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What is the Ultimate Kick Drum Mic?

By Daniella Peters

photo-21Through my work in sales at Rat Sound, one of the questions I get asked a lot is what is our favorite microphone, speaker, console, (fill in the blank). A social media post of an Audix OM7 and we get asked, which is better, an OM7 or Shure SM58? A facebook post of a show using an L-Acoustics K1 system and a photo of a show using an EAW Anya system, and suddenly the question pops up, which is the best speaker? (more…)

Adventures in Sound

 

In 1992, I was on tour with Pearl Jam. We had been on tour crisscrossing the U.S. for the past two months. Ten, their debut album was starting to blow up, and by summer you would hear Alive, Even Flow, and Black blasting from car stereos, out open windows, and on every station is seemed up and down the FM dial.

One of our gigs was at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We had an army of college volunteers that were eager to help set up, although one young woman that was assigned to the sound crew stood out. She would turn out to be one of the best local hands we had all tour and a life-long friend. We would also learn later that Kim had never worked a show before.

Kim’s recollection of that day

I remember being at a party the night before. We had on MTV, and they had Pearl Jam on. I remember looking at the TV and saying “ Hey, that’s the band I’m working with tomorrow.” The next day I was assigned to the sound folks.  I had no stagehand or sound experience. I wasn’t going to college there; I just wanted to see free concerts, so I signed up to do security. I hated it because they would put you outside or in a hallway, and the patrons didn’t exactly like you because you were security.

I couldn’t believe there was a woman doing monitors. I was super excited, and I had a great time working with them that day and it made me seriously consider going into sound.

That Day Changed Kim’s Life

Kim would go on to sign up to work with other productions at the university and would begin on a path that would lead to a career in sound. She was working as a stage-hand at the University and as a coffee barista when a friend visiting from Los Angeles suggested she move out to LA, as that was the place to be for working in sound. Kim figured she had nothing to lose and packed up her 68 VW bug and headed to Los Angeles.

Kim made her way to Los Angeles during the winter of 1993 in a VW bug that had no heat. She spent the drive dressed in many layers and wool socks. She would switch back and forth with her feet on the gas pedal and on the floor where the heat of the engine was really hot. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she started to hit up sound companies for an internship.

No Show Sound, later to be known as Industrial Sound gave Kim an internship and she secured another job as a coffee barista. Kim remembers Greg Dean’s sound boot camp. “He would hold up cables and ask what it was, what it did, and where it patched. It turned out to be an xlr cable, and I was so intimidated I didn’t know where it went. I will never forget that moment”.

Ronnie Kimball, currently FOH for Bad Religion would take Kim under his wing, and she would spend most of her time working shows with him. Kim says they worked so many shows, but one of them stands out. It was a Truce Jam in East LA, (in 1992 there was a historic truce between the Crips and the Bloods, it eventually broke down as the City of Los Angeles walked away from their promises to help rebuild South Central after the Rodney King Riots) the concert as its name implied was to celebrate the truce between the gangs.

This experience was entirely new for Kim

I was still a little mountain hippie girl and oh so new to the big city. When we arrived for load in the stage wasn’t quite built, so we sat around and waited for a while. It finally gets finished, and we start building the PA, FoH, and monitor world. I notice we are the only white people there, and racial tensions are still high from the recent riots. The event was poorly organized, and security was provided by the Nation of Islam. I had a Leatherman that they took away from me and told me they would give it back to me at the end of the show.

So the concert starts. They had a cleansing ceremony with a Native American blessing with sage. While a band is playing, I look up to see the crowd parting ways and a guy carrying a folding chair chasing after another guy. People ran backstage, everywhere leading to the cancellation of the show. I remember some people saying damn whitey’s ruining the show with the sound. Everyone was saying it was the white guy’s fault and blaming the sound guys. It was some scary stuff.

