Grads Speak Out

I graduated PAVI in January '08 and am currently Operations Manager for  Briere Production Group. I've had an unbelievably busy summer and am still very busy but I would rather be doing nothing else in the world. The worst day working in this challenging industry is still better than going to a job that I don't feel as passionate about as working with audio.

When I first graduated I hit some speed bumps. While outlining my career plans and goals, I took a practical approach. I looked at the industry and it was plain to see that there is more work and a future it seems in live sound than in the recording and studio business.

I pounded the pavement, applying at almost every studio and live sound company in Vancouver. I knew there was work in live sound, but I needed to get a foot in the door... I didn't work for two months except for the odd one-day gig here and there.

Finally I went around to all the live sound companies in town a second, and a third time because I hadn't heard from any of them. Well the floodgate opened, and I was getting phone calls from some of them like crazy. BPG was the first to call.

I've worked some amazing shows and am still cutting my teeth as an engineer, but I am learning an incredible amount about the live sound industry and engineering as well. While in school I was daydreaming one day about what the ideal job in live sound for me would be... I imagined myself mixing at music festivals all summer. Well this summer I mixed and worked at probably 12 festivals throughout Western Canada.

Before I went to PAVI I did my homework on many of the Audio Engineering programs offered in Western Canada. PAVI was the best bang for the buck for what I was looking for. There are longer courses, more in-depth courses, shorter courses and more expensive courses. PAVI cam e out on top for what it offered and it's cost.

The instructors setup all the students to succeed; and for those like myself that want greater challenges and crave deeper understanding of this fascinating field of work PAVI provides many extra-curricular opportunities to expand their students learning experience.

The classes were great but they simply fueled my passion to learn and created more questions about the principles governing sound and the way it behaves. Often a small group of us would follow Futcher or Boris or Jim Meyer on our break to continue the discussion on a deeper level.

Rob Esch, our Live Sound teacher, saw my interest in Live sound and hired me my first semester, and I continue to work with him. Rob's a great live sound tech & has a great reputation among musician's and bands in town. He's allowed me to get my feet wet as a stage hand, patch assistant, and then mixing engineer. Working with Rob has given me vital experience in the real world, where there is always something going sideways, and challenges to overcome. He's taught me to be meticulous about many of the little details that can make or break a gig, and I've had some amazing gigs with Rob and some that were so far sideways I thought I was right-side up.

Another teacher that I really connected with was Futcher. 'Futch' was awesome because he can explain a concept in twenty different ways to accommodate all the different learning styles in the classroom. This kept the basics which were pounded in every class, fresh and Futch's enthusiasm seeps from his pores.

On the other hand Boris comes from the very technical school of audio engineering, which fascinated and challenging me in other ways. Sean Cole & Jim Meyer are somewhere between the two, but they are all as passionate about this industry as the other. I found that fire to be contagious.

When I attended PAVI, I was a mature student and it was a long-time dream for me to go to recording school. In fact I wanted to enter an Audio Engineering program when I graduated High School in 1993. Terry was invaluable for me to obtain my student loan, and the administration; Ken, Gord, Tiann, and Adrian always had an open-door policy and had the time to address any concerns and answer any questions.

So I considered it a gift to realize a dream and I wanted to make the best of it. This was my only shot, and I was spending an awful sum of money on that dream. My teachers can attest that I sat in the front row every day, asked lots of questions, good and bad and I begged, borrowed, and booked as much studio time as possible, and then some. 

Audio Engineering was priority number one for that year, and it's paid off. I've worked at gigs with Billy Idol,  Black Crowes, Colin James,  The Commitments,  The Contours, Gene Chandler, Gin Blossoms,  Honeymoon Suite,  Joan Jett,  Mars Volta,  M.I.A., Paul Rogers, Powder Blues, Prism, Queens of the Stone Age,  Smash Mouth, Streetheart, The Wallflowers hopefully many more to come...

Thanks Pavi Crew

Brandon Hestdalendalen@shaw.c