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[Steve Crump]

I should say first of all I am an electrician and have been all my working life and sound is a weekend gig.
I am fairly new to sound reinforcement, it started about 6 years ago when my daughter's boyfriend ask my son did he want to play in their band. Well they didn't have sh_t for gear and I loved fooling with electronic/electric "toys", so I started buying, learning, going out and helping.

I can remember being ask (5 years ago) to do a outdoor music festival and being to naive to realize what I didn't know and should have said no. We made it through and it was the first year for the festival, so only about 400 people came. It's funny to think I was cocky more so then and I knew nothing about providing sound reinforcement at all. Thank god for old musicians with their endless advice and you guys on ProSoundWeb. I have learned a ton from reading post, articles and asking questions here.
 
Next thing I know, I am helping everywhere locally, local art center, high school fundraisers, community theater etc. So, for some reason dragging gear around wasn't enough, we opened a listening room 2.5 years ago. Jury is still out on whether this was a good idea or not....After all I still work full time at construction.


The reason I started sound reinforcement was really in support of my son's music. He went from Stevie Ray to John Prine over the years and even got to play some cool places. Now he is putting it behind for a minute to go to college to figure out what he wants out of life. (Makes me think of the quote at the bottom of Debbie's post.) Now I have some cool gear and a great sidekick to help, so I plan on having some fun....


 

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

I am bored and just setting here reminiscing. My dad pasted this year after a battle with Alzheimer's, my daughter moved and got married and my son is about to start college. I am wondering what's next for me. So it got me thinking I wonder how some others got into this world of sound reinforcement. I find no matter what type of work, it usually started with a demand or need.

I should say first of all I am an electrician and have been all my working life and sound is a weekend gig.
I am fairly new to sound reinforcement, it started about 6 years ago when my daughter's boyfriend ask my son did he want to play in their band. Well they didn't have sh_t for gear and I loved fooling with electronic/electric "toys", so I started buying, learning, going out and helping.

I can remember being ask (5 years ago) to do a outdoor music festival and being to naive to realize what I didn't know and should have said no. We made it through and it was the first year for the festival, so only about 400 people came. It's funny to think I was cocky more so then and I knew nothing about providing sound reinforcement at all. Thank god for old musicians with their endless advice and you guys on ProSoundWeb. I have learned a ton from reading post, articles and asking questions here.
 
Next thing I know, I am helping everywhere locally, local art center, high school fundraisers, community theater etc. So, for some reason dragging gear around wasn't enough, we opened a listening room 2.5 years ago. Jury is still out on whether this was a good idea or not....After all I still work full time at construction.
www.highcottonmusichall.com.

The reason I started sound reinforcement was really in support of my son's music. He went from Stevie Ray to John Prine over the years and even got to play some cool places. Now he is putting it behind for a minute to go to college to figure out what he wants out of life. (Makes me think of the quote at the bottom of Debbie's post.) Now I have some cool gear and a great sidekick to help, so I plan on having some fun....

Here's a clip of my son Ethan at the Blue Plate Special in Knoxville (he was nervous), overlook the audio it is a handheld.
Also it is Folk/Americana, may not be for everyone. He wrote the song about my dad and mom. It is from my dad's perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAZfyX6Ecg0

Steve...

You might want to consider getting a couple of good diesel generators along with the associated cabling and break-outs and provide event power services.  Your knowledge of sound will help, you'd get to make contacts with some promoters/organizations/bands and see if you can't identify the need for sound while actually making decent coin.

Just a bit of speculation in hindsight...

[Jonathan Johnson]

I am bored and just setting here reminiscing. My dad pasted this year after a battle with Alzheimer's, my daughter moved and got married and my son is about to start college. I am wondering what's next for me. So it got me thinking I wonder how some others got into this world of sound reinforcement. I find no matter what type of work, it usually started with a demand or need.

There's already at least two other threads with a similar theme, one is a sticky that's always at the top of the thread list.

http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,141773.0.html

http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,149483.0.html

Now, I'm not going to say that folks can't repeat themselves here; just thought you might find it interesting browsing through those other threads.

Since I don't want to repeat myself, I'll just link to my answer in the other thread: http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,141773.msg1314448.html#msg1314448

[Steve Crump]

There's already at least two other threads with a similar theme, one is a sticky that's always at the top of the thread list.

http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,141773.0.html

http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,149483.0.html

Now, I'm not going to say that folks can't repeat themselves here; just thought you might find it interesting browsing through those other threads.

Since I don't want to repeat myself, I'll just link to my answer in the other thread: http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,141773.msg1314448.html#msg1314448

That might have been cool if I had noticed that before I posted here. I see the same thing happen all the time with gear questions.

Thanks

[Steve Crump]

Steve...

You might want to consider getting a couple of good diesel generators along with the associated cabling and break-outs and provide event power services.  Your knowledge of sound will help, you'd get to make contacts with some promoters/organizations/bands and see if you can't identify the need for sound while actually making decent coin.

Just a bit of speculation in hindsight...

Thanks. That's sort where I at, looking for the next opportunity.

[scottstephens]

Steve,

     I started running sound in church when the pastor's wife asked if I would. I didn't even own a stereo, the poor people. I must have sucked big time!!! It was an 8 channel Tangent mixer with big Shure mono amps and Shure 1 octave eq's. After a few months, I ran sound for a wedding and got paid!! Money. I was hooked. That was 35 years ago. I'm still learning. 

   Have fun.
Scott

[Steve M Smith]

In 1985, I was in our local music shop.  The owner was complaining that he didn't have anyone available to go out with a system.  I heard myself say "I will do it" and was immediately given the van keys.

We started off with a lot of Peavey gear (the shop sold more Peavey than any other UK shop at the time). SP2 and FH1 cabs and CS800 and CS400 amps with a Studiomaster mixer, later replaced by a Peavey MK IV.

Later, we added some Martin B115s, JBL 4560s and various JBL and EV mid and top cabs to make mismatched towers of sound which, somehow, we usually managed to make sound good.


Steve.

[Tim Weaver]

I realized about 25 years ago that for a guitar player, I made a really good soundguy.

That was basically it for me. Ifigired out that I didn't have the real talent to play guitar, no matter how much I practiced. Being a tech was a way for me to keep in the game, and it turned out that I had the knack for it.

[Dave Garoutte]

A friend of mine ran an open mike sort of event for bands once a month and I asked him if I could help out sometime.  He said come by next time.
 So I did and when I showed up, he says "You're the sound guy!" I had never run a board before.  We did 12 bands that night!

[W. Mark Hellinger]

I realized about 25 years ago that for a guitar player, I made a really good soundguy.

That was basically it for me. Ifigired out that I didn't have the real talent to play guitar, no matter how much I practiced. Being a tech was a way for me to keep in the game, and it turned out that I had the knack for it.

Much the same here:

Early on playing bass, I realized a non-singing mediocre bass player like myself, was only so marketable... but that a non-singing mediocre bass player who also owned a decent sound and lighting rig, and could make the gear reliably work and get seemingly good results, and had the means to haul, store, and fix the gear was much more in demand.  40+ years now, and this still seems to hold true... although I think my bass playing's improved over the years.

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