Fake It ‘till You Make It?

The live events industry can be hard to navigate. There isn’t a defined career pathway or educational framework that one needs to follow, no qualification that is necessary or will guarantee you a rewarding job once you have it. It can feel even more confusing if you’re a freelancer. You don’t have a boss to guide you or promotion options to pursue within a company. You are the only one who is responsible for your training and progression. When you then take into account the… creative and organic nature of live events and the current industry-wide shortage of experienced technicians caused (mainly) by the pandemic, it is quite common for people to be offered roles that don’t exactly match their skill set. Whether it’s an ad for a dream job that lists a bunch of skills or experience that you don’t have, or you’re getting offers of work that involves equipment that you’ve never touched, you may feel that there is a gap between your current skills and what potential clients are expecting of you. What should you do? The phrase “fake it ‘till you make it!” gets thrown about a lot, but is it really the solution? It is something I have struggled with throughout my whole career and I’m sorry to say I still don’t have the answer, but here are some things to consider so you can form your own conclusions.

Unfortunately, we’re a bit special

There are endless articles out there about whether you should fake it until you make it, but it is almost all aimed at employees in corporate jobs. There are definitely lessons to be learned from these sources, but there are a few things about our sector that mean the advice is not entirely applicable to us.

First of all, the proportion of workers in our field who are freelance is much higher than most. We have to advocate for ourselves and convince potential clients that we are a good choice and that our experience puts us in good stead to do the job well. This can be challenging when there isn’t an “industry standard” qualification and everyone’s experience history is unique. It is much easier to fire freelancers than employees, or simply not call them again if their work isn’t up to scratch. We are also up against untold numbers of other freelancers for each job, and in the absence of formalised, transparent hiring practises, it can be hard not to take hiring decisions personally. Paranoia and bitchiness about who gets what role can take hold in freelancer circles, similar to when there’s an opportunity for promotion in office-based sitcoms. All I can say is try to avoid questioning why this job went to that person, because it can eat you up inside, and trying to find logic, where there may be none, will drive you crazy.

Most jobs in live events, especially touring, are quite short in the grand scheme of things. Even if you land a role on a two-year global tour, that’s not much compared to potentially spending decades working for the same firm. This means we go through the stress of job hunting much more often than most people. There is also much less of an incentive for clients to invest in our professional growth or even put as much effort into recruitment as they would for a full-time position.

Lastly, our job is much more immediate than “normal” jobs. Of course, we can, and should, study and practise our craft as much as possible on our own time, but there is a lot that we can’t help but learn through experience. You can only deal with a quiet, unpredictable singer when you’re faced with one. You only find out what word clock slipping can sound like when you hear it (I’ve often thought that an audio library of what things sound like while being affected by different technical issues would be incredibly useful. If anyone has assembled one please let me know). Your live mixing will improve more with the experience of real musicians in real, crowded rooms than with any amount of practising with a multitrack. So if you are faking it until you make it and come up against something beyond your capacity, you will have to deal with that in real-time, potentially in front of thousands of booing fans and an angry client.

Keeping up with the fakers

In an ideal world, we would never have to fake it. Everyone would be offered jobs according to their abilities and everyone would be given opportunities to grow and progress along the way. Wouldn’t that be nice? Unfortunately, that is rarely how it works. If you have an employer or client who takes an active role in your professional development, please recognise them for the rare gem that they are. That’s not to say that everyone else is evil, it’s just that most companies are swamped with work and they don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to training, appraisals, mentoring, etc. At the end of the day, if you’re a freelancer, that responsibility lies squarely with you anyway.

I used to turn down jobs if I wasn’t 100% comfortable with every piece of equipment that I would need to use. I would tell them that they should choose someone else, for the good of the gig. However, it took me far too long to realise that more often than not, they didn’t find someone better, they just found someone who had the chutzpah to say yes and give it a go. Those people did a good enough job most of the time to get away with it, and so kept getting offered more opportunities. I dread to think how much putting the gig’s success before my own career has held me back, particularly because the gig probably would have succeeded anyway.

This brings me to the difficult part: none of us would have to fake anything if no one else did. We would all get exactly the level of jobs we deserved. However, there are all sorts of people in this industry, and as I just alluded to, the way things work favours people who are full of… chutzpah. It’s understandable: if you’re a busy booker who has a lot on their plate, finding a freelancer who has reassuring confidence about them and says they can do anything you ask them to is a godsend. If you’re an event organiser who’s worried because there’s been a technical difficulty, someone who uses a few select pieces of jargon but tells you it’ll all be fine shortly is exactly the kind of person you want. Never mind whether the difficulty was caused by that person in the first place; you don’t have the time or specialist knowledge to find that out, you just want your gig to happen. People like to say that chutzpah-ers get found out and don’t last in the industry, but in my experience that isn’t true, and in fact, the opposite can be the case. It can be frustrating to have to work with these people and watch their careers skyrocket, but I still don’t think you should join them if you can’t beat them. We’re all on our own journey, comparing yourself to others is a recipe for misery. The road might be longer if you don’t take the “chutzpah” shortcut, but you learn much more and can be truly confident in your own competence as you progress.

To fake or not to fake?

It’s a bit of a catch-22 that knowing when to turn something down and when to go for it comes with experience. Experience that you might need to fake a little bit to get in the first place. Now that I’m older I’ve seen more of how the industry works: I know that no one knows everything about everything. New equipment and software updates come out all the time, and you get used to reading manuals or chatting to friends who have used it to get up to speed (on that note, if any manufacturers are reading this, can you please stop replacing your PDF manuals with endless video tutorials. They are useful as supporting material, but you can’t search for a keyword in a half-hour-long video and scan through the relevant paragraph on your phone while the client isn’t looking. Or even just browse it during a slow conference). You get used to the equipment list fundamentally changing at the last minute, so whether you’ve used a certain desk before might suddenly become irrelevant anyway. You see so many people being thrown in at the deep end that you start to wonder whether there is any type of baptism that isn’t of fire. So once you see that perfection isn’t always necessary, and once you become more certain of your own abilities, it is easier to make that judgment call.

Further, it is easier to have a frank conversation with the booker when you’re more established. I still flag gaps in my knowledge with my clients. Sometimes they’re happy for me to read the manual or spend extra time in the warehouse to fill those gaps, sometimes they have a more suitable candidate for that role that they go with instead. I’m lucky enough that I don’t need to take every single gig I’m offered, and admitting to my lack of experience in certain areas doesn’t affect my long-term relationship with my clients. In fact, they usually appreciate my honesty and trust my self-assessed competence in other roles more.

So what can you do if you aren’t that experienced yet? It’s a decision you have to make yourself, but I would suggest the following:

Do not outright lie, especially not in writing. Never put anything on your resumé or a job application that is verifiably false. You are very likely to be found out and might lose that job as well as future opportunities with that client. You will also get a reputation for being a bull****er.
Do not misrepresent your competence with electricity or hanging anything from a height. You can cause a huge amount of damage, and in the worst case you could end up in prison for manslaughter, or dead. It is definitely not worth it.
Work on your skills! Concentrate on “making it” as much as you can so you spend as little time as possible faking it.
Focus on what you do know. Again, this becomes easier with experience, but you will start to recognise patterns in workflows and how a few underlying principles relate to everything we do. For example, once you’ve used three or four types of desks you’ll understand what they have in common, and will probably know enough to do a simple show on any desk. If you understand signal flow you can troubleshoot most situations, and at least rule out common issues like air gaps or bad cable.
What would someone with chutzpah do? I had to really force myself to accept gigs that were outside my comfort zone when I was younger. What helped me was imagining what an arrogant, annoying person with the same skill set as me would say. If they would take it, I’d make sure to say yes so it didn’t go to someone like that, even though they were only theoretical.
Think of it as a “stretch” role. Having a growth mindset, where you know you can learn and improve, and see it as a fun challenge, is one of the best things you can do for your career and your mental well-being. Of course, don’t accept jobs where you would be totally in over your head, but if you know the required skills are just a bit beyond your current comfort zone, push yourself to take it on and learn as much as you can from it. This is especially recommended if you know that there is someone else on the team who is happy to help you learn.

Some day we will all be able, to be honest about our abilities and even our insecurities with everyone, and everyone will get exactly the jobs they can handle and deserve. Until then, a little bit of “faking,” insofar as you’re coming across as confident and reassuring while taking on new, reasonable, challenges, can do wonders for your career. If you know that it’s just a little bit of a stretch for you, and you are competent in the basics, some chutzpah can get you closer to the point where you won’t need to fake it because you will have genuinely made it.

Make (only) Some Noise: Noise Regulation at Live Events

Noise regulation is a necessary part of our live events family getting along with the wider community. We want to put on great, big, all-encompassing shows, and our neighbours want to work, play and sleep without being disturbed. Some sort of compromise needs to be reached to keep the peace between us. This is where noise regulation comes in: it varies depending on the nature and location of the gig, but an agreement to keep to a certain average volume (more on that later, for the pedants, reading this) is usually a condition of the event’s licence. Breaking that agreement can result in fines, but even more importantly it can lead to the licence not being issued the next time, or even revoked from the venue. If you have any respect for the wider live community you’ll do your bit to stick to the noise limits. Even if you don’t, someone else will probably turn you down or switch you off anyway.

How are the limits decided?

There are several different approaches to setting limits. It starts with consulting your country or region’s guidelines on noise at work (because it is a workplace, for us technicians and bar staff, security, etc.), and adapting these sensibly, for example offering free ear plugs to staff and guests if recommended limits will be exceeded, rather than making it unfeasibly quiet. There don’t tend to be government guides specifically for live performances, so licence providers deal with applications on a case-by-case basis. Third-party noise consultants, colloquially known as the noise police, can help with this aspect of planning as explained by UK consultancy Vanguardia’s Roly Oliver in this guide (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/noise-management-for-events-ds00/). Factors like the location, time of day, length, and nature of the event, as well as how often it’s due to occur, contribute to whether a licence is granted and what volume is agreed. For example, a one-off community event in a park on a Saturday afternoon might be given more leeway than a rave every Wednesday night in the middle of a residential neighbourhood.

The limits are usually based on how loud the sound from the event is at the nearest residence (or sometimes it’s really the house with the person rich enough to retain a lawyer for noise complaints), so both modelling and real-time measurements concentrate on this area. When the PA system is first set up, music is played through it and measured at that residence. Seeing as it will be heard by the general public, it is recommended that the song doesn’t have swearing in it, but for some reason, Rage Against the Machine is a perennial favourite. The licence issuer will usually do the off-site measurements but noise consultants are often hired to do their own measuring alongside this, for verification and as a backup for the promoter if there are any disagreements. The consultants or venue staff also measure within the venue, usually at FoH for convenience. The music is turned up until it hits the off-site limit, and whatever the measurement is at FoH at that point becomes the maximum level for mixing (again, for any pedants, we’ll come back to this). There might be several off-site recording points of interest, so depending on how many microphones are available they’re either recorded all at once, or the process is repeated for each location. If there are multiple sound systems at the event, for example at a festival, each one will be measured in turn. This process is called noise propagation and can only take place at a previously agreed time, to minimise disruption to the community. When setting up one-off events, the PA takes priority over other aspects of audio in order to be ready in time for propagation.

What exactly do we mean by average volume?

