1 post tagged “engineers”

So let's kick off this first ever look at what goes on behind the glass and in front of the sound boards here at KCRW!

Listeners of KCRW know all about the astounding variety of musicians, artists, writers, actors and performers that regularly descend into our basement studios. Now is your chance to find out about the people who take all those voices and sounds and turn it into radio.  KCRW has a group of incredibly talented engineers who record, edit and mix the interview shows, promos, documentaries, remote broadcasts and pretty much anything else that you hear in your car or on your iPod that we make here.

Some of the most interesting stuff happens during the regular live performances that are part of Morning Becomes Eclectic. Musicians usually stumble in sometime after 8:00 am, and bring their gear down a precarious set of concrete stairs and into the studio. (often the morning after the band has played a late show at a club somewhere.)  To mix one of our live performances, you need to move fast, arranging and rearranging mikes, cables, headphones and baffles. You need to work with the musicians to get a good mix in their headphones. Then, after all the grunt work you need to sit still, concentrate, and listen critically to the sound check and make the music sound great using the complex tools of the sound mixer. I often tell people it's not unlike the winter Olympic skiing and shooting sport of Biathlon; lots of hustling and schlepping, alternating with moments of zen-like focus.

The work of KCRW's engineers is really remarkable and has been celebrated on the air, on the web, and on our live performance CDs. It's great to have a place to talk about it.

Bob Carlson
KCRW Production Director