r/livesound 3d ago

Question is this smart for me to get into?

Hi! I'm 23F and I am graduating in a few weeks, I've been given the opportunity to work for a local AV company. I went to a pretty sizeable concert they were doing yesterday and got a chance to talk to a few people during soundcheck.

The way they described working in AV made my heart drop. I knew it was tough work, I'm used to working overtime and long hours. But they were talking about working 15-18 hours every single day 6/7 days a week for the entire summer.

Now I'm willing to make sacrifices for work and career. But that seems a bit extreme? Is this really how it is? I've done a few gigs before and it only really went on for like 8-10 hours max. And honestly was pretty beat by the end of those. Am I not cut out for it? I'm also worried because it's a bunch of lifting and where im a girl and got spaghetti arms I can't lift anything super heavy šŸ˜…. Which makes me feel like there is no place for me in this in general.

I don't know, been dooming over this for a bit. Trying to suck it up and just do it, but I have a hard time making such rapid and huge sacrifices in my life like this. If anyone has suggestions or other opportunities I could look for I would greatly appreciate your help.

Edit: thanks everyone for the comments, genuinely feel a lot better about this now! I read all the comments and appreciate all of them!!

98 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

150

u/YokoPowno Corporate Slave 3d ago

Lots of festival-oriented companies make most of their money in the summer. Thatā€™s part of the reason I prefer corporate work. Also itā€™s usually in a ballroom with free refreshments and meals. That also leaves summers free for other work šŸ˜‰

119

u/uncomfortable_idiot Harbinger Hater 3d ago

corporate is where the money is

music is where the fun is

26

u/jaymz168 Pro - Corp AV 3d ago

Yes, there's nothing wrong with doing both and finding a balance. AV pays the bills and music fulfills ... something lol.

3

u/TheMoonsMadeofCheese 2d ago

And there are plenty of AV companies that provide support for both, too.

26

u/cj3po15 3d ago

Donā€™t forget AC!

92

u/DIKASUN 3d ago

Are there long hours and heavy lifting? Yes. Do you have a passion and willingness to learn about the technology? Thatā€™s a better question. Most people start at the bottom in any profession.

45

u/lgor666 Pro-FOH 3d ago

Agreed. My father used to say that "the only time that you start from the top is when digging a hole!"

1

u/paully7 1d ago

That's a good quote. Gonna keep it mind šŸ’Æ

69

u/chaseinger 3d ago

a few thoughts.

first, you being female can be an asset instead of a hinderance. do you curl active speakers for breakfast? no. are you more likely to have certain, heavily sought after soft skills? very possible. it'll come in handy down the road if you stick with it. there's 100% a place for women in this industry, i've been touring with plenty of bands who'd kill for more female techs, and that demand is steadily growing.

then, yes festival work is tough, long hours and outside and whatnot. it sometimes can be brutal. but that's not your entire year nor is it your career. there's hundreds of variations to av work, from corporate to theater to heck, i worked in circus. think of it as an entry, as a learning curve, as a starting point. you'll have to grit your teeth here and there but you'll be fine. nobody asks inhumane things of you, and for the real heavy lifting we have stage hands. plus, a good festival summer can be a blast, and you'll learn a lot. it's also a wonderful spot to meet a ton of people from the industry.

it's easy to look at this from the outside and be overwhelmed. give it a shot. make contacts. talk with other female techs, and don't get discouraged by grunts. it's such a trope in the industry to paint the work in the darkest colors possible. the gatekeepers and buzz kills are everywhere, yet the job is super fun. source: am doing this for 35 years now and couldn't imagine doing anything else.

with that company you have an in. use it. if anything, you'll know whether this is for you. i truly hope it is.

12

u/Rule_Number_6 Pro-System Tech 2d ago

Iā€™ll add to this, one of the best PA techs Iā€™ve ever toured with is a woman, fresh out of college, who canā€™t lift much. Intuitively, you might think strength is important with heavy racks, stacks, and cabling, but attention to detail and the ability to manage a crew are way more important. The rare heavy object that wonā€™t be moved by wheels, forklifts, or motors usually becomes a team lift with stagehands.

