The Global Media Site for Entertainment.
Menu
My last blog covered tips for touring, but before you truly hit the road, you have to get through tech. Which is hectic and stressful as you try to combine speakers, lights, sets, and props into an actual show.
First is load in with just the crew. Everything comes in from the various shops (lighting, sound, scenic) and you put it all together physically for the first time. Once things are mostly set up, lighting gets a day or two to focus (the rest of the crew will work on projects offstage or at FOH) and sound gets quiet time to tune the system, usually without any other crew in the building (love them dearly, but let’s face it, carps are always better at being unseen than unheard). Next is dry tech where the SM and the crew run through lighting transitions, scene changes, and automation moves without the actors, working through timing and how the SM will call the show. Then the actors leave the rehearsal studio to join the crew at the venue for cast onstage, teching the show with all elements except hair, wardrobe, and the orchestra. After a few days of that, the musicians get settled in the pit and are added to rehearsal for the last few days. Finally, you have the final dress rehearsals with all elements, including hair and wardrobe before you officially open!
It’s a grueling schedule with a lot that has to happen in a short amount of time. I’ve had some tech periods where I worked almost every day from 8 am to midnight for a month straight without a day off. I’ve done others where we had a practically luxurious 8-5 schedule with the rare treat of getting to see the sunset for a week or so before the actors got to the theatre.
Somehow, everything eventually comes together, but opening night seems like it’s very far away when you stand on an empty stage and hear the roll doors of the loading dock clatter open. Even then, opening night is a milestone, not the endgame. Your goal throughout all of load in and tech is to learn the show, learn the system, and get it ready to take on the road.
This is the one time where it’s okay to be glued to your phone as you take pictures of how speaker carts or cases pack, how cases line up in the truck, or mic placement in the pit (especially things like drums and percussion that can easily have twenty to thirty mics to set up).
When I take reference photos, I’ll try to get close-ups on things like speaker rigging and mic placements, but also have wider shots where you can see the entire drum kit, the full stage, or where the cluster truss hangs in the space, etc. Details are always good, but having photos of the big picture help establish context. I only take reference photos in tech for specific items, but I’ll take archive photos in every venue I go to: of the layout of the audience, my FOH set up, how I installed the system, where racks lived backstage, etc. When I go back to a theatre on a different tour, I have the photos from the last time I was there as a reference to jog my memory when I’m figuring out my plan for load-in.
Once the tour’s out, someone from design might stop by for a day or two in a major market (LA, Chicago, DC, etc) or, if the show plans to run for several years, there may be plans to make regular checkups (say every 6 or 9 months), but that’s about it. So make sure to take advantage of the opportunity to get to know your designer. If you’re like me, making a point to spend time with someone for professional reasons feels disingenuous and presumptuous, something akin to greasy schmoozing rather than sincere conversation. It helps me to frame it as a genuine effort to build a relationship rather than a mercenary pursuit of future jobs. Plus, your designers also want to get to know you, not only to see if you’re someone who can take care of this show now, but if you’re someone they might want to work with in the future. I ended up moving from Les Mis to Saigon because I was a known entity to the design team. They felt more comfortable having me pass Les Mis, a show that was already up and running, off to another A1 and move over to Saigon so they didn’t have to gamble with bringing on someone unknown to start a show.
Especially with your A2. The A2 is backstage during tech while the rest of the sound team is at FOH, so make a point to include them when you can, usually during meal breaks and post-tech at the bar. This is something that might seem obvious, but that’s not always the case, which I, unfortunately, found out when I spent one tech as an A2 being routinely forgotten by the associate designer and production audio. That show was seven years ago, but the fact that I was made to feel inconsequential by design and unsupported by my A1 left a lasting impression. Now, if I have the opportunity to socialize with design, I try to make a point to invite my A2 or make sure they know where we’ll be for a meal break. That means the A2 has the opportunity for face time with the design team and hopefully conveys that I, as the A1, respect and appreciate their work and view us as part of a team.
Usually, you have a keyboard in the house while the actors are on stage, then the full orchestra joins for the last couple days. However, several days before that, they’re somewhere in the theatre rehearsing (the lobby, a rehearsal room, etc). Whenever you have a moment, go and just listen: it’s one of the few times you have to hear what they sound like on their own. For the rest of the tour, you’re focusing on how they sound through the system or how they’re blending with the cast in the mix, or how inconveniently loud they are in the lobby during load-in while you’re trying to time the room. I’ll try to peek in for a moment during cast breaks onstage, even if it’s just listening to the MD give notes and work through a passage. Few people know the music better than the MD, and hearing how they explain things to the other musicians can give you a better understanding and appreciation of the music.
Tech is stressful and tiring, but it can also be fun. You’re meeting new people, taking on new challenges, and getting to mix a new show for the very first time. Enjoy the thrill and get some sleep when you can!
Tips for Touring – Audio Technician
The mission of SoundGirls.org is to inspire and empower the next generation of women in audio. Our mission is to create a supportive community for women in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers. SoundGirls.Org was formed in 2013 by veteran live sound engineers Karrie Keyes and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato and operates under the Fiscal Sponsorship of The California Women’s Music Festival, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. In 2012, Karrie and Michelle participated in the “Women of Professional Concert Sound” panel at the AES Conference in San Francisco. The panel was hosted by the Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) and moderated by WAM founder Terri Winston. Terri brought together five women working in live and broadcast audio. The groundbreaking panel (which also included Jeri Palumbo, Claudia Engelhart and Deanne Franklin), provided young women and men a glimpse into life on the road, tips and advice, and a Q & A with the panelists. More importantly though, was how incredibly powerful the experience was for the panelists. We had all been in the business for 20 years or more, yet most of us had never met before that day and within minutes we bonded like long-lost sisters. We were struck by how similar our experiences, work ethics, and passions were and wondered why our paths had never crossed and how our careers would have been different had we been there to support each other through the years. Each of us are strong on our own, but together we were even stronger and a powerful force. We were empowered. Each of us had been asked hundreds of times in our careers: Are there other women doing sound? How did you get into sound? How would a young woman go about getting into sound? Through creating SoundGirls.Org, we hope to establish a place for women working in professional audio to come for support and advice, to share our success and failures, our joys and frustrations, and for empowerment and inspiration.
Read Full Profile
© 2021 TheatreArtLife. All rights reserved.
Thank you so much for reading, but you have now reached your free article limit for this month.
Our contributors are currently writing more articles for you to enjoy.
To keep reading, all you have to do is become a subscriber and then you can read unlimited articles anytime.
Your investment will help us continue to ignite connections across the globe in live entertainment and build this community for industry professionals.
