IamA audio tech and monitor engineer who has worked for bands such as Flogging Molly, Whitechapel and Amon Amarth AMA!

What's the difference between a monitor engineer and a toilet?

A toilet only has to take shit from one asshole at a time.

Hahaha, thank you for this one!

Could I get more vocal in my monitor please? And less guitar. More bass drum. Still need more vocal. More.

Where's my snare? I got no snare in my headphones.

Meanwhile someone living 10 blocks away calls 911 because of all the gunshots they think they keep hearing.

LOL

xD

How was working with Amon Amarth? Was much mead drinking and merry-making had?

Yes! Tons, unfortunately I was not able to take part in any of it :( Tech life.

Were they cool? They were one of my favorite bands in high school and I want to believe that they are nice dudes.

I was once in the front of a crowd at an Amon Amarth show. This was way back in like 2006, I think? Anyways, there was a break between songs and I stood on my tiptoes to try to sneak a picture of the band over this gigantic motherfucker standing in front of me.

Unfortunately, they decided to start playing "Death In Fire" at that very moment. You know that drum intro that kicks in? Yeah, that spins up some mean moshpits. I got knocked over. I was pushing myself up, and I looked up to see a boot coming right at my face. Shit. Crack. Blood.

Lots of blood. Here I am standing in the middle of the pit, blood pouring into my hands, and the dude who kicked me in the face is apologizing profusely. He didn't mean to kick me, it just happened. Anyways, I'm standing there and this tiny chick, probably 5'0", 100lbs jumps into the maelstrom and drags me out. She takes me to the bathroom to patch my face up. On the way up the stairs, a dude is coming out of the bathroom, looks at me, looks at my face, and yells: "HELL YEAH, I SEE THE PIT HAS STARTED! SEE YOU BACK DOWN THERE!", flashes me the horns, slaps me on the back, and skips down the stairs.

This poor girl returns to helping me fix my completely fucked up nose, and we head back down.

Amon Amarth quit playing shortly after that, and got off the stage. I was sitting at the bar, since I didn't really care about the headliner (Children of Bodom, for those wondering). A few minutes later, Johan (the lead singer) comes to the bar and sits down next to me. He says "Are you the one who got kicked in the face? Let me buy you a beer!" So I got to drink a beer with Johan Hegg. It was sweet.

Long story short, yeah they're super nice guys.

Haha that's a great story. Did you ever see the girl again?

Nope! I thanked her for cleaning my face up and helping me out, then she went on her merry way. Pretty sure she was a wood elf or something, she floated between metal shows to help the hapless souls who ended up getting their faces kicked in in the moshpit.

My dream girl.

Yeah! They were super friendly guys. Their crew was awesome too.

When I saw Amon Amarth live this fall I couldn't believe how good the vocals sounded. Was it an elaborate effect chain/compression set up or were the vocals coming off a bcking track? My guess is they were lip synched.

Believe it or not, they don't lip sync! Johan is an extremely talented guy, and his FOH engineer is a tech / creative wiz.

How many pairs of black jeans do you have and how long is your pony tail?

Let's just say my closet is a black hole.

Been to several Flogging Molly concerts. I'm always shocked at the quality difference between them and the opening acts. Do they have different audio techs? What's the biggest reason for the discrepancy?

Exactly! For example, on the Green 17 tour, we had in-house guys mixing for the openers. Usually on tours like this with only one big headliner, only one Front of House (PA) engineer and one monitor (onstage wedges or in-ears) engineer will be on tour. On this particular tour, the engineers mixed only for Flogging Molly.

Do the opening acts bitch about this? I certainly would. I imagine it happens with most headliners but as a potential consumer of the opener's product- makes it a tough sell when it's packaged so poorly and next to something so shiny.

It honestly depends on the band. Openers can (USUALLY) bring their own engineers out on tour with them if they have the money to hire one. Generally they are okay with it though, because the promotion that they get for even being on the same bill as huge acts kind of makes up for all of that.

Speaking as an amateur musician, I would never expect another band to let us use their sound guys or equipment for free.