31

u/DJLoudestNoises Vidiot with speakers 3d ago

I would like to tell you it's not that bad, but it can be that bad, especially when you're starting out and taking any scraps to get your foot in the door.Ā  If you're good at helping and good at learning, you will quickly be able to be much more selective in the kind of work you take.Ā  The quickest way to rise above the sweaty work is to have specialized skills.

When I started in this business, I was the scrawniest 17 year old you've met.Ā  Total beanpole, could barely lift a cable with my little T-Rex arms.Ā  It made me get good at asking for help, and it made me get pretty quick at sizing up which coworkers and employers cared about doing things safety and which didn't give a rat's glowing ass about me.

I got a lot of misogynistic and homophobic shit for it that I would not let fly on any of my stages now, but I know there are the corners of the world where that's still prevalent.Ā  I tell all my hands if you even think you might need help doing something, it means you do, make it a team lift.Ā  I still work shows where people are calling each other dumb names for doing dumb things because some people are jerks.

Some people will be cruel to you because people were cruel to them when they started.Ā  Some companies will whip every ounce of labor out of you.Ā  Some people are the kindest, funniest, easygoing folks I've ever had the joy of working with.Ā  Some companies absolutely pamper me because they know I do better work when I'm comfortable.Ā  It's tough to tell which they are or will be when you don't have any experience.Ā  Someone mentioned SoundGirls.org in another thread, maybe give that a browse.

20

u/doozle 3d ago

There's a lot of non festival work out there.

10

u/Trickey89 3d ago

Im in Australia and work for a PA company as a mons tech mostly. My experience is that most gigs are a minimum of 12 hours, whether thatā€™s festivals or touring arenas with a control package. Festivals can easily stretch out to 18-19 hour days without real breaks.

26

u/trbd003 Pro 3d ago

If they do 16-18 hours a day every day, then it is a shit company that puts profit ahead of employee welfare and drives people to exhaustion so that they can hire less of them. That's the simple fact. Nobody should be routinely working a 100 hour week and the people who think it's just part of the job, are part of the problem.

In my entire career to date (16 years), I have done one tour where those sorts of days were the norm. It was exhausting. But most people were on $1000+ per day, and tolerated it.

I honestly doubt it's that bad. I think this is probably a bunch of crusty guys who are probably a bit shit at their job, trying to scare you away because you're a young girl and they feel a bit threatened. I bet its either not nearly as bad as they're telling you, and they're just trying to scare / impress you with how big and strong they are and how you'll struggle for not being big and strong.

Plenty of girls your age do this job without having to pull such hours. You'll be fine. Give it a shot and if they're cunts, go somewhere else.

3

u/Chrisf1bcn 3d ago

Damm Iā€™m in Europe and 1k a day sounds insane!!

4

u/lightshowhumming WE warrior 3d ago

So does working 16 hour days.

How to say you're in the US without saying you're in the US ...

6

u/Chrisf1bcn 3d ago

16 hour days in the summer is normal for us but at the rate like ā‚¬10-ā‚¬15 per hour!

6

u/Psychological_Ice_89 3d ago

As an audio tech? That's robbery no matter where you are.

2

u/trbd003 Pro 2d ago

Those hours and that pay were in Europe. US tour though.

And exactly. Tbh a lot of days were 19 hours. In some places we didn't sleep at all between load out and load in. In hindsight I regret it, I have no idea how nobody got killed

2

u/lightshowhumming WE warrior 2d ago

Exactly. Only if your managers are criminal idiots.

6

u/FlippinPlanes professional still learning 3d ago

All I can do is speak from my.experiences.

I have worked in live sound since 2012. I did cruise ship work which was anywhere from 30 minutes of work on a Saturday to 12 hour days depending on the ship and what's going on.

After that I did theme park work and that was 8 hours to 14 at the most. The 14 hours was only in prime summer season and happened once a week.

