From mixing sound for Tegan and Sara, Janelle Monáe, and Ella Mai to engineering shows at Madison Square Garden and the Apollo, Amanda Davis has made her mark as one of the most sought-after live sound engineers in the industry. Her work has taken her everywhere—even the backyard of Shonda Rhimes—but her impact goes beyond the stage. Through her Berklee Online course, ​​Live Event Sound Engineering and Concert Mixing 201 and through community outreach, Davis is shaping the next generation of engineers. In this Q&A, she shares candid insights into her career, from high-stakes performances to her philosophy on mixing.

What’s the hardest decision you face while on tour?

Amanda Davis: Do I want to sleep or hang out?

What determines which option wins?

Amanda Davis: How much work I’ve gotta do.

With you traveling so much, and touring with artists, where is the most unique place you’ve done a Live Class from?

Amanda Davis: The airport in New Orleans, in front of a Starbucks, using their wi-fi.

Do you have any rituals you do before a show?

Amanda Davis: My faith is really a big part of my life in general, so I pray. And I truly believe in the transfer of energy, so while I’m praying, I touch my faders, and just ask that everyone that’s a part of the show is on one accord and that we are protected. And that everybody that came to see the show has a great time.

When mixing a live show, what’s more important—your ears or the crowd’s reaction?

Amanda Davis: That’s a good question. I feel like what determines if your mix is rocking right has to be a combination of the two: My ears and looking around, making sure that the crowd is rocking. That’s also the advantage of being the front of house [engineer]. You’re in the middle of the crowd and you’re watching the show, and you’re able to experience what the audience is experiencing, so you can get a reaction and confirmation, straight away, as to how the crowd is rocking with it or not.

How often do you let yourself enjoy the show as a spectator?

Amanda Davis: Very often! My mom calls me the “dancing front-of-house.” The technical things matter but I’m a mixer too so if it doesn’t feel good then what’s the point of any of us being here? So you have to be in it. And I’m usually mixing people that I’m a fan of as well, so if I’m grooving then it’s probably feeling right.

What do you listen to when you’re not working?

Amanda Davis: If I’m on tour, I’m not listening to anything because my ears are tired. When I’m not on tour, I’m a huge R&B head. So any R&B that’s out, or Khruangbin. I’ve started listening to a lot of jazz—kind of older jazz—lately. And sometimes I listen to classical music because it helps calm my ears as well.

You have a background that includes a BA in music from Roosevelt University in Chicago as well as a degree in audio technology from SAE in Atlanta. Has knowing these other aspects of music helped you as a mixing engineer?

Amanda Davis: Absolutely. My education, even as a former opera singer, informs how I mix completely. I had a mentor remind me that I have a huge musical vocabulary and to use that when I’m building mixes and approaching a new band. So it definitely helps. It opens up better communication with the musicians I work with as well.

Wow! So as a live mixing engineer with a background in opera singing, what would you do if you were working front of house for somebody who couldn’t sing as well as you can?

Amanda Davis: I am always aware of my role. I’m not there as a singer. I’m not there as their vocal coach. I’m there to just amplify what’s happening. So my opinion on how well they sing or not is irrelevant, honestly. I’m here to make a show. Now, if I’m asked, that’s a different thing! But I am just fully aware that I’m here to make a show happen.

As someone with such vocal abilities, what’s your go-to karaoke song?

Amanda Davis: Since I was a singer in my former life, I try not to do something where I actually sing, so I’d say something like [Sir Mix-A-Lot’s] “Baby Got Back.”

You started a program called LineCheck! Women in Production. Tell us more about it.

Amanda Davis: I started it in 2018 or 2019. I reached out to organizations like SoundGirls and Women in Music to find young women interested in live production—not just mixing, but even if you wanted to be a tour manager, production assistant, stage manager, patch person, or whatever in the production world, I was just offering this time to come hang out with me, ask questions, and shadow me.

The first time I did it I just had them come at soundcheck time and then they’d watch the soundcheck and ask me questions and watch how I set up my mics and interacted with the artists, because professionalism is very important to me. It’s not enough to just have the position and post on Instagram. Being cool and nice does not get shows mixed!

We have to remember that we’re still at work and to be professional. So I wanted them to see how I interact with artists during soundcheck. And then after that we did a Q&A-type thing.

Then the second time that I offered it I opened up the whole day. So they met me at load-in and I put them to work with us for the whole day so they could see how the whole thing panned out.

Have any of these people gone on to work in the industry professionally?

Amanda Davis: Yeah, actually, there were a couple of young ladies that I hired for different [shows] that I couldn’t make.

And how about the teaching experience? Have there been any times where you’ve learned something from a student?

Amanda Davis: Oh, for sure! I just learned a mixing technique from a student this past semester, as far as how he routed his effects and used it as more than a simple reverb; how he was sending it and EQed with compression and all that. I start off my semester saying that “we’re going to learn from each other: This isn’t just for me to give you information and you take it.” The different discussions that DJ and I put in the course were for that purpose, so that we can bounce ideas off of each other and learn from each other and grow, and maybe be colleagues at some point.

You mentioned DJ Carroll, your co-author for the Live Event Sound Engineering and Concert Mixing 201 course. What was your approach to collaborating?

Amanda Davis: When I was approached about writing the course in 2020, I knew I couldn’t do it alone, so I brought in DJ. And we immediately were like, “okay, let’s just try to spread out a day on tour into a 12-week course.” And we wanted to go over how we approach things like load-in and linecheck, and doing throw-and-go at a festival. We wanted to incorporate things that we learned on the job. We really wanted to just give students what we didn’t have, and what we’re still currently learning and building ourselves.

Tell us about a high-pressure situation that you’ve been in, where you’ve really risen to the occasion. What was the first time you knew that you had arrived?

Amanda Davis: I feel like the first show where I felt kind of planted and stable was Coachella 2019, even though I had been with Janelle for about seven years at that point. But Coachella 2019 was huge for me because I had two artists, Janelle Monáe and Ella Mai. And Ella’s set was over at the beginning of Janelle’s changeover. And because their soundchecks were at the same time and a lot goes on at Coachella, I did not get a soundcheck with Janelle, and we were on the mainstage. So come showtime and I open up the PA with no soundcheck and my mix was sitting right, that’s when I was like, “okay, I do this. I can do this. Let’s go!”

Wow! Any other notable challenges you’ve faced during a show?

Amanda Davis: I found out I was allergic to peanuts right before one of Janelle’s shows. I had to drink water throughout the entire show because my throat was literally closing up, and of course, by the end of the show, I had to use the restroom really bad. And I had to play this Jimi Hendrix song as soon as she was done with her song. I had to hit play, but I had to use the restroom so bad that I had to ask my tech to do that for me or it was going to be an accident! [Laughs.]

Did you make it?

Amanda Davis: I made it!

 Published January 15, 2025