Yep, generally it all stays out on the loading dock until it's around time for the main act to go on. Openers don't even travel in the same bus / use the same truck. They are pretty much responsible for organizing everything themselves.

It's hard as a fan because FM is so huge in my eyes and they've already paid. What's a little artistic socialism between colleagues? But you're right- no reason to expect it. I wonder how many cool stories there are of bands that do this.

Well, rest assured Flogging Molly are all swell dudes. Dave King has a very "potty" oriented sense of humor and Nathan Maxwell is one of the coolest guys I've ever had the pleasure of hanging out with. Most of the "artistic socialism" you are referring to is because tour managers and production managers :).

How are Amon Amarth in real life? Are they cool and viking dudes? My brother loves them and we always say that if vikings had distortion guitars that would be the music they played.

You know, it's hard for me to imagine a viking in today's day and age, but Johann Hegg would be pretty fucking close.

Hands down, What was the absolute craziest thing you've seen at a concert?

Watching Rise Against's Bass player play an entire set with no sound at all because his transmitter/receiver failed. I was laughing my ass off (Thankfully I Was not on this crew, Lollapalooza 2009).

wtf ? didn't anyone notice, or something ?

EDIT. Sorry, I replied that to the wrong question. Yeah, everyone noticed haha. I am not sure what the huge problem was because I was an atendee at this festival, not working it.

... as a ex-backline tech, it confuses the fuck out of me, there should always be a backup plan, like a "guitar lead", maybe.

I feel you brother. It still bothers me to this day.

How did you get your start?

I attended school for audio engineering and got an internship at House of Blues. Between those two I learned alot of the basics.

My boyfriend went to school for audio engineering, but has had trouble finding work, is there anything you would suggest?

Live or studio? If he went to school to work in a studio unfortunately those jobs are very overstaffed. Tell him to look into live, go to clubs and bars and talk to engineers.

When did you work at HOB? I played there the summer of 2013 and the crew was great.

I started in 2014.

Were you part of the production for the Twilight of the Thunder God music video by Amon Amarth? I heard they actually went out and did the whole thing in a storm...

Sadly no, but I do not doubt that one bit. Those guys are iron.

Do you ever get to bang the less attractive groupies that the band doesn't want or, are they reserved exclusively for the guitar tech guys?

Never tried actually, haha. Guitar techs get all the poon though.

"Hey baby, you wanna feel the hands that touched the same guitar as the guitar play-- No? Oh ok, sorry to bother you"

Alllll byyyyy myyyyseeelllllllf

My hands have touched the hands that touched the guitar of the guitar tech of the cousin of the guy who--- nevermind...

How are Phil Bozeman and Johan Hegg in person? Most fun/least fun singers/bands to work with?

Rad. Johan is the man

Cool AMA, not many techies get love.

Do you have any tips for EQing live shows? Like vocals, electric guitar, drums, etc. What about for annoying problems like feedback and the annoying high-pitched squeal I can't seem to find and kill? What are some common problems and how do you fix it?

How do you deal with people trying to tell you what to do? Do you just smile and wave, ignore them, or do you give in to their demands?

Did you do any kind of Tech Theatre classes in High School with their drama/musical theatre class? What about churches, do you help run sound, or are you not even religious(sorry if too personal, but it seems that a lot of sound guys start off with small jobs at churches).

Thanks!

Thank you so much for this question, I finally get to nerd out.

I usually high pass everything, kicks around 40-60hz and bass around 60-80z, everything else at 80z. Gets rid of that annoying low end rumble in your wedges and PA. Alot of people also forget that good gain structure is the key to a good sound, and that's where feedback comes in. If you keep your gain under control the chance of that happening is much less frequent.

I am more of a monitors guy than a system tech or front of house guy, but in order to eliminate those dirty frequencies that will feedback you have to ring out your wedges/system. The best way to go about this is to use an RTA to find your frequency that's ringing, and dial it out of the mix using an EQ. This will be different for every room, so never get used to cutting all of the same frequencies.

Believe it or not, taking shit from the band is how I make my money so I try to embrace it. I don't really leave backstage so I don't deal with people alot, besides the band or the crew. I've learned the best way to deal with alot of people who are harassing you mixing is to just tell them you've given into their demands, and they will usually think that they hear it and leave you alone. It's hilarious actually, haha.

