A Day In The Life of An Audio Engineer

This is what it's like from my point of view on the current tour im on!
From load in, microphone setup, cabling, the show, load out, pickin up the snakes, and flying in the PA!
FOH Engineer - Alex Markides @darkides on all socials
Slipknot Tour 2021

[@digdigdigdigdig1749]

Crazy to see someone doing the same shit I also do professionally for some reason. Everything detail down to the mess of cables, to the satisfaction of perfectly lining up the cases in the truck after a long 12 hour day haha. Felt like I was at work, and I can gladly say that its not a bad thing at all. I love the studio, but there's a certain magic in live sound that you cant get in the studio. Very blessed that I lucked out getting with the crew I run with down in Dallas!

[@aidenw6862]

Dirty D all the way where you do mixing at?

[@digdigdigdigdig1749]

@@aidenw6862 I only do studio mixing but im a stagehand in the live stuff! I'm with a company called inverted entertainment. We do all the rustic locations, wild acre in Fort worth and small local bands at a few different small venues👍

[@slayeralmighty]

The crazy part is same for me, but every time I work with a new group or see content like this, I’m always stunned by how differently different groups do things

[@bearb1asting]

Right!

[@djnicksedits5525]

@@digdigdigdigdig1749 I've never been to Dallas and would've loved to have seen White Ghost Shivers back in 2011/12. The videos i've seen of them on youtube are badass. Have you ever helped with White Ghost Shivers? Or seen them live?

[@UltimateGamer181]

Hell yeah man! living the dream Alex. Love the organized chaos of each night. Hope I can do it one day.

[@kaiulrich6185]

After 30 years of doing this I can assure you, it is far from living a dream.

[@johnnycooke3629]

this is not a dream dude been doing it for 6 months and I'm regretting it

[@asylumrain]

@@johnnycooke3629 what’s the pay?

[@johnnycooke3629]

@@asylumrain varies a lot sometimes 12/h-16/h if im lucky 28-46/h but the shifts are usually 12h+ load ins and load outs are generally like 4 hours with a big enough crew, this weekend though I had 63:30 hours in 3 days out of state and had a pretty small crew so it was exhausting I only made around 800. Keep in mind though I'm kinda new I haven't been doing this for more than a year

[@indi2174]

@@kaiulrich6185 If he only knew . The high end ples😚uree🤑 with in all that pressure 🥶🤯

[@trscsaeg]

The start of this video makes this field look super easy and convenient and non time consuming at all

[@darkides]

Lolllll

[@johnnycooke3629]

nope a good 4 hours of sleep a Night is always good

[@shanerobertcooperramirez1726]

yes

[@JohnPaulBuce]

the power of trimming videos

[@soularslaps]

a proper team is HUGE, HUUUGGGEEE! worked as a stage hand for world fest and it opened my eyes to a whole new realm!

[@CamOpKyle]

An audio engineer that actually goes hands on with load in/out? Impressive. A lot of A1s and L1s that I've worked with won't even look in the general direction of the truck during load in.

[@tylerjeffries7507]

I mean if you want it packed right u gotta do it your self

[@youngeshmoney]

@@migez1 as they should, they're not getting paid to load in and out. I used to help load in and set up and it would cost me in the end because I would have needed that time to do things that was actually my job. Now I just go in once the console is set up and get to work. Once the show is over, I hit that power button and DIP🤣

[@ChrisM541]

@@youngeshmoney Totally agree with you. You're paid to do a particular job. It wouldn't go down well if you were to take on a physical injury that compromises the show doing something you're not supposed to be doing. Massive kudos to the crew that do this, though.

[@willhaigh9531]

roadie or just tech/rigging crew@@keyboard5494

[@xSmuckerZxJelly]

@@ChrisM541massive kudos for being bitch made

[@SlothMotions]

I am so happy I got to see this video, this type of work is 100% not for me, but I absolutely love all the details this video shows!

