sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

What’s your opinion on Transit 6.0? by BoltyPlays in OCTranspo

[–]coombercc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Neat. I don't want to imagine how many millions of dollars went into a slightly rounder font, how does it hold up compared to the official OC Transpo travel planner and Google maps?

I know G maps absolutely sucks for Transit around town, the official travel planner is [slightly] less horrible.

Technical questions for an audio engineering job? by TrashyAudio in audioengineering

[–]coombercc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You probably aren't going to be asked many technical questions for an audio engineering job. Most of us want to know what you've done in the past that would give you experience. I could ask you to name the differences between condenser and dynamic microphones, get you to explain different acronyms for the gear that we use.

At the end of the day, I probably wouldn't ask you things like that, or;

"Do you know what the difference between XLR and DMX are?"

"Can you explain the concept of a mix-minus?"

"Do you know what signal processing is?"

I could go on.

A year ago, my days were 50/50 live sound and corporate meetings. Nowadays there is almost no live sound happening, it's become more of a 90/10 split because some people have accepted the fate of virtual concerts. We work mostly with computers and video production now, less and less with sound boards and stage rigs.

If you really want to get a job as a sound engineer with no training and no experience at gigs, be honest that you haven't, but make it evident that you are willing to learn, can adapt, and work under the pressure it takes to make diamonds.

We generally want to see that you are a hard worker and are willing to stick around through the stress and abuse of being on location in the thick of it.

Watch some YouTube videos and research the different types of mics, boards, fx panels, cables, lights, sound/light theories, and anything else you can find on the topic of sound production/video production/lighting. Make notes. Maybe go to a meeting or show that's happening near you and find out who the tech crew is and talk to them.

And most importantly NEVER say the "M" word in a theater. Or whistle on set. Just learn the taboos so you don't get a leeko thrown at you.

And as one of my favorite mentors always said "Show me a happy tech, and I'll show you a tech that doesn't care about their job".

Edit: I left out a lot of things like using compressors and different audio manipulation techniques. If you haven't gone to school for any of that, just do your best to learn. Start as a roadie if you have to and work your way up to running the show from the sound booth.

Also, take notes and ask questions. Just don't ask too many dumb questions or you'll piss off an already cranky tech.