What do you do when the world hits the pause button o
n you and your work?
You hit the reset button yourself, and work on improving and expanding your skills.
Starting today, I am a student at Live Sound Education. If all goes ahead, I should graduate mid 2021, and then be a certified sound engineer, taught by one of The Netherlands’ best live sound engineers.
My teacher, Raymond Tabak, is the exact same person who actually opened the door to the live music industry to me, back in 1995. If it weren’t for him, seeing the talent I obvisouly had, and encouraging me to push harder, I’d not be a touring pro now. Already then, he tried to convince me to learn how to do sound (he’d take me with him on sound jobs, where I’d assist him, and it was on one of those jobs that I got introduced to international touring). Instead of becoming a sound engineer, I chose a different path; that of guitar technician and tour manager. In the early ’00’s we toured together; he as Tour Manager and FOH engineer, me as guitar technician. It’s so great, to be connected again; even if we now share the same class room, instead of the same stage.
I don’t expect to become a fulltime sound engineer after I graduate. After all, you have got to know me as a guitar technician and tour manager who also loves to sell merchandise, and it’s likely my focus will remain on those jobs, but I feel I need to improve and expand on my skillset, and through this study, I’ll be given that opportunity.
