Behind The Scenes: A Day In The Life Of A Touring Sound Engineer At An Arena Show

Oh, life on the road. I miss it! 😢

Band name, Elton John reference?

Really enjoyed, thanks. I did a lot of that for the several bar bands I was in.
All analogue! Did it all like this guy, but on a much smaller scale.
The other guys mostly stayed out of my way, xcpt…too long of a story

I was a stagehand for four years down in Florida back in the 90's. Not only shows but also the Magic floor every home game. Thanks, this takes me back to the days. Chain motors. Speakers. Lights. GAK.

At least it’s TooL and not TOTo.

Absolutely great video. From the late 70s to the mid 80s I had a fairly successful sound and lighting company in Sydney and also freelanced FOH for JANDS, In 1982 I was FOH for the Aussie support on Cher's tour which was an unusual schedule. Two weeks in a venue in each major city and I did them all except Perth which was too much of a chunk of time away from my own life. We had a beast of an analog desk built by JANDS and the lighting was a mix of analog and digital which my then girlfriend and later wife ran for the support and then moved to a follow spot position for Cher. Cher's FOH who's name I can't remember let me sit with him often and was incredibly gracious. I learned more from him in those few weeks than I taught myself in years. I burned out and sold up in 1985 which was just as well because the Sydney live music scene died not long after.

I've watched that many Drumtech vids in a row before this I was wondering what you were doing rolling away with the FOH case!

Sound guys must love their jobs. Number one rule. If you aren’t totally happy and stoked about every day on tour you will never make it.
They remind me of truck drivers. The job looks fun till you do it. After a while they are either saying I wouldn’t do anything else or I’ll never do this again.
The equipment has changed so much since the 80’s.
These guys make or break a tour.

Lost count of the amount of times I've been to gigs here and always thought the acoustics were terrible. Would love to know a professionals opinion?

He set up the mics on the drums on the floor of the arena then when he plugged in the cables they were on the stage??

This is awesome! I love seeing how this all gets put together!

Brilliant video I’ve subscribed. As a failed rock star in my youth it was great to see how it’s all done on a bigger scale in modern times. I’d love to have tried as a sound engineer!

Im just hear to listen to tool

What band is this? I am a sound engineer and got out of live mixing, because it is really tough on your ears. Cool video!

These videos are amazing! A real break down to what happens!

I was there! It sounded great!

What an enjoyable video. Thank you for sharing it.

Just curious, do you do anything to protect your hearing? I’m getting older now and now I’m beginning to regret not doing a better job at this while enjoying concerts and working as a sound engineer.

Awesome! loved this!🤘🤘🤘

And.....Playing TOOL effin TOOL during the set up.... brilliant.

Where was that?

I think that beer in the end was well deserved. How many hours are we talking from getting off the bus to getting on the bus again?

I always wondered about the process of sound mixing at a concert venue. Thank you so much for posting! ❤

Can you detail the arm used for kick mic i need that lol

Stage Truck posse keeping it real....and onetime...everytime 😂

So nice to see a sound guy actually listening to the output. Went to a Joe Bonamassa gig in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Sat behind the desk two stages above and the sound was completely crap, all you could hear was his guitar, drums and the backing shriekers. The sound guy only used headphones. Walked out at half time and went out for dinner. Saved the evening.

What is the music playing in the background while he is working ?

These are the guys that make ( THE SOUND GREAT ) the stuff you never see 👍👍👍

Emphasis on catering is always so funny, been there done that, always about the catering, lol... \m/

A dumb question I know. But where does the electrical power come from. Is it that ultimately everything is just plugged into a single 13 amp into the wall !!
Genuinely don’t know and would love to have the electrical power source is supplied. 🙋‍♂️🇬🇧

Much love to the sound crew.

Good one, fellas! Hey, how do you like the SmallRig arms over LP clamps? Are those all the 11" arms? Do they hold up well to the vibrations? What clamp is that on the 450? Nice set up!!

Love the drum mic arm's, have a few myself and the drum kit stage box's. So nice to not have them flip over lol W1 for the win :)

did you have the support acts foh desk cascading into yours or did you swap the multi during changeover?

I have a question where did you get the the stands for the kick drum

A bit unrelated, but curious to know if you have any recommendations for wireless routers/access points for touring? Ideally something that would stay onstage

how do you patch the triggers to open channel gates?

Hiya mate, great work. what walkie talkie handset/ shoulder thingies are you using, I can’t seem to find one that’s long enough anywhere. Thanks in advance

Greatings to Pitie, Dan and Alfa from Solotech UK group

I am from Rwanda

This is amazing to see, thanks so much for taking the time to make this! How do you power your GoPro? Big battery, or mains power?

I'd love to see what the LD was doing, too.

Can someone tell me how one would get started to obtain a job like this?

Need a job like this im a small dj but would love to learn about big arena audio production

Nice to see Mr. Drew in the wild!

Anyone know what models of drum mic mounts those are from Small Rig? I NEED these!!!

Cool video!

Can I get your contact pls have some few questions??

Great setup Did you in any way patch the audio to the lighting board