Hone the Craft

This crazy life gets wilder by the minute, there are quotes and deals to make and politics to play and issues to juggle and people to hate and clients to stroke etc etc. You get the picture. As this industry life gets crazier we tend to get away from what our first love and passion was. Engineering. it was why for most of us, why we got into this. We wanted to be that guy mixing the band. But as time has gone by we have lost that and because of that we are seeing a lot of under qualified sound companies and engineers who have climbed the ranks very quickly to a mediocre level. Now that in its self is not bad but with out a solid foundation your doomed to stay there... if you haven't spent years on the road dealing with every kind of horrific feedback and horrible room combination and gear configuration you can think of then you will never have the tools needed when that comes back up on your first national support gig and you are doomed to have a horrible day.  I have been seeing alot of eager young engineers who have skipped several steps in there career for fame or fortune a promise of the glamourous road life and they are unfortunately like unstable fuel in a rocket. They may look fast and powerful but under the surface its unstable and ready to blow and when a little pressure is applied your in for disaster.

I have been in a season of a lot of touring and I have been traveling with a vast amount of different acts and types. Everything from Hip Hop to Country to Rock and Blues and acoustic. I pride myself in being able to switch between genres. I also switch between FOH and MONS which is also difficult. It is very hard to switch between music styles and environments and artists preferences and on top of that to switch between MON and FOH and Tour Bus and Van. I spend time ever day honing my skills, everything from Hear tests and tone tests and listening to many different kinds of music, listening to the next style im heading out with and their music. I do all this still because I have never "arrived" and I can always be learning and I can always be creating a better sonic environment and experience for the audience. That kind of attention to detail and professionalism is what will set apart the boys from the Engineers when the rubber meets the road and something goes wrong and all the people are looking at you....not only what are you going to do... what will you be capable of doing.