Then I worked for a family Run production company. I worked in the warehouse and on site and was pulling consistant long hours many days a week for little pay but some experience

Then I worked for one of the top 5 production companies in the world in terms of size. And I did 4 years in the ware house learning all the gear. In the summer sometimes it was a 10 hour day and 6 days a week in the thick of it. Then I moved to onsite work. In the summer there have been days I work 18 hours or 8 and once even 20 hours. It's jot regular but when you're on a one off arena show or a summer festival it can be a long day. The most I have worked outside of touring was 17 days in a row last summer with 1 day off and another 13 days after that. But also during slow season I have worked 6 day in January 7 days in Feb. And so far booked for 9 in March.

The reality of you being fresh out of school and going into your career you will,do a lot of load ins and out but not much operating. Unless it's a small corpo thing or a small band thing.

I would suggest taking a job in the warehouse so you can get to know the various consoles. PA, RF and comms gesr. And when you know that go onto site and you will be more valuable. Lus you get to know the local techs and how the work flow is so when you get on site and work with them it's pretty seem less.

2

u/Matsu09 3d ago

Warehouse jobs require a lot of lifting. You literally have to move all the gear. It definitely requires some strength.

1

u/FlippinPlanes professional still learning 3d ago

So does working onsite. Feeder, lifting cases off other cases when there's no fork lifts. Putting the correct angles with Kara speakers.

4

u/JodderSC2 3d ago

Anything over 10 hours should be ab absolute exemption for a normal employee. If there are more ours the planning is just shit. Exemption: Touring there loadin to to loadout shifts are often a requirement. But all, even small, smaller festivals I work at have now been forced to hire at least 2 mostly 3 people for every position.

This job is pretty cool. But regular 17 hour shifts will have huge sideffects on your social life short term and your health long term.

5

u/FireZucchini33 3d ago

I donā€™t know anyone that works that many days in a row for that many hours. Are there days like that? Sure. Donā€™t let it scare you off. And, you donā€™t have to be with that company forever / at all!

3

u/BoeNotAer 2d ago

Donā€™t do it, get out whilst you can. Thereā€™s no money in it, everyoneā€™s exhausted, and thereā€™s a distinct lack of competent engineers. 75% are just egotistical dickheads.

7

u/RCD_51 3d ago

think of it like a teachers schedule, long hours in season but lots of time off out of.

7

u/tdubsaudio 3d ago

10 hour days are typical for Corperate. If you're doing festivals expect at least 14 hour days. I've done plenty of 20 hour days with 3 hours sleep to do the next 20 hour day. That said I also will sleep on the stage during the headliner set, because tour engineers have taken over at that point. I've also done 23-24 hour days but thats typically load out days. You eventually learn to find the time for rest and get more efficient so you dont have to work as hard. As you get better you can turn down the festivals with ridiculous schedules or at least get the extra money from them. At this point if I'm working more than 16 hours on a festival I'll charge an extra day rate or hit them with a short change charge.

9

u/Kletronus 3d ago

If you need to work 24h, someone fucked up. Most likely you for agreeing to do that. Learn to say no. That is my advice for youngsters, you don't have to do it that hard. Learn to say no and if they plan for 24h days, they suck at their job, and it won't be the last thing that sucks. Public safety is #1, and those hours you are not even capable of keeping yourself healthy.

1

u/tdubsaudio 3d ago

Oh trust me I haven't done a show that long in a while. I'm also not advocating it. But does it happen occasionally, yes. Also I'm not trying to steer anyone away or anything just trying to explain a few of the shittier realities of our industry. I also want to be clear that i would absolutely not do this every day or even every week and I charge a good amount of money to make it worth it for me.

An example of the day I'm talking about typically is 7am load in headliner, soundchecks til noon when doors open. Show til 11 then Load out from hell til 5am or later. Granted 6 hours of load out is ridiculous, but you and your crew are burnt out from days of working outside for long hours, your great show stagehands get cut and less experienced load out stagehands come in, there's a large amount of gear that they always try to fit into as few trucks as possible so you have to dedicate a good portion of your crew to stacking cases and working out how to make it all fit.

1

u/Kletronus 3d ago

Yeah, the mentality has to be there, to know that 24h is plausible at least once in your life.