And nope, I was a band kid all through high school. I Wish I knew about the tech part of my highschool because I would have been able to get involved much earlier. I'm an atheist, and a pretty hardheaded one at that, so that makes those church gigs kind of weird for me. I've stuck to the concert industry more than anything like churches or plays :)

Alot of people also forget that good gain structure is the key to a good sound, and that's where feedback comes in.

Yea, I totally agree. Can't compensate for bad source. In audio school, did you ever get people saying NOT to turn up gain in perfomances, as it messes with the performer's monitors? How do you get around that?

I usually high pass everything, kicks around 40-60hz and bass around 60-80z, everything else at 80z.

What about vocals? Anything sub 160z? But I guess it depends from vocalist to vocalist.

you have to ring out your wedges/system

Could you explain that in more detail? I'm not too familiar with those terms. I'm guessing wedges are the triangular smaller monitors, and the system is the sound system.

The best way to go about this is to use an RTA to find your frequency that's ringing, and dial it out of the mix using an EQ.

How do you actually do this? Do you isolate a band, say the 250z, turn Q all the way up so its super narrow, and then turn its gain down? Do you do it by ear, or is there equipment that helps? As well, does it tend to be the same kind of frequencies that need to be cut out, or is it complete variant?

Finally, are you bass or treble?

Hmm, you mean not turn up gain at all? When I load up my console I default the gain for every input to around 10 oclock, and then adjust from there during and after ring out.

Vocals I generally keep around 80 because if you go any past that you're beginning to cut a little bit too much low end out of your mix.

Sure, your monitor wedges are the small boxes on stage, facing the band. These monitors are used to give the band a seperate mix through each monitor, different than the one big mix going through to the audience (PA/System).

So, what I do is us an RTA app on my iPhone / iPad.

You will select your mix and then turn the gain up on a microphone until your signal is hot enough to start feeding back when it receives acoustic energy. At that point you check your mics, say "SSSSSSS", do whatever you do to get it to start to ring. You can look at your RTA to see which frequency it was, and dial it out of your mix using a graphic EQ.

All about that bass.

Any tips for younger sound engineers? Anything you wish you knew when you got started?

Haha, actually I myself am only 20 years old and still a major noob in the industry myself.

1. Be nice, this is honestly the biggest thing I have found. If you have a good attitude, bands will generally have a good attitude with you.

2. Go to school if you can. I know this advice is very controversial because of the big argument against audio engineering schools, or really any art schools in general. I don't think I would have broken into this industry at all if I wouldn't have started school for it.

I've taken some classes at the local community college pertaining to sound. I still feel like I know very little. What is a good way to learn outside of school? Also how do you go about finding work?

There's alot to learn, man. The internet is a great reference, an unspeakable amount of knowledge you can discover with the click of a mouse. Go to clubs and bars, talk to engineers. We're a very loving breed to people when it comes to getting other people involved.

Ever had a musician completely lose their shit because they can't hear enough of something? Many are cordial, but there's some real assholes in this business. I mix front of house, so I usually get the angry drunk punters.

Oh absolutely. It tends to happen more and more as the bands drink / snort / etc. the night away. I try to not let it get to me, though. Dude, I'm thankfully for my little house in monitor world. I can't stand people coming up behind my back, yelling and my trying to tell me how to mix on a PA they have no idea about!

What artist or band do you dream of working with?

I was really hoping someone would ask me this, just so I could say Modest Mouse.

That would be pretty damn sweet. I imagine those dudes are pretty cool IRL.

I'm an Isaac Brock fanboy haha.

Does it bother you when bands tell you to turn up their vocals, guitar etc? Like you don't know how to do your job.. I find this annoying before a show..

Not at all! If I am on monitors I would much prefer for the bands to do this before a show because if they don't like their mix, many bands will stop mid show and that's just embarassing for me. It's my job to listen to what they want.

Do you prefer digital or analog?

Digital all the way. I'm young, in my early 20's, so I'm pretty spoiled to digital consoles.