Kim would eventually make her way to San Francisco where she knocked on the doors to the Warfield. There she met the late Paul Majesky, the production manager for the theater and presented her case as to why he should hire her. Kim still had a limited resume and lacked experience, but Paul took a chance on her. Kim would spend several years working at the Warfield and occasionally still works there. She would also start working at other Bay area venues such as the Shoreline Amphitheater, Slims, and The Fillmore.

In 1998, Kim was hired by Grant Lee Buffalo as a monitor engineer and drum tech for a short tour of Australia. Kim did not have experience as a monitor engineer or drum tech. She had no clue how to do monitors or even how to tour. She convinced the sound guys for Big Day Out to mix monitors for the band, and somehow faked setting up the drums. Kim says it became evident that she had no idea what she was doing and needless to say did not become friends with the drummer. Miraculously, she survived the tour and became friends with Grant Lee Phillips.

Grant would go on to recommend her for a sound gig at Cafe du Nord.  The “Monday Night Hoot” series at Cafe du Nord is named for the hootenanny movement of the ’60s. Kim would learn to mix during this Monday night folk series on a small Allen Heath board set up on the side of the stage. She would work at Cafe du Nord until 2007 and become known as Audio Elf and Tough Love Griess.

10400259_52155062747_7199_nDuring this period, Kim also fell into a lot of TM/FOH work. She toured with several bands ranging from Arab Strap to The Cramps and Nada Surf to Chapterhouse. Kim says, “all of the bands sounded so different, and I loved mixing every single one of them. When you’re on tour, you get those songs in your head. You wake up with them and fall asleep with them. I love that I got to mix every night. It’s great to be able to add the effects where they were meant to be, bring up the solos and really be able to mix something. You get to feel like you’re part of the band.

As much as Kim loved being able to do FOH, she disliked the tour managing aspect of the job. Kim explains “I never wanted to be a TM. It was just a means to get to do sound. I am still willing to do some very small tours as TM/FOH, but I won’t go out and do any long and grueling tours like that anymore. I really didn’t enjoy TM ing as you are never off and it is one of the hardest and thankless jobs out there but I did the best I could. Kim would continue to tour as a TM/FOH  until 2010 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Kim fights breast cancer and puts a touring career on hold

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Fighting Breast Cancer

In 2010 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. This put a little damper on the work thing. I was offered a tour with Chapterhouse a band from the UK. I wanted to work the tour since it was going to be my last for a long time. I was the TM/FOH, and I had a blast. I was also asked to do one more four-day gig, in Hawaii with Dengue Fever. There was no way in hell I was gonna miss going to Hawaii. It was a beautiful visit with two shows and some fabulous free time spent sitting on a gorgeous beach. It was a wonderful way to come home and start four months of chemo, surgery, and six weeks and five days a week of radiation. I have been cancer-free for ten years.

I didn’t work for over a year taking care of myself. I slowly started working at clubs again and have recently just done my first tour as FOH for John Doe.

Touring with John Doe

It was a pretty amazing realization I was doing sound for John Doe, that sexy bass player from X. You bet your sweet bibby I was gonna go out there. Getting a call from John was so surreal. I was honored to be asked to mix his sound.

We had gigs in many different types of clubs. Venues ranged from 300 to 500 seaters. I had to do monitors and FoH from FoH on every show we did. I didn’t mind so much. In some venues, it’s better that I do monitors as some of the guys out there don’t care as much about the show.

The band and crew traveled in a van, and we all shared hotel rooms. So you have to be willing to spend every day together, you are thrown into a 24/7 situation with people. It isn’t easy, but it is part of the job. Sometimes to just get some free time to myself, I would take myself out to a nice Italian dinner and just sit back and relax. It’s good to make sure you give yourself some me-time on tour. It’ll keep you sane.

Kim continues to work in the Bay area with Sound on Stage, Delicate, at the Fillmore and as a member of the IATSE Local 16.