Of course, what is meant by ‘volume’ and even ‘average’ isn’t completely straightforward. As sound engineers, we most often think of volume in terms of the sound pressure level (SPL), measured in decibels (dB). SPL measurements are usually taken through filters that account for how humans perceive this pressure, as we are more sensitive to some frequencies (centering around human speech) than others. These filters are known as A, B, C, or Z weighted (https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/decibel-d_59.html). A-weighted measurements are roughly the inverse of equal loudness contours (see figure 1) at lower SPLs, so if we were to hear sound that we perceived to be equally loud across the spectrum at a lower volume, the meter would register it as equally loud as well. The C-weighted filter is flat across much more of the spectrum. As the sound gets louder, the equal loudness contours start to resemble C-weighted filters more closely. B-weighted measurements are in between A and C, and Z-weighted ones are completely flat, but these two are almost never used for live sound. Luckily for audio engineers, most SPL limits are set in terms of A-weighting, so there is more room to play with lower and higher frequencies than if it were C-weighted. However, low frequencies travel further than higher ones, so they can still cause issues at off-site monitoring locations.

Depending on the budget for noise monitoring, the equipment may or may not be sophisticated enough to record which frequencies are the loudest. A lot of venues have simple handheld sound meters that give you one overall SPL reading so there’s not much that can be done about it, but bigger gigs and festivals use software that includes a real-time analyzer (RTA) so one can see which frequencies are causing issues. The engineer can then decide whether notching those frequencies down will be worth a corresponding increase in overall volume, or whether it’s better to leave them in and mix at a lower level.

Whatever the limits end up being, they’ll be described in terms of a time window, for example, “95dB(A) Leq15’ ”. The Leq (technically LAT for the pedants) is the mean value of sound energy over that time, on a rolling basis. So the example limit is an average of 95dB, A-weighted, over a continuous 15-minute window, measured throughout the show. You might also see reference to “fast” or “slow” measurements. These are settings for sound meters that are traditionally used for regulating noise at work, for example on factory floors, so are only averaging over a few seconds. They aren’t that useful when applied to something as dynamic as a live performance, but if the event organiser has based their noise regulation plan directly on occupational noise documentation or they only have a basic handheld device, that might be the parameters that you’re left with. If you’re given a proper Leq value you can get away with a much louder performance by interspersing songs with chatting from the artist or alternating louder songs with quieter ones. Even the changeover can help bring the measurements down. As long as it averages out ok, and you don’t go above any peak limits that are set (these tend to be much higher than the average limit and measured as C-weighted), you’re fine.

But my band needs to be mixed LOUD!

Cool story. If you’re given a low limit (and admittedly they can be upsettingly low, especially at outdoor festivals in the middle of cities), you have two options:

Learn to mix well at a lower volume.
Have a bad show.

Unless you’re with a very rich headline act who doesn’t care about the gig renewing their licence, and you have a big stick to keep the system engineer away from their gear, there is no third option just to be loud because you’re cool. No matter how much you turn it up, the system engineer will turn it down further along the signal path and all you’ll achieve is making your mix sound worse. If you really push it (or there isn’t a separate system engineer) you might get switched off completely. Some small venues even have an automated ducker or kill switch which will kick in as soon as you go over the set limit. There are plenty of tricks out there to get more out of your mix at lower volumes. Jon Burton, university lecturer and front-of-house engineer for EDM act the Prodigy, is famous for making their shows sound massive while sticking within noise limits. In fact, he wrote his master’s thesis on one of his approaches (https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/83934715.pdf).

The sound of the noise police

Due to the large fines and reputations at stake, there is often quite a lot of distrust between audio engineers and noise consultants, but we are on the same team. They are not just killjoys who don’t like music; by monitoring at FoH and letting the engineer know whether they’re within the limit in real time they’re actually making the process easier for everyone. By asking engineers to stick within the agreed limits, they are protecting the event from fines and complaints and ensuring it can take place again next time. It is in everyone’s interest to work together to leave both the audience and the wider community feeling positive about live events by reaching a compromise while delivering the best show possible.

Further resources:

Speaker manufacturer d&b offers free noise prediction software for their systems:

https://www.dbaudio.com/global/en/products/software/noizcalc/

Guidance on noise at live events from the UK Goverment’s Health and Safety Executive: https://www.hse.gov.uk/event-safety/noise.htm

Live DMA working group’s inventory of various sound regulations across the region: https://www.live-dma.eu/sound-regulations-in-europe/

AES’s white paper Understanding and managing sound exposure and noise pollution at outdoor events: https://www.aes.org/technical/documents/AESTD1007_1_20_05.pdf

ProSoundWeb article based on this white paper and other research, outlining the what has informed the World Health Organisation’s stance on noise levels and potential future global standards, and how to approach mixing within these limits: https://www.prosoundweb.com/live-event-sound-levels-rising-above-the-insidious-undercurrent-of-aural-incapacitance/

So You Need a Diverse:

The express guide to recruiting a more heterogeneous workforce

As someone who has spoken and written about diversity in the workplace quite a bit (https://soundgirls.org/how-to-find-the-best-candidate-for-the-job/, https://soundgirls.org/the-financial-case-for-increasing-diversity-in-live-audio/), I find it really encouraging to see more and more efforts to hire a wider variety of people in our industry. However, like anything that’s (somehow, still) in its early stages, I’ve seen quite a few missteps and realise that a lot of people need some more guidance on best practices. I also understand that most hirers are extremely busy, especially in the post-lockdown rush of live events, so I will get right to the point and then expand on the steps after.

The whys and wherefores of building diverse workforces is a massive and often messy subject that is beyond the scope of this article. Maybe your company has come to the conclusion that it’s the morally right thing to do, maybe you’ve seen the positive effect it has on profits, maybe you’re doing it for the kudos or maybe a client has specified that they want certain types of people on their jobs and you personally think it’s political correctness gone mad. Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that you need to find different people to who you usually hire. For the sake of brevity I’m going to call these people Diverses, but do remember that individuals are not diverse, only groups of people can be diverse. Diversity and the benefits that come with it can only be achieved in the collective when everyone’s differences and strengths are combined. So how do you find them?

Write your job ad, describing the skills you are looking for in a candidate, not their intrinsic characteristics like gender, race, sexuality, or socio-economic background.
Post the ad where lots of the type of candidate you want are likely to see it.
Choose someone suitable from the applicants. If there isn’t anyone suitable, go back to steps 1 and 2 and see what you can improve so you can find the right person for the job.
Don’t tell anyone that they did/didn’t get the job because of their intrinsic characteristics (because they genuinely didn’t. You can find someone who is Diverse and also the best person for the job). If unsuccessful applicants push you for a reason, just say they weren’t a good fit for the role. Our industry is so idiosyncratic that this can be true.

That’s it! Does it sound familiar? It’s the same technique that’s been widely used in our and other industries for decades if not centuries. The only difference is this time it’s benefitting underrepresented groups instead of the established majority.

Bonus content

If you have the time to explore this topic in more detail, here are my unscientific opinions and extra tips:

Choosing your words:

Advertising that you need (or are being *forced* to hire!) a Diverse is not helpful. From the job posts I’ve seen, this just spawns a whole bunch of “is this legal?”/devil’s advocate arguments that achieve very little. Besides, this often isn’t legal. The UK Equality Act 2010 states that you can only use positive action in recruiting when you already have applicants of equal merit, so you need to leave applications open to everyone in order to find the best person for the job. If the best or joint best candidate happens to have a characteristic that you’re looking to recruit, then great, but you can’t prevent people from applying or hiring a less suitable applicant just to fit your diversity goals. Affirmative action in the US is a bit different but you could still end up in a tricky legal situation if you’re explicitly recruiting people because of their protected characteristics.

Specifying certain characteristics that you want can be problematic. In the era of publicly tagging friends under job posts, you risk inadvertently outing individuals as gay or trans, for example. Quite a few are difficult to prove anyway. Are you going to ask applicants for evidence that they’re homosexual? That their parents were poor enough to count as coming from a ‘disadvantaged’ background? Is one type of Diverse more desirable than another? Having a shopping list of protected characteristics that you want in candidates feels like you’re treating them like commodities rather than humans, which is surely what we’re trying to leave firmly in the past. You need to find the sensible middle ground between Pokémon-style ‘gotta catch one of each type’ and “Oh but all these middle class, straight, white men have such different personalities!” You should be looking at varying your crews in as many ways as possible, without artificially enforcing quotas or defining people solely by intrinsic factors that they can’t change. It can be a challenge but it is worth it in the long run.

If you’re worried that too few Diverses will apply for the role, you can say that everyone, including (I would not recommend saying ‘especially’ because it’s still implying that they’ll get unwarranted preferential treatment) XYZ type of person is encouraged to apply. If the rest of your diversity policy is effective enough, for example advertising roles widely and having a reputation for an inclusive and supportive work environment, you shouldn’t need to do this step anyway. Often just saying that you value diversity itself is enough to show people from underrepresented groups that it’s worth applying. The best way I’ve seen of dealing with this is Britannia Row Productions’ diversity statement that they include at the end of every job post (https://www.britanniarow.com/careers). It is simple but effective:

“We’re building a diverse, inclusive team

You’re welcome at Britannia Row wherever you’re from and whoever you are. We know that sometimes, people don’t apply for a job because they don’t have every single skill listed in the job’s requirements. So if you’re interested in a role here and believe you could be a good fit, we encourage you to apply.”

Another aspect of publicly saying that you want a Diverse is that people will assume that the successful candidate got the job because of their Diverseness alone. This can make the Diverse question their abilities and value as a person and can give license to bullies to throw it in the Diverse’s face at every opportunity. I know quite a few people who won’t apply for jobs with this kind of wording because they, understandably, don’t want to be seen as just a box ticker, and want to be hired for their competence in the job.

Getting the word out

A major contributor to the “old boys’ club” aspect of our industry is that one of the main ways people land jobs is through word of mouth. Lots of roles are never openly advertised; the hirer will just think of who they like and find the first person on that list who’s available. If no one’s available, the people on the list might recommend their friends. It’s not hard to see how this results in an insular, homogenous workforce. Of course, the nature of live events means a large proportion of roles are filled by freelancers, often at the last minute, so companies don’t have the time and resources to put into recruiting for these jobs that they might for full-time positions. Long, challenging days and spending nearly all our time in very close proximity to each other also means that it is important that people work well together, so it is understandable why personal recommendations are highly valued. It’s also a more reliable way to judge aptitude for the job than formal qualifications, in a field where real-world experience and quick thinking are essential.

So how can we reconcile these factors? Companies need to start treating their freelance call list more like their full-time employees. Recruitment needs to be an ongoing process and not left until the last minute when everyone’s too busy to think about it and desperate to fill a role. If you do the work to have a balanced, varied talent pool, you’ll have options if a client suddenly demands to have a certain type of Diverse on their crew rather than having to specifically advertise for them, which can backfire for the reasons outlined above. This also means that you have the time to take a chance on people who you might not be sure about because they don’t have the personal connections that others do. You can put them in a junior role at a quieter time of year, or give them a chance to shine while there’s a more senior colleague present to support them, to see how they fare.

Where you advertise is as important as how you advertise. If you post in the same old places you’ll get the same old candidates. As a rule of thumb, if a forum seems quite ‘bro-ey’ or cliquey, it’s unlikely to have that many members from underrepresented groups. Seek out online groups and directories that represent certain communities, visit schools and places of worship other than your own to encourage more young people to join the industry, and see if there are local employment schemes that are looking for collaborators. If you’re struggling to think of places to find Diverses, you could ask other Diverses whom you already know, but please acknowledge the work they are doing to help you.

The best candidate for the job

As previously mentioned, you shouldn’t give someone a job they aren’t ready for just because they’re a Diverse. It is usually illegal, it breeds resentment in other people and it sets them up to fail, further compounding prejudiced people’s beliefs about that type of Diverse’s suitability for the role. It also implies that you don’t believe that there are any Diverses out there who are qualified, which is almost never true. If you aren’t getting applications from a wide enough variety of people, cast your net wider (or – whisper it – pay better).

