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[JohnReeve]

This question is maybe a bit overwrought and broad for a forum post- broad questions and walls-of-text aren't interesting to everyone and that's a-okay.

I'm trying to decide how to best approach my career as a sound tech.  Previously it was a lot easier to consider what I was doing, because it was a hobby and intermittent side gig.

The last year I just ran sound and played music; I made just enough on to live on from that side business.  I quit a computer programming job (that didn't pay great) half way through last year, but I'd have quit even if I didn't want to take time and just do music stuff. 

For context, I'm 46 and could do any number of things with my life.  I like running sound.  I'm less fond of moving boxes, but that seems to be most of the actual work I do.  It helps that I just paid out the last bit I intend to send my kid- he's just graduated college and got himself a gig as a mechanical engineer making more than I've ever made at his entry-level job.  So my living expenses are very low lately.

I'm currently on day 17 of staying in my truck or hotels for this hitch at work- we did an event for the eclipse in Texas and I got visited by a fox last night where I was camping in CO- so I'm just out having fun and enjoying my work.  We're doing a stage at a ski resort this weekend and next, so as long as the weather is good, it's good.

As fun as this work is, I'm starting to try and get more intentional about finding work.

There are a couple of directions I'm working towards.

I live in the middle of nowhere (Durango, CO) and the local gigs are all done by a couple of guys a generation older than me.  I've worked with most of them and like them pretty well- they've thrown me gigs that they couldn't take or hired me as a stage hand when they needed some help.  My assumption is that at some point they will want to retire and those gigs that support them just fine will be open to someone like me.  I know a guy 25 years older than me who just plays gigs and runs sound- I could emulate that and be happy.  So that seems like a possible direction for working.

This last year I've been traveling to work for a small/mid-sized sound company.  At this point I feel confident managing a stage, running monitors or FOH, or doing backline work.  The company is small enough that I end up doing a bunch of things but big enough that there are a lot of interesting things to do- I climb and hang the array at one festival, prep/troubleshoot backline, fix stuff, run side stages, etc.  It's kind of a limited experience in that I am only working with this one company though.

I enjoy working with the company a great deal but have no idea how to get more work.  We do a certain amount of corporate gigs and other random stuff, and those are fun  However, I don't have a lot of confidence in the company to give me enough work to keep me busy.  And I have no control over what kind of work the guy who owns the co is able to find.  We have a bunch of neat gigs coming up over the summer but I am looking around at stuff to do over the fall/winter. 

So a second direction I'm working in is approaching other companies looking for work on the road.  Traveling is fun but I don't want to move to a city.

I've talked with a couple of bands who want an engineer to travel.  I'd be super stoked to find a functional unit to work with- putting together a really solid touring setup sounds fun and I own most of the equipment/cases/etc to get that going for a band.  Unfortunately, the folks I know who have real money already have folks, and folks I know who would hire me don't have the kind of money to make it a reliable thing.  One of my local colleagues did get picked up by a national act, so that seems like a possible direction.  I'm not really sure how to proceed in that direction, so I kind of toss that in my bucket of stuff I'm a bit passively working on, like the performance gigs I do.

There are plenty of other directions open to me (I'm considering getting work doing low-voltage install, I know how to program, I can do electronics repair, I've got reasonable teaching credentials, I've been experimenting with building cases, I've played on and recorded a lot of albums for folks, etc) but I really like being at shows and running the board.

So, to distill that wall of text to some questions:

- have any of yall had success in being both active as a sound provider in a small market while -also- traveling to work in larger markets?  How do you reach out to folks in small markets to get business going?  Generally the work I get is folks looking for me- are yall actively marketing what you're doing to, say, weddings/private events?

- I enjoy traveling for work a lot, but I don't have a network of folks looking for labor in the same way I have for my local small providers.  Have any of yall had success in approaching larger companies for work?  Do folks approach you looking for work, and if so what are you looking for?  Especially for traveling work?  Do you have any advice about the best way or places to approach folks?

- The musicians I know touring it are very much scraping by, but I know a couple of tour manager type folks who do okay with regional acts... I don't know how to get started as a band engineer, though.  Do yall have any experience about traveling with bands, and advice about how to make that work in a professional context?  Is that even a thing that people are doing for money?

Anyhow, sorry if the wall-o-text is off-putting or I sound like a nut having a mid-life crisis; I've gotten enough valuable insight out of asking questions in this way that do it even though it's kind of a weird thing to do.

[Rick Powell]

If you are available for a full time road gig, you are in a different boat than most hobbyists/weekend warriors and even the full-time corporate AV people who expect to be home every night. You mentioned road managers - most of the acts who have not "made it", including most genres, often go out with a tour manager who doubles as the FOH guy. It's a lot of work and you'll be busy making arrangements and making sure everything is in place for the next gig, and then sound checking and running sound, and answering all those text messages and phone calls that come with the territory.

As with most things in this business, it's who you know and what connections you've made, and whether people know you, trust you, and think of you when a need arises. And your ability to answer the call when it comes. There's probably a lot more opportunity to meet others who could help you in, say, Nashville, Dallas or LA than in Durango, CO. I do like the idea of keeping doing what you are doing and waiting the old geezers out who are doing it regularly in Durango, if you want to stay a local person.

FYI the last time I was on the road was in the 80s (as a musician who owned the PA and the truck), when the economics were different. Speaking of Durango, I remember going over Wolf Creek Pass in my 26' box truck, hoping I didn't burn the brakes out and needing to use one of those runaway truck ramps, or miss a curve and go tumbling end-over-end on a grade not protected by guard rails.

[Brian Jojade]

One of the biggest problems of doing a combination of work for other companies AND running your own rig is that when you're working for other companies, that rig is sitting idle and not making a dime.

As far as competing with established companies goes, yeah, there are connections they may have that you don't yet. However, there are new bands and new venues coming online every day.  Build to get your name out there and you might be surprised on how any new event will get you called instead of the old timers.

[Caleb Dueck]

Build to get your name out there and you might be surprised on how any new event will get you called instead of the old timers.

Brian just described marketing 101 - create and proclaim what makes you different than the others.  Smaller, less visually obstructive equipment?  Full lighting and know how to program a good light show?  Comfortable and highly competent at corporate, EDM, training techs at schools, HoW, and others; not just small bar and street band concerts?  Better dressed, more presentable trucks?  Live streaming, multi-track recording, basic mixing/mastering/album production? 

I'd also question touring and trying to establish yourself locally.  Maybe try for touring, and then use that experience and those connections as you transition to regional provider.   

[Scott Holtzman]

One of the biggest problems of doing a combination of work for other companies AND running your own rig is that when you're working for other companies, that rig is sitting idle and not making a dime.

As far as competing with established companies goes, yeah, there are connections they may have that you don't yet. However, there are new bands and new venues coming online every day.  Build to get your name out there and you might be surprised on how any new event will get you called instead of the old timers.

Renting your rig out when you are not using it helps your economies of scale.


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