I used to work at Shoreline Amphitheater, Slims, Great American Music Hall and sometimes at Bottom of the Hill. The thing is I’m not getting any younger, and I had to start thinking about what to do for the future. I have benefits and make a living wage working with the union. I do miss working at all those nightclubs, hearing all the new bands and just how much fun it is, but you don’t really make that much, and there are no insurance benefits. So I sadly gave up most of the rock and roll lifestyle but not all of it. Good lord, I couldn’t give it up all the way. I think I’d lose my mind if I did. That’s what I grew up doing. I was 18 when I started in the “biz.”

Kim’s favorite gig The Stern Grove Festival has just ended for the season. The Stern Grove Festival is a ten-week series Kim mixes monitors for. The festival keeps her busy through the summer; typically prepping the gear at Delicate on Thursday and Friday, loading in and setting up on Saturday and doing the show on Sunday.  This year the festival opened its season with Smokey Robinson and closed with The Zombies.

So see, I still get to do some rock. I’m just doing a bit more corporate shows to keep food in my belly and keeping a roof over my dog Ollie’s and my heads.

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Stern Grove

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Two Shows, Two Weekends, One Festival – Part Two

The week between ACL we traveled to Tulsa, OK, and Lincoln, NE. We had two days off in Tulsa, right in downtown – let’s say it leaves a bit to be desired and with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees walking around was out. I did make a trip to the Greenwood Historic District, which was once known as the Black Wall Street. (more…)

Two Weekends, Two Shows, One Festival

Last night we successfully completed our first weekend at Austin City Limits Festival. If it was a competition it would be safe to say we won or at least made it into the postseason. (review of show) It was a great show, the weather was not brutally hot or cold and it did not turn into a mud-fest. Both the audience and band brought it. This show at this festival should be put in memory books. Except we get to come back next weekend and do it all over again. Should be a piece of cake right? (more…)

Traveling the Long Road – Karrie Keyes

 

Beginning her career in live sound at the age of 18, Karrie Keyes has been the monitor engineer for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder for 27 years. She’s also spent ten years 1990-2000 as a monitor engineer for Red Hot Chili Peppers and has mixed a very diverse list of additional artists.

Aversion to Conformity

As a teen, Karrie wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she knew one thing – she wasn’t going to conform to society’s standards and soon found that the punk rock scene gave her the philosophy and ideals she found most suited her. “During my teen years, I rebelled against all things that sought to mold and conform me; school, church, societal norms, and expectations. I mainly hung out with two groups of guys as I found I related to them easier than girls. The commonality between the two different groups was music, one group mainly listened to rock music, and the other group listened to punk rock.” Karrie eventually began to hang out more and more with the punk rockers and during that time started dreaming about traveling the world as a writer. “I would have none of the trappings of society; no mortgage, no boss, no husband, and no kids. Each of the guys had similar dreams, but theirs revolved around touring the world as a punk rock band.”

“I watched and listened as they learned to play their instruments and write songs. They never once asked if I wanted to be involved and I did not have the courage to ask. I could be a spectator, a fan, a girlfriend. One day we went to a friend’s rehearsal space, and I saw a soundboard for the first time and wondered if I could run it? Our friend, Ben, was older and in a band that got paying gigs, he laughed at me and told me girls couldn’t run the soundboard. I wondered what other skills were needed to run it or if the only qualification needed was being a dude.”

“I then started to wonder what other jobs there might be in the music industry and had only a vague sense of what roadies did or what it took to put on a live show. I was in orchestras and band through school and knew I wanted to be involved in music but did not know how.” When Karrie inquired in high school about careers in the field, she was told that no one made a living in the music industry. “I wondered how that could be. I saw bands and artists all the time on MTV and thought – they must be making a living? I only had the vaguest sense of what it took for a band to make an album or to put on a concert, but I sensed Fleetwood Mac was not setting up their equipment and I was sure Van Halen was not just paying their roadies with beer and pizza. I had no idea how one would go about becoming a roadie, but sensed that being a woman would be a huge obstacle.”

