Signal To Noise Podcast
The Signal to Noise podcast features conversations with people from all corners of the live sound industry, from FOH and monitor engineers, tour managers, Broadway sound designers, broadcast mixers, system engineers, and more.
Signal To Noise Podcast
310. Tyler “Ty the Sound Guy” Davis
In Episode 310, the hosts welcome guest Tyler “Ty the Sound Guy” Davis, an experienced audio engineer with two decades in the industry. Born and raised in LA, Tyler started his audio journey two decades ago playing in bands, doing sound at DIY shows, recording bands in his garage, and mostly failing miserably at all the above! Through sheer unwillingness to accept that he wasn’t very good, he honed his skillset to come to the place where, 20 years later, he’s failing much less miserably! This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.
After touring for about 15 years, he started a family and focused on corporate, broadcast and remote production. While he still gets to mix music regularly, he’s enjoyed translating the years of concerts and touring to large-scale corporate events and broadcast environments.
Tyler shares insights from his career, discussing the shift from music touring to corporate and broadcast work, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning, networking, and being adaptable. He and the hosts also talk about the benefits of volunteering at churches for hands-on training, and the potential of having a mentor to guide one’s career. The conversation covers the importance of attitude, technical skills, and being a problem solver, all while maintaining a sense of humor in the ever-evolving world of audio engineering.
Episode Links:
“Ty The Sound Guy” Website and On TikTok and Instagram
Autokue App
Giggs, Connecting The Live Event Industry
Episode 310 Transcript
Related Episodes:
Episode 271, Nikki Sanz of Giggs
Episode 262, Mike Dias On Networking
Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!
Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”
The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.
Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:
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Episode 310 - Down to Business with Tyler Davis
Note: This is an automatically generated transcript, so there might be mistakes--if you have any notes or feedback on it, please send them to us at signal2noise@prosoundweb.com so we can improve the transcripts for those who use them!
Voiceover: You’re listening to Signal to Noise, part of the ProSoundWeb podcast network, proudly brought to you this week by the following sponsors:
Allen & Heath, whose new dLive RackUltra FX upgrade levels up your console with 8 next-generation FX racks – putting powerful tools like vocal tuning, harmonizing, and amp simulation right at your fingertips. Learn more at allen-heath.com
RCF and TT+ AUDIO.... Delivering premium audio solutions designed for tour sound and music professionals for over 75 years. Visit RCF at RCF-USA.com for the latest news and product information.
Music: “Break Free” by Mike Green
[00:00:58] Andy Leviss: Hey, welcome to another episode of Signal to Noise. I'm your host, Andy Leviss. With me, Zoe, the Sears to my robuck, Mr. Sean Walker. What's up, Sean?
[00:01:08] Sean Walker: What's up, dude? Just getting my robuck on
or my Sears.
[00:01:12] Andy Leviss: Uh, one or the other?
[00:01:14] Sean Walker: All right. I don't care. That's
[00:01:15] Andy Leviss: I'll, I'll buck your row. Wait. Now
[00:01:16] Sean Walker: Wait, wait. Wrong podcast. Wrong
podcast. That's the other one we do.
[00:01:20] Andy Leviss: Right, right, right, right, right.
[00:01:21] Sean Walker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally.
[00:01:22] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Hit us up over email for the link. Uh
[00:01:24] Sean Walker: Right. Totally.
[00:01:26] Andy Leviss: uh.
[00:01:26] Sean Walker: Nevermind.
[00:01:28] Andy Leviss: Yikes.
[00:01:29] Sean Walker: I spent the week traveling this week, man. You've been, you've been at home.
Yeah. Yeah. I spent the week traveling. I'm so glad to be home, like, holy
[00:01:37] Andy Leviss: sticking home for Thanksgiving, although folks will hear this after Thanksgiving, I think. But
[00:01:40] Sean Walker: Yeah. I am sticking home for Thanksgiving. Totally.
[00:01:43] Andy Leviss: yeah,
[00:01:43] Sean Walker: I don't know if you know this or not. I think you're you're married. I think our guest today is also married, so you, you don't get to stay on that divorce prevention program if you start missing holidays like this, unless you're getting. Unbelievably freaking paid.
Like paid the mortgage every day when you're gone. Kind of
paid.
[00:01:59] Andy Leviss: Well, no, I was, I was more wondering if y'all were, were traveling for the holiday as a family.
[00:02:03] Sean Walker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no. Traveling is all good. If
you're doing it as a family, it's just challenging. If you're like, and I'm gonna be gone, and they're like, that's cool. Us too. Keys are on the fucking porch, bro.
[00:02:14] Andy Leviss: Yep.
[00:02:15] Sean Walker: But yeah, I was, uh, I, I was in Texas all week. Went to Dallas and then Austin, and then kind of flew home, got to visit my parents, got to go do some meetings and stuff. it was it was a lot of fun. It's so cool, man, to like travel around and see different parts of your own country that are so very different than, than where you're
at.
You know what I mean? Lots of cool things, lots of learning opportunities, you know, it's, it's, it's cool, man. I, I had a, I had a blast. Learned a lot, met a lot of cool people.
[00:02:42] Andy Leviss: That some good food.
[00:02:45] Sean Walker: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Had
some good food. Lots, lots of barbecue options.
[00:02:49] Andy Leviss: was gonna say
[00:02:50] Sean Walker: I did find one like killer coffee joint that had a, like, it had a, like a, it was an all vegetarian restaurant, and I'm not necessarily a vegetarian, but the fricking food was killer.
And I was like, I'm, I'm down to try something new. You know what I mean? And. Uh, those are always the ones that win for me, to be honest with you, is like, this is way outside of my wheelhouse I'm in. You know what I
mean? You get to try something cool that you wouldn't have done before.
And, uh, it was, it was killer dude, killer like omelet with, with, uh, lots of veggies and, and stuff in it, and then a bang and cup of coffee.
So that was good. Uh, our guest tonight, today, I won't, I won't give 'em away just yet, but we also went to one of those like, Hey man, have you done this before? Sure haven't, bud. All right, buckle up. Here we go. And it was fucking awesome. You know what I mean?
[00:03:34] Andy Leviss: Nice.
[00:03:35] Sean Walker: Yeah. How
[00:03:35] Andy Leviss: to
[00:03:35] Sean Walker: you, dude? What? That was your week?
Mm.
[00:03:37] Andy Leviss: it was good, you know, just working, working, working. So doing the, doing the tech support thing, which, uh, I don't know if you know this, but doing tech support for a console manufacturer during the holiday season
[00:03:49] Sean Walker: Yeah. Word.
[00:03:49] Andy Leviss: can get a little hectic.
[00:03:51] Sean Walker: Right, right. So all of the calls,
[00:03:53] Andy Leviss: All, all of the churches are doing all the holiday shows, and also like the day or two leading up to any particular holiday is when everybody's off.
So all the volunteers are there.
[00:04:03] Sean Walker: We broke it all, is what you're saying. We broke it all in these this week. Yeah.
[00:04:06] Andy Leviss: I I, I spent a lot of time the last couple days on, on the phone, a lot more than I usually do on phone calls versus, uh, emails and research projects. So,
[00:04:15] Sean Walker: Yeah. Fair enough.
Fair enough. Dude. Well, unlike last week where you and I just fucking yapped until people were over us,
we thought we'd give 'em a break until next week when we yapped till they're over us. And we brought somebody way fucking cooler than us on
today. My buddy Tyler. Is coming on today to talk about corporate audio, talk about careers and how'd it go from who are you to having a really cool career in all kinds of different stuff.
Ty, thanks for making the time, dude. Welcome to the show.