[@dxmbro]

Why this type is not for you?

[@robertlustmord1636]

@@dxmbro Cause he's a sloth, heh

[@dxmbro]

@@robertlustmord1636 omg lustmord

[@mjodr]

Same. No longer a career goal, lol.

[@Komodo1312]

@@dxmbro 12-14 hour days, no free weekends, kilometers of cables to roll/unroll, a shit ton of responsibility, no one will compliment you if you do your job good soundwise, but will blame you for every mishap. The list goes on. Although I dreamed of being a sound engineer one time, I'm pretty glad I found no way to get there

[@radioflatland]

That´s a hell of work! As a local musician, we do our stuff on our own but on a way lower level. Your work is incredible. Good to show what´s behind the stage! Thank you!

[@jamesscott3263]

I can feel this in my quads, glutes, and hamstrings. Pushing these cases up and down ramps for 16 hours will make you feel the burn. Add a sunny day in 90+ degrees Fahrenheit and shitting in a well used portapotty to get the full ambiance. Touring bands should do this work for a week before they decide to show up late, drunk, high, or hungover to appreciate all the hard work that goes into letting them perform for an hour.

[@InfinityShadow20]

I can't imagine the effort of packing up all that every time the show is finished just to have to set it all up again the next day or week... Props to you all..

[@joshuacervenkamusic327]

Yo, just want to say thank you to you and the whole team your with for the hard work you guys put in for these shows. Most concert goers don't realize how much goes into it.

[@chrisclose7793]

The lighting and sound technicians and engineers are the unsung hero's at concerts and events and shows without us these gigs would never happen

[@woodybob01]

Not gonna lie doing all this is pretty impressive. Even just the fact that you remember where everything goes

[@LaytonMechaley]

Much respect to the people who organize all of this and set everything up, I’ve never realized how much work these guys have to do

[@calebkey2050]

This is so wild, I was at that show. So cool to see the other side of things! Everyone absolutely killed that night, great times

[@guerodadon]

I was there at knotfest at the houston show

[@kacyrufenacht2018]

Worked for the Local 16 in SF for some time before the Pandemic hit and the city went overboard, and unfortunately had to find work elsewhere. Love the professionalism and just about everyone treated you like a brother. Everyone loved their job.

[@FlyingBeerman]

Pays close attention to cable wraps to see how experienced this guy is. Surprised you were able to film so much. A lot of these venues do not like crew filming because of the chance of recording stuff you weren't supposed to.

[@darkides]

i wore a go pro on my head all day!

[@Zigfud12th]

Those K2's and K1-SBs are amazing for bump outs, so quick to get it out! Always loved a bump out with those.

[@LegendaryMaoMao20]

Man, you're living the dream bro! I'm studying in BS major in Multimedia Arts and Information Technology for college, so I'm getting closer to it! Hope you're doing great man!

[@Tkibbs14]

This is what I’m about to finally start doing full time as well as being a symphony musician. I understand what it’s like being on both sides of the mic, but to finally be starting as a full time live sound engineer is amazing

[@Flanger711]

You’re amazing for this,engineers like this are part of the reason why so many concerts and life changing moments happen,respect and salute 🫡 🔥

[@pilotmichael3422]

It's crazy how fast the loadout starts. I went to a concert last year where I was in the front row and as soon as the band got off stage and the house lights came up, the techs came out and started shooing us off the barrier so they could dismantle it. Large touring shows are logistical nightmares and masterpieces at the same time. Thank you for the work you do to bring entertainment to so many people!

[@huntermorgan6177]

I've never been on a stage in my life, but there's something really fun for me in the physical and technical aspect of setting up equipment. I'd love if you did more videos like this and added captions with a bit more detail!

[@SirenBandUS]

Awesome video! What always amazes me is how shit doesn't get left behind at each show. There are thousands of parts - large and small - to account for. People have no idea what goes into a modern concert experience and how much work is done before, during and after a show. Thanks for sharing!

