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[Rick Powell]

Brandon and Scott, I too grew up in a tiny tiny spec of a town an hour south of Chicago. It took 3 town to make our high schoo, enrollment of 400. When I moved to the SW Burbs there were more than that in each high school graduating class, lol.

I am guessing Iroquois, Ford or Livingston County.  My daughter lives in Chatsworth, and I think they have a similar high school where 3 small towns attend.  Her husband is a union carpenter in Chicago, and he makes more $ doing that than he could locally, even with a 2 hr. commute each way factored in.

[Brian Elstro]

From small-town Richmond, Indiana here. Full time musician/SE, but I also system tech at my house gig. Been through Cookeville a couple of times, my mother is a damned yankee, too (in Altamont). DIY speaker designer (use all my own), but am probably going to follow in Ivan's shoes and go back to school for the 'required' piece of paper due to the fact that the money hasnt ever been the best without it. I think I live/eat/breathe sound and music-related issues... I still own most of the HS&R, Recording, Mix, EQ mags I've ever bought (3 decent boxes full), and peruse even the oldest of em to the newest. Anyone remember the project R or the mic-pre projects.... still want to build em (and have the schematics and parts lists). Take care!

[Brandon Wright]

Hey Brandon,

I did pre-engineering at Western and transferred to UofI after that.  Great town Macomb.  I am from a small town outside of Macomb (even smaller than Macomb).

Nice. Yea, I like it well enough. I am originally from Rushville. Which small town outside Macomb?

[AllenDeneau]

I am guessing Iroquois, Ford or Livingston County.  My daughter lives in Chatsworth, and I think they have a similar high school where 3 small towns attend.  Her husband is a union carpenter in Chicago, and he makes more $ doing that than he could locally, even with a 2 hr. commute each way factored in.

Impressive Rick, Iroquois it is. My hometown is Clifton and is almost equidistant between Chicago and Champaign on I-57. Bedroom communities for sure in that area, lots of people work downtown and make far more even with the commute. Fortunately I can be in the city within an hour from my parents house so it's not quite the drive that Chatsworth is for sure

Brian, I too am a packrat when it comes to industry magazines, have so many it's a bit scary. It wasn't an issue until we moved to Tennessee. We took a house for rent while we were selling our house in Montgomery, still here until we find what we want, but the issue is we moved from 3000 sq ft to @ 1000 sq ft, so EVERYTHING extra is super noticeable. Man we have too much crap.

Years ago I wanted to move to Nashville to pursue sound but I chickened out, now I'm here and hoping to continue my career here as well. If I  had it to do over again I would've received my bachelors in stage management or audio engineering mainly just to have some "formal" credential. Trying to get hired on with a company here has been a bit difficult as there are thousands of BE etc's... that have experience on exactly what boards these people run. Since I worked for myself I never had the business to support buying a PM1D etc... so therefore I don't have experience on it and it's a desirable skill. One question I was asked on an interview for a part time tech job was "do I know how to tie in", although I know the principles I explained that when I need a tie in I hired an electrician, rather be safe than sorry. So that told me I still have lots to learn and hoping I'll get a chance soon.

Thanks guys, it's cool reading these stories.

[Randy Pence]

1. Berlin, Gemany

2. I'm a freelance sound guy, maintaining installed dj systems, mixing talking heads, and mixing live bands.  My schedule is not as full as I'd like it to be, but it allows me time to philosophize, raise my daughter, and maintain local friendships.

3. I started out as a dj in highschool, went to college for EE but dropped out after a few years, and have earned my keep since with audio.  While in college I worked in nightclubs supporting installed dj systems and then worked for an install and mobile company in nyc.  Once I figured I needed to branch out to personally grow, I moved to europe in 2003 where I started working for various clubs and promoters, while attempting to produce electronic music (im not very good).  In the last 6 years or so, I've evolved to corporate stuff and live music. My future goals are to learn keys and drums (play to my daughter), tour (mix the same band more than once, lol), and create entertainment content myself (curating and conducting bands), and some indie film stuff, too.

