From mixing sound for Tegan and Sara, Janelle Mon\u00e1e, 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\u2014even the backyard of Shonda Rhimes\u2014but her impact goes beyond the stage. Through her Berklee Online course, \u200b\u200bLive Event Sound Engineering and Concert Mixing 201<\/em><\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> Do I want to sleep or hang out?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> How much work I\u2019ve gotta do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> The airport in New Orleans, in front of a Starbucks, using their wi-fi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> 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\u2019m praying, I touch my faders, and just ask that everyone that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> That\u2019s 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\u2019s also the advantage of being the front of house [engineer]. You\u2019re in the middle of the crowd and you\u2019re watching the show, and you\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> Very often! My mom calls me the \u201cdancing front-of-house.\u201d The technical things matter but I\u2019m a mixer too so if it doesn\u2019t feel good then what\u2019s the point of any of us being here? So you have to be in it. And I\u2019m usually mixing people that I\u2019m a fan of as well, so if I\u2019m grooving then it\u2019s probably feeling right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> If I\u2019m on tour, I\u2019m not listening to anything because my ears are tired. When I\u2019m not on tour, I\u2019m a huge R&B head. So any R&B that\u2019s out, or Khruangbin. I\u2019ve started listening to a lot of jazz\u2014kind of older jazz\u2014lately. And sometimes I listen to classical music because it helps calm my ears as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> 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\u2019m building mixes and approaching a new band. So it definitely helps. It opens up better communication with the musicians I work with as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> I am always aware of my role. I\u2019m not there as a singer. I\u2019m not there as their vocal coach. I\u2019m there to just amplify what\u2019s happening. So my opinion on how well they sing or not is irrelevant, honestly. I\u2019m here to make a show. Now, if I\u2019m asked, that\u2019s a different thing! But I am just fully aware that I\u2019m here to make a show happen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> Since I was a singer in my former life, I try not to do something where I actually sing, so I\u2019d say something like [Sir Mix-A-Lot\u2019s] \u201cBaby Got Back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> 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\u2014not 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.<\/p>\n The first time I did it I just had them come at soundcheck time and then they\u2019d 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\u2019s not enough to just have the position and post on Instagram. Being cool and nice does not get shows mixed!<\/p>\n We have to remember that we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> Yeah, actually, there were a couple of young ladies that I hired for different [shows] that I couldn\u2019t make.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> 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 \u201cwe\u2019re going to learn from each other: This isn\u2019t just for me to give you information and you take it.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n \n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> When I was approached about writing the course in 2020, I knew I couldn\u2019t do it alone, so I brought in DJ. And we immediately were like, \u201cokay, let\u2019s just try to spread out a day on tour into a 12-week course.\u201d 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\u2019t have, and what we\u2019re still currently learning and building ourselves.\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n Amanda Davis:<\/strong> 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 Mon\u00e1e and Ella Mai. And Ella\u2019s set was over at the beginning of Janelle\u2019s 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\u2019s when I was like, \u201cokay, I do this. I can do this. Let\u2019s go!\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s the hardest decision you face while on tour?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What determines which option wins?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
With you traveling so much, and touring with artists, where is the most unique place you’ve done a Live Class from?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Do you have any rituals you do before a show?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
When mixing a live show, what\u2019s more important\u2014your ears or the crowd\u2019s reaction?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How often do you let yourself enjoy the show as a spectator?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What do you listen to when you\u2019re not working?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\u2019t sing as well as you can?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
As someone with such vocal abilities, what\u2019s your go-to karaoke song?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
You started a program called LineCheck! Women in Production. Tell us more about it.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Have any of these people gone on to work in the industry professionally?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
And how about the teaching experience? Have there been any times where you\u2019ve learned something from a student?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n You mentioned DJ Carroll<\/strong><\/a>, your co-author for the Live Event Sound Engineering and Concert Mixing 201<\/em><\/a> course. What was your approach to collaborating?<\/strong>\n <\/h2>\n
Tell us about a high-pressure situation that you\u2019ve been in, where you\u2019ve really risen to the occasion. What was the first time you knew that you had arrived?<\/strong><\/h2>\n