[@D4NS80]

Killswitch! Shit yeh, your mixes are awesome man. I saw a recent live vid with the audio output from the mixing desk, so well put together, you could hear every instrument and Jessie's vocals were so nicely mixed. You are at the top of your game mate. Love it! From a Kiwi in Australia.

[@BrannonDavis]

Miss doing load ins and load out, all that crazy chaos. Fun times.

[@LegendaryMaoMao20]

A year later, I'm already starting my own audio rental company, and I'm very happy because saw your video again and it takes me back, now I feel like I'm working with you lol, you're an amazing guy my man!!

[@equilibrium8545]

Holy shit. That looks so fun, but at the same time nerve-wracking. Cool to think about, that without you they would not be able to preform the liveshow. You have one hell of an awesome job :) And to everyone that reads this, I hope you are having a great day!

[@matthewchurchill1802]

It is very nerve wracking even when i did it in a room with only 100 people

[@joeyo2365]

It’s quite a nerve wracking career - from my experience you do start to get used to it, realize that sometimes bad things happen and it’s not the end of your career as long as you’re professional about fixing the problem (if it’s even in your power to do so) - I’ve been engineering since I was 8 but only recently full time, and while my touring shows still give me jitters, some of the smaller gigs are completely painless.

[@Hennir_97]

There's something different being the guys who work behind the scenes to make all the magic happen. I loved seeing the audio engineer perspective of this! You can also see the camera getting "weary" after the long day.

[@A_lg]

Ultimately a major part of this job consist of playing life size Tetris

[@BritishBoy]

I can't wait to start school for this!! Not even kidding, amongst all the craziness and tediousness of it all, it looks like so much fun overall and really just an absolute dream in general! Thanks for this video!

[@marissalipschutz4730]

Have you started?

[@rogerramones1743]

Omg is the knotfest tour? Awesome video bro! Keep doing that type of videos, we really enjoyed.

[@monarchistdesade6989]

Came for curiosity what you were going to show. Not disappointed at all, it's a good resume of our work in a day. Promps to the guys trying to give some vibes through the video :D!

[@Mousoukyou]

I've always wondered what backstage looks like, thanks so much for this.

[@seevaq]

WOAW ! It's like setting up everything for recording in the studio but everyday starting from zero ! As an amateur musician, I'm very impressed !

[@joshuak6768]

Oh god getting the snake collected and wound up at the end of night... that one is a beast. Great video.

[@markcortez3541]

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass!!!! Love it! Great job.

[@EnricoLux]

I see this video almost every day, love it and love this work! Pls doing more video like this 🔥

[@soundguydon]

Oh this brought back so many memories -- thanks for sharing the video 🙂 Of course at the time I was doing this, analog boards were still king, and digital boards were juuuust coming out ;-)

[@dbarbz2089]

I do not miss doing this for a job. So stressful, constant travelling. Long ass days and nights. Working every weekend. If you're young, single and want to see the world then this is the job for you.

[@bazjaddley6369]

Yeap

[@josephchiorazzi8276]

you tricked me into thinking there was a fly on my screen. After I almost broke the screen trying to swat the fly i realized it was fake...good job

[@nelsoncardoso76]

I had no idea... I won't complain anymore when organizing cables inside the computer case, which I ride a hobby. I could unequivocally understand that without the technicians and casters there is no show. It's heavy work, it's not a cake. Congratulations for your work.

[@xSmuckerZxJelly]

Yeah and it’s a running joke in the industry that audio guys can’t count to 3. Because they barely lift compared to lighting and video guys

[@TKomie]

damn this was the vlog i've been searching for

[@SeanRaine]

hey look its exactly what I do lol crazy how I understand every step. cool to know it transfers. I could go anywhere with these skills. great vid man thank you

[@prestonh1367]

God bless our road crews! cant have a show with out them!!