After high school Karrie ‘half-heartedly’ enrolled in a community college where she did what any other 18-year-old with no idea of what they want to do does: “I worked part-time, showed up at some of my college classes, and went to punk rock shows.”

“As it is with so many things in life, my path would instantly change over a simple decision. The decision was- what punk rock show to go to Fear or Black Flag? The choice was pretty simple as my friends were going to Fear and I could get a ride – Black Flag was to be attended on a public bus that stopped running at 10 pm, which meant I would be stranded until the morning. Black Flag it was! I never did things the easy way!”, she laughs. “The show was a video shoot for the In My Head Tour and Painted Willie and Gone opened up. I managed to weave my way up to the front. Minutes before Black Flag went on, one of their roadies came over and talked to me and I explained I wanted to learn what he did, to learn to do his job! He told me to hang out after the show, and he would show me. Of course, I had no idea what he actually did. So I hung out after the show and he taught me one of the things he, as a sound engineer, had to do: wrap a mic cable. The next day I found myself in Palo Alto with Black Flag and by the time we returned to Los Angeles I knew what I wanted to do – Sound – and my new friend Dave was going to teach me. He inspired me not to give up. Shortly after Black Flag finished their tour, I started working every gig I could with Dave and Rat Sound. I eventually was able to quit my part-time job and never went back to school.

Working for the Underdog

At Rat Sound, Karrie started out at the bottom, loading and unloading trucks full of PA systems and working every show she could from punk rock to gospel and everything in between. This gave her the opportunity to learn all about the gear, how it works and how to troubleshoot. She found the hands-on time with the equipment and opportunity to try things that were not exactly the norm, were invaluable learning experiences. “I did everything – load in and load out, setting up the sound system, wiring the stage, and doing the set changes on weekends for like 20 dollars a show or something ridiculous.”

There were two partners in Rat Sound- Dave and Brian, who each had their system. Karrie worked for Dave. “Dave and I did every show by ourselves for years. Sometimes we would hire a third person, but for the most part, it was just the two of us.”

Rat was hired for many Goldenvoice shows, and Goldenvoice promoted most of the punk rock shows in Southern California. Rat first was hired because the punters could not climb the sound system. Goldenvoice and the So Cal Punk Rock scene were somewhat accepting towards everyone, and Karrie did not face obstacles because of her gender.  “The Heavy Metal scene of the ’80s in LA was not very inviting for women ‘roadies’, but for Punk Rock and Alternative, it was hardly an issue. In all of them, Rat, Goldenvoice, and Punk Rock, the common thread was; we were all underdogs working towards a common goal.”

What obstacles have you faced?

“Being a woman. I just worked as hard as I could. Working for a small sound company had its challenges as well, I was either proving myself as a woman or as a small sound company.” In her early days at Rat Sound, she ran into cultural bias. “I always had a difficult time working with Middle Eastern acts, who just could not wrap their heads around a woman in my position. It was just so against their culture. I use to get very upset, and I now realize it was probably very confusing and upsetting to them as well. When I started doing sound almost 30 years ago, I took a lot of heat from people. You just didn’t see women doing monitors, you still don’t, but I can say it has mellowed a bit. Either that or I just don’t care anymore and tune it out.” Karrie recalls that the core crews she’s toured with have always been respectful, and being a woman has not been an issue. “Although there is always the jerk on tour. I ignore them at this point, and often they are only touring with us for a short period. Usually, I don’t even know about it, as they would not dare say anything to me. I get more shit from the local crews.”

On tour with Danzig and Soundgarden 1990

 

What are some of the lessons you’ve learned throughout your career?

Karrie’s experience of mixing so many styles of music (Jazz, Metal, Country, Punk, Reggae) in her early days with Rat has helped contribute to her job mixing Pearl Jam, who is not your straightforward rock band. The five members have widely ranging monitor needs with each mix being completely different from the others.