On the other hand, what makes someone the ‘best’ person for a job can be highly subjective. There is more to suitability for a role than qualifications and experience. They could have a great attitude, get along well with the rest of the team, bring new perspectives and cultural knowledge (a major benefit of diversifying your crew) and have the people skills that a degree in audio can’t teach. When assessing applicants, bear in mind that a Diverse might have less experience than a non-Diverse of the same age because they have been discriminated against already, systemically or personally. Don’t put them in a role that they can’t handle, but don’t perpetuate the cycle of discrimination by presuming non-Diverses are better because they have more experience. It takes time and effort but getting to know candidates better than what their resumé can show can pay off massively over time. Surprisingly, interviews are actually quite a bad way to do this (https://vervoe.com/predict-job-performance/). From reading the literature and going through some interviews myself, it seems that they’re great for finding people who are good at interviews, but not necessarily good at the job. ‘Job auditions’: asking applicants to do practical tasks as they would at work, are a much better predictor of long-term performance. It has also occurred to me that it is the most conscientious employers who are making the effort to be more inclusive and formal with their hiring practices, including inviting people to interview, instead of straight-up offering jobs to the usual suspects. Paradoxically, this ends up as an extra hoop for the Diverse to jump through, while the boys club carries on as usual.

Tick a box, get a medal?

Sorry to say it, but you don’t get special recognition for doing what we all should have been doing all along. Don’t boast about how you hired a Diverse and put photos of them on your company website to show how woke you are. Finding the best candidate for the job and the benefits that come from diverse crews (a wider pool of knowledge, higher productivity, and profits, etc.) is reward enough in itself. Keeping these people is as important as recruiting them in the first place, and making them feel like a freak show or a charity case is not the way to do it. The best way to avoid accusations of tokenism or box-ticking is to hire as many different types of people as possible, so it becomes normal to work in diverse teams. Hiring one Diverse, or one Diverse at a time, is not enough, and being the only ‘other’ in the workplace is a very, very lonely place to be. It also makes it much easier for bullies to undermine them and convince them that they have nothing to contribute except their Diverseness. The way to get the best work out of your crew is to build them up and value them for what they each bring to the table, wherever they’re from and whoever they are.

Master the Art of Saving Your Live Show File

Total recall for a better workflow and to avoid embarrassment

If you found this blog because your show file isn’t recalling scenes properly, skip to the “in case of emergency” section and come back to read the rest when you have time.

We learned as soon as we started using computers that we need to save our work as often as possible. We all know that sinking feeling when that essay or email we had worked so long and hard on, without backing up, suddenly became the victim of a spilled drink or blue screen of death. I’m sure more than a few of us also know this feeling from when we didn’t save our show file correctly, maybe even causing thousands of people to boo us because everything’s gone quiet all of a sudden. Digital desks are just computers with a fancy keyboard, but unlike writing a simple essay, there are many more ‘features’ in show files that can trip you up if you don’t fully understand them. Explaining the ins and outs of every desk’s save functions is beyond the scope of this article (pun intended), but learning the principles of how and why everything should be saved will help to make your workflow more efficient and reliable, and hopefully save you from an embarrassing ‘dog ate my show file moment.

The lingo

For some reason, desk manufacturers love to reinvent the wheel and so have their own words to describe the same thing. I have tried to include the different terms that I know of, but once you understand the underlying principles you should be able to recognise what is meant if you encounter other names for them. It really pays to read your desk’s manual, especially when it comes to show files. Brands have different approaches which might not always be intuitive, so getting familiar with them before you even start will help to avoid all your work going down the drain when you don’t tick the right box or press the right button.

Automation: This refers to the whole concept of having different settings for different parts of the performance. The term comes from studio post-production and is a little bit of a misnomer for live sound because most of the time it isn’t automatic as such; the engineer still needs to trigger the next setting, even though the desk takes care of the rest (if you’re really fancy some desks can trigger scene changes off midi or timecode. It is modern-day magic but you still need to be there to make sure things run smoothly and to justify your fee).

Show file/show/session: The parent file. This covers all the higher level desk settings, like how many busses you have and what type, your user preferences, EQ libraries, etc. It is the framework that the scenes build on, but also contains the scenes.

Scene/snapshot: Individual states within the show file, like documents within a folder. They store the current values for things like fader levels, mutes, pan, and effects settings. Every time you want things to change without having to make those adjustments by hand, you should have a new scene.

Scope/focus/filter: Defines which parameters get recalled (or stored. See next section) with the scene. For example, you might want everything except the mutes and fader levels to stay the same throughout the whole show, so they would be the only things in your scenes’ recall scope.

N.B.! Midas (and perhaps some other manufacturers) defines scope as what gets excluded from being recalled, and so it works the other way round (see figure 1). Be very sure you know which definition your desk is using! To avoid confusion, references to scope in this post mean what gets included.

Store vs. recall: Some desks, e.g. Midas, offer store scope as well as recall scope. This means you can control what gets saved as well as how much of that information later gets brought back to the surface. Much like the solo in place button, you need to be 100% sure of what you’re doing before you use this feature. It might seem like a good idea to take something you won’t want later, like the settings for a spare vocal mic when the MD uses it during rehearsals, out of the store scope. However, it’s much safer to just take it out of the recall scope instead. It’s better to have all the information at your disposal and choose what to use, rather than not having data you might later need. You also risk forgetting to reset the store scope when you need to record that parameter again, or setting the scope incorrectly. The worst-case scenario is accidentally taking everything out of the store scope (Midas even gives you a handy “all” button so you can do it with one click!): You can spend hours or even days diligently working on a show, getting all your scenes and recall scopes perfect, then have absolutely nothing to show for it at the end because nothing got saved in order to be recalled. Yes, this happens. It’s simply best to leave store scope alone.

Safe/hardware safe/iso (isolate): You can ‘safe’ things that you don’t want to be affected by scene changes, for example, the changeover DJ on a multi-band bill or an emergency announcement mic. Recall safes are applied globally so if you want to recall something for some scenes and not others, you should take it out of the relevant scenes’ recall scope instead.

Global: Applies to all scenes. What parameters you can and can’t assign or change globally varies according to manufacturer.

Absolute vs. relative: Some desks, e.g. SSLs, let you specify whether a change you make is absolute or relative. This applies when making changes to several scenes at once, either through the global or grouping options. For example, if you move a channel’s fader from -5 to 0, saving it as “absolute” would mean that that fader is at 0 in every scene you’re editing, but saving it as “relative” means the fader is raised by 5dB in every scene, compared to where it was already.

Fade/transition/timing: Scene changes are instantaneous by default, but a lot of desks give you the option to dictate how gradually you change from one scene to another, how the crossfade works, and whether a scene automatically follows on from the one before it after a certain length of time. These can be useful for theatrical applications in particular.

The diagram from Digico’s S21 manual illustrating recall scope (top) and the Midas Pro2 manual’s diagram (bottom). Both show that if elements are highlighted green, they are in the recall scope. Unfortunately Digico defines scope as what does get recalled, while Midas defines it as what doesn’t. Very similar screens, identical wording, entirely opposite results. It was a bad day when I found that out the hard way.

Best practice

Keep it simple!: With so many different approaches to automation from different manufacturers and so many aspects of a show file to keep track of, it is easy to tie yourself in knots if you aren’t careful. There are many ways to undo or override your settings without even noticing. The order in which data filters are applied and what takes precedence can vary according to manufacturer (see figure 2 for an illustration of one). Keep your show file as simple as possible until you’re confident with how everything works, and always save everything and back it up to your USB stick before making any major change. It’s much easier to mix a bit more by hand than to try to fix a problem with the automation, especially one that reappears every time you change the scene!

Keep it tidy: As with any aspect of the job, keep your work neat and annotated. There are comment boxes for each show and scene where you can note down what changes you made, what stage you were at when you saved, or what the scene is even for. This is very useful when troubleshooting or if someone needs to cover you.

Be prepared: Show files can be fiddly and soundchecks can be rushed and chaotic. It’s a good idea to make a generic show file with your preferences and the settings you need to start off with for every show, then build individual show files from there. You can make your files with an offline editor and have several options ready so you can hit the ground running as soon as you get to the venue. If you aren’t sure how certain aspects of the automation work, test them out ahead of time.

Don’t rely on the USB: Never run your show straight from your USB stick if you can avoid it. Some desks don’t offer space to store your show file, but if yours does you should always copy your file into the desk straight away. Work on that copy, before saving onboard and then backing it up back to the USB stick. Some desks don’t handle accessing information on external drives in real-time well, so everything might seem fine until the DSP is stretched or something fails, and you can end up with errors right at a crucial part of the performance. Plus, just imagine if someone knocked it out of its socket mid-show! You should also invest in good quality drives because a lot of desks don’t recognise low-quality ones (including some of the ones that desk manufacturers themselves hand out!).

Where to start: It can be tempting to start with someone else’s show file and tweak it for your gig. If that person has kept a neat, clear file (and they’ve given you permission to use it!) it could work well, but keep in mind that there might be settings hidden in menus that you aren’t aware of or tricks they use that suit their workflow that will just trip you up. Check through the file thoroughly before you use it.

Most desks have some sort of template scene or scenes to get you started. Some are more useful than others, and you need to watch out for their little quirks. The Midas Pro2 had a notoriously sparse start scene when it first came out, with absolutely nothing patched, not even the headphones! You also need to be aware of your desk’s general default settings. Yamaha CL and QL series take head amp information from the “port” (stage box socket, Dante source, etc.) rather than the channel by default. That is the safest option for when you’re sharing the ports between multiple desks but is pretty useless if you aren’t and actively confusing if you’re moving your file between several setups, as you inherit the gains from each device you patch to.

Make it yours: It’s your show file, structure it in the way that’s best for you. The number of scenes you have will depend on how you like to work and the kind of show you’re doing. You might be happy to have one starting scene and do all the mixing as you go along. You might have a scene per band or per song. If you’re mixing a musical you might like to have a new scene every few lines, to deal with cast members coming on and off stage (see “further resources” for some more information about theatre’s approach to automation and line by line mixing). Find the settings and shortcuts that help you work most efficiently. Just keep everything clear and well-labeled for anyone who might need to step in. If you’re sharing mixing duties with others you will obviously need to work together to find a system that suits everyone.

Save early, save often: You should save each show file after soundcheck at the very least, even if nothing is going to change before the performance, as a backup. You should also save it after the show for when, or in case, you work with that act again. Apart from that, it’s good practice to save as often as you can, to make sure nothing gets lost. Some desks offer an autosave feature but don’t rely on it to save everything, or to save it at the right point. Store each scene before you move on to the next one when possible. Remember each scene is a starting point, so if you make manual changes during the scene reset them before saving.

Periodically save your show under a new name so you can roll back to a previous version if something goes wrong or the act changes their mind. You should save the current scene, then the show, then save it to two USB sticks which you store in different places in case you lose or damage one. It is a good idea to keep one with you and leave the other one either with the audio gear or with a trusted colleague, in case you can’t make it to the next show.

In case of emergency

If you find that your file isn’t recalling properly, all is not necessarily lost. First off, do not save anything until you’ve figured out the problem! You risk overwriting salvageable data with new/blank data.

Step one is to check the manual! If that doesn’t shed light on the situation, ask a colleague if they recognise the problem. If neither of these things help, try the following. It isn’t guaranteed to fix it by any means but is worth a go.
If your entire show file isn’t showing up when you load it, the USB might be corrupted. Try your spare USB that you cleverly backed up earlier! If you don’t have a back up try searching online for data recovery options.
If the show file is working, but the right information isn’t appearing scene to scene, check that you don’t have anything safed that shouldn’t be. Some desks (hello, Midas) have their safes as part of the desk’s working memory rather than part of the show file, so check that whoever used the desk before you didn’t select any safes, and you haven’t selected any by mistake.
If the safes are correct, check the recall scope. As covered earlier, all desks will save everything (unless you mess with store scope. Don’t mess with store scope), but will only use the parts of that information that you tell it to through the recall scope. I have not tested this on every desk, but you should be able to adjust and update the scene’s recall scope (not the scene itself) and rescue that data. One exception is, you guessed it, Midas: unlike other desks, the scope is an integral part of the scene and so can’t be updated separately. In this case, you need to fire the scene, change the store scope so nothing will be saved (i.e., put everything into the store scope, as per Midas’s logic) to prevent you from saving over the data you need to recover with the current settings, change the recall scope to what you want, save the scene and then refire it. Don’t forget to reset the store scope afterward! (Thanks to Will Dickinson and Liam Halpin for this solution).
If the safes and recall scope are correct, and your desk offers it, check the store scope. If the store scope is wrong then the only thing you can do is accept this as a lesson in why you shouldn’t touch the store scope.