Aah. Same here, even though I do love the straightforwardness of analog consoles. You want a knob? There it is. :)

Absolutely. I will never understand all the Analog bashing that goes on nowadays. I know some old road dogs who refuse to mix on anything but analog and they can do 10 times the job that I can.

Might be a bit far fetched here, but were you apart of the crew last year when Amon Amarth were touring with Enslaved and Skeletonwitch? Just curious because the show I went to at Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh the sound kept going out all night, and at one point Johan just had all of us sing with him, it was great. Love the band!

Yep. Sure was, that was the tour that I worked with them.

You fuckin killed it in Lawrence. Best concert of my life.

Front of House guy on that tour was a wizard!

How much down time is there generally on a show day? Also, are there certain venues you've come to easily navigate because you've been there so many times?

For me? Not very much. Downtime is pretty much non-existent for tech's unless we are asleep or on lunch break. Definitely. I work freelance sometimes around Orlando and Tampa and I've learned some of the venues here like the back of my hand.

I'm moving to the Orlando area in a year and a half, and I plan to go to many concerts down there like I do here. Maybe I'll see you. What are some of the good/most popular venues for metal bands to play down there?

The Orpheum is an awesome metal venue in Tampa, about an hour and a half away. Alot of metal bands will play at the Beacham, which is in downtown Orlando.

How do you work Reaper?

Never used it. I'm a Pro Tools man.

Thank you. There's a ton of hate for pro tools, especially in metal/hardcore scene. I get that it's expensive and avid is pretty full of themselves but damn the software is just too good

Avid is such a next level company! That's the only way they get away with some of the crazy liscensing shit that they do.

Do you ever have a concert venue where the sound is just historically shitty? How do you get around that? I've been to over 300 concerts around Canada and the United States, and there are some venues that I refuse to go to now because every band sounds like mud there. Conversely, there are some bands that sound like mud even at the best concert venues.

Absolutely! There are alot of different elements that can play into this, and one of the bigger ones is impossible to get around and that is your room. Some venues are designed HORRIBLY and it's damn near impossible to get a good sound in there. The other big thing, which plays into the room, is the system you are using. These two factors will make or break any show. If you have a system tech on tour with you, chances are they will know how to ring out the PA being used differently for every room, which will atleast help the problem. Rooms can be a major bummer though, sometimes there is absolutely nothing you can do about them :(

Carnegie Hall. The bastion of performance spaces. It sucks for a rock show.

My husband is FOH for a touring band (about 100 shows a year, including Carnegie Hall, Red Rocks, and festivals) - and some rooms are amazing, some are just okay, and some you'd think would be perfect are the biggest sound-suckers ever. Depending on where the front fill is in relation to the seats, the use of wedges, etc. It's all part and parcel of how the room can sound.

There was one venue, a regular theatre-type, where the sound was just weird. I've only heard it like that the one time; you could pick out every instrument and vocal, but they just didn't mesh into a cohesive sound. It was very weird. I've never heard that before and no matter how husband tried to fix it, it just wouldn't mesh.

Absolutely. Each room has it's own acoustic entity. That's the beauty of touring. I've never done a show at Carnegie hall but I'm looking at hitting the road towards the end of this year so I you never know xD Thank you so much for the information. I know what to expect when I visit there!

When you worked for Amon Amarth was one of the pre-requisites that you could also circular headbang in unison with the entire band for 3 minutes straight?

Gif for reference:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/giphymedia/media/IJ823we842TXG/giphy.gif

No but I have no idea how those dudes don't have neck problems. They do that shit so much.

How much do expensive tools matter?

Define expensive tools.

Speaker cords? Auto-tune software? I'm a layman so I cannot answer that. However I get the feeling that a lot of my favorite music comes from expensive technology. I know some engineers make music that is meant to be played on shitty phone speakers or with youtube compression... that whole lo-fi genre the kids are into these days

I guess my real question is would you work with any set up or do you have a minimum quality standard and what would that set up cost?

Ah, gotcha. Well it definitely does, you're probably looking at around 5k-10k in gear and plugins for a studio that can put out music with the quality of radio hits. I myself will work with any setup it takes to get the job done. I can use aux sends on small analog boards to control my wedges and then it all comes down to mixing.