[00:04:46] Ty Davis: Absolutely. Thank you for having me y'all.
[00:04:48] Sean Walker: Yeah, dude. So tell us about, you know, where you, where you started, where you're at now, how you got there, that kind of a thing so people can kind of follow along and get caught up.
[00:04:57] Ty Davis: Sure. So, real quick point, uh, my, my wife and, and child and I were just in New Orleans and you're talking about, you know, food and, and barbecue and all that. So, nine month old kid, we go to Muriel's in Jackson Square. I just wanna shout them out, dude. We go in the host just melts over the kid. I mean, right, right away makes it feel like home. And then they make him his own little tiny, uh, little gumbo. Just for him.
I mean, dude.
you can't get better than that.
Some
[00:05:27] Sean Walker: perfect with what we were talking about, dude. Unreasonable hospitality.
[00:05:31] Ty Davis: That's right. Yeah,
[00:05:32] Sean Walker: a book that I think you and I talked about it when we were, when we were having dinner, but like everybody should go read the book, unreasonable Hospitality if you have it. That is exactly what we're talking about.
[00:05:41] Ty Davis: That's exactly it. Yeah. Muriel's Jackson Square, new Orleans. Go. It's awesome. Uh, shout, shout out to Dana at the front desk. Uh, so yeah, so, um, tie, tie the sound guy here just 'cause it rhymes and sounds better than Tyler to the sound. Guyer. So,
um,
[00:05:56] Andy Leviss: Man, I like that one.
[00:05:58] Sean Walker: Tyler, the South Guyer.
That sounds like we could put that in a rap video, bro. Let's do that.
[00:06:02] Ty Davis: Oh dear. So, you know, well also it helps my mom remember what I do for a living. Um, you know, uh, so yeah, so, uh, born and raised in la Uh, been doing this just about 20 years, man, it's crazy to think about, but pretty much right outta high school, I was, uh, you know, doing sound at churches, playing in bands, recording bands, doing sound at little DAY shows and all that kind of stuff.
So, uh, but yeah, from that. If I look back 20 years and then I kind of assess where I am now, man, I've done like, you know, there's this whole bucket list that you have, and darn it, I've checked off a lot of those freaking boxes, man. Like,
yeah. And it's a, it's a, it's like a, it's a really privileged place to be. And so now I'm kind of, you know, looking for where this journey is leading and just, you know, taking it one step at a time while looking two steps ahead, you know? And so, uh, so I put the touring thing behind me. I mentioned I have a little child and I don't wanna miss first steps. Dude, I don't wanna miss the first, you know, his, I don't want, I don't wanna miss his first word being XLR, you know, and, um, uh, SM 58 or whatever.
[00:07:15] Sean Walker: Right. Totally. It's better than dad. My snare sounds like shit,
[00:07:18] Ty Davis: Yeah. And, uh, you know, so I, I want to be there. So I'm, I'm, I'm turning the volume down on the, the touring and traveling stuff. And, uh, you know, when I travel now I'm doing a lot of traveling corporate work and I'm, and they're actually totally cool with you bringing your family. I. It's like, yeah, you're gonna be in New Orleans for 10 days, why wouldn't you bring your family?
You know? So it's that kinda stuff that, that I'm transitioning more into and um, and that's kind of what I wanna talk about, like how do you go from doing local sound and, you know, working with music and artists and maybe touring and you know, going through all that too, where. You know, just how to keep your ear to the ground, how to keep your journey open so that you can end up at a place that you, when you look around, like I'm looking around now, I'm like, oh, this is good.
Like this is suitable to the situation I have now, and it sets me up for the next thing. Right? And you know, it's for some people that's being a house guy in a 250 cap venue in their city for 38 years. Cool, awesome stuff. That's, that is great. If that's your vibe, dude, I love it. And I, I support that all the way, but, you know, uh, I'm, I'm a big fan of people following their journey, so that's kind of, that's, that's what I've been doing.
And, and hopefully at least someone can hear this and be like, oh, you know what? Audio's not a dead end thing. It's not. I read some somewhere online, someone said, uh oh, is our industry cooked? And first of all, I hate that as a saying. Like, Ugh. Cringe, bro.
[00:08:57] Sean Walker: It's a $4 billion a year industry at the minimum. Like it's not cooked. Dude, get outta
[00:09:01] Ty Davis: It, it's
not
[00:09:03] Andy Leviss: you know what? If the people who who say that are, I'm probably okay with that.
[00:09:09] Ty Davis: totally. Yeah. So I, I don't think we're cooked. I think we're cooking. know, I think we're cooking with gas, dude. And if you keep your ear to the ground and show up and do a good job with a smile on your face, your phone, your phone should be ringing. So that's kinda, that's my whole thing.
[00:09:27] Sean Walker: Can you repeat that last sentence, because that is literally the most important thing that has been said. And probably will be said all day.
[00:09:33] Ty Davis: Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Yeah. So keep your ear to the ground, you know, show up to the gig. Do a good job with the smile on your face, and your phone will start ringing,
you know. That's what it is, man. Yeah. Um, you know, and even under pressure, under things changing, do, and Andy, as, as you know, Sean, as you know, having a kid, man is like, it's like a gig, right? You pack the truck, you know that how the truck should be packed. You, you, the truck gets there, it's on the dock, you unload everything. Yes. This goes there. Excellent. Great. Oh, the stage is eight feet smaller than we thought, or the stage is on the other side of the room. Okay. That's like analogous to like, oh, I, I prep all his meals, I do the diaper stuff, and oh, he just threw up all over his outfit that I picked out for 20 minutes.
[00:10:25] Sean Walker: Jam as it is today. Dude. Jam as it is,
[00:10:27] Ty Davis: and Jimmy's, so like, for
me, it's like,
[00:10:31] Sean Walker: Kids are a little chaos muppets, dude. They're like, they'll take your whole plan and they'll punch it in the face, and you're like, all right, I love you anyway. Let's get to it today.
[00:10:38] Ty Davis: but but when has a gig ever gone? A hundred percent to plan.
[00:10:42] Sean Walker: Yeah, right. Totally.
[00:10:43] Ty Davis: A
hundred
[00:10:43] Andy Leviss: it's like living with a miniature version of half the production managers I've ever worked with.
[00:10:47] Ty Davis: Yes, dude. Yes, exactly. So it's like, you know, uh, fatherhood or parenting is, is is very much like, uh, a, the a, a a, uh, microcosm of exercise of what we do, you know? Um, so I highly recommend it. It's the best thing I've ever done.
It's the only thing I've ever done that matters, um, in, in,
in reality. But, uh, but you know. At the same time, like, you know, I have such a passion for audio and the industry and, and, all that stuff that it's like, I, I, you know, one thing I'm trying to to work on is my mentorship and being available to people for, uh, education and things like that.
So, uh, that's hopefully why, uh, you know, hopefully what we get outta talking today.
[00:11:31] Sean Walker: dude. Sweet. I love that.
[00:11:34] Ty Davis: Yeah.
[00:11:34] Sean Walker: That's awesome.
[00:11:35] Ty Davis: But yeah, so like, like for instance, um, in my opinion, you know, uh, if you, any gig that you go, that you show up to, you should be the point of stability and where people go to figure things out. Even have, if it has nothing to do with you, the air conditioning. Okay. Uh, CEO of the company comes up to you and says, Hey, uh, it's freezing cold in here. You know? And, and it, it's, I consider it my duty to say, you know what? I don't know where the thing is, but I know where the person that will know where the thing is, and I will pass that message along right away.
You know?
[00:12:13] Sean Walker: dude. Hey, lemme see what I can do about that. No problem.