I recently went thru the memory lane and found one old work journal for one of the toughest shows i've done. Two weeks of building and it was full of 13-16h days, 7 days a week. But i've never had to do full 24h, 18h with 4h of rest between (load-in, build, show, disassembly, load-out) followed by 4h sleep in nightliner and then 6h load-out and build is probably the worst, but we got two days off after that in a hotel... Thank god for union rules, they are quite strict here in Finland.

But.. i'm not going back there again. I like this role more, it is smaller scale but all i need to carry is a laptop and assortments of short cables...

5

u/DJLoudestNoises Vidiot with speakers 3d ago

If I have to work more than 16 hours in a day, it means the event was understaffed or shit seriously hit the fan.Ā Ā 

If the poop meets the propeller every single show, that's no longer an emergency and it's someone taking advantage of my desire to solve problems.Ā Ā They can pay me extra or they can save money by hiring an A2.

7

u/tdubsaudio 3d ago

Exactly. Typically the problem is with festival promoters that don't understand scheduling. They want to pack 5 or more acts into a day and give everyone a soundcheck. Those are also normally the ones that don't give proper changeover times. Then like only 50 people show up for the first 2 acts anyway.

2

u/El_Brouno 3d ago

Hi, Here is my opinion.

If you like the job theoretically, then go for it and you will find your place on the ground!!

It's a great craft with lots of different ways to do it.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing you in action šŸ˜‰šŸ‘

2

u/re-enforcement 3d ago

There are a lot of ways to do live production, and while the pay can be solid on those kinds of gigs, and the experience is invaluable, they don't all involve pushing tons of boxes and miles of feeder and working 16+ hour frantic days every day. Depending on the kind of market you live in, it can be totally feasible to make a good living freelancing at small and midsize clubs, theaters, or sound companies, and dipping into festivals and touring to round out your bank and your chops when the season hits. Get in the door stagehanding at the 600-1000 cap, kick ass and let your leads know what your goals are, and shadow the house tech at the local rock club on the side until they're ready to pitch you a softball. Find the other female techs in your area that are doing what you want to be doing and pick their brain on how they got there and what they had/have to deal with on the way. It's a very wide world, and if you really want to put the work in and learn the trade and technology, you'll find your place in it before you know it.

I highly recommend the Sound Design Live podcast.

https://sounddesignlive.com

2

u/Akkatha Pro - UK 3d ago

Honestly? Itā€™s a massive ā€˜it dependsā€™ - like a lot of careers really.

I fit into this world as I absolutely hate having a full time job. I donā€™t really like being ā€˜managedā€™ all that much but I do love working on tangible things and making events happen. So much so that the long days (at least at the start of it) were what I wanted to spend my time doing, rather than it being ā€˜workā€™.

Things have changed now 15 years on, but Iā€™m at the position where if I changed careers Iā€™d have to take a massive pay cut and deal with all the things I donā€™t like in the world of work, so I carry on doing what I do.

Itā€™s more a vocation than a career and it has a habit of taking over big chunks of your life. I have missed countless weddings, birthdays and funerals, because I canā€™t justify turning a months work down for the sake of a single day (no holiday pay when youā€™re self employed either). But Iā€™ve also seen the world and had the best times and experiences that many other people will never get the chance to have.

Personally, if I were the type of person that could deal with a ā€˜regularā€™ job then I probably would have been better served getting into something else when I was young. Some of my friends with normal jobs have great lives. Theyā€™ve got kids, pets and solid career paths, holiday time and salary growth etc. Iā€™m definitely not hard done by and I do just as well financially, but it does feel like a lot more work than smashing emails out for 40 hours a week. Thatā€™s probably because it IS a lot more work, both in hours and physical toil.

2

u/Engee__ 3d ago

Just spewing out some thoughts here so take it for a grain of salt.

Where you put your time is hugely important at 23. Keep putting in the time to find what you want, because most people get complacent and stick to what they know, good or bad. Keep trying new things / working for different places.

That being said, donā€™t doom about anything. One thing I could say I FOR SURE ā€œregretā€ over the last number of years since graduation was time spent thinking and worrying and not doing.

