ProSoundWeb: Volunteer firefighting is a long-lasting and proud tradition in my country – more than 5 percent of the entire population of Slovenia actively contributes to this phenomenon, and I’m no exception. In addition to working as a sound engineer, I’ve been an active service member of a local firefighting company for more than two decades.
3 comments:
Drawing comparisons between firefighting and mixing live sound is interesting and definitely not something I’d have thought of. There is something to be said for the overlap in an ability to creatively problem solve in the moment. I think that type of mentality predisposes people for doing things like firefighting and live sound. Even though the specific skills are vastly different, they do both have a fast-paced ever-changing feel. The traits the author mentioned are creativity, preparation, chaos, and psychology. Being creative in any field leads to better results simply because you have the ability to come up with a non-obvious answer to a problem. Preparation is true in most fields, and the goal is to be totally prepared for any situation, but the next trait is chaos, the opposite of preparation. Being able to prepare is great, but being able to adapt when things change is a necessity. The last trait was psychology, and because of all of these traits, certain types of people tend to be attracted to this type of work, many times people who have strong personalities.
This article draws a very interesting comparison between firefighting and sound engineering, two things I never though could have similarities when dealing with crisis or just being on the job. However, after reading this article, I find that the author is right; there are many similarities that can be drawn between the two professions. Firefighting is a high pressure job, with lots of preparation, training, and experience. Sound engineering and mixing are the same as well. Sound engineers are responsible for the system, checking the system, maintaining it, and fixing it when it inevitably breaks down. Firefighters are responsible for their own equipment too, as without it properly functioning, the firefighters could not perform their job and save lives. For sound engineers, its life and death for the show, artists, and the director. If the sound has feedback in the system somewhere, or a speaker isn't working properly, it is the job of the sound engineer to fix it quickly. A show with bad sound, is just a bad show. Same with a firefighter. A firefighter with bad equipment is just a bad firefighter.
Comparing live mixing to firefighting is definitely not the first comparison that would come to my mind. This is part of what drew me to this article. The title drew me straight in, as I thought to myself “Now how could this possibly be a valid comparison?” However, all my doubts were erased as I delved into this odd, though surprisingly accurate comparison. The more I read, the more clicked into place, and I even began to come up with conclusions of my own. Granted, I’ve never been a firefighter myself, but I made some assumptions. With a fire, it is not over until it is completely over. You constantly have to be paying attention to every little detail of what is going on around you. With live mixing, you have to pay attention to every single input channel and make sure everything is tended to evenly. If you pay too much attention to one channel, everything else will quickly go out of control. In a similar, though much more dangerous fashion, if a firefighter pays too much attention to a single part of a fire, other areas will quickly flare up and get out of control. In the end, surprising and odd as this comparison seemed at first, it is actually surprisingly accurate.
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