[00:12:15] Ty Davis: Totally. I, I'm, it's not. It, it serves no purpose to take that interaction and turn it into a negative interaction. It just doesn't.
[00:12:27] Sean Walker: Only if you want to get fired and not be on the next show.
[00:12:29] Ty Davis: That's right, man.
I mean, and really, and really that that's it, you know?
[00:12:33] Sean Walker: we're, we're in the people business, man.
And if, if ultimately the guy that's in charge of writing the check has a problem, solve his problem or find some Henry, forward it right. Find the person that could solve that problem.
Yeah, man, no problem. Lemme get right on that.
[00:12:45] Andy Leviss: It's one, one of the.
[00:12:47] Ty Davis: Yeah, go ahead Andy.
[00:12:48] Andy Leviss: I was gonna say, like one of the awesome things I love about my current day gig is we've got a manager in the support department who has very much empowered us. And so like he is like, if you can, even if it's not an US thing, like if you can be the person the buck stops with and make it so the customer doesn't have to transfer through.
Like, I had somebody the other week day who, you know, had, you know, called us and it was like, oh, you wanna check on a, on like your, your repair? That's not us, that's the service department. Let me train. And she was like. I've been transferred three times before I got, I was like, you know what, no worries.
I'm gonna take your phone number. I will either get you an answer and call you back, or I'll make sure the person who has the answer calls you back. Gimme an hour or two to look into it. I will wait on hold so you don't have to.
[00:13:30] Sean Walker: Totally.
[00:13:30] Ty Davis: Oh, that's badass. Yeah.
That's awesome. That's everything, dude. and that's, and that's how you get that like really deep connection with the manufacturers or like, you know, an employee to employer kind of thing. Like there's people that I will always ask if they can do a gig either for me or with me. And there's like. 10 people that I know that if I reach out, it's as good as me being there. You know? And that is, and that's not just, oh, they can plug the right microphone into the right hole. It's really like. You know, doing, having a smile on their face while they do it, you know, and that, that really is everything. Um, but, you know, also, I want to, I wanna validate, like if you are in your town and you are showing up and you do have a smile on your face and you do have good interactions with clients and everything like that, it's, you know. It's not that, uh, I'm, I'm here saying, oh, just do that and all your problems will go away. Something else I wanna stress is honestly for me, like for, uh, so, uh, a little story. So years ago, over 10 years ago, this, uh, mixer name Craig Dubay, um, didn't, uh, Michael Bule for a long time. Just total. Badass legend in the industry. Uh, I was his system tech and for a run of shows. And, uh, we were using the Digi code D five, not the SD five, I'm talking the D five. And, um, on that console it has a, a, a text file based. Uh, io. So if you want to adjust your IO cards, you have to go into the text file, edit the text file, but if you're a line off, it'll assign all of those, uh, io assignments to the next layer or the layer above.
It's, it's, it's kind of. Tedious. Right. So because I knew that, and because I had done my homework on that, I did that for him at every gig and would help solve those little tiny issues like that. And from there he, he saw me as the problem solving guy, right? And I, I bring that up to say, do your homework and know something that other people don't even want to know. You know,
[00:15:44] Sean Walker: Totally.
[00:15:44] Ty Davis: do your Dante all the way up through CT three. You know, please God, dear God, do your Dante,
[00:15:52] Sean Walker: Cert one. You still don't know how to use Dante? Can we be real honest right now? Like at the first level you still don't know how to use it, so get to three and then know how to use it, please.
[00:16:02] Ty Davis: although you could
[00:16:02] Andy Leviss: 1.5 x playback speed is your, your friend when doing those videos.
[00:16:07] Sean Walker: Totally.
[00:16:08] Ty Davis: Yeah. Or you could do, you could do cert one and then get hired by Geek Squad. You can go do that.
[00:16:13] Sean Walker: Right. Totally, totally. Dude.
[00:16:17] Ty Davis: Yeah, you know, you have a future at, at Best Buy. Uh, but no, like, you know, learn the stuff that people are, that is a little bit tedious, that is a little bit not in your, you know, uh, making a kick drum sound good, you know, realm of, of wheelhouse, right? Learn, learn that kinda stuff. Log it. Put in the back of your brain and then be able to learn that kind of stuff.
That's the real, the real point is like, you know, be able to learn and, uh, that's, that's definitely done, that's done wonders for where, where I've been in my career journey. For sure.
[00:16:54] Sean Walker: a hundred percent.
[00:16:55] Ty Davis: Yeah. And you know, so if you feel stuck, if you feel like you're not going anywhere, dude, learn. Uh, hit, hit the books, hit, hit the, you know, uh, every, almost every manufacturer, and Andy, you could speak to this, every manufacturer has free training. Or, or at least content online about their product, uh, school, uh, hours or, you know, uh, what, uh, there's so much content available to, to learn anything in our industry that there's no excuse, man.
There really isn't, there's no excuse not to know. At least a, have a functioning knowledge of rf, of networking, uh, you know, of signal flow, gain, staging, you know,
[00:17:40] Sean Walker: Dude, a hundred percent
[00:17:42] Ty Davis: You know, it, it's, it really is. There's no excuse now, you know? And, um, and you know, so I'm here to say, learn. Show up to the gig with that knowledge, smile and do a good job now.
And do a good job. Doesn't mean the gig goes perfectly by the way. The gig doesn't have to go perfectly for you to have done a good job.
[00:18:02] Sean Walker: A hundred percent.
'cause you don't control literally everything on the show, right?
But
do as much as you can to make it go perfectly.
[00:18:11] Ty Davis: That's exactly right. I, I did a gig just the other day where I, by, by kind of nature of the system was I had to feed my, so I was mixing a band that was playing at a gala and they, at the gala, they were tossing to the band back and forth in between the speeches and all this, right. The video playback. So where the band has a separate mixer, so. For, you know, there's a million ways to do it to skin. This cat. The way that we had to do it outta necessity is I had to feed the, the show mix, the show mixer, which was a, a Yamaha console, did great by the way. Love It didn't fail. Um, and, uh, and so, and then that fed the pa essentially, right? And so soundcheck, we didn't get a soundcheck, we just, it was a tap through kind of thing. And so there was a moment of learning of. When the band started playing that, oh, the, the person that was operating the show console thought that he had to be processing my channels from my console to pass it through to the pa. And so there was a moment of learning of education where I was, where I got to say, Hey, you know what?
Why don't you bypass all that processing? 'cause I'm already doing a lot. All that processing on my console, so you can just pass me straight to the pa. And, and this person was, uh, more experienced in like television and, and um, you know, mixing line to line on like theater shows and stuff like that. So that hadn't really, and they hadn't really encountered that kind of thing very much.
Right. So it was like, oh, it's just a, a reminder for me that. We have, it takes all types. We have so many people in this industry that have so much, so many different backgrounds and so many different skill sets that it's an educational opportunity. Right. And, and then they ended up teaching me stuff. You know, I, I saw their, um, they had this little iPad program that was follow auto following the script,
so they
[00:20:07] Sean Walker: cool. What was that?
[00:20:08] Ty Davis: It was cool, right?
It was, so it was being fed, uh, a um, a, a line that was transcribing what they were saying live. Uh, and then the iPad was, was just following that. I'll, I'll have to
remember. I'll have to, yeah. Right. And it's stuff like that where it's like, you know, I do a lot of TV and broadcast and that script following is a pain in the butt, and I've never, you know, really done that.