[Jonathan Johnson]

I live in Southwest Washington, between the cities of Battle Ground (where no battle took place) and La Center (which, arguably, isn't the center of anything, at least not anymore).

My "day job" is as a computer network technician for a small contract IT firm supporting small businesses. I've been doing that since '99; before that I was an apprentice plumber. What a leap, hey?

My introduction to sound was at the Memorial Day church campout in 1991. Someone had brought a portable Radio Shack amplifier, a 1-watt job that you plug a microphone into the speaker. It was wholly inadequate, and my thought was "I can do better than that." A few months later, I happened to be at Radio Shack and saw a 25-watt PA amplifier on the clearance table. Between that, some home stereo speakers I had kicking around, and borrowing the microphone from the church, I cobbled together a system for the next year's campout that was quite a bit better. Not good, but better. After several years of improving on things here and there, and regretting buying equipment that no professional would touch (and in the process, learning WHY they wouldn't touch it), I finally had built a system that would probably suffice for many professionals' B or C systems. After that, people started asking me to run sound for wedding ceremonies and other events.

Since I consider it a hobby, I don't advertise, only getting jobs by word of mouth. I really enjoy live sound. I've dabbled with recording a little bit and discovered it wasn't to my tastes. I would probably be an awful DJ and have no interest doing that anyway, so I don't do the wedding reception.

While I regret buying cheap junk in the past, the regret is in the money wasted not the experience. By having experienced poor quality tools, it gives me a greater appreciation for high quality gear. And I learned you can't buy high-quality gear at Radio Shack.

P.S. -- The most valuable tool in my audio education was the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook.

[gordonmcgregor]

I'm from near Glasgow in Scotland

Work as a gas appliance repair engineer, though I have clocked as many hours behind a sound board in a week

Got heavily involved in electonic music late 70's early 80s drifted to the back of the room as I can't play worth a damn though programming and patching these old syths was great fun

In later years toured with a noisy folk/punk band called The Electrics all over the place built up a small PA and some recording stuff

Worked as a casual hand with local radio and also national broadcaster (BBC) radio work mainly at big events like open golf championships etc.

Nowadays still do radio stuff, and work with a male voice choir, some orchestral stuff and have just started with a jazz big band. G

[Chris Clark]

I'm bored and perusing the board, so I'll kick in here.

Western New York (basically between Buffalo and Rochester, though I spent a 2 year stint in Syracuse)

Since I don't have my own equipment I think I'm a little out of it here, but I've worked for a production company in Buffalo before they were bought out, and have satiated my appetite for sound at the local amusement park for what will be a 10th year this coming summer.

I got started in 7th grade when I joined a local youth theater learning very very basics, learned more when I started working sound for my high school's drama productions, and its grown ever since, though I still haven't been able to make a full time job out of it or even do/learn nearly as much as I'd like to.

[brian maddox]

Okay, I'll play....

I live in Frederick, MD which is an hour north of Washington DC. grew up closer to the city and have lived and worked in the area all my life.

I spent my early 20's with a day job and a fairly serious audio addiction.  By 30 I had conned my way into a full-time Big Boy sound company gig and worked every imaginable gig there for about 8 years and then went freelance where I mostly did high dollar corporate work.  About 10 years ago i got involved playing guitar at a 1500 member church here in Frederick and over the course of 6-7 years I gradually transitioned out of the sound business and into my full time 'house gig' as the 'Creative Arts Director' which means I'm in charge of tech AND lead the band and play on stage.  Now I'm learning video, and squint work, and the challenges of actually BEING the talent.  Good times.  I sometimes miss my old gig, but I very much like being home every night with my family as well as actual Health Insurance that someone else pays for.

I probably lurk here as much for the audio guy fix as anything... 

[Jerome Malsack]

Hello, 

Retired Navy Computer Operator working on Computers around Washington DC. 

Weekend sound fun and some money.  Mostly older system.  Recording with M-audio Quattro. 

2 EV TL15-1
2 EV S15-3A
2 Carvin Pm-15
Carvin Fet1000 Fet450 Fet450 Fet400.
EV M4 32 channel mixer.

I do sound for bands, church, and various charities from time to time. 

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