Utility scenes

When you’re confident with your automation skills you can utilise scenes for more than just changing state during the show. Here are a few examples of how they can be used:

Master settings: As soon as you start adjusting the recall scope, you should have a “settings” scene where you store everything, including parameters you know won’t change during the performance. Then you can take those parameters out of the recall scope for the rest of the scenes so you don’t change them accidentally. It is very important that they are stored somewhere, to begin with though! As monitor engineer Dan Speed shared:

“Always have a snapshot where all parameters are within the recall scope and be sure to update it regularly so it’s relevant. I learnt this the hard way with a Midas when I recalled the safe scene [the desk’s “blank slate” scene] and lost a week’s worth of gain/EQ/dynamics settings 30 minutes before the band turned up to soundcheck!”

I would also personally recommend saving your gain in this scene only. Having gain stored in every scene can cause a lot of hassle if you need to soft patch your inputs for any reason (e.g. when you’re a guest engineer where they can’t accommodate your channel list as is) or you need to adjust the gain mid-gig because a mic has slipped, etc. If you need to change the gain you would then need to make a block edit while the desk is live, “safe” the affected channel’s gain alone (and so lose any gain adjustments you had saved in subsequent scenes anyway), or re-adjust the gain every time you change the scene: all ways to risk making unnecessary mistakes. Some people disagree, but for most live music cases at least, if you consistently find that you can’t achieve the level changes needed within a show from the faders and other tools on the desk, you should revisit your gain structure rather than include gain changes in automation. A notable exception to this would be for multi-band bills: If a few seconds of silence is acceptable, for example, if you’re doing monitors, it is best to save each band as their own show file and switch over. Otherwise, if you need to keep the changeover music or announcement mics live, you can treat each set as a mini-show within the file and have a “master” starting scene for each one, then take the gain out of any other scenes.

Line system check: If you need to test that your whole line system is working, rather than line checking a particular setup, you should plug a phantom-powered mic into each channel and listen to it (phantom power checkers don’t pick up everything that might be wrong with a channel. It’s best to check with your own ears while testing the line system). A scene where everything is flat, patched 1-1, and phantom is sent to every channel makes this quick and easy, and easy to undo when you move on to the actual setup.

Multitrack playback: If you have a multitrack recording of your show but your desk doesn’t have a virtual playback option, you can make your own. Make two scenes with just input patching in their recall scope: one with the mics patched to the channels, and one with the multitrack patched instead. Take input patching out of every other scene’s recall scope. Now you can use the patch scenes to flip between live and playback, without affecting the rest of the show file. (Thanks to the awesome Michael Nunan for this tip!).

Despite the length of this post, I have only scratched the surface when it comes to the power of automation and what can be achieved with it. Unfortunately, it also has the power to ruin your gig, and maybe even lose your work. Truly understanding the principles of automation and building simple, clear show files will help your show run smoothly, and give you a solid foundation from which to build more complex ones when you need them.

Further resources:

Sound designer Kirsty Gillmore briefly outlines how automation can be approached for mixing musicals in part 2 of her Soundgirls blog on the topic: https://soundgirls.org/mixing-for-musicals-2/

Sound designer Gareth Owen explains the rationale for line by line mixing in musical theatre and demonstrates how automation makes it possible in this interview about Bat Out of Hell: https://youtu.be/25-tUKYqcY0?t=477

Aleš Štefančič from Sound Design Live has tips for Digico users and their sessions: https://www.sounddesignlive.com/top-5-common-mistakes-when-using-a-digico-console/

Nathan Lively from Sound Design Live has lots of great advice and tips for workflow and snapshots in his ultimate guide to mixing on a Digico SD5:

https://www.sounddesignlive.com/ultimate-guide-creative-mixing-digico-sd5-tutorial/

Mind Your Language

How improving what you say can change your mindset and reputation

I’m a big fan of cognitive behavioural therapy. I think everyone should learn about it, whether they’re in need of therapy or not because it explains so much about how we think and how to control our mindset. One of the main insights I have taken away from it is that when we’re tired, stressed out, or even bored our brains revisit the same thoughts and memories that we already think about the most. These are our most well-worn neural pathways, so represent the path of least resistance when we don’t have the energy to think of something new. This of course causes a feedback loop, so the type of thoughts we default to quickly become a habit.

The things we say out loud feed into this too, helping to form our self-image as well as others’ opinion of us. If we say negative things all the time, we might embody the “grumpy sound guy,” but if we try to see the upside to every situation we might actually find it, and become known as someone who can raise morale in challenging circumstances. It is also far more professional to remain polite and positive instead of complaining all the time. I know this sounds dangerously like a recommendation to bottle everything up and fake a positive mental attitude. I don’t think that’s healthy, and problems should be addressed. However, some approaches are more constructive than others, and you would be surprised by how helpful it can be to tweak your language just a bit. For example, a friend once told me that any time she wants to say “F*ck them”, she says “Bless them” instead. Not only is this more acceptable to say in front of others, it helps you to remember that the other person is only human, and they might have issues that they’re dealing with that you are unaware of. It also gives control of the situation back to the speaker: you aren’t letting the other person’s actions get to you, you’re showing compassion for them and then moving on.

It might feel weird and fake at first, but practising replacing negative comments with more positive ones can actually reprogramme your thinking until you genuinely mean what you say, and can make you more pleasant to work with! It is also a good idea to include more professional and inclusive phrases until they come naturally to you. It will help you to remain calm and avoid social faux pas while your focus is on other things. This habit takes time and effort, and I’m still working on it myself, but it is worth it to improve your mindset and build your reputation as a great colleague that people want to work with. Here are some helpful swaps to get you started.

“Turn it off and on again” = “Power cycle it”

Turning gear on and off again does often fix the problem, but calling it power cycling makes you seem more professional and helps to justify your day rate as a technician.

“It wasn’t plugged in” = “There was an air gap”

See above.

“I hit it with a hammer” = “I performed percussive maintenance”

Try to avoid hitting audio gear with hammers, but if you must, keep it quiet.

“My boss” = “My client”

If you find yourself complaining about your boss(es) a lot, especially if you’re self-employed, referring to them as your client instead helps to reset your relationship with them and helps you to remember that you’re working with them because you chose to.

“Gents/chaps/boys/fellas/ladies/girls/ladies and gentlemen” = “Everybody/folks/people”

“Soundman/noiseboy” = “tech”

As a woman who often gets referred to as a man both in a group and individually, this is a bugbear of mine. The response when I point it out is always, “Oh, it didn’t occur to me,” but would you ever stand up in a crowded venue and address the audience as all being of one gender? Then why do it with any group, unless you’re in a monastery or something? Just pick one term that can be applied to everyone and stick to it. It helps everybody feel welcome and included, and you don’t end up stumbling over your words when you realise you left someone out halfway through your sentence. If you don’t know someone’s gender, for example discussing a tech role that is yet to be filled, referring to them as “them” covers all your bases. It isn’t political correctness gone mad, it’s the easiest and best option.

“This show is a mess and everyone keeps changing their minds” = “This is an organic, flexible production”

We work in a creative industry and things change all the time. If you learn to expect the unexpected and treat advance information just as a rough guide it will help to keep your stress levels low.

“The engineer is an idiot” = “It’s a PICNIC situation”.

PICNIC: Problem in chair, not in console. This one is a bit too well known to actually get away with using and is just for fun.

“I hated that set” = “The audience loved it!”

The audience’s opinion is the one that matters anyway.

“That’s not my job/I don’t know” = “X can help you with that, let me take you to them”.

It can be tough to tread the fine line between being a team player and doing everyone’s job for them. Introducing the asker to the relevant person on the team shows that you’re happy to help and enables them to find the right person from then on, while you concentrate on your own role.

“It’s f*cked” = “We have an issue that we’re working on, could you give us X minutes?”

We might think it’s obvious that when things are broken we try to fix them, but it does help to let the client know that you are aware of the problem and working on it. Respect their time by giving them a generous estimate of how long it will take to fix so they can do something else in the meantime instead of waiting on you.

“X messed up” = “There’s been an issue, we’re doing xyz to fix it.”

Blaming other people never looks professional and doesn’t help the situation. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, it only matters what’s being done about it.

“I messed up” = “I messed up”.

Own it. Sometimes it’s prudent not to discuss it in front of a client, but at least be honest and open with your colleagues. It isn’t the mistakes you make, it’s how you deal with them that’s important.

“I’m crap at that” = “That is not one of my strengths/I’m still learning that”.

If you talk yourself down people will believe you. No one is perfect at everything, but you can acknowledge your weaknesses without sounding like someone not worth employing. Seeing skills as things that can be worked on and improved, rather than dictated at birth, is an incredibly powerful trait that is correlated with long-term success. The same goes for commenting on your colleagues’ abilities. We’re all constantly learning and improving. Be kind.

“I’m so stressed out” = “I’m so excited”.

If you’re stressed, it’s because you care. If you’re doing something that’s worth caring about, that’s exciting! Take that nervous energy and adrenaline and see it as a sign that you’re doing something worthwhile.

You don’t need to speak like a corporate slimeball, constantly using overcomplicated euphemisms and cliches, to be seen as professional. In fact, that would be counterproductive. However, there is more power in our words than we realise, and choosing them more considerately can improve our mood, our lives, and our career prospects.

How to Make a Good First Impression in Live Events

Working for new companies and clients can be nerve-wracking, especially if you’re new to live events in general. Every workplace is different, but there are plenty of things you can do to make a positive and lasting first impression, and land that all-important second gig.

Before you get there

Before you even meet your new client in person, you’re already making an impression on them. If you’re sending out your resume/CV, make sure it’s the best it can be (Career Development: Resources for Resumes and Social Media) and take the time to craft a professional cover letter. It is an employer’s market out there: audio companies and venues are very busy, and if your email doesn’t catch their attention they won’t even bother reading your resume. It’s common for people to perform internet searches of potential hires, so make sure you are happy with what they’ll find (Networking on Social Media).

For all text communication, bear in mind that it’s human nature to interpret it more negatively than you intended (Flaming emails: Why email causes misunderstanding, rage and frustration (and what to do about it). You don’t have to sound like a robot, but try to be clear and positive, and avoid all but the most obvious jokes. Don’t use sarcasm unless you already know the person well, it is far too easily misinterpreted.

Have a folder on your phone or in the cloud with all your important documents, like photo ID, passport, and insurance policies. That way they’re all ready to go when you’re asked for them, and you can send them in seconds rather than making your client wait until you get back from your current gig to catch up on admin on your computer. You get to look efficient and professional, and you don’t have to remember to do it later.

On the job

Entire books could be written about how to act on gigs. As Heather Augustine says: “Most of the tour [or any gig] advice boils down to don’t be an idiot and don’t be an asshole.” (Tips for Touring). As a rule of thumb, just follow the more experienced people’s lead, unless they’re being negative and rude. As the newbie, you should be more enthusiastic and polite than the more established techs, and err on the side of caution until you get a feel for the work environment. There are certain things you shouldn’t do until you’ve “paid your dues”, e.g. making personal comments about colleagues that you don’t know well enough, but you should get the general vibe pretty quickly.