So. So anyway, so there's always like, you know, little things you can pick up here and there. Um, you know, so show up. Do a good job, learn and, and teach. That's the other thing, man. You
gotta be able to teach man. You really do. I, I, it's one, it's something I'm really passionate about now is, is, you know, when I'm on, on a show site, dude. Yeah, sure. I might be under the gun. I'm, you know, might be still patching, but if you ask me a question, I will do my best to answer, like I am. I, I'm so passionate about, you know, if someone is brave enough to ask the question, I will absolutely do my, what I view as my duty as someone experiencing the industry to answer that question.
[00:21:15] Sean Walker: Dude. A hundred percent. And it's, it's, it's interesting that you say that because that's actually one of the core values of our company is like always a student, always a teacher, right? Well, we're always learning, always trying to get better. Always trying to improve from wherever you are. 'cause we're all, you know, we're all at different levels, right. And then relaying that information and teaching as, as other people are trying to learn too. Right. It's been awesome, dude. That's, I'm so thankful that we're not the only ones just feeling crazy in our little bubble up here. Like. That's awesome dude. And I bet people are super appreciative of that and they, I bet you have found that they speak highly of you behind your back to other clients because they're like, oh dude, Ty was great to work with, he was awesome, and dude, I learned this really cool thing, blah, blah, blah.
You know what I mean?
[00:22:02] Ty Davis: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Besides the smell. Yeah. You know, uh, I, I, I'll bring everything else, but sometimes I don't shower. Just, just throwing it up. No.
[00:22:12] Sean Walker: It happens dude, late nights to early mornings, I dunno what to tell you.
[00:22:14] Ty Davis: Yeah, no. Um, Yeah,
so.
[00:22:16] Andy Leviss: around
[00:22:17] Ty Davis: right. ax
[00:22:18] Sean Walker: Cloud of Acts
[00:22:19] Ty Davis: man.
[00:22:21] Sean Walker: dude. Totally.
[00:22:22] Ty Davis: Is ax still around,
[00:22:24] Andy Leviss: Oh yeah. There. Yeah. There
[00:22:25] Ty Davis: Yeah. Oh, he knows. Oh, no. Oh
[00:22:29] Sean Walker: Which makes that, what, a hundred years ago probably.
[00:22:31] Ty Davis: yeah, dude. For real. Oh man, dude. Um, yeah,
no, excuse me. Sorry.
[00:22:38] Andy Leviss: I, I always said Irish Spring needed to make one of those. It just smelled like Irish spring soap and call it, shower in a can.
[00:22:43] Sean Walker: There you go, dude.
[00:22:44] Ty Davis: dude.
[00:22:45] Sean Walker: That's gangster,
[00:22:46] Andy Leviss: It's my next business.
[00:22:48] Sean Walker: porta shower, bro. That's my next business.
[00:22:52] Ty Davis: Uh, brilliant. Uh, but yeah, you know, it, it, it really is that simple. Like, just show up, be cool, learn and teach. And, uh, like, um, some of the engineers up in Seattle that I've worked with, they're, they're teaching me stuff all the time, man. It, it may be a quote unquote smaller market, but honestly the, a lot of the work that goes through the, the northwest like that, you know, it's companies that demand a lot.
Of high val production value, you know, perfection, right? So it's like, yeah. You know, um, it may be not as big of a market as la but the engineers up there are are really, really good. Man. You,
you've got a pretty good pool of of talent up there.
[00:23:32] Sean Walker: Thanks, dude. I mean, without, without
[00:23:34] Andy Leviss: he wasn't talking about you, Sean.
[00:23:36] Sean Walker: the show, right. Of course he wasn't, but he was talking about all the guys that work for me,
[00:23:41] Ty Davis: There you
[00:23:42] Andy Leviss: Fair play. Fair play.
[00:23:43] Sean Walker: dude, the show you do up here every year, like the, the reason that, that, that is, you know, you're just talking about the engineers and stuff.
The reason that is, is because the show you come do every year, if that were like the, the, the members of that show. If, if that show got bombed, it would change economies. You know what I mean? Like the importance of that cannot be understated. It's a top, you know, like Fortune 30 show, right? It's not like Fortune 500, we did this Fortune 500.
It's like, look man, these people are literally the most powerful 25 to 50 people in the fricking business world. You know what I mean? So like it can't be wrong and that's why they call you 'cause you're a gangster.
[00:24:24] Ty Davis: Well, you know, yeah. We call that show the Business Bilderberg. Uh, it's basically, you know, it's, uh, it's, it, it, you're very right man. It, it is an interesting, um, it's an interesting show because yeah, the, there's only 40 people sat in a room. Um, but there, the 40 people that their interactions and relationships with each other determine. Untold countless numbers of lives. So like, you know, like just as a, for instance, right? So let's say one of them goes up to, you know, talk, speak to an issue and, you know, that might generate, uh, a lot of revenue or, or, you know, interest in, in a thing, right? Uh, I'm being very big because NDAs, right?
[00:25:09] Sean Walker: A hundred percent. A hundred.
[00:25:10] Ty Davis: But, uh, but that being said, they go up there and let's say they have a, a technical failure.
They're, it's, it's a bit, uh, you know, it's a bit embarrassing. Their mic doesn't work. The, the, the, the, um, uh, the, the screens don't work, whatever it is, right? That then can determine how other people feel about their business mentor, about their, about them as a presenter, right?
Like.
[00:25:35] Sean Walker: a hundred percent.
[00:25:36] Ty Davis: It's not a small deal, like it's, you know, what we do, uh, has direct outcomes in very real situations. Uh, years ago I did something called the Roth Conference, uh, for many, many years, and that was essentially, uh, like 10 different rooms of Live Shark Tank. Okay.
[00:25:55] Sean Walker: Cool,
[00:25:56] Ty Davis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So
[00:25:57] Sean Walker: they're, but they're making, or, or breaking millionaires or billionaires in those rooms, like potentially it's changing people's lives.
[00:26:02] Ty Davis: there You go.
[00:26:03] Sean Walker: you can't mess that up. Right.
[00:26:04] Ty Davis: Boom. Exactly. In fact, I have a, a, a story, and I think I can say this, um, but so the owner reads drinks.
They did, uh, uh, they do Virgil's.
[00:26:14] Sean Walker: Ginger Ale,
[00:26:15] Ty Davis: Ginger Ale, Virgil's Root Beer, ginger Ale, the Reeds Ginger Ale. Uh, they did the, uh, the ho, the, um, Hogwarts, uh, butterbeer, whatever,
you know, really, really, really cool company. Uh, so he, he shows up five minutes before his, his pitch and his deck isn't working at all. I'm audio, you know what I mean?
But I happen to know that if you redownload some fonts and if you reconfigure the, the deck and keynote or whatever, whatever it is, right? I got his deck working. He went out there, crushed it. He came back and asked for my address and I said, oh, uh, yeah, sure. I gave him my address every month for the next year.
A case of root beer showed up at my address.
[00:27:00] Sean Walker: dude.
[00:27:00] Ty Davis: Yeah. And, and not even kidding you, a case of root beer. Uh, and then when he came up with the butterbeer, he sent that, like, it makes a difference,
you know?
[00:27:10] Sean Walker: a hundred percent.
[00:27:11] Ty Davis: Yeah. So, uh, if you want free soda, dude, I'll, I'm still working that weight off. I'll be very honest with you. I am. So, but now I've kind of given up because now it's dad weight, you know?
[00:27:25] Sean Walker: Yeah. Right. Totally. Sympathy.
[00:27:27] Andy Leviss: Uh, attacked.
[00:27:29] Ty Davis: Yeah.
[00:27:33] Sean Walker: Right
[00:27:33] Ty Davis: Oh man.
But
[00:27:35] Sean Walker: we do this show sitting, right? 'cause we handsome from the freaking shoulders up. But you know that dad bod.
[00:27:41] Ty Davis: I call it the, my, it's my shelf dude.