“I still think the way to gain the most experience with live sound is by being on the ground and working as many shows as you can. Working for a smaller sound company affords these experiences. The diversity in shows provides you with so much experience when it comes to mixing. The sheer number of engineers you end up working with, and you get to see their ideas and processes working or not working.”

A terrible show in her youth would have devastated her, but now she realizes that you just can’t always have perfect shows. However, she does try to draw from the bad shows and analyze what she could have done differently. 

“I’m always learning”.

What are the benefits of working with the same band for so many years?

“You can keep evolving and perfecting. Eventually, you all know each other so well and navigating the other personalities becomes natural. However, you cannot become complacent in the job. You have to keep working on issues or progressing forward, whether by learning new gear, or learning new tricks, but you get to a point when you’ve really got it down and no longer need to be changing things and starting over with new gear. Sometimes it can get old when you keep hitting the same issues, such as the volume on stage. I am trusted so have more leeway to try different things – but I also know my band very well and don’t expand trying new things into areas that I know are not going to fly.”

Advice for those getting started:

My advice is just to keep going and not to give up – if one door is shut on you, try another door. You are going to knock on a lot of doors, but the ones that open for you – walk through and keep going.

Always keep learning- take advantage of all the online courses and information out there.

Network – find a mentor.

Show up when you say you will – be reliable, ask questions, and take risks

When you are given an opportunity, take it.

Hone your diplomacy skills – they will benefit you on the job and also help you navigate through any sexist crap that you are going to have deal with.

Career Highlights

The Untouchables were a popular Southern California Ska band; No Doubt often opened for them. It was my first gig as an engineer for the band. It was an important step as I took over for the ME as he moved to FOH. That organization not only gave me a chance but Rat Sound as well and always believed in us. The gigs were always full on and taught me how to work fast and to deal with the needs of ten musicians.

 

Social Distortion – I worked and was hired for many shows Social Distortion did in the Southern California area. They were one of my favorite bands and I spent a lot time pinching myself. Social Distortion taught me that one size does not fit all. Mike Ness wanted his mix to sound as if it was coming from FOH. It was not as easy to achieve as you think.

 

 

Touring with Fugazi -The best live band ever! Every show made all the driving, the Motel 6’s, the Denny’s, the gigs with no local crew, security, barricade, or catering worth it. Every single day. If their indefinite hiatus ever comes to an end, I will gladly climb back into the truck. It was a privilege.

 

Pearl Jam – VH1 Tribute to The Who

Again there have been so many gigs that were important, challenging, fun, and played through tears and pain over the years – but this one stood out. It was a marker of how professional our organization had become. How our team pulled together, dropped all ego, and did what we needed to do so the band could do what they needed to do. Anyone that has seen it knows that Pearl Jam nailed it.

 

 

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Woodstock III

While there are many memorable shows over the ten years I worked for them, Woodstock III stands out. This gig happened after I left their organization to be off the road for my daughters. This gig fell in between one of the firings of the ME and hiring a new one. I would always fill in until another engineer was hired. I remember being happy and relieved that I would not have to mix this show.

We had played the second Woodstock, going on before Peter Gabriel, who headlined. It was a complete disaster. We did not have a line check earlier in the day, did not have any monitor equipment and were stretched thin with a bare bones crew. I let the sound guys push me around and mix position was about 80 feet from the band.

Needless to say, I was not happy when I found myself being asked to do this gig. I made a few demands – we were bringing in our system (which is not uncommon now, but was not standard practice then) this made our production manager less than happy as well as production on the Woodstock end.

We only had one promo warm up gig before going in, so the mixes were not dialed, and the system was not set up to go into a festival. I worked thru the day doing whatever I could during other band’s set changes so I would be ready. The sound and production guys were awesome and helpful.

