Best resources for a newbie to learn about live sound production?

[teleguido]

Over the past few weeks I've just started getting really interested in live sound production. I've been learning a lot and having fun exploring a new area of music related technology. I feel I already have a good mental tool set for this (tech savvy, love to learn, good ears, etc.), but some of this stuff still leaves me stumped!

I want a crash course in live sound best practices. You know, the stuff that is really essential, but not very intuitive or easily figured out by using your ears.

What resources did you find invaluable when you first started learning? Books, websites, tutorials, DVDs, forums, etc.

[loudboy]

Yamaha's Sound Reinforcement Handbook.

It's considered the Bible of SR.

After you read that, another good way would be to get a job with a SR company. If you've got any aptitude and can manage to get somewhere on time, they'll hire you to do grunt work and you'll move up as quickly as you are able.

Probably the only place in Pro Audio where you can actually get paid to learn the job, and have a possiblity of making a living, tough tho it may be.

[speakerjones]

Good advice on both counts. I'll just add that I found it valuable to have a well rounded production background early in my career. If you are unable to secure a position with a SR company, or maybe even if you do, you might want to look into getting onto some stage crews either in local theaters or on an overhire list with your local stagehands union (IATSE). While you might get put on working with sound, you'll also learn some basic rigging, electrical, and carpentry skills that will make you a more valuable employee in any sound co. A good book along these lines is the "Backstage Handbook". It's like the Boy Scout manual of the stage production industry.

[capt4inslow]

The Yamaha guide is a great place to start.


www.prosoundweb.com for all your Live needs

they also have an excellent forum with all the industry folks posting @ srforums.prosoundweb.com

[notnac]

Go look up the "New York" compression trick.

[guitarvc]

Originally Posted by loudboy

Yamaha's Sound Reinforcement Handbook.

It's considered the Bible of SR.

After you read that, another good way would be to get a job with a SR company. If you've got any aptitude and can manage to get somewhere on time, they'll hire you to do grunt work and you'll move up as quickly as you are able.

Probably the only place in Pro Audio where you can actually get paid to learn the job, and have a possiblity of making a living, tough tho it may be.

+1. Thats how I started

[pfflam]

Originally Posted by jalford

Good advice on both counts. I'll just add that I found it valuable to have a well rounded production background early in my career. If you are unable to secure a position with a SR company, or maybe even if you do, you might want to look into getting onto some stage crews either in local theaters or on an overhire list with your local stagehands union (IATSE). While you might get put on working with sound, you'll also learn some basic rigging, electrical, and carpentry skills that will make you a more valuable employee in any sound co. A good book along these lines is the "Backstage Handbook". It's like the Boy Scout manual of the stage production industry.

And if it isn't union you'll get worked very very hard.

Very tough work hauling those heavy wires then packing them down, usually for 12-14 hour shifts . . . . but it feels good to work that hard and learn while doing it.

[razorbladeSD]

The most important thing to learn as a live sound professional?

Learn how to coil cable correctly.

Trust me - you spend more time doing this than anything else, and if you don't do it right, you won't get the work.

Sounds silly, but when someone has to untangle six 50ft mic cables during setup because he couldn't grab an end and toss it out clean, it's not good.

Seems minor, seems silly, but I have cut guys on crews for just this reason.

[razorbladeSD]

Originally Posted by jalford

Good advice on both counts. I'll just add that I found it valuable to have a well rounded production background early in my career. If you are unable to secure a position with a SR company, or maybe even if you do, you might want to look into getting onto some stage crews either in local theaters or on an overhire list with your local stagehands union (IATSE). While you might get put on working with sound, you'll also learn some basic rigging, electrical, and carpentry skills that will make you a more valuable employee in any sound co. A good book along these lines is the "Backstage Handbook". It's like the Boy Scout manual of the stage production industry.

This is a good post.

Let me expand it a bit. This would be a idea of what Iatse or a big production company will look at.

First off, most of your clients will be corporate gigs. They may involve music, but corporate gigs are bread and butter. I've worked for everyone from Harley Davidson(Huey Lewis), Pfizer(Beach Boys), and Lockheed( Jay Leno) to the Navy and local city council. I've been on the road for 6 months as a production manager for Microsoft. I've worked the Super Bowl, America's Cup, MLB Fanfest,and the Long Beach Grand Prix. I've done the Namm show, Street Scene and the Republican National Convention. At some point, you will have to wear a suit and tie.