As an average listener who dabbles in a lot of metal, why is that metal production on average is always inferior compared to other genres?

It's very hard to find an album with good production value, and every album sounds so different production wise. On the other hand, listen to electronic music and you'll be spoiled by everything sounding amazing, and listen to classical/jazz and you no longer wonder where the sound-stage went from your headphones.

Any thoughts?

I think big metal releases (Amon Amarth, Slayer, etc) aren't engineered any worse, but differently. I wish I could elaborate more but I'd be doing a wrong because I'm not really a studio guy.

I saw Amon Amarth in concert last year and they were fantastic. Love those guys. I need to see them again next time they tour the States.

Anyway, have any crazy stories about working backstage with any bands?

Find me off of the internet and i'll tell you a couple.

What's the difference between a monitor engineer and a FOH engineer?

About 12 mixes...

Hahaha!

Jacksonville?

Orlando.

What's the biggest crisis you've faced at a concert?

Forgetting gear :(

How did you know that you want to work in the industry? Have you started while still in high school?

To be honest I never even thought about this industry. I just wanted to play music for a living. I got into it because I wanted to be a recording engineer, but I tagged along to a couple live gigs after I started college and have never looked back.

And now you work for a company or as a freelancer?

Currently I am free lancing. I just finished up tracking and editing for a project at the historic Howie Mansion in FL.

Is what you do a religion?

edit: is mic'ing a religion?

Absolutely.

As someone who just recently got into In-the ear headphones (Shure 846), I always wondered what the musicians used in their ears. Which brand makes the best ones?

And can you explain exactly why they wear them?

Shure! I love love love Shure.

So the reason that musicians wear them in their ears is so they can have their own personal mix sent from the monitor console. They act the same purpose as on-stage wedges.

How is the money? I am currently looking into taking SAE courses but heard that it is really hard to Get by in the Business.

It depends. It's not as much as you would think though.

As an audiophile, are do you really think custom monitors for personal listing really help with the "experience"?

Do you mean Nearfield monitors or wedges?

Wedges. Don't think monitors would work out well in my cube :p

I use Meyer Sound 1x15's and 2x12 wedges. Sounds great after ring out :)

I think I might have miss spoke! I am talking custom in ear headphones. Or do you not have or use those for personal use.

I don't actually. I use Sennheisers for personal listening.

What headphones are you using? Which headphones do you recommend? Do super expensive headphones really sound better than my 60 dollar ones?

I use Sennheiser HD30 Pro's when I'm mixing front of house for soloing. Yep. Good headphones have a much better frequency range than cheap ones.

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Network and be nice. Also, ask questions. Ask to shadow people and explain to you why they are doing what they are doing.

i guess you weren't there, but what the hell happened at the amon amarth show at wacken 2014?

vocals and drums were about right but the guitars and bass were almost not there at all.

the year (or two years before?) the sound was excellent and massive, but in 2014 it was just sad.

i assume the sound was fine in front and on their monitors because they continued as usual. although they seemed a bit puzzled at times because the crowd didn't really go wild as expected.

Couldn't say man :(

When I saw Amon Amarth with Sabaton and Skeletonwitch in the fall I was surprised by how awful everything sounded, especially considering Amon Amarth's reputation for sounding great live.

Are some venues just completely shit and impossible to make anything sound good in?

Yeah, definitely. Some rooms just don't work with the audio crew. Alot of clubs weren't built to play actual full band live music.

Who party's harder? Amon Amarth or Flogging Molly? And if you could give a story of the victor that would be swell

They both party so hard they cancel each other out.

What monitors do you mix with?

Meyer Sound wedges. 1x15's and 2x'12s.

What are your thoughts on DAW plug-ins like the well known Chris Lorde Alge plug-in sets? Do they compete with real hardware? Also, what's your DAW of choice?

Yeah, absolutely. The Waves plugins are some of the most useful tools for mixing live.

I JUST got Waves' Mercury Bundle and it is incredible. I'm still looking for a mastering suite plug-in though. Any suggestions?

Can't help you there sadly. Never mastered anything haha.

