R.A.V.E. - Episode 7 - AV Roles: Who Does What and Where

In this, our 7th episode, we shift gears a bit and talk about many of the job roles in the world of audiovisual; who they are and what they do.

Transcript

Episode 7 - Who Does What and Where - AV Roles

Stephen: [00:00:00] Hello, my fellow humans. Welcome back to rave, the podcast where we are training tomorrow's AV leaders with excellence and integrity. Yes, I can say the word excellence and not excellence. It's a slight nuance. Anyway, I'm your host, Stephen Verner. Uh, this is episode number seven. Yes, episode number seven. Oh my gosh.

I can't believe we've come this far. Uh, and. I think I mentioned earlier that um, 50% of all the world's podcasts only get to three episodes, so I feel like we are moving in the right direction. Uh, sharing just a little bit about myself. I had knee surgery about three months ago. I tore the meniscus in my left knee.

Had to have surgery and had to stay off of the knee for about six weeks. [00:01:00] And then I've done lots of PT and I'm still doing pt, and we will continue to do physical therapy until about October. So, um, yeah, 2025 has been all about the knee. Uh, nevertheless. I moving forward because I'm a stubborn old cuss and I don't know how to really rest.

Um, so I'm not feeling all that great. I have my good days and bad days. Normally, I'm sitting at my podcasting desk, which I'm looking at across the, the room there with all my gizmos and do dads, but I've got my little zoom recorder sitting in my lap. I've got my notes in front of me. I took my boom stand out, and I just set it right by the bed.

I mean, look. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Um, but anyway, uh, I wanted to kind of share a couple of little stats before we get into today's, uh, topic. And, um, I'm, I'm really kind of proud of this. I mean, for a new podcast, our audience seems to be growing, so that maybe means that I'm saying [00:02:00] something that you might find valuable.

Um, it looks like we've had listeners as far away as France, which takes me back. La la I've never been to France, but I want to go to the one listener there in France. Thank you very much. I don't know how to say, uh, thank you very much in French. Maybe somebody can email me and let me know. Um, but a couple of other, uh, statistics here really quick.

Uh, looks like we're in about 20 cities. I think if I added it upright about nine different states. So of course my home state of Georgia Go dogs, um, sorry, tech fans. We bleed red and black here in my house. Anyway, it looks like we've got some listeners too in our neighboring state of Alabama, South Carolina, Oregon, Oklahoma, Vermont, Maryland, Florida, and California.

So awesome. Yeah, we do. Yeah. One, uh, two [00:03:00] people there in San Francisco. Thank you very much to my San Franciscans, uh, beautiful city. Uh, visited there on my 50th birthday a couple years ago, almost a couple years ago. I'm 51 and a half. Anyway, today's topic, uh, we're gonna move in a little bit, uh, different direction.

Um, as you know, I covered what I called my four, uh, disciplines of AV series series. Audio, video, lighting, and stage rigging. Um, and I had my introductory episode. Last week's episode. We talked a little bit about professionalism. Um, mainly the topic was, uh, tools for the trade. What's in your pocket? Um, and we talked a lot about taking a good attitude with us to a job site and how important those skills are.

Um, and as you know, I'm, I'm basically podcasting through book material. Eventually, uh, rave will be a book I'm hoping that, um. [00:04:00] This will come all come together. This has been an idea of mine since about 2016, so going on almost a decade. Today's topic is really, uh, just going back into the educational side of things and talking about a.

Um, the job roles and descriptions, uh, basically who does what and where. So again, using that framework of the different disciplines and we'll expand a little bit on that as well. I don't wanna leave out all my brothers and sisters on the other disciplines that I'm not so great at, but let's just start with audio and we'll talk about.

The job titles and roughly what they do. And we're not gonna go super in depth, um, because I want to keep this under a certain drive time length for you. But let's just talk about audio for a minute. So, um, in the AV world, uh, we call the head audio, uh, person, the A one. [00:05:00] So a for audio, of course. I think you pick up on that.

Y'all are smart people. Uh, and then, uh, the A one is basically the front of house engineer, front of house referring to. The main PA that the audience is listening to. Typically this person has, uh, designed the system, decided what gear needs to be in that system, and you know, they're gonna stand behind the board and mix the show most of the time.

Um, so that front of house engineer. Sometimes called the head engineer, but a lot of times it's called the A one. They are in charge of the audio working group. Uh, so the next person underneath the A one and there can be multiple. In this particular role, depending on how big the job is, depending on um, how much crew is, uh, needed to accomplish the job is the A two.