When the band hit the first notes, I knew I had nailed it. It sounded great, and I knew the band was happy. At the end of the gig, I discovered Pearl Jam’s site coordinator and stage manager was head production on Woodstock and had told everyone to help me and listen to me as I knew my shit. The sound crew came up after the gig and said it was so nice to see an engineer that knew what they were doing. And three weeks later at a band rehearsal, Anthony told me that the sound was perfect.


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The Women are Taking Over!

The start of a new tour is always interesting, seeing friends you have not seen for a while, being with your road family, and always meeting new characters. I try to figure out who is who and what is what pretty fast. So it is on the first day, after traveling twenty hours or so and finally arriving in Amsterdam, that I meet the first character. (more…)

Touring Life and Motherhood or How You Can’t Have it All

Note – I do know a few men in the industry who have sole custody of their children and face many of the same issues.

After the birth of my daughters, I took some time off and did not work at all. As reality sunk in, I came to realize that touring was going to be difficult if not impossible. I thought about going back to school and getting a teaching degree – still one of the professions that allows for a schedule to be with your kids. I eventually returned to Los Angeles and took on a general manager role at Rat Sound – which really was doing a bit of everything, similar to what I did before but kept me off the road.

It was pretty great for awhile – I was able to achieve a balance between work and raising my daughters. Then the Chili Peppers launched a 17 month world tour, which I turned down. It took a while for this sink in, as I embraced my new life – I came to really miss being on the road and I wrestled with this for a while – but there did not seem to be any option. I started to work local shows again, but this I found pretty difficult to balance – the long hours, the child care bill, trying to function as a zombie the next day.

Then I was offered REM and I was determined to do it – I did not know how I was going to make it work – but I knew I wanted that gig. After many discussions with the girls dad, we came up with a game plan to make it work. In the end, the gig ended up falling thru as they wanted a FOH and Monitor team, engineers that had worked together for several years. My team was Brett Eliason (PJ FOH Engineer) and he could not do the tour.

It ended up being for the best – as parents we had worked out what we were comfortable with, what I needed to be happy, and what we felt was best for the girls.

It basically broke down to:

And that is what we did for years – still do – but now they are self sufficient and I think look forward to us being on the road. The girls had an extended family that they felt safe with and were loved. It also made them independent. Plus they got to travel with us several times and got to see some cool places.

Of course, this would not have been possible without a father that was willing to be a full time dad. I think this made him a better father – and the girls were bonded to both parents. We both made sacrifices to do this – There were tours turned down on both sides, mixing challenges and experiences that were missed. Yet, when I was home it was 24/7 and for every championship softball game I missed – I was there for most of the season.

I guess what I am trying to share is that you can be a mom and have a career in audio. It is not going to be easy, but life is not easy. You might choose to work a constant theater gig over touring, or work part time doing local shows for a sound company. You might switch to an AV gig. Even with the sacrifices made – I always felt it was better than working a 9-5 job with the kids in daycare. And I still got the rush of working a live concert. Would I have followed the path I did without kids – I will never know.

I would love to hear how others have balanced this or are attempting to.

 

 

Touring Life and Being a Mother – Part Two

 

I was on tour with Neil Young and Pearl Jam when I discovered I was pregnant – at the time it seemed like a cruel joke. I was pretty happy with my career, spending 8 – 10 months a year on the road. I was working with artists that I enjoyed and respected, juggling between Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, and hoping that Fugazi would tour again. I could not imagine fitting a child into this world, or if it was even possible. (more…)

Coachella Music and Arts Festival – Two Companies that Did!

By: Karrie Keyes

On November 5, 1993, Pearl Jam performed the first music concert on the grounds of The Empire Polo Field. The site was chosen as the band embarked on a tour boycotting Ticketmaster, and the seed was planted for a large-scale music festival. Paul Tollet of Goldenvoice was the driving force in creating Coachella and six years after the Pearl Jam concert, The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was launched. (more…)

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