Be nice: This is just general advice for life, but particularly apt in a new job. Be nice to everyone, not just the people you think are important. It is simply the right thing to do, but if you need more convincing, there are plenty of workplaces where the people in the shop/warehouse or stagehands have long and close relationships with management, and their feedback on you is just as valued as your crew boss’s. Don’t get caught up thinking some people are more important than others. Plus, most people are happy to fill gaps in your knowledge, but no one has the time to rehabilitate a crappy attitude.

Similarly, don’t fall into tribal warfare with other departments. We’re all on the same team, fighting over resources or space will just piss people off. If you screw someone else over on the load in you’ll just have to rearrange what you did, later in the day when everything is plugged in so it’s a much bigger pain in the behind. Take the initiative and approach other departments at the start of the day to discuss what works best for all of you.

Keep it clean: Keep your work neat and easy to follow. Label everything so anyone can understand it. Don’t think “Oh, but I know what that means.” You might not be around when that area needs to be troubleshot, and your colleagues will appreciate clarity while they’re under pressure. Even if you’re fixing it yourself, labeling reduces confusion and silly mistakes in the heat of the moment. Clean up after yourself. Don’t leave scraps of tape and uncoiled cables all over the place for someone else to pick up after you. You’re a grown-up!

Keep busy: A new job can be overwhelming, and you can feel like a deer in headlights, not knowing what to do. If you’re stuck, just keep asking your colleagues what you can do for them. If they’re busy, you should be too. Even if they say there’s nothing you can do, offer to get them a drink or tidy up. Unless you’re in a union, you chose a career that doesn’t include a lunch hour. Eat your meals when you have time, don’t just drop everything when the food arrives. If you do take a break, make sure it’s at an appropriate point, let people know where you’re going, and be contactable at all times.

Do the crappy jobs: You’re new. It doesn’t matter what roles you’ve done before. The crappy jobs in our industry aren’t even that crappy. Just do them, and be cheery about it. That will earn you mega brownie points.

Put the phone down, pick a cable up: There is an ongoing debate around how useful social media self-promotion is in our field. Regardless of whether an arty shot of the load in dock and a dozen hashtags will land you more future clients, taking photos while you’re supposed to be working risks losing you your current one. Only post on social media when you’re on a break, or after the gig altogether. Ask before posting anything that wouldn’t have been visible to the audience. Our work is often subject to non-disclosure agreements, which might have been buried in your contract’s small print or even signed on your behalf without your knowledge. It’s taken as read that as a professional you won’t share inappropriately on social media. Don’t take photos or videos of celebrities backstage without their express permission. Ever. Only ask if someone more experienced asks first. We work with famous people all the time; be cool about it.

Be honest: It can be tough to walk the line between underselling yourself and bullshitting. You want to have the chutzpah to get the job, but don’t lie, and once you’re there be honest about your abilities. If you can’t do something, say so and ask for help with it. Don’t ask someone to do it for you, even if they could do it themselves. Show willingness and learn from your colleagues who are taking the time to teach you.

When talking shop, don’t be tempted to exaggerate. This is a close-knit community and people are nosey. If you say you were on a certain tour or worked for a particular company, people will ask their friends from there what they thought of you. If they find out you were overstating your role or straight-up lying, it will not go down well. You should be proud of the things you have done anyway! If you did the hospitality tent at a festival for a small audio company, that’s great! Massaging the truth until you worked “with” the major company who supplied the main stage and it turns out they’ve never heard of you? Embarrassing at best.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions: I would much rather someone ask what could be seen as a stupid question five times then get it right than just guessing and get it wrong. We deal with big, heavy, expensive things and electricity; always ask if you’re unsure. You might encounter people who openly mock you for not knowing something, but that’s on them. We all have different backgrounds and there’s a lot to learn in our job. You can’t know everything, and the only way to learn is to ask. Don’t let mean people shame you out of a good habit.

It’s also good to ask questions about things you don’t understand, to show how enthusiastic you are. If you finish your tasks then just sit on your phone when you could be learning something, that will be noticed. Don’t hassle people when they’re busy, but healthy curiosity is appreciated, and an ego boost for the person you’re asking to enlighten you.

Bring a bag of tricks: You don’t have to bring a massive workbox full of fancy tools on your first gig (indeed, you probably shouldn’t. They take up a lot of space), but having a few choice adapters and gadgets in your bag as soon as you can afford them will earn you a reputation for being helpful and prepared. There is plenty of inspiration in Elisabeth Weidner’s post: What’s in Your Go Bag. I would recommend starting with a multimeter (good for testing power distros and continuity in cables), a phantom power checker, lots of Sharpies, and ⅛” to ¼” headphone adapters. I’m pretty sure when Luke said “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back,” in the Bible (Luke 6:30), he was talking about headphone adapters. You can get a pack of adequate quality ones for about $/£1 each; just gift them to people when they ask to borrow them. The same goes for Sharpies. You’re never going to see them again anyway, you might as well be a magnanimous baller about it instead of wasting your time trying to chase them down again.

Don’t take it personally: The fast-paced, high-stakes nature of our job means that tensions can run high and people can be blunt or downright rude in the heat of the moment. Like working in a restaurant kitchen, people might yell and swear but it’s just part of the job. If it happens, don’t take it personally. You aren’t the first to be shouted at and you won’t be the last. Sustained abuse or bullying is different of course, but the occasional outburst is to be expected. Just do what needs doing quickly and if it was really hurtful, discuss it at a calmer moment later.

Don’t stress: You should always try your best, but don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake. It isn’t about how you messed up, it’s how you deal with it. Learn what you can from it and move on. If you let it get to you, you’ll end up focusing on it and making more mistakes because you’re distracted. If you’re open and upfront about it and apologise, that will be remembered for much longer than whatever it was that went wrong.

Everyone was new once. As long as you have a helpful, enthusiastic attitude everything else is secondary. If you put the effort in and make your colleagues’ lives easier, you should be welcome back in any workplace again and again.

What to expect when working in Abu Dhabi and Dubai

UAE FAQs

So you’re thinking of working in the UAE but don’t know whether it’s right for you? It can be hard to get a clear picture of what it’s really like before you go. This is partly because there are laws against criticising the government and people don’t want to say anything that could possibly be interpreted as negative. You might also find conflicting advice as laws can change very quickly and there are some confusing grey areas. Most sources in English about life in the UAE are written by well-off, ex-pat women and travel bloggers, and your experience as an event professional will have little in common with them (sorry!). Plus going for a few months, as is common in live events, is different from being a long-term resident.

If you’re unsure about a topic or what it’s really like to spend time there as someone who belongs to a certain group, it can be hard to find public information about it. The best thing to do is to talk privately with someone who’s been there to really understand what it’s like. In addition, here are a few things you’ll want to be aware of before accepting work in the UAE. There’s a lot to take in in this post, but you get used to it all pretty quickly. Most of these things won’t affect you very often if at all, but prior warning takes a lot of the frustration out of culture shock! The following is not legal advice or condoning or condemning anything, and please double check any information before you go as it may be out of date by then.

Um… Where is it?

The way people talk about Dubai and Abu Dhabi, you could be forgiven for thinking they’re countries. However, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the country, which is made up of seven emirates, similar to states in the USA. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the two main cities, each in an emirate of the same name. Abu Dhabi is the country’s capital, and Dubai is the biggest city with the most events. The UAE is on the Arabian Peninsula, but it is not in Saudi Arabia, which is a very different country! Each emirate can set some of its own laws in addition to national ones, so make sure you’re aware of these if you’re traveling between them.

Is everything illegal?

You might have reservations about working in the Middle East. The UAE is different from the West, but it is also unlike its neighbours in many ways. Dubai is sometimes known as the Las Vegas of the Middle East because of its relatively (emphasis on relatively!) relaxed attitude compared to the other countries in the region, and how open it is to tourism. A lot of everyday life is pretty similar to the West, but it is important to remember that the UAE is not a democracy. What the rulers say goes and laws can change very quickly on their decree. Their judicial system is very strict. Being foreign and ignorant of the law is no defence, and your embassy will be unlikely to get you out of prison if you find yourself in trouble. Here are just some things that can result in fines, deportation, or arrest:

Being anything other than cisgender.
Being anything other than heterosexual.
Sex outside marriage. N.B. While the punishment for sexual assault is severe, the burden of proof is high. If the plaintiff can’t prove it was non-consensual they could be the ones that get punished, for extra-marital sex.
Bringing sex toys or pornography into the country.
Crossdressing.
Immodest clothing.
Being in possession of any drugs, including in your bloodstream (this applies even if you’re just transiting through the airport).
Drinking or being drunk in public (also applies in the airport, so don’t go crazy with the free drinks on the plane if you have a connection in Dubai!).
Public displays of affection or vulgarity, including swearing, including online, including swearing in WhatsApp! https://emirateswoman.com/mind-your-ps-qs-on-whatsapp-or-face-prison/
Taking photos of people without their permission.
Criticising the government.
Having a dirty car.
Cleaning your car in public.

It looks like a long list, but if you’re there to work for a short time you’re unlikely to fall foul of these. What you hold in your heart is nobody else’s business if you don’t want it to be. Try to talk like you’re on a corporate job or in The Good Place. You can still drink if you’re 21 or over (except in the dry emirate Sharjah, but you’re unlikely to go there), just make sure it’s in private or a licensed premises and keep your composure on the way back to your accommodation. If you don’t want to abide by the country’s laws you are free not to go there. Disagreeing with them is not an excuse to break the law.

Nah, tourists do that stuff all the time

Some people who don’t respect these laws visit, and you might hear that it’s all very relaxed and you can pretty much do whatever you want. Of course, you can have a great time, but you can do that while staying on the right side of the law. Just because people have done illegal things without being arrested doesn’t mean it’s ok, that it isn’t disrespectful or that you’ll get away with it too. Besides, you are there to work. You should have higher standards of behaviour than someone who’s there to party. Getting arrested or deported will also cause a big headache for your employer and is not a clever career move.

Modest clothing?

One of the main areas I was concerned about before I went to Dubai for the first time was what is appropriate to wear. I asked my boss and he said “Well, now it’s December it’s getting a bit chilly in the evenings, you might want a sweater…” That wasn’t really what I meant! The idea is “modest” clothing: you shouldn’t wear anything low cut or translucent and should cover your shoulders and back. Your underwear should never be visible. On-site it’s usually fine to wear cargo shorts, but when out in public in places like malls it’s best to cover your knees. If you’re on a tourist beach (some beaches are more conservative, for locals) it’s fine to wear swimwear, but cover up before going into a bar or restaurant. If you visit a mosque, dress conservatively and cover your hair if you’re a woman. Some mosques will provide you with an abaya to wear. If you don’t want to wear one, don’t visit a mosque. Tattoos and piercings are relatively common in live event crews, but you might be asked to cover them for more formal events, like in any country.

From a practical point of view, pack light, breathable fabrics. Indoors is almost always well air-conditioned but outside can be really hot! Don’t rely on finding the right clothes when you get there. Malls mainly have the same brands as in the UK and USA, and they stock the same items just with higher price tags, even if they are totally inappropriate for the climate. Try finding a sunhat in a Dubai mall in December: you can spend hours sifting through thick wool coats and scarves, with fake fireplaces and snow everywhere while it’s 30C (86F) outside. You’ll have more luck with non-Western brands like Splash and Lulu but it still isn’t guaranteed you’ll find what you need, so bring essentials with you.

What are the people like?

Only about 15% of the population are native Emiratis. They are mostly very wealthy and you only tend to encounter them as end clients or guests of honour at your event. The rest of the population is made up of people from all over the world and it makes for a very interesting and cosmopolitan society. It is a great opportunity to learn about other people’s cultures (and their food!) but it also means you should make the effort to respect their ways of life and beliefs.