So you're an a, you're an audio [00:06:00] technician at this point. So just a clear, quick distinction. A technician is one who is actually doing the grunt work. You're rolling out the cables, you're humping those speakers, you're setting things up. Uh, you're building the, um. The pa uh, laying out monitors on stage, all that kinda stuff.

So that's why it takes more than one person. Um, but a lot of times you're gonna have a leader of this group, kind of, uh, the head, a two we'll call 'em, uh, that could. At any moment, step in and fill in for the A one if needed. And a lot of times on bigger job sites, pretty much all the A twos that are in the room have acted as a ones on smaller shows and probably have the skillset to fill the front of house engineer role.

Most of the time, but you have the A one that's in charge of the audio group. You'll probably have a gaggle of a twos in the room, [00:07:00] setting things up, rolling out cable, hooking up that pa uh, setting gains on amps, plugging in mics. They are putting together the nuts and bolts of the system, um, on bigger jobs as well.

Especially I'm thinking of more music related jobs and not necessarily. Conference audio, although sometimes you might, uh, have this person in conference audio, um, if it's necessary, uh, a monitor, engineer. So that monitor engineer is running a totally separate sound console and all they're controlling are the wedges or the speakers on stage.

The monitors that are aimed back at the musicians and or the I EMS or the individual, uh, or in ear. Uh, monitors, um, uh, these systems have become more, uh, and more common in our field so that monitor, [00:08:00] engineer, uh, takes care of the mix just for the musicians. They're not responsible for what the audience hears at all.

Going back just a little bit, we were talking about the monitor engineer. Before all of this happens, you have, uh, a sound designer, uh, who maybe has put together, uh. And shaped this show. I'm thinking more on the theater side, although this happens a lot in the music world as well, where somebody has, you know, maybe recorded, uh, Foley sounds or they're running, you know, sound effects, uh, that are timed and played through, you know, a software like Q Lab or something like that.

Um, so that designer has basically. Um, manufactured these sounds. They've recorded them, uh, manipulated them, mixed them [00:09:00] and prepared them for the show. And they've, they're thinking about the whole, you know, everything that's involved, uh, sound-wise for that show. And then maybe a role that's not so much on site, but sometimes these roles are taken, you know, multiple roles are taken up by the same person.

Uh, the system designer. So the system designer. You, especially if it's a set up tear down kinda show has taken into account the room, the audience size, uh, all of that. They've determined how much power they need, the individual components that they're gonna need to build that pa and that monitoring system.

And, um, they've put it all together and made basically a list. For all the equipment that is necessary to complete that show properly. Um, so that is the system designer. Uh, a lot of times though, in install work, that system designer is working, you know, out of an office. They're using, [00:10:00] you know, sophisticated design programs, ERA and different things like that where they're, you know, um, taking 3D drawings on the computer and, uh, putting different boxes or, um.

Or speakers into the room virtually and seeing, you know, how the sound is gonna respond in that space and making those types of decisions and things like that. Um, but sometimes that, uh, system designer role is really the, a one, especially out in the field, you know, where they're making decisions about where to set speakers up and where to aim things.

So, but just, you know, honor honorable mention to our system designers, so. Moving on from audio, just talking a little bit about lighting, and you're gonna begin to see a pattern emerge here. Uh, everything in the technical world is ordered, um, is you have your head of lighting department, [00:11:00] um, or group, and that person is the L one.

Whoa, hell for lighting one for the person in charge. I think we're beginning to see this pattern emerge. So the L one is, uh, the head lighting person. They're, uh, in charge of that, uh, department, that technical department, and. Uh, a lot of times, um, they're gonna build their crew. So these leaders in each of these departments, they get a chance, hopefully, if the project managers allow them to, to put together their own, uh, working groups.

So the L one. Most of the time they're gonna be the board operator. So they're actually gonna sit behind the lighting console and run the show, uh, write the cues, so on and so forth. And more or less, um, they also will wear the hat of, uh, the LD or the lighting designer. Uh, so much like we had a system designer with audio.

The lighting designer [00:12:00] is the one who's design. Determining which lighting instruments need to be taken, where they need to hang, where they need to be focused, the gel moving lights, LEDs, all, all the kinda stuff that is gonna be necessary to, um, light the show properly. Um, so a lot of times that L one is wearing.

