Friday, November 06, 2015
Quotable Quotes
Pro Sound Web: Karl Winkler’s reference to “great quotes” in his recent column (here) got me thinking about the many (too many to count, in fact) insightful comments that have appeared on the pages of ProSoundWeb and Live Sound International over the years. It lead to a weekend of reading more than a hundred archived articles, and from them, I’ve drawn the following quotes about the world of pro audio.
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As someone with limited sound experience, I did not expect these quotes to resonate with me as deeply as they did. When I clicked n this article, I think I was hoping for a good anecdote, or perhaps a few drops of wry humor, something a tad different from the average PTM blog fare. Instead, I found something more technical, more foreign to me. I could have given up, gone back to the home page, and found a generic product review or hastily written internet review of a small local show I don't have time to see. Instead, I stayed with this article, for reasons I was not initially sure of. As I read more and more of these quotes, sprinkled with unfamiliar terms and scenarios I couldn't picture, I came to realize how enthralled I was by these comments, as difficult as they were to read. Sure, I'm here at Carnegie Mellon, dedicated to my own learning, ready to make the most of each situation, to squeeze every drop of education out of this expensive experience. However, as my own experience with this article shows, education, and the act of being educated, are two different things that manifest themselves in unusual and unexpected ways. I continued reading these quotes because in my time here, I have internalized the value of listening to those masters of their crafts, even if my understanding fails me. Even if I can't define each term or troubleshoot a problem, I am equipped with questions to ask, a path to follow, and either the internet or a mind-blowingly qualified professor to ask. I think that this process, channeling curiosity into inquisitiveness into learning, is part of why I'm here, and something I look to develop more in the coming years, to take with me wherever I may go.
I like these quotes, but especially this one: “They’re just tools, not a magic safety net. No single person who wants to truly succeed as a mixer can do it by relying on a machine.” – Wayne Pauley, mix engineer Because it really puts sound and design and mixing into the same realm as other aspects of technical theatre. You aren’t as good as your tools, you are as good as what you can do with them. I feel like a lot of people these days rely on the coolest, more high tech things to get the job done faster and easier than it could have been before, but I also feel like there are people in this industry who use the good tools because they lack the ability to do anything great with the old ones. For me, hard work and practice, practice, practice is the only thing that can really advance one’s career, which is why I try to get as much time on the floor and in the office as possible, because jumping in head first isn’t always the most successful method.
This article is full of witty, meaningful, and useful quotes from all sorts of people in the sound industry. One quote from this article really stood out to me however,
“I like things people say you can’t do.” – Tom Danley, Danley Sound Labs
Many of the quotes in the article are sound specific but this one in particular stood out to me as being universally applicable to the work we do in theatre and other performance arts. The quote speaks to something which is one of the reasons I fell in love with what I do. Weather it is something that no one thinks is possible on your budget, in your space, or simply within the laws of physics doing the impossible is an exhilarating experience one does not quickly forget. Creating the illusion or sometimes even the physical impossible is something that is very special because it offers us the chance to inspire people. In the end I think that’s really what its all about for us. Inspiring people to be better, kinder, to reach just a little bit farther than they might have, or simply to dream.
It’s definitely interesting to read these quotes as someone who is very young and very new to the live sound industry. Some things already resonate with me, while others are clearly things I have yet to experience. What is clear is a long-standing culture in the sound industry of pursuing your passion and helping others (usually musicians) do the same. It’s nice to see also how light-hearted many sound professionals are. If you aren’t having fun, what’s the point?
A couple quotes that stood out to me were as follows:
“It depends.” – Pat Brown, SynAudCon
“It can all be accomplished as long as we don’t confine ourselves to the self-imposed limitations inherent in viewing one technique as ‘right’ and all others as ‘wrong’.”—James Cadwallader, mix engineer
Both of these hit on the point that in sound work there are always many factors involved in determining a solution for a given application. The second quote takes this notion a step further with the reminder that many solutions are valid - there are more “good” solutions than there is a specific “right” one. At the same time, though, while many solutions may be right, what matters is that the outcome be a positive result:
“You only get one shot to give them a positive experience.”—David Scheirman, mix engineer/system consultant
In live performance, getting things “right” on the first try often seems like the necessary goal. In many ways this is true, but we must also remember that it’s more about avoiding the bad solutions than finding the perfect one. There are many ways to do a good job – and I think that applies to many things outside of sound work as well.
I had no experience with sound design or designers until coming to Carnegie. Despite now being much better informed as to the nature of sound design, I'm still not exactly sure what it is. Every time I try to grasp at a concrete description of the job, I find myself stumbling upon yet another peice of new information that throws my entire previous definition out the door. Every answer raises more questions. It is truly quantifiable. Needless to say, I barely understood most of the references in these quotes. I can't really imagine the jobs these men and women are preforming. I can't understand the challenges they face. The one thing that truly resonated with me, and the one thing I'm sure I understand is a deep love for the work. Perhaps the quote which spoke to me the most was "The shows are a bitch, and then you coil cables.”—The Old Soundman, because I've had those days. Sometimes the day is just too long, or the work is too tedious, and I question why I do this. And then I put the pieces of a set together (or a paint chip rendition of a Monet painting) and everything works, or the show opens and I see a dozen young girls in princess dresses arrive early, with mothers in tow, to see Cinderella, or when the audience gasps as Mary Poppins takes flight. These are the moments that make it all worth it. Sure, the show's a bitch, the work is hard, and it all just keeps coming at you. But I still do it, and I love every minute.
As someone with little to no sound experience I wasn't sure what I would take away from this article, and Im still not sure I understand all the vocal (I haven't had my sound mini yet) but I was surprisingly moved by the quotes. I think the reason they had such an impact is because most them are very selfless.
“You only get one shot to give them a positive experience.”—David Scheirman, mix engineer/system consultant
A lot of these quotes talked more about the audiences experience of the persons work, and less of the work itself, and I think they that speaks so much about the nature of the profession. That it is all about creating a positive experience for those who come see the show, and less about what the experience is like for the person working on it. The last quote in the article says something like if 22 hours in the day are bad, and the two left, during the show go well, then it suddenly becomes worth it. I think the sentiment is something, all members of the theater should carry with them. Because if a day is hard, it doesn't really matter as long as the show goes well, and it's out job to understand that.
“As a practitioner of this craft you have to simultaneously understand your equipment and your input—meaning the artist on stage or whatever the content is—as well as who is listening to the results of your work.’—David Scheirman, mix engineer/system consultant”.
This is the quote that stood out the most for me. The reason for this is that recently I have been pushed (willingly) into doing some voice over recordings and interacting with actors. And what I am experiencing is that if I knew their language better I could better describe the sound I want for my recordings. They don’t know the terms that I used and I don’t know their vocabulary well, so it creates kind of a language barrier to results in the studio. This is something really want to work on. I also think it is interesting to not only see and hear what I see from behind the desk but it would be very helpful for me to be able to understand what the musician is hearing and how they want their sound. Understanding that audience and the location for the sound is something that I am finding out very quickly that is important. In the session with Abe Jacob, he talked about why theater is getting louder and that is because of audience’s expectations and how they are getting used to louder listening environments based on the development of headphones and personal listening experiences. Knowing this informs that sound designers and audio department of some of the things that are demanded of them.
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