[00:27:43] Sean Walker: There you go. Right?
[00:27:44] Ty Davis: Yeah. it's my
it's my little shelf,
[00:27:46] Andy Leviss: round is a shape.
[00:27:48] Sean Walker: Round is a I'm in shape. Rod's a shape.
[00:27:53] Ty Davis: Oh
man.
[00:27:54] Sean Walker: Totally
[00:27:55] Ty Davis: But that, you know, that, and that goes into the next thing, which is like, you know, now I have a family. So before I was, you know, touring and, and doing stuff like that and, and, and you know, I wish we could all talk about how to get into every aspect of the industry, like touring and all that, but that would be a podcast that's a million years long.
So,
um, yeah. But, um, what I can speak to more confidently now is how to go from. What that was to where I am now and part of, and, and, and it's pretty much all due to the baby, you know? Um, he's everything, you know, and I want to be there for everything. So it's like, for me, I have to really, really think about the gigs that I take now. Um, you know, gone are the days where it's like, oh, can you do an 11 week run, you know, with such and such. I luckily I, or, you know, uh, I still get those calls, but now I'm able to say, you know what? I appreciate you. I can't, but you know who might is X, Y, Z,
and.
[00:28:53] Sean Walker: still love you and still call you because you're solving their problem
[00:28:57] Ty Davis: Yeah, that's right. Exactly. Um, a buddy of mine we're, we're this close to opening a crew, you know, resource like gigs or something. It's
so like, but now I will say with gigs and with, you know, uh, uh, bob net and all, you know, the, the litany of the rest of them, uh, which by the way are like, we need, why don't we have, well, haven't we had this?
It. Come on, man. Like
this is a, it, it it's great that we're finally standardizing hiring practices in the industry. We're, it's, it's, it's got a long way to go, but it's great. It's a great start. Um, you know, so, uh, kudos to like Nikki Sanz and, and gigs and all that, like super, super.
[00:29:38] Sean Walker: Dude. Totally. We had Nikki on, she's fricking awesome dude. And she's, she's doing the very best She knows how to do exactly what you're talking about. And that's, that's, you're right man. That's great. We totally need it. But if you've got recommendations, you'd text 'em my way bud.
[00:29:52] Ty Davis: Oh, dude. Abso Well, that's the thing, right? So like, yeah, like, you know, I have a bubble of, you know, whatever it is, 30 to 50 people. Uh, but now with gigs it's like, oh, this is a great, I can just tell my people, Hey, get on gigs, make a profile, and then I'm just gonna keep a database of those gigs, profiles, you know, and, and just start sending people to gigs and, and, and, you know, um, and hopefully, you know, uh, kind of coalesce all that, uh, you know, information that way.
[00:30:18] Sean Walker: Yeah, then it's not just stuck in your iPhone. Now you got a place to do it and a place to refer people like. Hey, dude, go get, you know, go find Tyler Davis on gigs, blah, blah, blah. He'll do a great job for you, rather than like just sharing iPhone contacts all the time and they're blowing you up and you're like, I'm trying to feed my baby. I'll talk to you in 20 minutes. You know?
[00:30:34] Ty Davis: Oh dude. And so that's the other thing, so, right, so, uh, you know, got the baby, so I'm doing a lot more corporate broadcast, things like that. Things that keep me in la, you know, able to come home at night, that kind of thing. I'm also doing a lot of remote production management and. That is. So I've, I've had to kind of like say, okay, what Bluetooth devices have the best, like noise can baby canceling, you know, situation for them, like, you know, uh, so I found that the brand new AirPods are actually pretty good.
[00:31:09] Sean Walker: Is that the new AirPod Pro, whatever they are, threes or
[00:31:11] Ty Davis: E four, I think.
[00:31:13] Sean Walker: Four. Yeah.
[00:31:13] Ty Davis: Yeah.
yeah, yeah. And, and it's like, okay, like this is my life now I have to worry about, you know, uh, a production manager in Oklahoma. You know, here are my baby. But, you know, but people also get it, man.
[00:31:26] Sean Walker: We love your baby. You, he can, he can be in the background all you want. We don't, we're not worried about it.
[00:31:29] Ty Davis: Totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. So like, you know, uh, people also get it, people are very understanding. That's like, you have to understand like people in this industry want shows to go well and they want people to feel good about, you know, them and their shows and the venues and all that. Like, we're like, there's so few people out there that are, that are acting counter to that, you know, they are out there. No, go ahead. I think you were gonna.
[00:31:55] Sean Walker: I was gonna say, we're human man. We're all human, right? We're just human doing. Stuff, and we're not the only ones that got kids, right? Billions of people have kids. They understand it, man. They get it. If your kids, you know, if you can hear the kid in the background, nobody's like, oh, I can't hire you.
They're like,
oh yeah, me too, bud. Just give it four minutes. Mine will be doing the same thing. You know what I mean?
[00:32:14] Ty Davis: Yeah, totally, dude. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, it's, uh, it's very much like, okay, you know, we all, we're all in this together. We're all in this industry. That's the way I approach it. Even if someone is having a bad day, even if someone is being crabby or acting counter to the best intentions of the show, whatever, I really do try to think of them a, as a baby, because I, ever since having a baby, I've been envisioning everyone as a baby that they were, everyone
was
[00:32:41] Sean Walker: was one time I said I was sorry. It was one time I threw a little temper tantrum. Now you won't let it go, guys. Damn it.
[00:32:49] Ty Davis: You know, never forget, uh,
[00:32:53] Sean Walker: Right? Totally.
[00:32:54] Ty Davis: no. You know, and it's funny, I, I've been seeing people as babies and, and seeing them as like, you know, especially when they're having tantrums, man, like, you know, we are just, we are, we are who we were, which was children at some at one point, right?
[00:33:08] Sean Walker: Totally, and we only have to change Andy's diapers once a day. It's all good. He's pretty good about it now.
[00:33:12] Ty Davis: Oh.
[00:33:13] Andy Leviss: dude. So I, I was actually gonna say on that front, it was funny early on, like when we had family and friends and relatives visiting, like somebody commented about how like, cool. It was like as I was like, even when, you know, my kiddo was like a couple months old, like changing the diaper, changing the clothes, and just like explaining him through the whole process.
And I was like, oh. I'm a toing here. Like that's what I'm, I'm being a corporate A two. That's like exactly what I'm doing. I'm like, okay, so I'm gonna do this next and I'm
[00:33:41] Sean Walker: He's all, I'm Andy, I'm your dad. I'm
going to under your diaper now. And uh, yes, I did wash my hands and I'm
sorry if they're a little cold. I did use the sanitizer though, so it's good there. Uh, would you like a mint?
[00:33:52] Andy Leviss: Yep.
[00:33:53] Ty Davis: On my desk here, I have a, a, uh, a wipe warmer. Have you guys seen those?
The, the, oh yeah. You
[00:34:00] Sean Walker: I wasn't that nice to my kid. They got the cold wipes dog.
[00:34:06] Ty Davis: Uh
[00:34:06] Sean Walker: Oh my God. The day I got to throw away the diaper Genie might've been the best, one of the best days of my fricking life, dude. We were just like, and Yeet that mother, the foya out of there, dude.
[00:34:16] Ty Davis: uh. I can't wait for that dude. I cannot wait for
that.
[00:34:20] Sean Walker: And that, that was my one kid saying, that's the only thing I know that that Yeet was the only kid saying, I know the rest of it. I'm just gonna be an old guy, dude. Yeah.