All of those hats, but sometimes the, the LD designs the show, but they don't actually, they don't actually run the show. But I know a lot of lighting designers who do also like to sit behind consoles and actually run the show. Myself included, I love light running lighting consoles. They're, they're so much fun.

Um, and as you could probably guess, uh, there's gonna be a group of people who share this title of lighting tech or L twos, so the room's probably gonna be filled with several lighting technicians if you're building the show from scratch. I know when I was doing a lot of conference lighting, you [00:13:00] know, we're setting up a big show in a ballroom.

There's probably 10 or 12 of us who are wearing that title of L two. Any one of us, especially on a big show like that, are probably capable of stepping into the L one role in leading the show, or at least we've probably worn that title in smaller situations. Um, but a lot of those l twos have various skillsets.

I actually like the nuts and bolts, so I like to get out there and put my hands on things. Um, actually hang the lights, run the safety cables, connect the DMX. Set DMX addresses, you know, run SoCo, um, put together the truss, work with the riggers to pick it all up and get it looking nice and beautiful and aiming the fixtures.

I love every single part of the process. Um. Really weird. Don't like that. Um, we have [00:14:00] this terminology super quick in our industry for people who I feel like are the laziest, fattest cats is the white gloves. The people who daintily walk on. About 99% of the work has been done and they step up to the console and then.

They get to take all the credit, but they actually did jack squat to send that show up. And I would like to think that some of those people have probably put in their dues, and a lot of them probably have. But boy, I tell you what, um. It's not a title that I like to wear. I like to get in there and, and bucket it up and, and get it done.

I like, I like to sweat baby. I like to get in there and get my hands dirty. I like to turn sea wrenches and, uh, I just like to feel it all. It's just, it's just a thing. It's tactile for me. Uh, anyway, enough about me moving on. Um. We got the L one, the lighting designer board op. We got a lot of the L [00:15:00] twos.

Now sometimes the L an L two might fill in and just, and run the board as well. The light designer, the L one doesn't always have to be the board op, but a lot of times they'll opt to do that. And then there's an interesting role here in the lighting world called a master electrician. Um, and this, uh.

Electrician covers a lot of the things that you say a commercial electrician might cover. And that was my Amazon in the background. Uh, my little Amazon Echo going off if you heard that. Sorry about that. There are never any perfect recording environments. Sorry about that. So anyway, um, yeah, that master electrician is basically gonna take the design from the lighting designer and they power everything up.

So they're gonna know, you know, how many fixtures you can put on each circuit based off the output, wattage. Uh, they're gonna manage all of that load. They're gonna. Handle [00:16:00] all of that stuff. Um, so the master electrician knows, you know, which cables to use, uh, how much power to send to each truss, so on and so forth.

So, uh, a very unique role. A master electrician, you can go and take tests and be certified in this through Esta, which is an organization I mentioned before. Uh, they set a lot of the entertainment, uh, safety standards Now. Um, I've never taken a look at that test. I've taken the test for, um, theater rigging before, not past it.

That's a whole nother subject. But anyway, um. Master Electrician is a very unique position. It's one that I kind of like, and I guess I've sort of worn that hat in a lot of places where I've been. But I never really trained, but I've learned a lot about electricity and to me it fascinates me and it's one of the more important parts of lighting that I think gets skipped [00:17:00] over and underappreciated quite a bit.

The people who stand behind the consoles get all the glory people. That's where I'm going with all of that. Moving on from the lighting group. So we've talked about audio, we've talked about lighting. So let's talk a little bit about, uh, the video people. So once again, who's the head of audio? I mean, now video, it's gonna be the V one V for video, one for the person in charge.

Wow. Uh, you're tracking with me. I know you are, you're smart people. Uh, that I'm not, uh, I'm not, uh, insinuating you're not, but yeah. V. So the V one is the head of the audio group. Um, I, I mean the video group, gosh, I got audio on my mind. I'm so sorry. People, I love all of these disciplines, so sometimes they just get up in my head and they, they just mix together sometimes.

Uh, so the V one is in charge of, [00:18:00] you know, putting the whole video system together. So. I'm thinking about, you know, conference video or even, you know, arena video for like, you know, big traveling shows and things like that, that V one is going to run that system. Uh, and they're gonna plan out, you know, sometimes they will be kind of the video designer.