Some people get the impression that the UAE doesn’t have any culture because it doesn’t have lots of old buildings and famous books. However, this is quite a blinkered view of what culture is (as explained in this article https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/the-majlis-emirati-culture-exists-just-look-closer-1.4506). Emiratis were nomadic Bedouins until very recently so didn’t build settlements or have many material possessions, and their culture was passed down through oral poetry and story-telling. The state was only founded in 1971, and cities only grew from small pearling villages with the discovery of oil in the 60s, so most architecture is very modern. That doesn’t mean there’s no cultural heritage, you just need to look a bit harder for it. Al Fahidi historical neighbourhood in Dubai has been preserved as it would have looked in the mid-1800s and is a good introduction to Emirati culture and heritage. This article (https://www.ourglobetrotters.com/dubai-uae-culture-tradition/) outlines more about Emirati culture and where to find it.

Do I need to learn Arabic?

All signage is bilingual and staff will be able to help you in English. If you do want to learn Arabic, translating signs is good practice.

No. Arabic is the official language, but English is the most widely spoken. All signs are in both Arabic and English. You don’t need to know a word of Arabic to work there but it is polite to at least learn to say thank you, which is “shukraan”. You can say “shukraan habibi” (shu-KRAN ha-BEE-bee) to a man or “shukraan habibti” to a woman if you are on good terms with them. It translates as “thank you darling” but it is friendly rather than patronising or creepy.

If you’re the type of person who likes to be able to say a few words in the languages of people you interact with, you have your work cut out for you in the UAE. The main language barrier you’ll encounter as an events professional is communicating with stagehands, who are Indian and Pakistani men. Some stagehands don’t speak English at all. There will usually be a couple of guys on the crew who can act as translators, but a lot of your communication will be by mime and some misinterpretation is inevitable. If you want to learn every Indian and Pakistani language and guess who speaks which one, go for it!

What’s the workplace like?

Working in the UAE can feel quite slow compared to Western countries, but once you do a gig in up to 50C (122F) heat you’ll realise why you need to pace yourself. And why you should wear gloves! Those flight cases get HOT! You should also bring appropriate PPE, and use it. The UAE is not the wild west of events like you might have heard from people who were there in “the good old days”, twenty years ago. You’re expected to be professional and safe.

There are usually a lot of stagehands, known as ‘labour’. Some are so good they could do your job, some are just there to push boxes. The main frustration is the aforementioned language barrier. If you carry boxes they might grab them out of your hands. It happens to men as well as women: it isn’t so much sexism as they see it as an insult to their abilities if you do their job for them.

Your fellow techs will be from all over the world, but mostly British in my experience. The workplace reflects the wider society in that physical contact isn’t the norm. Don’t hug people you don’t know really well. If anyone gets touchy-feely stay well away from them and flag it with your boss if you’re concerned. You probably won’t want to hug anyone anyway, because you’ll all be really sweaty. Because it’s really hot.

You need to make sure you don’t make noise outside during prayer times. Playing music or even sending pink noise to speakers where it can be heard by the public is not allowed. Muslims pray five times a day, no matter where they are or what they’re doing. Soundchecking during prayers is like rolling your rig into a church during Sunday service or a library and blasting some tunes out. It is disrespectful and won’t be tolerated. People who work in events know this happens, so you just need to give the artist a heads up if prayers will interrupt soundcheck, preferably with a ten and five-minute reminder. Prayer times are linked to sunrise and sunset so change slightly depending on the date and place. You can download phone apps that give you notifications for each one (search for “Muslim prayer app”). Just remember to set them to silent or you’ll have a little Muezzin calling you to prayer from your pocket, and waking you up before dawn.

At least we don’t have to protect the gear from rain in the desert!

Yes, you do! First of all, most gigs are in the coastal cities, which aren’t in the desert. They’re actually quite green. Second, it doesn’t rain very often, but when it does it means business! It can go from blue skies to torrential storms in a matter of minutes, sometimes with no warning. If you’re doing an outdoor gig you definitely need to protect your gear. Even if it doesn’t rain, you need to prevent dust and sand from getting into the equipment. I did a gig out in the desert once and there was so much sand that brushing my desk down every ten minutes felt like an archaeological dig.

The streets are paved with gold!

While some buildings are literally covered in gold, unfortunately, the live scene is not as drowning in money as it once was. However, they still have the money to host your event, so don’t let any employer plead poverty with you. Unless you’re moving for a permanent position, it’s standard to be paid your home country’s day rate plus be provided with travel and accommodation. Due to the seasonal and often unpredictable nature of the events sector, companies need to fly people in from abroad all the time, and paying for accommodation is just a cost of doing business in the UAE. Anyone acting like they’re doing you a favour or trying to knock the price of accommodation off your rate is being disingenuous. Besides, you already have somewhere to live! If they want you to work for them they need to offer you a better deal than you already have at home. If they put you up somewhere nice, do show them some appreciation because that is a bonus. Residents of the UAE don’t pay income tax but you will still be liable to pay it in your home country if you are only there temporarily.

Can I set up as a freelancer there?

No. There is no freelancer visa, you must be sponsored by a company to work there (unless you’re from another Gulf country, but if you are, what are you doing reading this?). Your visa requirements will depend on your home country and the nature of your trip so do discuss it with your employer before accepting your offer.

What is the cost of living like?

There’s no denying that the UAE is expensive, especially if you drink alcohol. A pint of beer costs around £9/€10/$12 (all prices in this post are rough estimates at the time of writing)! That being said, prices can vary wildly depending on where and how you shop. What’s the difference between an ex-pat and an immigrant? Money! If you want to live the jetskiing, cocktails, and brunch lifestyle you’ll struggle to make a profit from your time in the UAE. If you want more value from your budget, ask your fellow migrant workers where they go and what’s good. A latte in Starbucks might cost as much as £5/€5.50/$7, but a cup of chai from the seller one street away could cost 20p/22c/27c. Buying brand names from back home can also be an expensive habit if they’re imported for the ex-pat market. Apps the Entertainer and Zomato Gold offer good discounts and deals at all sorts of establishments (for example buy one get one free on food and drink) for an initial fee, and you can save more than the cost quite easily. Ask your local friends for a referral code that will benefit you both!

What is the food like?

Camel milk products are popular in the UAE. You can buy camel milk soap, camel milk ice-cream, camel milk chocolate or treat yourself to a camelicious camelccino.

Delicious! Traditional Emirati cuisine is very rich, with a lot of spiced stew-like dishes, fish and dates. Unfortunately, there aren’t many Emirati restaurants, so you might not get to try it. There are, however, restaurants serving food from all over the world. Most Western chains are commonly found in the UAE as well as great Indian, Filipino and Lebanese places. Junk food is everywhere and it is very easy to eat incredibly unhealthily if you aren’t careful. Non-halal meat is not banned, but it is sold in a special separate section of grocery stores. Places that cater to wide audiences, like hotel breakfast buffets, only serve halal food. Sausages and bacon are usually made from chicken or lamb instead of pork.

Some more old-fashioned restaurants have a “family room” where any group that is not made up solely of men are seated. If you are going anywhere other than a fast food place, wait to be seated. If you’re a woman planning to join your male colleagues at an old-fashioned restaurant, make sure they let the staff know that they will have a woman in their group before being seated. You might feel weird not being allowed to sit in the main room, but it isn’t a very common custom these days. On the other hand, women get to choose between the normal and women-only carriages on the metro so you can feel special and have space while the guys are crammed into the normal ones.

Should I tip?

Tipping is a choice in the UAE, and is common but not expected. 10% is normal in restaurants, 15% is plenty. Make it clear that you are tipping, though. If you just leave without waiting for your change they might get accused of stealing. You usually tell taxi drivers to keep the change if paying in cash but you don’t need to add more on top.

Phone and internet

There are three telecom companies in the UAE, and they are the only entities licensed to provide video calls, available as expensive plans. Services like Skype, Facetime and WhatsApp video chat are banned. Rules have been relaxed due to covid so Zoom and Microsoft Teams are allowed while the pandemic keeps people working remotely https://gulfbusiness.com/will-access-to-zoom-other-voip-services-continue-in-the-uae-tra-responds/.

The internet is heavily censored in the UAE. Sites related to things like pornography, gambling and criticism of the government are not allowed. VPNs are therefore extensively blocked to prevent people from accessing this content and VoIP services, but they are only illegal if you use them to break the law (https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/vpn-etisalat/). If you simply want to protect your personal information while on your hotel’s WiFi, for example, that is permitted. If you want to do this, download a VPN before you enter the country. Make sure you find one that has good reviews for the UAE, because some that are great in North America, for example, don’t have servers close enough to the Middle East to remain fast and effective. The previous link has a few suggestions for the ones that work best.

Getting out and about

There is much more to the UAE than sand and shopping malls. You could have the Mangroves National Park to yourself and feel like you’re in the middle of the wilderness, until you kayak around a corner and see the Abu Dhabi skyline on the horizon.

It can be very difficult to get to places on foot in the UAE. It’s so hot you would be risking your health to do much walking outside for most of the year, and as such, there has been little investment in sidewalks. Luckily public transport is very reasonably priced and clean. The metro in Dubai services the most popular spots and the buses are air-conditioned and safe. Google maps can struggle with directions at times so it can help to refer to the city’s transit website instead. Taxis are plentiful and of good value so you might prefer to use them instead of public transport. On the whole, drivers in the UAE are quite aggressive and commonly use their phones while behind the wheel. As a rule of thumb, if you are happy to drive through central London at rush hour, you should be able to deal with UAE roads.

Laundry day

If you aren’t lucky enough to have a washing machine in your accommodation, you’ll have to send it to a laundrette. Labour is cheap in the UAE and there are a lot of immigrants trying to make a living, so it’s kind of a thing that if you can afford to pay someone to do a task, you should. As such, there is only one self-service laundrette in the whole of Dubai, but there are lots of serviced places. Again, prices range from cheap to so expensive you’d be better off buying an entirely new wardrobe. There are some app-based services that can pick your laundry up from your hotel and deliver it back, which can be very useful if you don’t have the time to get away from your gig. Most places charge per item rather than per load, so be prepared for the delightful experience of a strange man emptying your dirty laundry out onto a counter and publicly counting up your underwear and socks.

What is that arrow on my hotel room ceiling?

It’s a qibla! They point towards Mecca so Muslims know which way to face while praying.

There’s a hose by the toilet…

Yup. That is a bidet shower/shattaf/bum gun. They’re the preferred device for personal hygiene throughout the Middle East and Southeast Asia. You can just continue to use toilet paper, but if you’re curious to give them a go you should read a guide first, like this one https://www.bidet.org/pages/how-to-use-a-hand-held-bidet. You might get converted! Facilities are often designed to be washed down with the shattaf, sluicing water into a central drain, so if you find yours dripping wet don’t panic. Just don’t put your bag down on the floor…

Do I need to worry about creepy crawlies?

Not really. The cities are quite sanitized and you only really see birds and some benign insects. Some vipers, scorpions, and redback spiders are found there, but only out in the countryside and very rarely. If you are squeamish, just don’t Google camel spiders and maybe get someone else to do the digging if you need to bury cables in the desert.

What can I do with my time off?

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is one of the most popular places to visit in the UAE. It is particularly atmospheric at sunset.

What time off?! Your employer needs to pay for accommodation etc. for every day you’re there so they’re going to get their money’s worth out of you! If you are lucky enough to have a day or two off, there are plenty of things to do that don’t involve the usual shopping in a mall or tanning on the beach. Search online and ask your local colleagues for recommendations and hidden gems, because there are lots.