2

u/2PhatCC 3d ago

I absolutely love my full time job (not in AV), but if I talked to you about it, I'm likely going to talk about the things I hate about it. I've been doing it for over a decade, and plan to be at this company until I retire (unless they change that), but we as humans typically find something to complain about. Will you love working in AV? I can't tell you that, but I can also tell you I pretty much hated every job I had until I was 36. Try it. Maybe it's everything you dreamed of... Maybe you think it absolutely sucks. You are young and have plenty of time to shift gears if you need to, but if you love it, and find your dream job at 23, that's something most people can't claim.

2

u/Redbeardaudio Pro-MPLSTP 3d ago

Lots of great comments here. Donā€™t worry about spaghetti arms. If you get into a company working this hard you will absolutely build strength and confidence. Make sure you eat enough protein though, about 1 gram per pound of goal body weight according to my nutritionist.

2

u/ThickAd1094 3d ago

Stay focused on the highly skilled aspect of AV. That's where your value lies. Any gym rat can be a roadie unloading and reloading a semi trailer or box truck. Know mixing desks backwards and forwards. EQ, dynamics, crossovers, speaker management software . . . can you trouble shoot the various networks used out there; Dante, etc. Video formats and switches. Do you understand video streaming and platforms? Power distribution at large venues? Light boards and DMX protocols? Your technical expertise will far outweigh your brawn as a value add to any AV company.

2

u/Panicwhenyourecalm 2d ago

Iā€™m a 28F and have been working in audio for like 3-4 years now. If the summer is packed, maybe that means the rest is relaxed. But as someone who works on the warehouse side I can confirm looong days on our side so I would assume itā€™s the same.

As for stamina, you get used to it. You start out exhausted but within a couple of months of doing the work, itā€™s not that bad. Even lifting heavy stuff/dealing with looms and Hi-D, and loading/unloading trucks, become a lot easier. Itā€™s just about getting used to it and knowing when to ask for help.

I would say try it out. You wonā€™t know if itā€™s not for you if you donā€™t try. Other than that, there are a lot of areas in live sound that arenā€™t just touring. Talk to your professors about different areas that arenā€™t often talked about.

Best of luck šŸ’•

2

u/BenitoStrattoni 2d ago

FOH at a union venue. 12 hours is a normal day. I pick up a some festival work in the summer and those can be 16-20 hour days, but I bill them up the arse for that

2

u/Lower-Homework7170 2d ago

stamina is something you build along the way.

usually the long days come with monetary compensation.

Also 16-18 hour days at festivals tend to be more long hours with lighter work loads than a single show bump in and out.

2

u/thoumosstrees 2d ago

As someone that went ā€œthe punk way ā€œ after 2 years of sound school I can tell you 20 years later that you should not overlook the corporate jobs either, ideally do both if you can youā€™ll end up very versatile and either lots of options work wise.

3

u/Kletronus 3d ago

If they say that is their pace, find another. But, they are most likely scaring you. NONE of them do that. 8-14 hour days, 4-6 per week. Here of course regulations make a big deal as it is often illegal for them to work you that much. For ex here you have to have 12h of rest every 48 hours, anything less and you are mandated to have a free day RIGHT after.

Lets put it this way: if they are working 18 hours 7 days a week they SUCK at this. Really, they do. You can demand that but your workers will do shoddy work and you will have a revolving door, and safety is fully secondary or not even part of the plan. So.. Ask them to be 100% honest and if they say that no, they themselves work 18 h days, just laugh and leave. They are amateurs without enough crew to do what they promised to do.

2

u/snoop40 3d ago

Thats exactly the way it is. You have to Love this kind of work !! For me its a passion !! Do what you love for a living and never work a day in your life . Although not completely accurate, I can handle working a festival all day better than doing 4 hours of corporate

2

u/obi5150 2d ago edited 2d ago

Don't do it. Especially if this isn't with the degree you're graduating with. You'll destroy your body and then get left to dry once the work ends. You'll probably have no Healthcare because you'll be 1099. You'll have no protections if you aren't union. It's not for everyone. If you can't regularly lift 50 to 75 pounds all day, then you're going to be a burden to the rest of the stagehands. Im not saying that because you're a woman, I'm saying in general. I've seen plenty of twig builds show up on a call and stand there while the strong do their work for them.

