During the tech of one of our last shows, a guest designer and I were discussing the computer playback system ASF owns and bemoaning that my budget doesn't have enough leeway to upgrade or replace it, since in the way of programming the software is out of date.

One of my operators (who is only a few years my junior) popped off that at least we were computerized and not having to deal with CD or MiniDisc. This led to me to my own tirade about when I was an engineer and my first shows as an operator (and my first collegiate designs) were on reel-reel tape.

Audio playback has evolved drastically in the last 15 years, reflective in how quickly media has changed. When I began pursing audio training in earnest in the mid 1990's, I had no idea how much would change in the first 5 years, never mind between then and now. The first show I ran was a small musical. I ran 6 or 7 VHF wireless mics in an enclosed booth with the window open for an attempt at mixing vocals. Playback was split between two 4-track reel to reels, a cassette deck, and CD player. I had signed on for the show as a favor to a friend, and had no idea what I was doing, never had used a sound board, had a crash course figuring out what I was doing during tech. The show was a miserable experience. And I was hooked. The next year I was designing sound, and in the summers, I shifted from working summer stock in stage management to audio.

When I look back at my first days of engineering and operating sound, I loved the challenge of big shows with lots of cues. I enjoyed the fast pace of battle or storm scenes, figuring out where my fingers had to go, how to reassign channels, set levels and pans on the channels in the right order and in time for the next cue on appropriate the deck, if that deck was a reel-reel player, cassette deck, a MiniDisc, a DAT, or a CD player. I had mixed feelings when the reel-reel decks made way for DAT players and MiniDisc decks. When the company I engineered for looked towards converting to SFX and operation becoming a "go" button, I argued with my boss and the designer about taking away from the operation. It was, of course, an argument I lost based on the design advantages, not to mention that many of my fellow operators weren't into (or up for) the challenge of big sequences. Operation lost any challenge or excitement for me, leaving the only artistry as an operator in engineer the live mix.

Now that my focus has become design (a path I didn't originally plan or expect) I'm on the other side of the equation...