[@shanithezimhoni]

It’s pretty awesome to see just how much stuff you’ve got prerigged

[@killedbycue]

Did this for some local school plays and a small festival and loved it. Pretty awesome desk as well

[@joey_morg]

LOVE IT! Really cool to see all of the hard work that goes into setting up & breaking down one of the greatest "Metalcore" bands of all time! 🤘😝🤘 🔥🖤

[@RocksGaming]

I love watching this so much lol, I recently started the life of a production tech, and I love this job so much, I'm too new and scared to go on tour, so ill stay with this local company in the mean time, and keep learning.

[@aaronquinn8241]

As an artist, you really don’t initially realise the mechanism that goes on behind a successful event. Kudos to all live sound & studio engineers, I’ve DJ’d many a club to realise they’re serious about the craft & it works their way for a reason.

[@userkeepinglock]

load in/out was insane i’ve only seen them for smaller bands with way less gear and arena level shit just amazes me. i eventually want to go out on tour and seeing stuff like this just makes me want to work harder. and i think i need to start working out

[@Ayeeromeobeats]

Must feel amazing to see all that crowd 🙏🏽🔥🔥🔥

[@justanextraaccount2465]

I can't wait 'till it's festival season again, I'm doing the COP 15 for the UN in Montreal right now but the first festivals I worked on blew my mind and I always miss them

[@ravnodinson]

That looks amazing. I wish I could've got into something like that when I was younger.

[@tyeblee23]

Awesome! I love this stuff❤️

[@xero1xr]

How does this channel not have more subs.. this is awesome plus high quality shows with board audio

[@bassinblue]

Because majority of people are losers and would rather watch 15 seconds tiktoks for entertainment.

[@darkides]

gettin there! hahah

[@ChristopherBlokNL]

Bruh, crazy look behind the scenes with the real stars of any show...

[@aventura1266]

as a software engineer realizing I made a mistake regarding my work life, this is absolutely, incredibly, awesome to see. My plan is to take a physics degree while learning about acoustics and audio, continue as far academically as possible, and one day in my life when I feel like I've done enough, take it easy and do something with audio (and music). This is really a beautiful way to live life.

[@alaningram2373]

i did this work for 15 years before getting into IT. but on the video side. Cam operator, video engineer and technical director. its CRAZY how "YES, we know what all those buttons do" becomes the norm after a while.

[@FelixLisyn]

So, every day audio engineer wakes up in a truck?

[@darkides]

Yes that’s accurate. Lol

[@Espresso101]

if we're lucky it'll be in the bus instead with coffee already made lol

[@walker71391]

It depends on the day they wake up 😅

[@DaftFader]

@@darkides You should start and end a video like that .. getting out and in a sleeping bag in the packed van, and then opening and closing the doors, just for the lolz. :D

[@stevemarcantonio8587]

A LIVE engineer! Big difference. Don’t know how you do it. While I’m redoing track after track in the studio you guys get one shot!!! Right on!!

[@JP-rf7px]

That's what I liked about doing live location recording. It's only going to go by the mikes ONCE! And if you don't catch it then, it's gone forever! But we were using reel to reel tape and cutting to records. Usually with digital, it either works great or not at all. With analog tape, you had to worry about tape bias, flutter, speed variations. And oh by the way, be sure you didn't run out of tape before the end of the concert! But nothing sounds better than a well made live recording made on a good pro (Ampex or Studer) properly adjusted reel-to-reel tape. Well, maybe a recording cut directly to disc on a Scully lathe. But there aren't many of those around to hear today.

[@enanij_ofxl]

Yooo dude was great to see you work done. Gave me a lot to take in how you do live sound. I was shadowing for one of the recent shows lol

[@Tephomab]

This is sick! You and I are very different kinds of audio engineer haha Awesome to see things from this perspective!

[@carlosjoe5154]

Lovely impressions!