[00:34:26] Ty Davis: It's, man, good for
[00:34:27] Andy Leviss: I don't know how to tell you this, Sean, but Yid is about many years old at this
[00:34:32] Sean Walker: See, that's it. That's all. That's it, dude. I'm just gonna stay old. I'm good.
[00:34:35] Ty Davis: Oh, you's been yed, bro.
[00:34:40] Sean Walker: Along with every ounce of cool I ever had in my life.
[00:34:42] Ty Davis: Yeah,
[00:34:43] Andy Leviss: Sean has absolutely zero. Riz
[00:34:45] Sean Walker: Yeah, right. See, I don't even know what he's saying,
[00:34:47] Ty Davis: No, I can look at it. I'm seeing his can. He has Riz, like right around
there and right around. Is that what that is?
[00:34:53] Sean Walker: All right. All right. It's just the gray hair, bro.
Yeah.
I woke up one day, I looked in the mirror. I was like, who's the fucking old gray dude in the mirror? Oh, that's me. Shit.
[00:35:03] Andy Leviss: Yep.
[00:35:04] Ty Davis: I can't wait. Dude
[00:35:05] Sean Walker: Yeah, right.
[00:35:06] Ty Davis: Uh, but.
[00:35:07] Sean Walker: still styling. You got the wavy hair. You look at very southern California.
[00:35:10] Ty Davis: Oh dude, it's, it's the dad hair. You know, it's the dad hair. You just don't have time for haircuts.
[00:35:15] Sean Walker: right.
[00:35:16] Ty Davis: it, man.
[00:35:18] Sean Walker: Good.
[00:35:19] Andy Leviss: is the most real thing has been said this episode.
[00:35:24] Ty Davis: Oh man. Um, but yeah, so something I did want to touch on is like, um, so, you know, part of my journey into like broadcast specifically was, uh, doing sound for bands and all that, and then working with bands that were doing broadcast in broadcast environments. So like, uh, a live TV hit. Um. Uh, pre-tape, uh, all, all that kind of stuff and being a part of, of that, um, and seeing like, and the, we're talking like over 10 years ago now, uh, but, you know, seeing that there was a language and a, and a, and a hierarchy in that.
In that broadcast production world. So, you know, starts with the director, goes down through his adsd and then, you know, then you have the whole audio department and every bit of the audio department has like multiple people that do very specific things. And it, it, it was so interesting to me. And so. Um, I, I remember I, I was doing sound for a band, uh, for a live, uh, uh, uh, series for, uh, Viacom and just doing the band thing.
So I wasn't mixing the show. I wasn't doing any of that. And uh, but then the next time they did it, the guy that was mixing the show called me and said, Hey, I can't or don't wanna do this. It's so, it's a 24 hour live show. So it's a lot. And uh, and he said, yeah, do you just wanna do the whole thing? I feel like you could do it.
You've been doing the band thing and it's fine. And I was like, yeah, sure. So that was my first time, like wearing comms and listening to director and following like, you know, cues and a script. And, you know, as many years ago as, as it was, I still think to that as like a formative experience for me,
you know? And, and so. My point being like, you know, don't put yourself in a box man. Like you are so much more capable and so have so much more potential than, you know, just mixing, you know, kick and lead vocals at a bar. Like, or, or you don't, and that's what you're really good at. And you just do that forever and that's awesome.
Like, I will buy you, I'll be the first one to buy you a beer,
you know? But at the same time, like, you know, um, if you make yourself uncomfortable and if you make yourself, you know, have to dig in and learn, uh, new skills, there's, there's a lot out there that that's waiting for you, man, not to get all, like Dr.
Seuss or whatever.
[00:37:56] Sean Walker: No, dude, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely One of the things that, um, you know, one of the things that I think that we. Focus on a lot in our industry is the technical, like how to do a technically great job. Right. And one of the questions we got in the, this series that we're working on that I don't, I don't remember if we answered or not on the last one, Andy, but was kind of like, Hey, if I'm. An introvert and I'm shy, like, am I just screwed for getting more work or whatever. Right. And I don't know if I would say you're screwed, but I, I would say that my experiences have mirrored yours a a lot in that just being cool and going and. Hanging out and doing a good, doing the best you can, whether you know what I mean?
Like just doing the best you can. 'cause we're all at a different level and that's okay. 'cause you get, typically speaking, called for the gigs you can handle. People aren't offering you the Olympics if you're just been doing this a year. Right. So, uh, I would say like, man, learning to network a little bit, even though it's uncomfortable is probably super helpful. Uh. The, um, Mike Diaz episode we did a while back on networking would, would be super
helpful. You know what I mean? But like, bring a friend, dude, if you, if you don't want to, if you're not super outgoing, bring a friend who is super outgoing and will like, can be client facing as it were. You know what I mean?
Can be like they're outgoing, but they're also kind of put together, not not your outgoing friend that's gonna drink too much and get thrown out. You know what I mean? And they can help you and introduce you to people, and pretty soon it will be comfortable. It won't be so uncomfortable, but like that's really how our industry works, is like, meet people, be cool, do a good job, meet more people, be cool, do a good job, rinse, repeat.
You know what I mean? That that's basically what, what you're outlining too has been your secret to success. Right? Be cool. Do a good job. Don't be a dick. Help people out.
[00:39:52] Ty Davis: Yeah, totally. Um, I think, uh, one of the years I was up there, I was wearing a shirt or uh, something and it said, work hard, be kind. And, uh, it was actually made for by Headliner Clothing, which shout out Headliner. Um, well, yeah, work hard, be kind, man. And that is, that has taken me really, really, really far. Um, and, and so to tack on something to that point is if, if you do feel like social anxiety and things like that, it's, it's like that's totally normal.
And, and, and not, not to normalize that and say that there's no way out of it. What I would say is. See if you could find like a mentor, you know, see if you could find a person that you can have rapport with and that do, that is connected and networked in, in the industry or wherever you want to go and like, you know, um. Because if you find an, uh, a mentor and you learn from them and add value to them, they're gonna introduce you as someone, a known quantity. You're not just going, you know, uh, going up to front of house at a venue, being like, I, I do sound too. Uh, you, you kick sound good.
[00:41:01] Sean Walker: Totally,
[00:41:02] Ty Davis: You
[00:41:03] Sean Walker: totally.
[00:41:04] Ty Davis: uh, you know, it, it's, uh, it's very much like, you know, um, if you are having a hard time getting into the room to meet the people, you know, all you gotta do is find that one person that's been in the room, that's met the people that does all that stuff. And that's a good start, you know? Um. You know, uh, and, and like, I like to open myself up to that as well.
Like if you reach out to me, if you DM me, if you send me a message or whatever and you know, you want to, um, go somewhere in this industry that I've been, I'm, I'm happy to talk to you about that. Man,
that's, it's my, it's kind of my favorite thing to talk about. So, you know, it's, uh, it is kind of like a medical condition actually.
I should get looked into.
[00:41:46] Sean Walker: totally. That's awesome. Yeah, I did the same thing, right. My, my phone number and email is plus over my website and so I get people reaching out or dms on the Discord or whatever. Same kind of thing, man. Happy to help however we can, you know?
[00:41:59] Ty Davis: Yeah, yeah. That's how years ago. That's how I, that's how I reached out to you. I, I, you know, saw your thing online. I was like, dude, he's up there. He's got the stuff I need. Let's do it. You know what I mean? Like,
just reach out, give a call, you know?
[00:42:12] Sean Walker: totally. And the stuff that I didn't have, I bought. 'cause you were like, Hey, do you have this, this, this, this, this and this? And I was like. Man, there's like two of those in the world right now. I guess I'm gonna have one of those. You know what I mean? It was, and it was worth it. So, you know, to the listeners out there, again, if you're being cool, right, and you know what you're doing, people will bend over backwards to help you. You know what I mean? They will bend over backwards and make sure you have what you need to be successful. And it's super duper important, you know?