You said the recording environment is overstaffed when compared to the live environment. Does an audio engineering school prepare you for both of these environments? Can you turn to managing live performances as a back up in case you cannot get a job recording music?

It really depends. The audio engineering side of things is usually very oriented towards software and studio gear, it doesn't teach you how to build a PA or ring out wedges or anything, so I wouldn't say that it prepares you to tour or work at a venue, but it definitely give you a good enough knowledge to be able to start working in bars, or helping load in for club shows. The creativity aspect is the same though, it all comes down to being able to mix.

What are you mixing on and how many sets of IEM transmitters do you bring on a national tour to not interfere with other signals?

Yamaha Pm5D for monitors SD7 or SC48 for FOH.

I couldn't say, I haven't done monitors on a national tour that used IEMs :(

What's your favorite genre just to listen to? Favorite to mix for?

Also, I literally just moved out of the Orlando area after living near UCF for the past 16 years, and a lot of my friends play in local bands. What's your favorite local band you've seen from Orlando?

That's tough. I'm really into the metalcore / prog metal stuff right now, and there's alot of bands like ABR and After the Burial who have been coming here so I've been hyped on that. I listen to lots of metal, but also stuff like Modest Mouse, Tool, Primus.

I love mixing metal. Metal dudes are all really cool guys and fun to work with.

Not really into the local scene though, so I couldn't say.

I'm going to go to school for that sort of job soon. What sort of work could I be doing in the meantime to get relevant experience?

Go to shows! Hang around Front of House, don't pester the engineer but watch him, let him know that it's what you want to do for a living. Also tons of bars and clubs need stagehands and techs. It's a great way to break in and learn your basics.

Who did you find best and who worst, to work with?

Flogging Molly was hands down my favorite. Nathan Maxwell coolest dude ever.

Glass Cloud was awesome as well. I think my least favorite person to deal with has been Danny Leal.

What is your best resource? What is your best resource that can be shared with others? What is your best resource for learning? What is your best resource for working/producing?

It does not have to be physical, it can be a knowledge source.

Excellent question. I would advise every live audio tech to read Professional Micing Techniques, by David Huber. The most important resource out there are other engineers. Most of us are really cool people are willing to help others get into the field (we are desperately understaffed in this industry, believe it or not).

Thank you. I love learning about other people's role-models/heroes/masters.

Absolutely.

Who are some of your favorite artists/bands?

Tool, Primus, Modest Mouse, Dropkick Murphies.

I really enjoy almost any music, so working in this industry is a huge perk for me.

Favorite In-Ear monitors? Big fan of Whitechapel, so many props & thanks for answering!

Shure SE535LTD-EFS .

Is it essential to get a degree in order to work in the industry?

No, definitely not. I do think that it's a very good route to go, though.

What about freelance work? You mentioned that is what you are doing right now. How do you build a solid reputation (might not be the right word) to have the work coming in? Any advice for a newbie on how to get freelance work?

Go to bars and clubs and talk to their managers / engineers and let them know you are interested. You'd be surprised how understaffed our industry is.

Understaffed? Wow, never would have guessed that. From what you have been saying it sounds like live venues are a good place to try to get some work but not recording studios. Any other jobs in the music industry that you think are understaffed?

Yeah, exactly. Plus with recording studios you usually have to do an internship before you are even hired, which is really just another way to weed you out from the multiple other people competing for that job. I think almost any production position is understaffed. There's just so many productions happening all the time that more crew is always wanted.

Right on! I will definitely take your advice about talking to bar managers/engineers. Thanks for answering my questions!

Yeah man! Feel free to message me if you have any more questions in the future, I'll try to be as helpful as possible.

Who put on the best show you've seen?

Primus. You can never beat Primus.

https://m.soundcloud.com/kylstle

How do you like my music? Any advice on EQing? When did you start looking into a career in audio?

Unfortunately I can't listen right now, but my advice on EQing and processing would be completely oriented to live mixing. I always wanted to be a professional musician for a living, and this led into me producing music (not very well), which led me to school for audio engineering. After a couple live gigs I loved it so much I realized I could never work in a studio again.