For starters in Dubai, you can visit the gold souk (not as ancient as you might imagine, but still an experience), take an abra across the creek, or go to the coffee museum and the Al Fahidi neighbourhood. In Abu Dhabi, you can visit the Sheikh Zayed Mosque (I recommend the free guided tours), ride an electric scooter along the corniche promenade at sunset, and my favourite, kayak through the mangroves. Both cities have museums and galleries, and a host of live entertainment.

The UAE is a great country for the adventurous, with skydiving, ziplining, bungee jumping and sandboarding. If you’re a fan of wildlife like me, you might be disappointed to find out that desert safaris don’t feature any animals. It’s actually driving around sand dunes in a 4×4 but apparently, it’s great fun! There are, however, plenty of wildlife parks and sanctuaries, and you can visit the Falcon Hospital in Abu Dhabi to learn about these amazing birds and the integral part they play in Bedouin culture.

Tour operators offer packages of a day in the desert, camel ride, and evening being entertained in a Bedouin camp if you want the full tourist experience. If you want the full ex-pat experience, save up to go for brunch with your friends (look them up, it isn’t just that avocado is expensive), but only if you don’t have work the next day. If you can, get out of the cities and explore the stunning landscapes the country offers. It will surprise you how beautiful, lush and varied an apparent desert can be.

So there you have it! I know it’s a very long list, but believe me, you do get used to it. It definitely isn’t for everyone, but if it appeals to you it’s a great market to be involved in. The UAE loves to put on a show, so you can be part of some of the biggest spectacles in the world while making new friends, enjoying the winter sunshine, and experiencing other cultures. Some of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever done have been in the UAE and I was given opportunities to grow in ways I never had at home. Despite only working there a few weeks at a time, the friendships I have formed there are some of my strongest and are what keep me going back time and again.

How to Make an Awesome Audio Rider

An audio rider is essential to every gig. There can be a lot of confusion over what it should entail and how best to present the information, so here is how to make a clear, concise rider and the pitfalls to avoid. Much of this might seem obvious, but even people on arena tours make some of these mistakes. If you already know everything in this post, share it with your musician friends who don’t have an engineer yet so they can make great riders too.

Is my favourite beer really that important?

When people hear the word “rider” they tend to think of a rock and roll list of demands for lots of alcohol and no brown M&Ms in the dressing rooms. That is indeed part of the rider, but the term refers to the entire contract for a gig. It covers fees, security, food, drink, technical information, and anything else that is required on the day. The audio rider is probably the most important part of that because without it the promoter doesn’t know what equipment and personnel they’ll need for the gig to happen. Your audio rider should, at the bare minimum, list the instruments you’re bringing, how many people are in the band, and which members sing. If you only send one document to the promoter, it should be your audio rider, not a list of food and drink. Seriously.

Advance the show in advance!

Your rider must be sent in plenty of time before the show. Organisers make budget decisions and might need to hire extra equipment depending on your requirements, so you have to give them enough time to sort that out and negotiate who will pay for any extras. This is true of festivals in particular because they might be juggling the needs of dozens of acts over several days and stages. There can be many layers of communication between the artist, the festival organizers, and the audio supplier so the process can be slow, and setting the equipment up can take days. It’s no good complaining that you sent your rider on Friday when the equipment list got agreed weeks before and got shipped to the site on Tuesday. If the organiser has a deadline for riders make sure you meet it and preferably send it much earlier.

Start with the basics

If you’re just starting out or you don’t have your own engineer, you don’t have to worry about which mics to ask for or even which things need to be mic’ed. Just say what you’re bringing and the house engineers can make a channel list for you that is suitable for the room. For example, some venues might warrant every drum being mic’ed up, but smaller venues might work better with just a stereo pair above the kit. If you have no strong feelings on the matter let them decide. You do need to tell them exactly what you have. “1 x drums” is not helpful. There is no such thing as a “standard” drum kit. List each drum you have, how many channels of playback, how many people sing and where they stand, etc. Don’t just lump things together and presume it’ll be obvious. Mentioning pedalboards isn’t necessary unless they contain something that should plug into the line system, like a Sans Amp. When listing vocals, explain which musician they belong to. A band with drums, bass, guitar, and three vocals could mean anything between three and six people, so make it clear.

It is not necessary to list the brands of your instruments. They are only relevant if the promoter is hiring the gear for you or if you’re sharing backline with other bands who might want to know what they’ll be using. If someone has several amps or keyboards, differentiating them by brand can be helpful, but other than that it just takes up space. How a musician performs has far more influence on the sound than the make and model of their gear so the house engineer is unlikely to need this information before soundcheck.

Advance the plot

The next step is to make a stage plot. Draw where each instrument and vocal mic goes. This is much more useful than a list of gear because the techs can make decisions about how to run cables and plug everything in, what to do for monitors and how best to arrange the changeover. There are apps that will help you to do this (https://soundgirls.org/list-of-apps-and-software-for-designing-stage-plots), but using something like MS Paint or even drawing it by hand is perfectly fine, as long as it’s clear. It doesn’t need to be a photo-realistic masterpiece of your band rocking out in all its majesty, just show where everything goes and what it is. Less detail is often better because there are fewer distractions on the page. Figure 1 was drawn in Paint and shows all the information you need. Numbers in brackets in the rest of the article refer to notes in blue on the plot.

A perfectly professional stage plot, made for free in MS Paint

If you have a channel list, add the corresponding channel number where each one gets plugged into the line system. For example, write the number by the guitar amp because that’s where the mic goes, not where the guitar itself will be played (1). If you have wireless mics, put the numbers where the mics will be at the start of the set and make a note that they’re wireless (2) and where the receivers need to be (3). Things like drums and playback that are all in one place can have one set of numbers, e.g. 1-10, rather than positioning each number beside each drum or playback output (4). Style your inputs and monitors differently so it’s easy to see which is which at a glance (5).

Mark each place where you would like a power drop. If you have your own extension leads or some instruments are close enough to plug in together, just mark the best position for the venue’s power drops instead of everything that needs electricity. Don’t forget power for pedalboards (6)! If you’re performing in a foreign country, be sure to specify what kind of sockets you require, e.g. “110v USA” for American equipment or “230v UK” for U.K. power. Don’t presume every country in a region has the same plugs. British plugs are different from French plugs, which are in turn different from Italian ones. Mark each individual drop if you’re using a mix of your own and locally hired gear (7). This is especially important for artists traveling between 110v and 230v systems because they’ll need special transformers, which might have to be hired in as an extra. Certain models of backline can be particularly sensitive and rely on accurate voltage in their supply, so a travel adapter will not suffice.

Put your channel list at the bottom of the stage plot, as long as it won’t make it too cramped (8). Leave things like mic choices to a separate channel list on a separate page, but having each instrument and its number on the same page as the plot makes things clear and faster to see, especially during busy changeovers where you don’t want to keep flipping back and forth between pages.

Colour coordination might seem like a great idea, but it often ruins your channel list when it’s printed in black and white. Strong colours can also make text hard to read in low-light conditions, like backstage.

Going pro – channel list

Once you’ve reached a point where you have certain mic preferences, you should include a channel list separate from the stage plot. You should have a column for channel number, instrument name, mic, stand, whether the mic needs phantom power, its position, and any notes. Things like gates, compressors, whether the drummer plays left-handed (especially if they’re in the middle of a bill that is sharing backline!), or that you’re bringing some of your own mics should be noted here. Channel lists traditionally follow a certain order starting with drums and ending with vocals. If your engineer has a strong preference otherwise that’s their decision, but if you’re sharing backline or an analogue desk they might have to use the same order as everyone else. If you want your channels to be plugged into certain subsnakes/satellite boxes, you can add a column for that. Refer to performers by stage position rather than, or as well as, name. No one at the venue knows who Sam is, but they’ll know where the stage-right vocal should be.

If you know what you want for monitors, list them after the channel list. How many wedges each person needs, hardwire mixes, and wireless IEMs, including whether they’re mono or stereo. Note whether you want certain IEM mixes to have extra packs as spares etc. Feel free to add notes for each mix so the house engineer can get a rough starting point dialed in.

Pro secrets the music industry doesn’t want you to know!

There are some practical points that you might not know if you haven’t worked in-house yourself. First of all, the techs often don’t get the full rider and are unlikely to read all of it even if they do. Make sure everything relevant to your audio requirements is in the audio section of your rider, even if you have to repeat yourself. For example, if you mention that you’re bringing your own mics in the “fees” or “fly dates” section, don’t presume the audio team will see that. Make a note of it on the channel list.

If the act is bringing an engineer/s, say so. Say whether they have a show file, and for which desks. If the house engineers don’t know you’re bringing someone, they’ll waste time making a show file for you that they could have spent getting the stage ready or helping another artist. If certain aspects of the rider are deal-breakers, make that very clear. Although riders are contracts, they are often seen as general guides or wishlists, especially when it comes to mics. If you can’t possibly do your show without something, let them know. Well in advance!

You might be tempted to colour code your channel list according to stage area or subsnake/satellite box, but do so at your own peril! Although some tech-savvy techs like to use tablets or even their phones for their paperwork, most stage plots are still printed out for reference, and nearly always in black and white. Those lovely deep, rich colours you used for your subsnakes will render the information unreadable, and different shades of grey are a meaningless coding system (see figure 2). Dark background colours also make text hard to read in low-light conditions, for example, backstage. If you use colour, use very light and distinct ones and write the colours down as well, e.g. “red 1”, “green 3” etc.

It’s vital that you update your rider as soon as anything changes. Make sure you update both the stage plot and channel list, and double-check that they match! One of the biggest sources of confusion is mismatching plots and lists, as it’s usually impossible to tell which is the right one. If you have several set-ups, e.g. a vocalist who performs with a band or to track depending on the show, make separate riders for each one. If you’re adding guest vocals or a string quartet for a special performance, make a special rider. If you have different demands depending on whether it’s a festival or your own headline show, send the paperwork that reflects that. The whole point of a rider is to make sure you have what you need, so the organiser needs to know exactly what that is every time.

One of the biggest mysteries in live events is that of the disappearing current rider. Even if you make yours perfect and send it away in plenty of time, there are beings that can intercept it and give the venue one of your old riders, or in some cases a rider for a totally different act with your name on it. How or why this happens no one knows. Maybe it’s gremlins or tralfamadorians. The only way to really circumvent them is to have a link on your rider for the most up-to-date version, e.g. your website or a Dropbox folder (9). Include the name, role and contact details of your designated grown-up so they can answer any questions the venue might have (10).

Help us to help you

Keeping your rider up to date might seem like a lot of work, but once you’ve made the first one it gets much easier. It is definitely worth spending the time to get it right. The venue can get a lot done before you even arrive, and can set you up much faster if they know what to expect. This is particularly important on festival stages where changeover time is at a premium and the stage crew might see 20-40 riders over the course of a weekend. Making yours neat and easy to understand makes changeover and troubleshooting much easier, leaving you time to concentrate on getting the best sound for your set. Help us to help you have the best show possible, and those non-brown M&Ms will be all the sweeter after.

List of Apps and Software for Designing Stage Plots

Revenge on the Nerds Part 2

Democratising Education to Diversify the Workplace Read Part One

Part 2: Practical tips for learning and teaching

In my last blog, I discussed how certain sectors, like computer programming and audio, have grown to appeal mainly to stereotypical nerds and how this has spread into learning resources for those sectors. Teaching subjects in a way that only appeals to one type of person is a form of gatekeeping and is a significant barrier to attracting a wider variety of people to our field. If we want to benefit from diverse workplaces, we need to diversify how audio is taught and how we learn together. Today I’m going to outline a few suggestions that I have very unscientifically put together from my own experiences as well as friends’ and colleagues’, which I hope will help make education more enjoyable and effective for all kinds of people.

Why the anti-nerd sentiment?

