Backstage Pass: Live Sound Engineer

In September of 2007, The Minnesota Shubert Center went on the road with two European rock bands, Visions of Atlantis and Epica on their North American Tour, with the sole purposes of de-mystifying the life of a touring musician and uncover what music business really is all about. To see the whole Follow the Creative Process, visit www.mnshubert.org/backstagepass!!!!

In this clip, we sat down with J.W. Stekelenburg, of Ampco Pro Rental (the live audio engineer for the tour) and discussed his role on the tour. He also gave us an accurate picture of what a sound check entails and advice to future live sound engineers.

Category:

Education

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• music
• visions
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• atlantis
• epica
• business
• JW
• Stekelenburg
• recording
• Napalm
• records
• europe
• symphonic
• metal
• rock
• education
• andrew
• freeman
• minnesota
• shubert
• center
• globe
• university
• school

[mryellow123]

Ears!

I roadie with a metal band and we're often the only band wearing ear plugs when in the audience.

Hearing damage is not tuff.

[mryellow123]

For some at least it seems to be because they're "tuff" and "rock & roll"

[rushrulez1]

@imabasketcase88 Where are you at? I'm going to Sheridan College in Oakville Ontario next year for a similar program.

[imabasketcase88]

im at college now doing a live events production course which involves live sound, lighting, rigging ect... i really want to do live sound engineering for a living.

[erocca011]

can you make a decent living as a live sound engineer? Im really looking into it.

[Ryancuasay]

How much is the average salary for sound engineers?

[krissthemusicman]

@mryellow123 yeah lots of band i play with dont use ear plugs and i always think why?

[crackshotnoodles]

in an indoor gig yes, it can be extremely bad when there is a large space to fill! but outdoor gigs are usually not that bad for hearing loss as the sound has space to dissipate

[azza160290]

i think thats my plan really cheers for the advice mate, are you an engineer

[DigiRarefaction]

I think the best thing to do is to just go to school for sound engineering.