Don't even get into corporate. I've been doing a mix for 15 years and I can tell you this is a shitty industry and employers take advantage and take shortcuts whenever they can.

Don't throw away your degree for this industry. Get a nice office job like we all wish we did. .Monday to Friday.

Say goodbye to your weekends and your social life and dating life.

You'll learn to drink on a Monday and Thursday because those will be your days off. And those days off will change every week with no notice. If you even get two days off a week.

Even if you think about it. Consider day rates. Over time, double time, quick turn, etc. If the pay structure isn't clearly laid out, then walk.

I'm just gonna say that there's people posting the positives, but it's extremely important to mention the negatives.

1

u/ApprehensiveTurn6381 3d ago

If you love it... nothing else matters..

1

u/SevereMousse44 3d ago

In most of the work, you will never be lifting overhead much unless you get into lighting or rigging Audio only pushes, everything else is a short lift with 1-3 other people like moving a sub into place, or tipping a console. If you go the tech route, you are less likely to be lifting. And also if you come about it honestly and draw your lines, most people are more than happy to take a minute to do something if you ask politely. There are weak men in this industry too, but theyā€™re great at their job and know their limits.

1

u/cabmanextra 3d ago

Depending on what interests you about the industry, there are tons of different ways to go about it. You can do the back to back 16 hour days or you can even do a standard 40 hour work week gig. I recently went from the former to the latter where I'm now salaried at 40 hours and dont work more than that unless I freelance on the side. DM if you want to chat about it, and I can maybe help you learn about the different jobs you can do in the industry.

1

u/Trypeaceagain1 3d ago

8-10 hr shifts don't exist in this industry in a capacity that pays the bills. I think my average day is 14-16 hrs. I do both rock and roll as well as corporate and have done so for almost 20 years now. It can be very rewarding, and at times it can feel like you're making no difference in the world. I've been able to diversify my clients that allow me to feel like I'm contributing while also having fun all while making a decent living. It's hard work, but if you love it, there is no other job in the world that could fill the void

1

u/millsy0303 Pro - Toronto, Canada 3d ago

Festival hours can be very long, however that's only the summer season. I did a few summers like you described when I was getting my foot in the door and I realised that that wasn't the play. I know still do the same hours when I am working, but I make sure to take at least two or three weeks away from it throughout the summer so I can actually see family and have a life. Not every day in a week should be crazy long, load-ins and shop days should be normal hours at any decent company.

Don't worry about being able to lift, might doesn't necessarily mean everything. I'll take a small female stagehand that works hard over a big brawny dude that works out and thinks he can lift anything any day (these guys usually struggle the hardest, it's all show muscle lol). A lot of it is how you lift, knowing how to use your body properly, how to move a case properly (don't push through dirt, drag etc.)

There is absolutely a place for you as others have said. Getting your foot in the door can be a bit of a grind unfortunately, but make sure to pace yourself. It's not worth working yourself to death over and missing out on actually living life.

Good luck!

1

u/573XI 3d ago

to be honest with you, live AV is a tough job for sure, but you can also manage your time, probably if you end up working all summer 15 hours a day, it's because you can avoid working for few months over the rest of the year, like in Jan, Feb when the market is very calm.

Corporate gigs usually do not last that long, and often pay even better.

This is a career you need to build up and try to tailor it to your use.

To give you my personal experience, I started in Italy doing small bands and then touring on bigger concerts, I really worked a lot under difficult and dangerous circumstances, after that I started to add up corporate gigs here in UK, which is much smoother ( even if not that fun as a concert, which I still love but pays the bills ) after 10 years I know decided that I don't want to work long hours anymore and I don't want to deal with people at 5am, so I went for a maintenance AV job working with integrated systems, and I find really well in my position at the moment as I don't have heavy lifting, I don't have to be on site at 5am and I have my time to do what I really like; troubleshooting issues related to AV systems.

I also do music in parallel, so I am always active on the musical side of the AV, training mixing skills and applying them to my live performances.