They're gonna decide what screens they need. Um. If there are projectors, what projectors they need, if they're using, you know, LED, uh, panels. Sorry, that was my kitty cat. Uh, he wants to come over here and see what I'm doing and he's, he's mouthy. Say hello. What's up Leo? Anyway, sorry about for that interruption.

Uh, no. So the V one is in charge of making those decisions, deciding all the different components that are gonna need to be put into the system. And a lot of times, um, you know, they're gonna be kind of directing what's going on in that, [00:19:00] uh, group of folks. Uh, so, uh, of course again, the technicians that set it all up and make all the connections and.

Making all work. The video techs are V twos. So once again, this group of people you're gonna find very, are very capable of stepping up into, uh, the V one role, especially on the bigger jobs. You're gonna have a lot of qualified people in the room. So, um, the V twos. Put it all together. Um, so, uh, that's V ones and V twos.

And so there are a couple other really unique positions in the video department that you don't find anywhere else. Of course, you have camera operators, so, um, that's something I'm not super great at, but I have stepped in and filled in. When people need a bathroom break or a lunch break, hey, they're like, Hey, you're a warm body.

Come stand behind this tripod. Don't touch anything. I, I Captain. No. Anyway. Um. [00:20:00] So camera operators, most of the time camera ops own a lot of their own equipment. Sometimes they don't. Um, they come out, they, they set up their stuff. They, um, you know, give their feed over to the V one and, um, and they're. You know, they have their own little monitor.

It's their own little world. A lot of times they're set up on a little platform in an island. Um, but you'll have several camera operators, more camper operators, depending on the largeness of the show. So sometimes they'll refer to, um. A job is like a two camera shoot, a single camera shoot, a three camera, uh, job, so on and so forth.

And then a lot of stuff too that we've gotten into is you have what they call PTZ cameras, uh, port point til Zoom. So you got somebody that's sitting over at a desk that's literally controlling robot cameras from a controller. A lot of times it's running over, you know, CAT five or something like that.

[00:21:00] So there are those that kind of caveat to camera operators. And just to round out the group, um, you have projectionists, so the people, especially within the v the V twos, the people who really focus and know how to set up projectors correctly. Um, you know, choosing the right lens, uh, getting all the colors corrected.

Uh, keystoning and shape shaping the video. They understand about resolutions and frame rates and all that kind of stuff. Uh, and those projectionists, uh, focus in on that aspect of the video system, just setting up the, uh, projectors and making sure that they're perfect to the screen and the screens are set up properly for the room, so on and so forth.

And then, uh, folks now that are over at the table, you've got people who are doing switching and shading, especially shading for, uh, you know, live cameras or what we call I mag image magnification. Uh, [00:22:00] the switcher is where all the video inputs come in. So not just the cameras, uh, but you know, slides from PowerPoint and things like that are all, all the video inputs are coming into that switcher unit and then that.

Person handling the switcher is reading cues or listening for the video director to call and tell them which images to put up on the screens at which times. And so the act of doing that is called switching. And the component that makes that happen is a switcher seamless switcher. Um, a lot of the jobs I've worked on, you know, maybe four in, one out, sometimes eight in one out.

But, you know, especially in broadcast and other things like that, these, um, these pieces of equipment can get super complex. Um, and hats off to the people who really understand how to switch video really, really well. And to round out the group here, uh, talking about. Rigging. So, um, [00:23:00] a lot of times you have, uh, especially like in theater rigging, you're gonna have, uh, the head flymen.

Um, I've never really heard them referred to as the R one, but maybe we could call them the R one if we wanted to just continue on with that. So that head, uh, though, is in charge of knowing what goes on the battens and, um, making sure that whole loading and unloading process, uh, is done. Uh, safely and swiftly.

The people who are up on the bridge, uh, that are near the top of the deck that are, uh, throwing bricks, we call it, those are your loaders. Those people are, um, at the direction of the flyman gonna add weight or take weight off, uh, a component called it arbor, which is a, a, a piece of traveling equipment that actually holds the counterweight that balances out whatever you're putting on the bar.

And then a lot of times, uh, general stage hands are [00:24:00] involved in this process as well. You know, if they're hanging lighting instruments or they're putting, um, you know, scenic drops on battens and things like that, um, it gets a little bit more complicated when we get it out into arena rigging because we have, um.

Uh, two different types of riggers. We have the up riggers and the downriggers. So the up riggers of course, are the people who are up in the sky walking the beams, uh, doing the ghost walking, they call it. Um, but they are hanging those points, building those bridles, working with chain motors, so on and so forth.