[00:42:39] Ty Davis: Yeah, exactly. And I'm, and I'm, I apologize for not even mentioning, you know, snare reverbs once, you know, but, uh.
[00:42:46] Sean Walker: son of a gun.
[00:42:50] Ty Davis: Um, but uh, but we all know, we all know which one's the best.
[00:42:54] Sean Walker: Duh. I mean, none of us agree on which one's the best. We all know which one's the best in our own minds.
[00:43:00] Ty Davis: Exactly. We all know.
[00:43:02] Sean Walker: Yeah.
[00:43:02] Andy Leviss: that you thought about using but didn't use this time is always the best.
[00:43:06] Ty Davis: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.
Yeah.
[00:43:08] Andy Leviss: like, oh, I should have.
[00:43:10] Ty Davis: Yeah, exactly. Um, but yeah, no, and, and I'm, and I'm happy to, you know, come back and talk actual tech stuff, uh, which is great. Like, for instance, like broadcast man, broadcast is same ideas, same, you know, uh, same technology, but used it as. Slightly different way. There's a slightly different workflow. Uh, again, even just having so many more destinations, um, you know, things like records and ibs and, and mix minuses that have to go to a very specific place. And then, but if you don't mix minus it, they'll get themselves back. And the Portuguese translator will all of a sudden be, you know, uh, not able to Portuguese, the Portuguese and, you know. And, and you know what, actually I was thinking about this. Uh, what's a good, um, uh, halfway point between live sound and broadcast are churches, megachurches, uh, or churches that have, that have a broadcasting set up. Really. Um, you know that that'd be a good, if you're interested in getting into broadcast and you, there's a local church that is doing that kind of stuff. Even just volunteering there is, would be a big, uh, a huge help.
[00:44:19] Sean Walker: Dude can can I tell you a secret and don't tell anybody else, but. Dude, that might be one of the hardest gigs on the planet is church fricking sound guy. Dude, it is literally a combination of corporate concert broadcast. Like it, it's like all of them. And depending on the scope and scale of the church, either you're doing it all from one desk or you've gotta be the one engineer in charge that's sorting out everything.
You know what I mean? It's, that's, that could be a challenging gig, you know what I mean? And also a super rewarding gig, if you know what I mean. If you're, you know, looking at it, technically it can be super rewarding. And if you're, you know, a person of faith that can be, you know, also helpful. But like, man, we, we, you know, do a, a. We interact with a couple of of churches like that where dude, it's a D live in front of house. The D live at monitors, the Yamaha over Dante at broadcast. It's like all the waves, all the rf, all like, it's all the toys everybody wished they had. And you're like, dude, this is. This is a serious business fricking setup.
You know what I mean? And we interact with some churches where it's an X 32 and they're doing the best they can. You know what I mean? But also still need to do all of those things. They've still got a stream, they've still got a worship band, you know what I mean? It's like, you know, they're like, oh, it's just a little church.
You're like, oh man. It's not just a little church like this is front of house monitors, broadcast, corporate. 'cause somebody's got a lab or a headset or whatever like this is, that's a lot to throw on volunteers, man. That's like, if you can do all that, you can kind of work anywhere in the. In, in almost any of the industries, you know what I mean?
We can touch up a few of the things about what, what specifically corporate or specifically broadcast requires. But if you're good at, if you're a good church engineer, you, you can be good at a lot of things. And all churches need your help, all of them.
[00:46:06] Ty Davis: Well, I always say like, you know, uh, let, let's say Friday, Saturday nights across the United States, there's like, you know, a few thousand music venues doing shows, right? Every. Sunday, across the entire United States, there's how many churches that are doing,
[00:46:22] Sean Walker: of thousands
[00:46:23] Ty Davis: I mean, dude, the, it's unbelievable. Which, you know, uh, which thankfully there's like podcasts about church sound, which is great. Um, you know, there's
a lot of content out there about it. Um, but getting in there and learning, uh, especially if you've just been doing live sound specifically and not doing broadcasts and not doing corporate and all that, that, what a great way to get into that, just like
[00:46:45] Sean Walker: Oh my God. Totally. And, and they need your help, man. You know what I mean? Like, there, there is a lot of 'em that have killer engineers already. I I, I don't mean every single one. I, I, I misspoke earlier, but by and large, they're often volunteers and they're often not already. Engineers, they're already just somebody that could kind of deal with the tech, right?
So dude, they would love to have your help if you're, you know, if you were like, Hey man, I'm a banging concert front of house engineer, but I really kind of wanna learn how to do corporate better, or learn how to do broadcast better. That's a killer place to go. Volunteer for a while to go wrangle that lavalier mic for the pastor or the broadcast and make it really come, come to, you know what I mean?
[00:47:26] Ty Davis: Yeah, excuse me, and I'll tell you this right now. I know more about OBS than I ever wanted to know in my life. I wish I didn't know this much about it. I wish I didn't, but I learned it. And just to my point earlier, not to toot my own horn, but learn the stuff people don't wanna learn. And it will put you in rooms that, that you want to be in. Um, you know, so like for instance, I've been working at Wright, uh, eSports and uh, I was just doing sound there on their audio team for the broadcast and all that. And then one day someone needed help 'cause someone wanted to stream from the arena. And so they set up a PC and no one knew how to do it. No one knew how to do the the OBSC side of it, and so I did it, and then that led me to months of building out that process for them and becoming the guy that knows all about that. You know, and it really, as much as I hate that I know about it, it at the end of the day, it was really fun. And, you know, I got to interact with a bunch of cool streamers and talent and, and, you know, help, help riot develop that part of it, you know,
[00:48:36] Sean Walker: Totally. And you don't hate the months of work you had that you didn't otherwise have, had you not learned about that,
[00:48:41] Ty Davis: I mean, listen, you know, I, it bought a lot of diapers.
[00:48:45] Sean Walker: right? Totally,
[00:48:47] Ty Davis: I bought a lot of diapers, man. Uh, but yeah, no, it, it's, um, you know, just, I, I think I was mentioning before we started recording that like my journey hasn't been linear. It's been a tree. It's been, there's been
branches that grow and grow. You know, whether it's, you know, live, sound, concerts, festivals, you know, touring and then corporate broadcast, RF system, you know, measuring then like studio setups and we ask streaming and video and, you know, time code and lighting and designing and all that kind of stuff. I don't, I don't promote that. I can do a lot of that stuff, but, uh, you know, the fact that I can does help in some circumstances. So.
[00:49:29] Sean Walker: Did you?
Were lighting guy,
[00:49:30] Ty Davis: no God no.
[00:49:32] Sean Walker: no.
[00:49:34] Ty Davis: be. The call has been disconnected.
[00:49:37] Sean Walker: right. Totally.
[00:49:40] Ty Davis: Um, no.
God
[00:49:42] Sean Walker: a bunch about, you know what I mean? A bunch about a bunch of things is really helpful too.
[00:49:46] Ty Davis: I know enough about lighting to really tick off some lighting engineers.
[00:49:50] Sean Walker: There you go. There you go. Totally.
[00:49:54] Ty Davis: you know, but, uh, but it is nice to be, uh, I call, I call it being interdepartmental. So like being a, like let's say you're head, the head of the honor de audio department to be a, a, a person that can. Translate between departments is really valuable, especially, especially with video man, like video.
They have so many different formats and conversions and this and that, like, you know, to be able to understand what they're saying and and to be able to, to. You know, not get annoyed that, you know, you need to, you know, uh, you know, sample rate convert and, you know, all this stuff. It's like, all right, well, okay, fine. You know, you, you're, you're a video engineer. I'm not gonna expect you to know my stuff, but I do know your stuff a little bit.
