Master these seven skill sets and become a bulletproof audio tech and here's a little bit of a spoiler mixing is just one of them this is true if you're professional audio engineer as well as a weekend warrior who does it for fun or someone who just wants to serve and love their Church on the weekends uh well why in the world should you trust me well I've spent over a decade in the industry working on shows for multiple US presidents Fortune 500 companies Martina McBride juwel Oprah sha Drew Brees just in Timberlake and more so I've been in High Press situations big audiences small audiences corporates band uh church services all over so I want to help see what I've seen in the field and bring it to you as someone who might be wanting to learn and develop themselves so they can get gigs have fun in the weekends or simply serve their church this could really just be a job description for new audio tech if you're a production uh company uh so I also want to share with you where I've been weak in the past and currently am weak where I'm strong of each of these seven buckets excited to share with you let's Jump Right In I'm going to go through each of these seven to give examples of what falls into each of these skill set buckets it's not exhaustive but we'll give you a good sense of what's to be included first up is Rock Solid fundamentals and I want to start start here because you really have to have this down pat before you can move on to anything else we want to present the craft as something that's fun and you get to do the big exciting stuff but you have to eat your broccoli first as I like to say it so that means understanding gain structure and signal flow really really well starting with simple systems maybe a small analog desk moving up to a giant Festival rig with maybe four consoles a bunch of stage boxes a broadcast truck uh maybe some remotes all that is really any gain structured signal flow to make it work really well between all these different parties involved you need to have fast and systematic troubleshooting skills when something goes wrong can you have a keen sense of where to go first and know in what order to look at devices and get it up and uh back on quickly especially when it's high pressure are you fluid with the decibel scale so this is the most common way we measure changes in levels for audio so when I say hey we need 6 DB more do do you know roughly that's about a doubling or maybe even 3db less that's about a 40% less um so I work on memorizing a 1% or 1db change which is about 12% A 3db change is 40% 6db is a 100% or doubling and then 10 DB is about a three a little over a 3X change and so being able to stack those all together and roughly convert back and forth as really helpful and what I named off is for non power ratios this is not talking about power specifically just to be clear there uh do you understand sound in acoustic digital and electrical domain so in Acoustics world sound is measured in uh you know the SPL or pascals that's measuring pressure in the digital world it's ones and zeros it's bits so do you know sample rate bit depth Nyquist all these different ways we talking about digital audio and then electrical domains so are you comfortable with the relationship between impedance and voltage and input sensitivities and all that goes into speakers and the inputs on a desk and mic preamp gain and all all that um and then lastly this is becoming more and more of a really key thing to have but it's networking networking fundamentals and I'm not talking about talking to your friends I'm I'm talking about routers and switches and IP addresses and subnet masks because more often than not on a show unless it's kind of an older rig you're going to have some type of digital transport going on whether it's Layer Two or layer three and that's Dante Rena as67 there's AVB so there's probably going to be a CAT 5 cable of some sort connecting gear together and it's all relying on networking standards to make that happen number two is musical mixing abilities so we think of this as the core attribute of a live audio engineer and it is a lot of ways but I think we over index here at the expense of investing in these other six skill sets but if you are going to do it right um can you communicate well with an artist performer or band when you're building their mix especially if they're new or setting up their monitor mix do you yourself have a musical background so you can uh effectively put together mix and know the genre so it's it's going to sound different at a EDM Festival versus a jazz festival can you talk with The Pianist and know like hey um your left hand how much are you putting your left hand down low and the bass player have room asking questions like this builds a rapport with each of these musicians and ultimately they're going to play better and trust you more and you get a better mix are you comfortable in the front of house position in a broadcast mixing position as well as monitors just to name three of those are you familiar with the current and Legacy tools of the trade so a lot of modern digital desks even though they are very Advanced are often times emulating Legacy tools so you'll see in a desk an la2a compressor which is an optical photo cell or there's an Fe limited the 1176 so do you know basically have you done the reading do you know the Legacy tools that the industry has had for a long time that they used to talking about and and getting certain sounds or Vibes even though you're coming into the game much much later or just developing yourself much much later are you familiar with playback and all that entails from a a band perspective they're giving you tracks or maybe you're in a corporate gig and you're playing back walk- on stingers and voiceovers yourself you need to be fluent with that and then lastly are you able to adapt and learn multiple consoles and multiple ecosystems because especially if you're freelance you might be on a Yamaha DM 7 one day then a Allen Heath avantas the next day and then a X32 the next day and then a digo the next day they all take in outputs process them accordingly and send them out but they all have different ways of going about it and and last in the mixing category do you have the ability to evaluate your mix objectively once you're kind of settled into getting the cues happening can you kind of slow down for a minute and say like hey how is this actually sounding and translating to my audience then also graciously receive feedback if someone's saying like hey uh I want this differently can you make it happen actually translate that into results quickly all right number three is having a keen sound system sense so this is where I've been talking a lot on the YouTube channel about is sound system design and tuning uh so I want to share that this was actually one of my weakest points out of the seven just five years ago I actually looked up my Amazon order for Bob McCarthy's book if you don't know it's the green Bible it's everything you really need to know or at least build a solid solid foundation with with sound system and I ordered that in 2019 it's 2024 right now so I've be I've been able to learn a lot very quickly and get a lot of experience uh but I want to encourage you with that that you know I really didn't know or understand how line arrays worked five years ago but now I'm teaching other people about it and deploying Lines line array systems all over not that line arrays are the end all be all but you can learn things quickly and dive in um if you do the homework you give yourself projects and get out in the field and make it happen and because uh I I really think this number three is important because even if you get the mix right uh you don't want to mix through mud covered glasses you can have the most amazing mix in your headphones before you turn the PA on but if the PA doesn't sound good or there's a bunch of seats that aren't covered it doesn't matter so that's understanding how to verify the sound system once before you get it in the air and know how and why it's working correctly maybe if you're dealt a bad hand and don't have the right system how can you make the best compromises possible and communicate that accordingly to your production manager if you need to Pivot or change can you tune a rig quickly without getting in the way of the other departments that means you're fluent with your tuning software like smart you can make decisions quickly and and know how to prioritize where and how to move if you do run out of time and then lastly can you evaluate and listen to the rig and know what to change even if the data is telling you something a little bit differently can you trust your gut enough to know like hey I I know I'm hitting my target curve this way or I feel like the alignment is feeling better right here and make tweaks so that it just feels better because at the end of the day no one's looking at your smart data they are listening to the rig can you trust your gut enough to make those changes when necessary number four is being a ninja RF Comm and Stage Tech so these are the other supporting skill sets that usually funnel up to a report to an A1 they're not as widely celebrated um I wouldn't even say celebrated but practice as much as an A1 because almost every show has an A1 mixing it and then on smaller shows they're doing all these other roles um or they're either omitted and then it's only on bigger shows where these roles start to get sliced up and have dedicated experts handling them so starting with RF mean that means are you comfortable uh thinking about RF coverage knowing what antenna types there are managing gain structure with multiple antennas into a combiner being able to work with wireless workbench and coordinate a b basic frequency plot are you comfortable also with uh Sennheiser gear as well as Shore with the shore stuff can you get them on a Dante Network and can control them when someone asks you to adjust uh mic pad or mic offsets on the Fly you know what that is can you mic up a presenter quickly can you switch between a lavalier and a headset and get sound out of it so this kind of bleeds into our our mixing category so that's being comfortable with RF and then with Comm there's RTS which is the Legacy analog systems that you know they have some digital as well are you comfortable with that protocol but are you comfortable with rle or maybe even clearcom so rle has Bolero which is a wonderful wireless system they have panels and there's clearcom which has free speak free speake to at the moment so there's even different just like there's different mixing consoles that all do the the same thing there's different Comm systems for for for the entire crew to talk this last Big Show I was on had 70 people out of it and and all of them had some type of way to communicate whether that was with a panel or a wireless Compact and we had a dedicated comtech who did a killer job making sure the entire crew was balanced and even had the appropriate channels to talk across so I again I wouldn't say you need to specialize in these other three roles rfom or being a stage Tech but eventually they are specialized in highly paid roles that are really important on bigger shows and so going on to Stage Tech that's just are you really good at patching stage management understanding the flow of a show transitioning bands being able to appropriately Place microphones in the right spot and then this kind of all rolls up into the A2 rooll is what usually is in charge of this if you don't have a separate rfom and Stage Tech and this is really true for corporate gig so the A1 at front the house mixing the show usually has a stream going out for broadcast as well the A2 is miking up people they are looking at RF they're making sure Comm is good uh so on smaller to medium shows for that number five is Stellar soft skills so can you read people can you communicate what you need early on and in the right order uh I like to say do you know when to hold them do you know when to fold them it's something that's going wrong a big enough deal to elevate that up the chain to production or can you solve it yourself and just take care of it can you lead a team and set priorities if you're loading in a gig sometimes you're given a bunch of hands and do you know hey I need two audio hands here go get these speakers bring them over here be able to delegate and go grab two more do something else while seeing your entire Department's goals in mind bottom line is understanding the order of operations and hierarchies at play when you have a band that's maybe not the kindest that rolls up can you still keep your cool and communicate clearly hold firm boundaries don't let them walk all over you uh but just know that some people are divas and want to have it their way and know when to say hey this is how it's going to be and know when to acques and figure all that out number six is having a sharp production intuition are you able to see your role within a larger scope of the show of the service of the theater production wherever that is again I was on a 6070 person crew recently and I I was just the A2 that is one of many many roles on there there was seven Us in just the audio department but then there's the show callers this entire video department Five cam Ops um and so knowing that hey I I've been asked to be a part of this crew to fulfill a very specific thing and it really well but I need to be aware of the entire show and its goals and how it organically es and flows as it unfolds to make sure I'm doing that well again if it's a small show it it ends up being all on you but sometimes you don't have the right gear the band was late the doors open in 30 minutes what are you going to do can you move forward and not have a pity party but still make sure there is a great show don't Be a door bat have a spine but do the absolute best you can with the hand that you are dealt are you there uh on a professional Show are there 10 minutes before call time you're looking good dressed appropriately for the load in do you have your multi-tool or Gerber or Leatherman whatever you want to use and a Sharpie there's I think the minimum tools you need to have to be able to execute a loadin well and handy have for a show it's a bonus if you have a pelican with other tools and audio interface maybe some other troubleshooting types some networking gear all that but I would say at minimum a Sharpie good production close and a multi-tool are you familiar with com etiquette that's being able to talk on Comm and know the appropriate language so when you're talking to just the audio department it's like hey this is Michael on audio for my A1 I was working with this last week was name is Michael Jackson we called him MJ so I just don't say start talking ask for something I need to State what line I'm on who am I and who am I talking to so that's just one of many different protocols you need to be aware of for Comm etiquette that also not cluttering up the production line because the showcaller needs to have as much open space to be able to direct the crew and so knowing where to talk and why and how to ask questions is really important do you know how to advance an act so that's when a band or some type of performer whether it's a magician a uh just celebrity who's going to come on a talk show or a band is coming to your Venue they're going to give you a document called a writer and you need to be able to read it and they're like hey this is what they're going to need can we get it can you negotiate that with them can you make sure it's ready to go when they get there and be able to read all the fine print because oftentimes they'll put really funny things and requests and some of that they'll direct it to you when it's hospitality related and you say hey that might be the the the person who booked you is going to take care of that there's a separate Hospitality team but usually all that's packaged up in one document and usually it's about two years old not up to date has the wrong stuff and you have to deal with it so just know what you're getting yourself into but being able to read those and negotiate accordingly and then the last thing on production can you load a truck that's just a really common thing you have to do of of knowing how to push cases knowing how to manage lows how to stack stuff what a half pack third pack what the safest way to double stack things you don't have to learn how to drive a forklift but know how to you know watch out for your life when you're around at forklift um that's all wrapped up in production okay lastly here and then we'll wrap this thing up is having a disciplined and patient business mind uh so this may not be applicable if you're a church volunteer or you just do this on the weekends for fun but if you are a professional you need to be able to set standards and consistently stick to them so that means having simp simple clean accounting that gets you actionable good data are you able to look at the clients that you're getting and do you have any one client that's taking up too much of the pie if you lost them would you be up a creek having good accounting means you can pay your taxes in full on time so Uncle Sam isn't coming after you if you live in the US I know taxes work differently in other countries but for your you are your own marketing department if you are a freelancer so do you know how to appropriately set up a simple site where someone could get a hold of you I have to say the number one marketing tip I've learned is that you are not the hero you should not be talking a bunch about yourself on the website but explaining your customer's problem so if you are an amazing com Tech don't say hey I know all these com systems be able to articulate to them that hey isn't it frustrating that when your show caller is trying to get a hold of the crew stuff is going down and it's unclear I make sure that every single person on the crew can hear you loud clear no matter what that's that's a good value proposition because you articulated their problem first it's also being able to have the patience and discipline to invest in the right tools I mean there's no shortage of shiny objects out there for us to buy uh but there's only so much room in my Pelican only have so much budget but can you prioritize what tools are going to help you accomplish things the best and professionally and more often than not you're usually not able to build for it when I go tune a sound system when I'm mixing a rig I don't bill for my smart rig but it helps me get better results out of that rig and it's what I'm expected to do there's still plenty of a1s who don't tune they just listen and EQ and that's fine as long as it still sounds good and gets the results but for me I feel like I do better after investing in these tool sets and it's worth it for me to own them are are you comfortable with again just the boring junk of insurance like our being able to manage that and have a policy so that you're covered uh do you know when to transition from a so proprietorship to an LLC if that's Advantage advantageous for you and then lastly do you have good vendor and client communication are you timely are you clear are you sending invoices at the right time are they uh accurate are you keeping track of your overtime when you need it okay that was just a a giant advice Buffet of stuff in these seven buckets I'm going to go through them again you need to have Rock Solid fundamentals musical mixing abilities a keen sound system sense need to be a ninja RF common stage Tech need to have Stellar soft skills sharp production intuition and a disciplined and patient business mind okay so so what do you do now what I would think about is what's your strongest trait what's your lead foot are you just amazing behind the console are you great at tuning sound systems that that might be a future specialty for you and then now what you think about what is your weakest trait what do you want to develop the most and what do you see weak uh are you not really good at accounting and all the business stuff um are your soft skills lack and you just have a hard time reading people and communicating that's what I would love for you to let me know below what's your strongest trait and what's your weakest trait and also what am I missing what other things should belong in this seven part skill set uh please let me know below my name is Michael Curtis uh I love helping everyday audio techs get amazing result results out of their shows and services thank you so much for watching don't forget to comment below see you next time