[@headshothero13]

Great to see what I do through your eyes. Thanks for keeping all the cable untangling, that's literally 99% of the job XD XD

[@mrpaman_Kwon]

Good to see you again!!! WOOO YA!!

[@torresaurus_]

Just WOW. Mad respect.

[@Hauki336]

im currently studying to be an audio engineer and its really sick seeing this thinking about that that might be when ive finished my studies! keep it up man :D

[@Frost0ne_]

Hi mate

[@walker71391]

Hi guy, how did you choose your direction of professional activity? I will listen till the end even if it's Really Long Story 😅

[@simplevideo8629]

I want to study as well but here's the story I told my friend's Dad( actual Enginner) Im going to study audio engineering and he asked is there even a audio engineering course from University and I said no.and he said that ain't Engineer - may be technician....so I don't know whether I'm wrong or he is right...

[@Hauki336]

@@walker71391 for me i learned how to mix vocals for myself by my own back in 2018 ish and ever since then ive just loved working on songs and making them sound as good as i can. i found a course here in iceland for audio engineering and it was just perfect.

[@walker71391]

@@Hauki336 OMG iceland - the place where all of my family want to live!

[@Colin_Lawlor_Audio]

This is just heaven to me. Hope to get here one day.

[@bigperc5777]

I’ve been wanting to get into this for so so long. Did you get a formal education for this or did you just get “lucky” and find your place? I loved every minute of this video

[@ryleyfountain4214]

this video is amazing man hope to be as good as you one day!!!

[@darkides]

thanks man! really appreciate that! im not even good! lol

[@jhozuagomez469]

There’s a 1 year program here in Kansas City in an actual recording studio that includes live sound class that I’m currently attending, best decision ever. I would see if your city has any studios that might offer that or even your local community college might offer some classes

[@emashane7035]

idk why but this video makes me very happy

[@matthewpiatt]

Love the detail with the BTS vids! Makes me feel pretty spoiled with my fixed-install same-venue gig 3 nights per week. No set/strike, No load-in/out. Just arrive, load the new show config, line/sound check, rehearse, show, and some reset afterward. Maybe an occasional repair or upgrade every few months. Thanks for sharing!

[@zappers1000]

Mind sharing the location / pay for this?

[@wizoutdaa]

i definitely want to hear about this as well@@zappers1000

[@MarceloAlejandroValdivia-go5lc]

thank you bro, you are best !

[@filexferdinandus7041]

Ah i miss on stage again, as musician I always curious on stage, like where my bass audio cable go around, positioning of cables and stuff on stage, really love seeing set in and out.. Im often after done performing, goes back to stage just to see how they unpack stuff...

[@PutBarny]

love how yall playing tetris in real life. good work guys

[@youngeshmoney]

Idk about other techs, but if I'm working A1, I'm not loading in and I'm not loading out, that's why we have A2's and stage hands🤣. I used to get caught up unloading and running backline and wanting to make sure everything was wired properly because I didn't trust anyone else to do it right, that I wouldn't have time to do MY job properly. So now, I get to the venue and get straight to just MY job.

[@CaptMusicMan]

As the killswitch engage is playing. WOW!

[@StageVisualLX]

its so interesting for me to see the difference in American and European gear for Sounds guys ...Cool video dude

[@Shred_Rocket]

Dude, this is killer shit! I love it! You guys fuckin rock man! I miss those days, damn!!!

[@skuadratti8055]

my dream right here, just finished the first year of uni. I'm one step closer to it! :D

[@niiiiiko]

i wish you the best of luck

[@irvanaditya2610]

Great vlog man! Please make video like this again

[@solotykreationz8742]

Awesome video!!

[@Johnny_0706]

Sound Engineers dont get enough credit. Thank you guys

[@NT_Company]

OMG your work is hard men. Good Luck

[@Studio_musician]

I also once worked in the rental of variety equipment. It was hard work.

