This year I got the amazing chance to work a few nights of sx doing sound for this venue in downtown Austin.
I had to be at the venue by 9am, or even 10 minutes before so I look good. I got off of work the night before at midnight or so, and didn’t get home until 30 minutes later. Of course being me, I can’t fall asleep right away. Even though an hour earlier I was falling asleep, makes no sense. Anyways, I had to wake up around 7am so I can leave my house around 8am and get to Austin around 8:45am-ish depending on how traffic was going to be like. I went to bed at 4am, overslept and woke up at 8am. I literally rushed out of bed and got ready in about 10 minutes, which was definitely a new record. I made it at 10 minutes past 9, and I was so pissed. I had to pay for parking, cause parking in my normal free spot, which was 15 minutes away, was not gonna happen. So I got there and thought I was just gonna start off doing things and being in the moment. Nope. The guy I was reporting to was pretty chill, but we had to wait for the people who were putting on the show to set everything up. We were just there to make sure the audio was working. Turns out the audio equipment they rented was somewhere else and was 15 minutes away. So we sat and waited, nothing. This random guy showed up saying he wasn’t supposed to be here until 12, but they called him and told him to go early. He kept saying this over and over again as if it was gonna make him look better and his company look shitty. Boss lady calls the company again, and they said they’ll be arriving in 15 minutes or so. The guy I was reporting to, lets call him M, and I just looked at each other and said that’s what they said literally 15 minutes ago. Oh, Austin SXSW Downtown Traffic. So we set our own mics up for a backup, just in case. There was this duo that performed before this interview that was going on, and she was pretty good. I did minimal sound for that, I just kind of stood around while M showed me how to work the tablet that controlled the board. While they were performing, the audio equipment shows up and everyone is literally scrambling to get things set up for this guy who’s about to do an interview. Big Mike. Funny guy. Good interview, that lasted for about 30 minutes. After all that, I was finished for the day and was ready to go home and sleep. Ha! As if, I still had to go back to Target to work a closing shift.
I had to be at the venue a little later this time 1:30pm. Got out of work late, and I was just exhausted. Woke up on time, thankfully. Got to Austin around 1:15ish, I was running a little behind. Couldn’t do a 15 minute walk, so I went to downtown Austin. Big mistake. Driving downtown to find parking was literally the worst. Walkers everywhere, so much traffic I wanted to roll out my car hoping someone would run over me. I didn’t get to the venue until 2pm, yeah I was 30 minutes late, on my second day!!! I’m not this type of person, and I knew this was making me look so bad. I was over it. Parked in this stupid parking lot that was $30 for 8 hours. I rolled my eyes so hard I could not deal. Got there, and M said I was gonna do sound for this band at the venue across the alley way. Totally cool. Met the band who I was going to do sound for, and they were really obnoxiously loud. I didn’t even mic up the amps. The singer was complaining that he can't hear himself and I’m like well tell your guys to turn down. Sound check was over, and the lead singer came out to me and asked if I could do some eq cause his guys can’t turn down any lower. I’m trying so hard not to roll my eyes but I’m like yeah I got you whatever. By the way, this room I’m mixing in sucks fucking ass. It’s the worst and if I’m ever offered to do sound there again I would refuse. The panel I was doing sound for sounded like ass, for the life of me I could not get them to sound good at all. Mind you, this is the first time I was doing live by myself and the first time in like 4 months. So I was a little, okay a LOT, rusty. So muddy and everything was just popping ugh it was terrible. I was setting up their mics, which they literally told me about 5 minutes before. One line wasn’t working and this girl was hovering over my shoulder like okay we need to start and I’m thinking bitch if you don’t get the fuck away from me and let me find out why the fuck this mic isn’t working. Afterwards, the band performed and they were just loud and I felt as the set went on it just got louder. Same fucking girl came up beside me, I can barely hear the singer. And I’m like well I fucking wonder why. I didn’t say anything I just nodded and went about doing my job. It was already too loud and I just couldn’t do it. I mean that room and everything can only do so much. Whatever. I was over it. Also didn’t leave until an hour after I was supposed to, wasn’t mad I was just getting paid more.
Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday 3/15-17 Day 3, 4, & 5:
I was working at my school, wasn’t anything eventful. Just sat at our tent we had set up at this place called Aussie’s on SoCo. It was this thing called MusicMadnessATX but no one was really there and it was kind of lame.
This day was just awful and I wanted to cry right when I got there hahaha I actually got there on time ha ha I was given an input list on the things and how they’re supposed to get set up. I arrive and the place is already hectic and I’m like well shit. Turns out the input list I was given wasn’t correct so I had to ask someone from the band wtf was going on. 5 minutes before soundcheck was SUPPOSED to happen, and no one in the band is even on stage like the FUCK. So I’m asking randoms like who and what is gonna be on stage I need to know so I can get everything set up. I was running around frantically, and I had the boss ladies asking me if everything was going okay and I’m thinking does it fucking LOOK like everything’s going okay?? Monitors weren’t working, and some random guy who had a walkie showed up and fixed that. Literally before every performance I had to frantically find the band members and see what was gonna be on stage. Second group was worse, I kept getting random feedback. I also kept getting people coming up to me saying if I can eq the lead vocalist or can I put them up louder. And I’m literally like ...... you can leave, but all I did was nod my head and smile. Every group this happened, and the guy with the walkie showed back up and ended up helping me. Guess I was too shitty for everyone else haha but this one guy came up and told the guy he can barely hear the singer blah blah and the guy turns to me and is like well he’s basically covering the entire mic no wonder you can’t hear him. But that was literally my entire night until 1am. I was so stressed and honestly felt incapable of doing a job I know I can do. I just haven’t had any practice or any type of experience besides what I did in school, and even then I had my classmates sometimes teacher helping me out.
I’m not completely sure I want to do live sound in the future, but it was a stressful and good experience for me to learn from.
