardwareandsoftwaresoIcouldcreatemyownarrangements without having to hire studiomusicians.

Iwentontodosounddesignforlivetheater.Idid about nine months of shows doing sounddesign.Atsomepoint,afterdoingthisforquiteawhile,Iwantedtojustbeasoloartistandreleasealbums. And, since I'd been working withsynthesizersandallthisgearforsolong,Ireallywantedtofindawaytogiveback.

ForaboutfiveandahalfyearsI'verunablogcal ledModulate This where I cover industrynews. That's how it started out, but it really hasturned into a tool to pass on tidbits, ideas, and

concepts about how to transcend the technologyto make art.I've also been experimenting withdifferentways toget sounds topeople. Ikindofwear different hats. Some days I'm a composer.SomedaysI feel likeI’mjustasynthesistandasound designer. Some days those worlds collideandmerge.

I love creating sounds and synthesizers fromscratch.IinitializethepatchandjustsitdownandseewhereIcan take it. I'vebeensearchingforavenue onlinewhere I can be effective in gettingthosesoundsouttopeople.

GWRodriguez—sounddesigner,programmer

The beginning of my sound designer journeywasn’trootedinbuildingandplayingbacksoundfilesviareel-to-reellikemanyofthegreats,likeAbeJacobs.(Iknowthismaydiscreditmealittleforsomeofyousoundgurusout there.)Istartedby editing sound files on mini disc players andperforming live sound effects via synthesizer.Don’tbefooled:splicingtwosongsonminidiscs

is as destructive as cutting tape, and it’swickedhard.

The tools for design were relatively simple,not a large amount of different audio gear.Youcould record sounds via a microphone, use amixertoaddreverb,delay,etc.,anduseaDAW,aDigitalAudioWorkstation,toachievesimilarandmore advanced effects and playing back thosecreations.

As I evolved as a sound designer, I wasintroduced to Stage Research’s SFX. Thisprogramallowedyou toplaybacksound files tomultipleoutputsdependingonyouroutputcardoraudiointerface.Mostimportantly,youcouldfadethesoundfiles inoroutof thedifferentoutputs.A new world of design creation, technique, andexecutionwasopentome,butIhadtofigureouthow to get the thoughts in my head into thecomputerwiththisnewlanguage.

Hello, sample and bit rates, ugh! I rememberhaving tomakesuremyhardware, software,andsound fileswereall the same sample rate,but itwaswellworth theartisticpossibilities thatSFX

opened up. The point is, in order to achieve aspecificsoundcue,IhadtointerpretthewaythecuewouldneedtobeprogrammedinSFX.IhadtoknowthesyntaxoftheSFXlanguagetomakethe cue happen. It’s very different than visuallymoving the region of audio in a timeline on aDAW,whichismoreinstinctualandrequiresverylittleinterpretation.

DimitrisSotiropoulos—Athens-basedsoundengineerfortouringandrecording

I just like the job. It's amazing, it'schallenging, and there is always, always, alwayssomething new to learn.Youwill never know itall.Yougettoknowgreatpeople,andthebiggestjerks.They'reallinourindustry.

Also,it'sreallyfun.Itmakesmethinkmore.Itsometimes makes me have more patience withpeopleandsometimesnot.Ithinkit’sthestrugglebetween gigging and meeting new people, anddoing records and getting intimate with people

and their musical dreams that gives me anopportunity to be a better person formyself andforthepeopleIworkwith.

RoyTaylor—theatricalsounddesigner,concertsoundengineer

You just get yourhandson stuff, figure it allout, and help your friends.At one point,when Iwas living in Madison, Wisconsin, one of my

friendswasaguynamedPatMcDonaldwhohada band calledPatMcDonald andTheEssentials.Graduallytheygotbiggerandbigger,andhewasable to hireme to go on little road trips aroundthemidwesttodosoundforthem.

They left town while I was running a bar,which usually involved booking the bands,bartending,andrunningsound.Thatwassortofapunk rock circuit place. I’d see touring bandscomeinandI’dmeettheirengineers.PatmovedtoAustin,andheandhiswifegotabandtogethercalledTimbuk3.Theygotarecorddeal,andPatcalledup and said, “Doyouwant to comedownandhelpusoutwhilewegotoLAandmakethisrecord?” Since the temperature in Madison wasninedegrees[chuckles],Isaidsure.

Iendedupgoingdownthere,sleepingontheircouch, getting ready to go to LA, making therecord. We made the record, I became theirbabysitter,becametheirmanager…

Wow,babysittertomanager.Babysitter to manager, and mixing sound for

them through all that. Therewas sort of a steeplearningcurveatthatpoint.

Youhadneverdonemanagementbeforethat?Ihadneverdonemanagementbefore.

Exceptforsomeotherworkatthatbar?The record company at the time was I.R.S.

Records, which was owned by Miles Copeland.He became ourmentor. Hewas the guy I couldcall and ask, “What do I do about this?” Hecouldn’t manage the band, or they didn’t wanthimmanagingtheband,becausetherewouldbeaconflictof interestwithhimbeingonboth sides—bandmanagement and the record label.Iwassortofthebufferinbetween,whichbecamefun.IgottoarguewithMilesCopeland.

Nice!Thatsortofledmeintothesoundandbusiness

sideofthis,andalsoexposedmetoproduction.Ihad a little experience playing in bands inMadison.Bya strokeof luck, Iwasalsoable to

work in a little 8-track studio owned by aproducer, Butch Vig, who after that went on toproduce “Nevermind” forNirvana, SonicYouth,andsoon.

Garbage?Garbage.HeplaysdrumswithGarbage.Itwas

likehewasjustlearningatthetime.Little8-trackmachine.Thatwasthefoundationof theoriginalSmartStudios.

And you got more and more jobs working withbands?

Prettymuch!Atacertainpoint,Iwastwenty-nine years old, turning thirty, and going throughthatpersonalquestioningof“WhatIamgoingtodo? If this is play, what’smy real life going tobe?”

“NowI’manadult.”And it just hit me: thisis what real life is

goingtobe.ThisiswhatIdo.Somethinghitmeandit’sbeenkindofamantrasincethen.It’sone

project to the next. Your job isn’t necessarilygoing to be your job forever. This isn’t likeworkingatMonsantoorsomething.Whatyoudois going to change, and the opportunities aregoingtokeepchanging.Justfollowthatpath.

MarkWinslett—recordingartist,actor,andcomedywriter

There is a lot of comedy on your record. With

songs like “Backdoor Circus” and “AutoHizzled,” it seems like it's natural for you tocombinecomedyandmusic.Therearesome lovesongs,too.Isthatsomethingthatyouplannedon?

IthinkaboutwhatIwantthemessageineachsongtobeforawhile.Ifoundoutearlyoninmymusic career that if I stick with comedy, I canmake people enjoy my music a lot more easilythan if I'm trying to come at them from adifferentangle.

Youdidn'tmaketheentirealbumlikethat.I don't want to listen to funny shit for fifty

minutesstraight.

FeedbackCongratulations!Youmadeitallthewaytotheend.Wasitgoodforyou,too?Letmeknow.

TableofContentsDedication 3Acknowledgments 4Foreword 5Introduction 8•WhyIStartedSoundDesignLive 8•HowToUseThiseBook 9•WorkingWithTechnicalLimitations 14

MeetTheContributors! 26•Feedback 72