The, uh, downriggers are the people who are, uh, connecting everything up on. On the floor, right? So sometimes they're building those points, putting all the hardware together that then is connected and sent up, you know, via chain motor or sometimes pulled up by rope, so on and so forth. Um, so you have up, up, up riggers and [00:25:00] downriggers and then you have, you know, the, the head rigger who is basically in charge of, that's, there's my cat again making another entrance.

He just loves to just jump in. So he is knocking my notes everywhere. Um, but we love him anyway. But that head rigger is in charge of basically making sure that the whole show gets, uh, hung properly and safely. Um, the riggers are the first per people normally on site, and a lot of times they're the last ones out, uh, the lighting department following quickly behind them.

Uh, and then I want to just sort of mention some of the other, uh, things that, uh. Don't always get talked about. So you have like your, your scenic, uh, department. So you have your head, uh, scene designer and you have a lot of carpenters that are in there. Some, the, that person sometimes is called the head carpenter.

So they're in charge of making sure that all the set pieces get in and out, put together properly, [00:26:00] handled properly, so on and so forth. Um, you have the actual scenic or set designer who has, you know, artistically designed, you know, and sometimes built the set. Before it comes into a theater or into an arena.

So you have, uh, those people who make up that section. So that's a lot about, uh, you know, scenery. And then, uh, there are other departments that we haven't yet talked about. I don't want to leave them out here, so I just want to do, do quick mentions. So, um, you have the props master. So in, in theater especially, you know, all the props that are used by the actors and actresses.

Uh, you have somebody who's organizing all that and making all those choices, laying those things out in an organized fashion backstage so that all those things are handed to the right people at the right times. And you have other people who are involved with that as well. So you have assistance to, to the prop masters as well.[00:27:00] 

So, uh, the other department that I haven't really talked a whole lot about that, that is a big part of theater is wardrobe. So, within wardrobe, wardrobe, sorry, you have what's called the head mistress. So he or she's in charge of making sure that all the costuming is designed properly, fits properly, and is put on the right person at the right time.

And, um, you know, makes a lot of those choices along with the director and the producer. Um, then you have the costume designers. We're actually designing the costumes and, you know, putting them together, uh, and uh, things like that. So all of that is in the wardrobe, uh, department. And then you have, uh, the makeup.

So you have, uh, the folks that are doing all of the. Uh, you know, dressing people up, uh, making sure that they look right. And men and women both wear makeup on [00:28:00] stage. Folks don't get freaked out. Uh, it's, it's, it's very typical in theater. Um. So you have your makeup artists, and normally there's, you know, somebody in charge of that department.

So that's a whole department that where that's happening. And also people who design masks and, you know, attachments and things like that, they go on people's faces and hands and you know, it is a. True art form. It's pretty amazing to watch what people can do. So, uh, just want to shout out, you know, to props and wardrobe and makeup and then rounding out and thinking more In theater, you have, uh, upfront you have your house manager who's taking care of all the seating and the ticketing and things like that.

They're working together with your box office manager and box office techs who are selling the tickets and making sure. All the patrons who are coming in to see, uh, the show are very, very happy. Uh, and [00:29:00] then in a theater show, sometimes especially a musical, you have a musical director, you've got the composer, you've got the musicians.

So as you can see, there are just lots and lots of different departments, different disciplines, different people who all come together to make this thing called live art. And it is pretty. Exciting. So if this stuff interests you, and I hope that it does, otherwise, what are you doing here? Uh, anyway, maybe you just like the sound of my voice and I'm like, Aw, thanks.

Appreciate that. Uh, anyway, uh, thank you so much for stopping in. I hope that this has been interesting to you to learn about, uh, all the different job roles and disciplines within, uh, the AV world. Who does what and where. Um. If this, it doesn't interest you, but you've hung around and listened anyway. When you have somebody in your life, do you think, Hey, this might be interesting to them, or they've [00:30:00] expressed an interest in one of those fields, tell 'em to, to join the group, uh, and if you have questions or you think they may have questions, tell 'em to reach out to me directly.

Rave the podcast@gmail.com. Trying to get better about checking that email frequently. And thank you so much for stopping in. I think this has been episode seven and we're gonna continue to just keep going and we're gonna talk about all things av Again, I'm Steven, I'm the host, uh, and this is Rave, the podcast where we are training tomorrow's AV leaders with.

Excellence and integrity. I hope you've had fun. Take care of my fellow humans.