[@TJBDigital]

SO MUCH FUN, but nerve wracking, I got to do alot of this at my intermediate school at age 12-13 with about 600 people (lol) we did alot of what he is doing. looking back it was so much fun, the memories of running down and off the stage with the ipad that was connected wirelessely to the mixer in the upstairs sound booth, trying to mic up all of the instruments and get the foldback speakers going, while all experiencing lots of problems, WHILE the school bands would be blasting Paranoid Black Sabath! SO STRESSFUL! + trying to get the office and foyer tvs all connected up to the main mix output, AS WELL as the camera's video feed (which was passed through a video mixer, yeah we were not only doing sound mixing, BUT VIDEO TOO! AND WE HAD TO SWITCH TO THE COMPUTER, AND PLAY SLIDES! AND VIDEOS! so much fun.) but also it was hard sometimes even getting the videos to play! because for everything we were given 30 mins - 1 hour to set up, that included getting the teachers to share docs, and slides with you that needed to be played, BUT the school had blocked: KZbin, and basically anything useful, so before playing videos we had to download them as mp4s! - but, I would %1000000 do "Sound Tech" at Chisnallwood Intermediate again any day! this is my story. If you read all of this, thank you.

[@lostghost5558]

this is some cool insight to being an audio engineer, as i'm studying a diploma into bachelor of Audio engineering and Sound Production

[@PlasticAssasin8]

I did that in the 80's , wish i had gear like that back then, awesome

[@GLASSPVCK]

the yule log is a nice touch

[@darkides]

it kept us warm!

[@matthewchurchill1802]

I just love gathering up equipment, especially if you are working with an empty stage/room instead of a building with pre-installed speakers.

[@mat55336]

Am literally starting uni in a month to study Audio Engineering lol. This was a awesome video!

[@joshking7483]

That snake path is crazy!!!

[@bigdadgo]

A lot of grunt work involved in that job!

[@mateuszstrzeszynski7943]

Amazing job!

[@eckesdelicious]

4:25 For me as a drummer this moment is super satisfying.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

I think I prefer just making the music VS the engineering side however the chance of Me ever performing in a popular group with thousands of screaming fans is very low, not impossible but very very very low. Thanks for making this video, very interesting.

[@hokieqb1871]

“Oh freaking shit” love this man

[@PowerOfAIandMotivation]

Thank you for this video

[@theoutfit5444]

Nice to see Clair's still using Brit Rows L'Acoustics

[@iansmith3261]

did this b4, and i can definitely say....im glad im the musician now...thats some work...to all stage hands....we dont shine without putting the light on us....thank you. #tribulationeffekt

[@CUZ_2]

I had a little sound company but nothing major like this. Tell ya how long it's been. I used to run an Allen & Heath analog console. Had 30,000 watts of macro-tech power and did just fine for pretty much local shows. I was building my gear and pop went the back. A career ender for sure. I was also a stage hand for a couple of years, which was educational & interesting. Easy on the back friend 👍

[@paulbradshaw431]

Same here I had a fairly successful small company in Sydney during the golden years from the mid 70s until the early 80s when every pub and club had live music and most required some level of production for the band to work there. Then in 1982 I mixed FOH for the Aussie act supporting Cher on her tour. it was like I had been dropped into a different universe. JANDS provided everything and Cher brought her on tech people and it was like a military operation. I can't remember the name of Cher's FOH guy but he was a great person and let me sit next to him whenever I wanted. He had a six piece rock band, four backing vocalists and a small orchestra and horn section who were all Australian and all live plus Cher lip synching some songs due to the heavyweight dancing. Everything was analog and I learned more from him in eight weeks than I had taught myself in four years.

[@CUZ_2]

@@paulbradshaw431 I played drums in various bands for decades & between monitors & guitar amps my high end hearing is pretty well shot. The rest of the band has freedom to move away from high volumes but drummer is trapped in the Matrix. 😂 Anyway, running a sound & lighting co. was a blast. Funnest part was the initial learning experience.