FOH at Large

Patience is a virtue, as well as a virtual necessity when dealing with most clients in need of audio equipment. It would be nice – in a perfect world – if everyone who called for audio gear knew exactly what they were doing and what they were requesting, but alas, it is not the case.

All too often, we get a call for the infamous "Microphone for 500 people" and then patiently explain to the prospective client what that entails in the real world of audio. As tedious as these calls can be, taking the time to discern exactly what the client is attempting to achieve and building a system around their needs and desires is what we do.

One century ago, 146 immigrant workers died in a horrific fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City. It was a tragedy that brought to light the exploitive nature of sweatshops and the disparity between workers and owners in a country where a good portion of the workforce was made up of immigrants from around the world. Instead of coming to an idyllic new world, they found themselves struggling to overcome a language and cultural barrier that left most of them enduring atrocious working conditions and a life of paucity.

Everyone I know is a production manager and, most likely, if you are reading this column, you're a production manager as well. Apparently it is a prerequisite for anyone in our line of work to have a business card that not only announces a technical bent but also alerts the world to the fact that the bearer of the card is also a production manager.

Many of the audio engineers I know possess enough versatility to mix any type of music or event that should come their way and, just like the great musical session players who have a grasp on a multitude of styles. they are able to move with ease from one gig to another. Of course, it's not really that difficult to mix a wide variety of music and speech, since we are dealing primarily with the technical aspects of the audio program, but while our job is of the utmost importance, we engineers need to be aware that we are not the content but rather the conduit to carry the program to the listener's ear.

Those of us in the smaller audio companies do not usually have the luxury of loading into a shed or theater that is set up specifically for musical and theatrical performance. A good portion of the venues we end up working are spaces where audio and lighting are less than a primary consideration. They are a mere afterthought – if any thought was put in that direction at all. A good motto for all of us who are caught in this predicament might be, "Bringing audio where it doesn't belong." It's not pretty, but someone has to do it.

Another year is coming to a close, and history has been made. Triumph, tragedy and everything in between have been expressed as we speed forward into the great unknown of the year to come, zooming one year closer to the ominous and looming 2012. Will the little planet that could be able to stave off the apocalyptic cataclysm that will seemingly engulf us all, or will the valiant people of the third rock from the sun be able to ward off the rapidly approaching end by some great uplifting heroic effort?

The Broadway singers were singing, the costumed dancers were dancing, I was mixing, and the whole shtick was extremely campy and very much like the big musical numbers with Carmen Miranda from a 1940s Busby Berkeley cinema extravaganza.

About seven years ago, my mother decided to move into a retirement community and has been living there ever since that momentous decision. I say momentous only because most decisions my mother makes come after long hours, days and months of weighing all her choices and options concerning the required decision. She is meticulous in her research regarding her preferences and all the alternatives are explored in depth, again and again, over and over until she manages to narrow the fine point to a very fine point.

E-mail is a great work tool, and at this point in time, I cannot even imagine doing business in a world without the service. After all, what would one do without the solicitations to enlarge their manhood or to please every woman by lasting longer in bed? Fortunately, just like every other guy who gets these wonderful offers, I am not in need of what these artful entrepreneurs are selling. Therefore, these e-mails get deleted and sent to my computer's hard drive trash bin, along with every additional piece of digital junk that filters through my spam protector.

Years ago, when I was getting out into the world, I belonged to a community of idealistic people that was sure to change the world. Armed with an inherent knowledge of our righteousness; driven by the words of Bob Dylan, the Beatles and other well-known mystics and fueled by psychotropic substances, we set out on a "Magical Mystery tour" of self discovery and change. We courted and joined with mystics from the East, we marched for civil rights, and we were elevated by Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech; we challenged fashion and were thus, fashionably challenged.

As audio engineers, we spend hours of our time learning and mastering the technical aspects of how to create the perfect mix. We seek out and apply new technologies to enhance the sound in any given space as we experiment with innovative techniques of taking sound where it often does not belong.