Lighting&Sound America Online - News: The expertise of live sound engineers Malcolm Gil and Ben Rothstein converged at Lollapalooza this summer, where they were part of the team supporting US breakout pop star Chappell Roan. In front of a record-breaking crowd and the high stakes of a major festival, the event was a massive undertaking.
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Sound engineers and monitor engineers in my opinion are often not given enough credit for all the work they do. No one ever notices when an artist has good sound, but they always notice when they have bad sound. The fact that a major festival like Lollapalooza only had 2 major sound technicians is impressive. For a festival so large, that always draws such a big crowd, I would’ve thought the sound team would be bigger. Not only that but it’s also fascinating to learn how Malcolm and Ben came to become part of the sound industry for theatre, whether it be by learning through being on tour for years or by working at the Clair Brothers, these sound technicians were clearly prepared for this gig. I think it’s amazing that without a sound check they were able to make Chappell Roan’s set sound really good. They had to account for many different conditions that were out of their control throughout the day, what with being outside, and a record breaking audience number. It’s incredible how they relied on their Avid S6L console to help them prepare the best of what they could for Chappell before the performance.
My initial impression of this article was that the fact that a show of this scale and magnitude had no sound check and still ran incredibly well is kind of mind-boggling to me. While that’s only a tiny fraction of this article, I think it’s pretty emblematic of how well this event is both planned and executed. The more pre-viz (or whatever the audio equivalent is, I digress) that can be used ahead of time, the more prepared one will be and this article is an incredible example of that. The job of the mixer and the monitor engineer is so complex and challenging and I cannot imagine the stress that an event of this size could bring. Overall, it’s always wonderful to hear about the different technicians working these events, their backgrounds and what they do to prepare themselves at the moment. Learning from others is so critical to learning in this career path especially.
I love love love listening about how different audio engineers and designers got their start and what consoles they use to help them in high stress situations because I feel like it is so unique to each person. I feel like there are so many different variations of the same thing out in the market console and technology wise that it is almost impossible to sort out the junk from the gems. It is almost as if everything that is good, people only hear about through the grapevine and that is almost more trustworthy than online reviews and what not. I really wish Malcolm Gil and Ben Rothstein talked more about their experience mixing at Lollapalooza because that seems like such an uniquely intense experience but also like a moment that if it works then you become set for life and I wish they talked more about their journey and kind of how they got there.
As someone who is interested in the world of sound, I always like hearing from sound and audio engineers about how they got into the work they’re doing and what it took for them to get to where they are today. Often, many sound technicians and engineers did not plan to follow that route at all and fell into it in a different way. One thing that they all have in common is a love for music and all things sound. I think this is a very inspiring aspect of the job. Not many people are there because they were forced, rather they find the job beause they love sound and music and found a way to follow that as a career. In my own path, I would love to work for concerts and live music some day, so hearing about how these high profile audio and monitor engineers got started exactly where I am today is super inspiring to me.
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