If you get a job at a professional production company, you're gonna start out pushing boxes. Big, heavy boxes. Big heavy boxes that will kill your back. Big Heavy boxes that don't want to roll on carpet.Boxes loaded with stuff that you will be expected to identify, and prep. Not just sound gear, but lighting, video, rigging, staging, scaffolding, box truss.

You will need to know what every cable and every connector is, and does.
Not just 1/4 and xlr, but speakon, bnc, rg58, rg6, vga, hdmi, svideo,component, 3 pin, 4 pin controller, even need to know what a slide projector runs on.

You'll need to know how to run a fork lift, a scissor lift and a boom lift.
Not just run them, but navigate them through banquet tables, and low doorways, and through jam packed crowds. Speaking of which, you better get over any fear of heights, because at some point you will find yourself crawling across box truss forty feet over the stage, or running spots on some rickety scaff 50 feet up in a windstorm ( Brian Setzer at street scene...ah yes...compounded by the blinding smoke from the jerk chicken shack next to us.)

Learn how to build scaffolding. Learn how to hang show drape.

At some point you'll need to understand distributed power, how to safely connect and disconnect 208 v three phase power to transformers. You'll need to know what a fanout, a hod and a doghouse are.
You'll need to identify 15 amp, 20 amp, 30 amp, 60 amp twistloc connectors.

You'll need to know what a span set, shackle, steel are, and you'll have to know how to rig and run a chain lift

You'll need to identify gels and gobos, freznels, how to hang Pars and focus Leicos, the difference between a flood and spot.

You'll need to know how to use computers and software, and not just stuff like Protools or Final Cut Pro, but things like building excel spreadsheets,
doing on the fly 3d modeling changes, webcast streaming, network configuration, video connections. I once got a call at 4:00 to rebuild 142 powerpoint slides from scratch for a 7:00 presentation because the client's computer died, - the client was Pfizer. I was on slide 100 when the meeting started, and just barely finished before they caught up.

Better learn video too, these days it's probably 70 percent of production work. Focus and align a stack of Barcos, or a stack of slide projectors( Believe it or not, some folks still use these)...
know how to focus an overhead projector on a 12 foot screen without keystone. Learn how to operate a video camera, focus, white balance...
How to build and strike a fastfold screen without crushing your fingers, and how to stretch the skin with out ripping snaps off.

Oh yeah, better get good at running clean gaff tape lines, and learn how to pull up a fifty foot run of it without it getting tangled in the cable.

Don't expect 9-5. Expect 12-8:00 am one day, 4:00 am - 8:00pm the next, with a callback at 1:00am to strike. Don't ever expect weekends off.
Expect to work 8 10 or 14 days in a row, then not get a call for two weeks.

Once I had to run the camera at a medical conference leaning over a table shooting a doctor dissecting a cadaver's shoulder. It was pretty cool.
The next day I got to snake a wireless pack up the back and around the front of Yasmeen Bleeth's dress...also pretty cool.

[arvee72]

Go to shows at small venues (even some bars) and park yourself behind the mixing console..observe

Live Sound Reinforcement DVD is pretty good.
http://www.amazon.com/Live-Sound-Rei.../dp/1592006914

+1 on the Yamaha Book

[razorbladeSD]

Originally Posted by arvee72

park yourself behind the mixing console..observe

About about 5% of my time is spent behind the console, and about 95 in front, over, around or underneath it.

Granted - that is a very important 5%, but the headaches and panic attacks usually come with the other 95%.

And if I really did the other 95% right, I'm not going to be doing much that other 5%.

[marcher5877]

Originally Posted by razorbladeSD

The most important thing to learn as a live sound professional?

Learn how to coil cable correctly.

Trust me - you spend more time doing this than anything else, and if you don't do it right, you won't get the work.

Sounds silly, but when someone has to untangle six 50ft mic cables during setup because he couldn't grab an end and toss it out clean, it's not good.

Seems minor, seems silly, but I have cut guys on crews for just this reason.

Worth saying again. The most important skill I learned working in a studio, working as a soundman and as a band member is this.

[arvee72]

Originally Posted by razorbladeSD

About about 5% of my time is spent behind the console, and about 95 in front, over, around or underneath it.

Granted - that is a very important 5%, but the headaches and panic attacks usually come with the other 95%.

And if I really did the other 95% right, I'm not going to be doing much that other 5%.

Just sayin that it helps to listen there.

[arvee72]

Originally Posted by razorbladeSD

About about 5% of my time is spent behind the console, and about 95 in front, over, around or underneath it.

Granted - that is a very important 5%, but the headaches and panic attacks usually come with the other 95%.