I should start by saying there is nothing wrong with nerds. Some of my best friends are nerds! If you find current learning resources engaging and you learn well from them, that is fantastic and you should carry on. However, bear in mind that plenty of people find them difficult, boring, or off-putting, and if you teach others they could very well benefit from a different approach. I am not advocating for getting rid of all current resources, but rather adding to them with alternatives.

We have so much potential

I have mentioned a few times in previous posts (1, 2) that beliefs about whether our capabilities are fixed or not have huge ramifications for our lives. Professional fields with a consensus that you need to be ‘born with it’ and ‘super talented’ tend to attract very confident young men, and turn off less confident people. They also show signs of discrimination against the minorities that are present in those fields, because employers can hide their biases behind claims that those candidates just don’t have what it takes. Similarly in an education setting, students who feel that people are simply good at something or not are less likely to put effort into subjects in which they do badly, and teachers with the same opinions are less likely to take the time to help those who fall behind.

I was surprised to find that the idea of ‘learning styles’: that each person is most suited to learning through visual, auditory, or hands-on means, is not only a myth but can be detrimental to education (3). Although we may prefer to study in one of these ways, no evidence has been found that predominantly using one over the others helps us to learn more. In fact, we all benefit from using a combination of these methods. Tailoring materials to different learning styles may be well-meaning but doesn’t actually help pupils and it takes resources away from more effective forms of teaching. Belief in learning styles can also mean people miss out on great opportunities: “I’m not going to listen to that podcast because I’m a visual learner,” for example.

These beliefs all stem from a ‘fixed’ mindset that people are born with a certain set of abilities, but the key to effective study is having a ‘growth mindset: that we are all capable of improving. We in audio are continually learning throughout our careers, and we know that practice makes perfect. A growth mindset means you see learning as a fun challenge rather than proof that you don’t belong in a field, and you can surprise yourself with how much you achieve when you take that challenge one step at a time. If you catch yourself saying that you just have to be born with an innate talent for something, ask yourself why we spend so long in school. If ‘you either got it or you don’t’, we’d go to school for maybe a week, find what we were good at then head out into the world and do it. And I’m just going to say it: I’ve never seen a baby mix a band well. From front of house or monitors.

Find your level

It is totally fine to offer different classes to participants with different levels of experience. For example, if you needed to explain speaker design from first principles every time, you’d never get on to advanced topics within a one-hour session. It can also be quicker and easier to discuss things when you know everyone involved understands the terminology instead of explaining it in layman’s terms all the time. However, there need to be introductory materials in the first place before people can graduate to the more advanced ones. Think carefully about who the resource is aiming to teach, and what their abilities and past experience might be. If you are offering or attending beginner or mixed-ability classes, bear in mind that prior knowledge of a subject is no predictor of future success (4), and you could be alienating the most promising students by expecting them to have it. Snorting “I can’t believe you didn’t know that,” is one of the least helpful things you can do as a teacher or classmate (or colleague). Everyone has different life experiences and their own sphere of knowledge. You might know how to plug up a Digico SD7, but can you do the same for all Avid desks? SSL? Soundcraft? Can you build and mix a show entirely in Portuguese? In Korean? In Arabic? Everyone comes up against gaps in their knowledge eventually, and they should always be applauded for trying to fill them, not derided. Lording your proficiency over a novice only makes you look like the idiot, like boasting to a toddler that you could take them in a fight.

Know the unknowns

There is a phenomenon in education called ‘the expert blind spot’, where teachers have been in their field for so long that they’ve forgotten what is normal for the general public to know about it (5). The way they convey topics presumes a lot of knowledge that students don’t yet have, and the order and emphasis of their explanations would help a fellow expert understand but often leaves pupils confused and disheartened. I can’t tell you the number of times where I’ve come across a term while learning computer programming and have had to search online for “x” “definition”/ “explanation”/ “tutorial”/ “for beginners”/ “for absolute beginners”/ “for dummies”/ “EXPLAIN IT TO ME LIKE I’M A FIVE-YEAR-OLD!” and still couldn’t find out what the term actually means. Every resource would presume I knew, and would instead explain further issues related to the thing.

The expert blind spot also extends to the educators themselves. They often don’t remember how hard it was for them when they were starting out and tend to overestimate their abilities when asked about how they fared as novices. Even if you did find the subject you’re teaching easy to learn, that is probably why you ended up teaching it! When imagining your students’ perspective remember what it was like to study something you found difficult. Remember just how overwhelming the volume of new information was. If you discuss certain aspects like they’re obvious and everyone should already know them, it can be hard for students to speak up and admit they don’t understand. They might smile and nod along, but in the end that doesn’t help anyone progress.

The flipside of expert blindness can be just as bad. When you underestimate the other party and explain every single thing it can be seen as patronising and a waste of time. I see this a lot in a phenomenon I like to call ‘techsplaining’: it’s like mansplaining except the person isn’t motivated by sexism (I’ve seen plenty of male recipients of techsplaining), but rather a genuine lack of awareness of what is reasonable to expect other people to know. I come across it quite a bit in written resources too: the author explains a tricky topic, then explains it another couple of times, each time finding a new way to describe the easy bit everyone already understands but leaving the complicated bit the same. It makes the resource three times as long without making it clearer at all.

It can take a lot of conscious effort, but looking at a topic from the point of view of a beginner can really help to engage a wider variety of students and deepen their understanding of the subject at hand. It may seem innocuous, but I recommend cutting down on the number of times you say ‘obviously’ as much as possible. We’re all guilty of it; when you’re explaining the basics of a topic and you don’t want to insult your audience’s intelligence or waste their time you’re tempted to say “Well obviously…” and rush through that bit. However, if something needs to be said, it’s worth saying well and leaving out the ‘obviously’ can save you from alienating parts of your audience who might be perfectly intelligent but just don’t happen to know that thing. I took an audio networking course that said of IP addressing: “In binary, the address after 11111111 is obviously 00000001.00000000.” I would argue that unless you can be certain that everyone watching your presentation is a robot, counting in binary is not ‘obvious’, and saying so only serves to put people off.

Know your audience

Following on from being aware of your audience’s knowledge level, it can help to take their personal backgrounds into account. Adding pop-culture references or jokes to your materials can make them more engaging, but bear in mind that the enjoyment that comes from getting a reference is because you feel part of the in-group and by definition, there is an out-group who are being excluded. I’m not advocating for getting rid of these fun additions at all, but try to make them as widely appealing as possible. Make sure that they don’t get in the way of comprehension if someone doesn’t know what you’re referencing. Like the best family shows, there can be plenty of jokes for the adults while the story still makes sense for the kids. This isn’t about banning fun for fear of offending someone, it’s about finding ways to make it fun for everyone and keeping them engaged. For example, computer programming courses often have references to Harry Potter. As someone who couldn’t care less about the series, I don’t really mind if every list of example names is ‘Harry, Ron and Hermione’, but if a teacher claims that something is more like a Horcrux than a golden snitch, they’ve immediately lost me and my respect.

Analogies are like wrenches

Analogies are like wrenches: useful in a wide variety of scenarios, but not all, and indiscriminate application can make the situation worse. I like an analogy as much as anyone, but they should only be used when they contribute to the understanding of a topic. If your audience is already familiar with something it is pointless to wrap that up in an analogy and it can come across as patronising. Microphones don’t need to be compared to sponges, everyone knows what microphones are. In a similar vein to expert blindness, ‘smart-person analogies’ can be counterproductive. Analogies should compare their subject to something easier and more familiar to the learner, not something more complicated or oblique. Someone who finds audio and biochemistry equally intuitive might not notice that comparing reverb to adding a methyl group to a hydrocarbon is no help at all to the average learner, and just serves to confuse and frustrate them. If you’re unsure whether an analogy is helpful, ask a ‘normal’ person who doesn’t know the topic for their honest opinion.

Watch your language

I am no longer the grammar pedant I used to be, but I have to say that writing clearly is important. If writing isn’t your strong suit or you’re teaching in a language in which you aren’t fluent, that shouldn’t stop you of course, but get someone else to look over your work. Spell checkers are getting smarter all the time but they’re no substitute for a human yet. Spelling and grammar are standardised to help everyone understand each other. The odd mistake here and there isn’t a big deal but I know from experience that learning from resources that are, frankly, garbled is very difficult, even as a native English speaker. If someone is trying to learn in their second language, the way you misspell a word because it sounds right to you phonetically could be completely unintelligible to them. Similarly, if you’re going to use idioms make sure they make sense when directly translated. Even if “measure twice, cut once” isn’t a standard phrase in the reader’s language, they can figure out what it means. However, something like “he literally shot himself in the foot” could be completely baffling even though they know the meaning of the individual words.

Enthusiasm is infectious

I have always learned best from people who are truly enthusiastic about their field. Having an animated conversation with someone about a subject they’re excited to share with you is a great way to both understand and remember it long-term. People like Mary Beard, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Tim Harford are such wonderful public educators because they’re genuinely fascinated by their subjects, and speak to their audiences like intellectual equals who just don’t happen to know the topic yet. My favourite is Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, whose enthusiasm is so infectious and joyful that you can’t help but be interested, no matter what she’s talking about. Listening to people like this, combined with some more painful periods of study, has helped me to realise that very few topics are truly boring, it’s just how they’re presented. For example, did you know that word clocks (used for syncing digital audio devices together) are tiny quartz crystals that vibrate thousands of times a second, and that frequency of vibrations can be controlled by their size, shape, and even surrounding temperature? Gigs are held together by crystals! That’s crazy! Yet lots of resources about word clocks are super dry and don’t even mention what they physically are (or are replicating, in the case of digitally-generated word clocks). Expert blind spots can make teachers forget the original wonder that a subject might have inspired in them.

Share your story

Tim Harford, a British economics journalist, has said that the way to get people interested in concepts is to turn them into a story (https://freakonomics.com/podcast/pima-tim-harford/). Find the human connection in the data and use that as your hook. Using yourself as that human can be a great way to engage your audience. I definitely identify more with teachers who talk about the ups and downs of their own learning journey. I love hearing about the problems they faced, not because I’m a sadist but because it’s reassuring to know that even experts struggle sometimes, and we can all learn from their mistakes. The more people are honest about the challenges they worked through, the more people will be inspired to stick with it instead of giving up because they think they aren’t cut out for it. Recounting your story will also remind you of what it was like to be in the students’ shoes and can counteract your expert blind spot.

One caveat to this is beware of the humblebrag: for example, I recently saw a comment on a course’s forum about a notoriously difficult task that said “I just wanted to let everyone know that it was tough, but after 12 hours I finally finished it. If even I can do it, anyone can! :)” That task took me 9 days so… that person was not as motivational as they thought they were. Share your successes by all means, but the self-deprecation of acting like you’re the worst at something can make anyone who has to try harder than you feel even more inadequate.

Get involved!

When I spend hours or even days researching something, I find it so frustrating that after putting in all that effort, I’m the only one who has gained that information. I think it’s very inefficient to put lots of energy into something that only benefits one person, especially when countless other people might have to do the same research and get lost down the same dead-ends as I did. Sharing what and how you’ve learned with others helps save them from the pain you went through, helps them to learn how to study better and helps you understand the subject more thoroughly by explaining it to others. Share your excitement with your friends and colleagues, but do ensure you have enthusiastic and ongoing consent. If you see their eyes glazing over or they keep glancing anxiously at the exits, maybe find a more willing audience.

I like to use several different resources while learning. The repetition helps me to remember the information, but also seeing several different people’s take on it increases the chances I’ll find a phrase or example that helps it click for me and saves me from relying on one source that happens to be wrong! More voices adding to the conversation can’t be a bad thing. To increase diversity in audio, we need to increase the diversity in teaching. If you have knowledge to impart, it’s never been easier to share it. Write a blog, make a podcast, make videos about whatever excites you and put it out there. Even if the only person it helps is you, that is a worthwhile investment.

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Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio