PHOTO DIARY

I'm a live sound engineer. My job consists of setting up and running sound systems for concerts and other events. I also manage and do maintenance on the sound equipment for various McMenamins properties.

I usually get to the Crystal Ballroom for a crew call by noon (this varies every show). The first thing I do is review the paperwork with the setup for the artists who will be performing. Next, I power up and make sure all the components of the system are in working order before the artist or artists and touring crew arrive. After they arrive and all of their equipment is in place, we start to tie in the tour's equipment to ours, set up microphones on stage and wire into our mixing consoles. If the tour has their own sound engineer, they'll tune the PA to their liking and then start to check all the inputs at the console. Typically, we'll start with the bass drum and go all the way up to the vocals at the end. All of this is done by the crew without the musicians. Then it's time for the bands to do a sound check. Most of the time the house engineers will mix the opening acts, but occasionally we get to mix the headliner band. A typical show starts at 9 pm. When the first band goes on, I'm always prepared to work fast with adjustments during the first song of the set. For the rest of the 45-minute set I'm just fine-tuning. When the opening band goes off stage, we do a set change for the headliner. Once things are in place and sound good we just watch the show, babysit our gear and wait it out. At the end of the show, we pack up. If the show ends at 12:30 am, we will typically get out of there at 2:30 am. Most of my days are from 10 to 16 hours, but I've done 20-hour days, too. I've even done 18-hour days back-to-back. Sometimes I have four days off, though, so it all evens out.

I took an interest in music at a young age, getting my first guitar at 12 years old. I started playing gigs at 14, dropped out of school at 16, and started touring as a musician at 17. I started to put together my own shows and became somewhat of a promoter. My first show as a promoter, I realized that we needed to rent a sound system. I had a friend working at the local music store who gave us a good deal on a rental, but last minute we realized that we needed someone to run it. So I gave it a shot. It actually went pretty well. It was maybe six years before I had to do this again, but this time it was in a real club running the house sound system. I eased into doing this regularly and as my music became more experimental, I worked less and less as a musician and more as a sound engineer. Sound work became a full-time job since it was consistent. I've been doing it now for 10 years and have worked at venues on the East Coast and in Portland. After a couple years bouncing around piecing a full-time schedule, an older engineer who had hired me for a few jobs through his own small sound company brought me in to the Crystal Ballroom. About year later, I was offered the Corporate Audio Position. That's where I've been for almost three years now.

I enjoy being a sound engineer because of the freedom to use your own talent and ear to contribute to a creative performance. You can have a boss but come show time you’re the only one who knows how to do your job. You can have your own trademark on it.

Right now I'm working on furthering my knowledge of the more technical side of engineering and working on building my skills as a recording engineer. I'm also working on my own music, starting to produce some younger bands and raising my two kids. My plan is to stay flexible, not burn any bridges and keep advancing in my field.