[00:50:38] Sean Walker: Totally well, and just having a lit, a little bit of perspective of what's happening around you is really helpful. You know what I mean? If you're like, man, I'm at this show and I can see that maybe the audio setup is not the most critical thing, if I'm being really honest, like maybe.
There's a ginormous, super complicated video set up at this corporate show, and I've ripped through my audio and man, these guys just need some time.
I need to get outta their way. Or how can I help? Can I move something for you? Push something for you like,
you know what I mean?
[00:51:08] Ty Davis: Yeah. At that
[00:51:09] Sean Walker: Same team you.
[00:51:10] Ty Davis: Yeah. Exact. At that show that I was mentioning earlier, um, where I was passing through someone's console, they had video projection maps. So the venue was a, um, a, an ex-Catholic church in la uh, so a huge cathedral. They had video projection map the entire thing, and so it's like. Yeah, if the band is a little quiet and over compressed, that's fine. They are video mapping the whole damn venue, dude. Like, we
can, we can work on the audio, it will get better, but like, you know, there's, there's priorities, you know?
[00:51:47] Sean Walker: Yeah. You're not the top of the food chain here. You know
[00:51:49] Ty Davis: Right, right. In that's in that particular case, no.
[00:51:53] Sean Walker: Totally. Yeah. That's super, super fricking valuable to be able to kind of look around and see what's up. Is there anything that we didn't ask that we should ask that you wanted to talk about
[00:52:03] Ty Davis: Uh, dude.
[00:52:05] Sean Walker: other than where are we going for dinner when we go to LA and hang out with you? Because that's, that's
[00:52:09] Ty Davis: I mean, that's really it,
[00:52:10] Sean Walker: are we? Where are we going for dinner?
[00:52:11] Ty Davis: A hundred percent. Um, well, so I always say, uh, you come to LA you, you're gonna get Mexican food. You know, it's, it's what you do. Um, my, my favorite, I don't wanna say the best, my favorite Mexican place, uh, is right by the airport. So on the way to and from the airport, I'll often stop and just get, uh, flour tortillas to go. Um. It's a, a Hacienda delrey in Marina Delrey.
Uh, and it is, it is like, just so you walk in and they have the tortilla making station,
[00:52:44] Sean Walker: Yeah,
[00:52:46] Ty Davis: you know, it's, you walk in and
[00:52:47] Sean Walker: Hot tortillas. Butter, like yeah, a
[00:52:50] Ty Davis: You walk in and you're just greeted with the smell of warm tortillas. It's just fantastic, man. Um, being born and raised in la like I, you know, went into a lot of households growing up where that was the smell and it was just, uh, this is great. Um, and then, yeah, you get the fajitas del Rays, the fajitas with uh, uh, chicken, uh, steak and shrimp
and yeah. Yeah.
[00:53:15] Sean Walker: I mean, sold.
[00:53:17] Ty Davis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Uh, the margaritas are, are, are quite nice as well.
[00:53:21] Sean Walker: There you go. That's awesome.
[00:53:23] Ty Davis: Yeah, I take people there and, uh, I force them to get the feta Delray, and every time they're like, well, you know, the burrito looks good to No, no, no, no, no. That's the second time you go get, get the
burrito the second time you go. Uh, but yeah. Um, but yeah, no, uh, I, I'm an open book. Uh, people wanna reach out, um, ask me any questions. Uh, I'm on the Discord. Um, I, I just recently started a Reddit. Uh, not started a Reddit. I, I am on Reddit. I started a Reddit account. Um, and, uh, so I'm more active in the live sound, uh, uh, uh, subnet,
[00:54:01] Sean Walker: Cool's up Reddit.
[00:54:01] Ty Davis: Sub Reddit. Yeah. I'm such a new dude. Um.
[00:54:04] Andy Leviss: See Sean, Sean zipper. Then he,
[00:54:05] Sean Walker: bud. I don't know any of that stuff. Are you at Tie the Sound guy at everywhere? If they, if they wanna find you.
[00:54:10] Ty Davis: That's right. Yeah. Tie the sound guy, um, at tie the sound guy, uh, dot com, uh, website, and then, um, you know, at all before with all the socials. Uh, and yeah. Um, you know, happy to help with any, uh, any questions or issues or if you want any advice or whatever. Always happy to help.
[00:54:28] Sean Walker: Dude. That's awesome. That's awesome. Eddie, any last thoughts before I close this thing up and these let these
people get onto the day?
[00:54:35] Andy Leviss: No, I, I think I'm, I'm gonna leave it with the episode where I stay very understated. It's rare for folks, so
[00:54:42] Sean Walker: Nice.
[00:54:43] Andy Leviss: a, I'm gonna let that ride.
[00:54:44] Sean Walker: All right. Cool man. Well then, Tyler, thank you so much for hanging out and chatting and sharing your wisdom and hard earned experience. Man. We really appreciate you and uh, I'm totally coming down for fricking fajitas, bro. That's, That's,
[00:54:58] Andy Leviss: I say we, we gotta, we gotta hang. Uh, come, come Nam.
[00:55:01] Ty Davis: Oh
[00:55:02] Sean Walker: Oh
[00:55:02] Ty Davis: sure. Without a doubt. And, and, and we'll definitely. Um, and next time we'll talk about hi hat EQs.
Oh, oh, Sean, we got it real quick. Last thing we gotta talk about how it's okay to place a microphone under the dang hi hat.
[00:55:20] Sean Walker: No, we don't. We don't have to. That's not okay at all. No, you were doing just fine until then.
[00:55:28] Ty Davis: All right. That'll be part two,
[00:55:29] Sean Walker: Nope.
[00:55:29] Andy Leviss: wait. Is this, instead of in addition, are, are we double micing
[00:55:32] Sean Walker: man. That was, that was a, that was a dinnertime hand roll conversation that we had. It was, it was, nevermind dude. Nobody. Nobody wants that one.
[00:55:39] Ty Davis: Stereo
[00:55:40] Andy Leviss: was wa I was waiting for you to say that the best Hi hat EQ is a mute button.
[00:55:44] Sean Walker: Ooh, no, man. It's the most hit instrument
in the whole stage.
[00:55:48] Andy Leviss: again, I, I am, I'm fully team dynamic. Hi hat Mike. So, I'm the, I'm the outlier.
[00:55:53] Ty Davis: So she, Sean told me, uh, it's free snare drum. You know the thing that is already in every other microphone on the stage, the loudest. It's free. I
wish it was free
of snare
[00:56:10] Sean Walker: Near Drumm, dude.
[00:56:11] Ty Davis: No,
[00:56:12] Sean Walker: If your high hat, if your high hat is micd from the top and it's in polarity with your snare and your overheads, it's free snare drum level and it's awesome. So the, those of you under micing snare drums, you can send your angry emails to andy@andy.com.
[00:56:28] Andy Leviss: Wow. I'm getting thrown under other people's buses now. Yikes.
[00:56:32] Sean Walker: Me, me Mother foia.
[00:56:34] Ty Davis: Or, or DM me and I'll, and I'll validate, I'll tell you why you're right.
[00:56:38] Sean Walker: Yeah, there you go.
[00:56:41] Ty Davis: And all you over. Over my over. Hi, my people don't reach out.
[00:56:45] Sean Walker: Yeah, totally dude. Well, Ty, thanks for coming on. Thank you to Alan Heath and RCF for letting us yap for a whole nother week about nerd audio stuff. That's the pod y'all see next week.
Music: “Break Free” by Mike Green