And if I really did the other 95% right, I'm not going to be doing much that other 5%.

But to your point razorblade:

Megadeth Rust in Peace Anniversary show
Ram's Head Live Baltimore MD

Yamaha digital console freezes after supporting act.
I was right behind the console, watching the techs scramble to swap all the xlr's into the house analog board: Note the orange glow of the Yamaha console (now covered with the analog board's cover) in the foreground and the tech crawling on the cable chase..
Those guys busted their asses that night, much props even though the show was ultimately postponed.




Dave's Rant:

[pfflam]

Originally Posted by razorbladeSD

This is a good post.

Let me expand it a bit. This would be a idea of what Iatse or a big production company will look at.

First off, most of your clients will be corporate gigs. They may involve music, but corporate gigs are bread and butter. I've worked for everyone from Harley Davidson(Huey Lewis), Pfizer(Beach Boys), and Lockheed( Jay Leno) to the Navy and local city council. I've been on the road for 6 months as a production manager for Microsoft. I've worked the Super Bowl, America's Cup, MLB Fanfest,and the Long Beach Grand Prix. I've done the Namm show, Street Scene and the Republican National Convention. At some point, you will have to wear a suit and tie.

If you get a job at a professional production company, you're gonna start out pushing boxes. Big, heavy boxes. Big heavy boxes that will kill your back. Big Heavy boxes that don't want to roll on carpet.Boxes loaded with stuff that you will be expected to identify, and prep. Not just sound gear, but lighting, video, rigging, staging, scaffolding, box truss.

You will need to know what every cable and every connector is, and does.
Not just 1/4 and xlr, but speakon, bnc, rg58, rg6, vga, hdmi, svideo,component, 3 pin, 4 pin controller, even need to know what a slide projector runs on.

You'll need to know how to run a fork lift, a scissor lift and a boom lift.
Not just run them, but navigate them through banquet tables, and low doorways, and through jam packed crowds. Speaking of which, you better get over any fear of heights, because at some point you will find yourself crawling across box truss forty feet over the stage, or running spots on some rickety scaff 50 feet up in a windstorm ( Brian Setzer at street scene...ah yes...compounded by the blinding smoke from the jerk chicken shack next to us.)

Learn how to build scaffolding. Learn how to hang show drape.

At some point you'll need to understand distributed power, how to safely connect and disconnect 208 v three phase power to transformers. You'll need to know what a fanout, a hod and a doghouse are.
You'll need to identify 15 amp, 20 amp, 30 amp, 60 amp twistloc connectors.

You'll need to know what a span set, shackle, steel are, and you'll have to know how to rig and run a chain lift

You'll need to identify gels and gobos, freznels, how to hang Pars and focus Leicos, the difference between a flood and spot.

You'll need to know how to use computers and software, and not just stuff like Protools or Final Cut Pro, but things like building excel spreadsheets,
doing on the fly 3d modeling changes, webcast streaming, network configuration, video connections. I once got a call at 4:00 to rebuild 142 powerpoint slides from scratch for a 7:00 presentation because the client's computer died, - the client was Pfizer. I was on slide 100 when the meeting started, and just barely finished before they caught up.

Better learn video too, these days it's probably 70 percent of production work. Focus and align a stack of Barcos, or a stack of slide projectors( Believe it or not, some folks still use these)...
know how to focus an overhead projector on a 12 foot screen without keystone. Learn how to operate a video camera, focus, white balance...
How to build and strike a fastfold screen without crushing your fingers, and how to stretch the skin with out ripping snaps off.

Oh yeah, better get good at running clean gaff tape lines, and learn how to pull up a fifty foot run of it without it getting tangled in the cable.

Don't expect 9-5. Expect 12-8:00 am one day, 4:00 am - 8:00pm the next, with a callback at 1:00am to strike. Don't ever expect weekends off.
Expect to work 8 10 or 14 days in a row, then not get a call for two weeks.

Once I had to run the camera at a medical conference leaning over a table shooting a doctor dissecting a cadaver's shoulder. It was pretty cool.
The next day I got to snake a wireless pack up the back and around the front of Yasmeen Bleeth's dress...also pretty cool.

Sounds about right . . . especially the gaff tape . . .oh, and lots of electric tape

Did you mention how heavy some of those thick electric cables can get?
especially at 3 in the morning and Clinton goes on at 9 and you still have to set the banners and the spots and fills and, oh yeah, the [power junction is down three flights, under the bleachers in the dank basement . . . hurry because the union guys are about to go on break . . . what?! are you tired?! you got 3-hours last night, what are you complaining about!!