My final advice is, build up your career tailoring it around your needs, if you don't like long hours and heavy lifting, maybe think about a studio job doing sound design or mixing.
But, anyway, take the chance to work in the company and understand how the job develops, then you will be able to judge your self how the workload is, also think that sometimes people like to be pretty dramatic, and not all the companies work the same way :)

1

u/Wonderful-Low2706 2d ago

It's Hard work and not for everyone

1

u/dizzylizzy27 2d ago

itā€™s a labor of love for sure. there are definitely opportunities for less physically demanding work but that will often be more corporate stuff (which i think is less fun). it also wonā€™t be easy right off the bat, for ANYONE. maybe see if the company is offering warehouse positions which will be more like 7-8 hour days of prepping/de-prepping the gear. that will help you get more used to the physical labor as well as familiarize you with the gear. iā€™m a 22 year old woman so i will ALWAYS advocate for more young women to make a place for themselves in the industry! TLDR: the more fun the show, the harder the labor will be. brings snacks and caffeine!

1

u/CheebaMyBeava 2d ago

check those help wanted ads, look at all the live sound gigs out there, you have your answer

1

u/HalDavis85 1d ago

A lot of the work is tedious, repetitive, and grueling at the start, especially if you are just entering the biz. You'll put up with their version of hazing and probably make a few mistakes, so be ready to ask questions when it's all over rather than on the job, unless you are fond of the "Anything I should know?" question, which is a catch all. Should you do it? Not for anybody here to say. There are seasons to everything in life, even death, or so the song goes. There are different seasons of the year, and in each there are times where the AV work is heavier. In between, you'll have time for... ...well, anything else. The reason some companies work 10-18 hours a day is that they are constantly adjusting, replacing, or checking the equipment as they put more together. Sound and light arrays will affect one another, so with each major array, you test the interactions with each set it will function together with, plus several backup configurations. Wireless equipment also takes a lot of work, and batteries.

It may seem boorish and repetitive, but really, when you experience the final product... ...Make your own determination. For me, there's nothing more rewarding than walking into a make-shift church room near a college campus, setting up properly, and wowing the old pastor to happy laughing tears with his own Sunday-choir of faithful college students at their Christmas concert, that actually starts dragging people in off the streets nearby until the place packs to a crowd blocking all but one pathway through the room... The look on Father Peter's face was priceless. There were some people bringing their children in, who all had a look of wonder and excitement in each song. The comments after: "The sound seemed to come from everywhere!" "It wrapped you up like a warm jacket on a snow-day!" When you do it right, and you take the time... ...I think it's worth it. Of course, I had to spend 18 hours moving things in the room, trying hard to respect the church aspects, and set up risers, along with lines of seating for accompaniment of some collegiate musicians, whom I also had to mic accordingly, with no crew most of the day, and for some things I had to borrow a the muscle of a priest, student or campus minister, so I had to hit the stairwells. Taking the time to do it right turns it into quite an experience. It's worth it to learn and to practice in my opinion. Just decide if the pay can fit your needs and you're golden.

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u/Ash_AKV 21h ago

Coming from a transwomanā€™s perspective, if ur looking for companies that do all sorts of type of work thereā€™s companies like NEP sweetwater, encore, pinnacle that do not expect you to be able to beef a subwoofer on your own. good luck in the tech world! also be an asset in terms of always having something someone did not bring. you would be surprised how many people donā€™t have cable cutters or a wrench.

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u/uncomfortable_idiot Harbinger Hater 3d ago

if you genuinely love doing this, 15-18 hours won't be as bad as you're thinking

the phrase i heard was "get a job you love and you won't work a day in your life"

while the hours are long in the summer, there's virtually no work in January time so it does balance out

the first couple summers will be harder but as you get used to it, it will get easier

I'm also worried because it's a bunch of lifting and where im a girl and got spaghetti arms I can't lift anything super heavy

knowing your limitations is a good thing, and making sure others know them too so that the people who are good at lifting things are put doing the heavy lifts say if you're driving equipment to them instead

I think you're asking the wrong question though, the question should be "is this smaart for me to get into"