A Day In The Life: Sound Engineer/Technician Andy Nichol

Andy works at The Jericho Tavern and produces live sound services to events such as car shows, conferences, animal shows, and other local public events, however Andy chooses not to take large events (around 300+ people) because of the scale of the event and the extensive technical requirements and potential problems.

When considering working for an event Andy visits the site before confirming he will undertake the job and asks himself questions such as; how far away is the nearest power supply? what are the maximum loads for the power supply? will a generator or series of batteries be needed to power the equipment? is it outside or inside? will the equipment be safe from theft, damage, and also will health and safety standards be met? what are the acoustic qualities of the environment?

Andy also spoke to us about the things he carries with him all the time as a sound engineer these were things like electrical tape, pens, a bright light, note paper, and a multi-tool.

Andy got into live sound primarily from working at PMT in Oxford where he was working in high-tech sales which covered equipment such as PA systems, mixing desks, and synthesisers, from this he had customers asking him about many different aspects of the equipment and discovered that oxford did not have a lot of access to live sound equipment for local events, so using this opportunity Andy used his salary from PMT and over the course of a few months had £700 which was enough to buy him a semi-professional live sound setup which he started renting out to people, during this time Andy started working at The Jericho Tavern in live sound, and Andy is still doing this now renting his PA equipment through his own self employed business Oxford PA Hire and working in house at The Jericho Tavern.