Roadie Free Radio

Subscribe on iTunes This week's guest is used to wearing many hats. Not only is he a longtime Sound Designer and working engineer, but Nathan Lively is also the host and mastermind behind the incredibly successful podcast and audio training resource. As a sound engineer, Lively has worked with John McLaughlin and the Ringling Bros. Circus and has toured as far as Macau. As a sound designer he has...

This week's Q&A is about finding a community of like-minded folks to help share your ideas. Get out and start one!

Subscribe on iTunes How does a Memphis Gospel singer find her way to Chicago to become an Opera singer, only decide the spotlight isn't for her, and ultimately forge a career as the successful FOH Engineer for Janelle Monáe? It's these questions and more that I explore with the amazing and talented Amanda Davis .  Frustrated by the constraints of her classical training, and realizing the spotlight...

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Youtube Happy Labor Day friends! It's great to be back and celebrating 101 episodes. My summer hiatus was perfect but I'm very excited to get back on the mic and start up a whole new season of episodes and continue to share these amazing and inspiring stories with you. To start us off on the right foot our first guest is Drum Tech and Stage Manager Lorne Wheaton ....

I'm still here my friends! How the hell is your Summer going? It's been a crazy one for me and I wanted to touch base with you all and let you know what's been happening and definitely what is coming up. We will be back with all new episodes September 7, 2018, so mark your calendars. Thanks for all of your kind emails, can't wait to rock it with you in a few weeks!

Well, this is IT! The big 100! Thank you so much for tuning-in and joining me on this epic journey of bringing you the stories behind the men and women who make the music and film industry tick day after day, night after night, mile after mile. A dreamer, an innovator, and a self-proclaimed procrastinator, Steve Remote doubled-down on his career, and at the age of eighteen years old, knew his dest...

Thank you for joining me this week for our 99th episode, my guest is Jason Sprinzen, author of the forthcoming book about legendary sound and lighting company, SHOWCO. A native New Yorker, vintage guitar expert, and vintage t-shirt collector, Jason has always been fascinated by the 1970's Rock 'n' Roll scene. He was still in grade school when he first laid eyes on the SHOWCO logo. Over the years,...

Like so many of my guests, Rich Nesin started his career with a passion for music and a desire to learn everything he could about the industry. But as we know all too well, a successful career also comes down to right place, right time. After starting out as a bass player in local New York bands, Rich quickly found himself working at S.I.R studios in midtown Manhattan, servicing clients like Todd...

Our guest this week is Lighting Tech Pierce Scott. At the ripe young age of fourteen Pierce found his calling at his local church and starting volunteering in the A/V department. His first love was video, but he soon ended up learning all aspects of production including lighting. After working in the Cincinnati area for free just to gain experience, he finally dropped out of college, moved to Nash...

Sledgehammer audio. That's how Emmy award-winning FOH Engineer Dave Natale describes his approach. I take it to mean no frills, no fancy effects, nothing that gets in the way of a pure, clean, and loud mix. Since 1981 Dave has mixed some of the top grossing acts of the last few decades starting with Asia's Heat of the Moment tour. From there, he has gone on to mix for Tina Turner, Motley Crue, Joe...

I can't believe this is episode 95! Thank you for tuning-in and being with us for the last couple of years. This week's guest is bass player/singer/songwriter Byron Isaacs. A Texas native, and proud former Hoosier, this Brooklyn resident, and Woodstock frequenter, is currently playing with The Lumineers as well as Lost Leaders. He's also just completed a solo album, Disappearing Man, set for relea...

It's 1968. You've recently turned 17, you already have one son, and your first marriage is pretty much in the wind. You end up living in a band house and without any prior experience you become their drum tech, and in that instant your fate is sealed. You will go on to lead an incredible life full of chance, travel, respect, challenge, and music. Always music. After fifty years as a working and de...

If I get the chance, I love to interview more than one person from the same touring crew as it gives a great perspective on the whole touring experience, and this week's guest helps me round out a particular story of a special bunch of people. Fresh on the heels of graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise in San Francisco, Carly Scovill found herself under the guidance of lo...

Ken "Pooch" Van Druten has built a name for himself as one of the industry's top FOH Engineers. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music, Ken headed to Los Angeles to begin what he initially thought would be a long and lucrative career as a recording engineer. However, this all changed after the invitation to mix one of his artists in a live venue. The band was Warrant, and t...

This week's guest is Lisa Boland, Ticket Manager for the Dave Matthews Band. While she's not necessarily on the front lines of the music, she's certainly an integral part of making sure every single show in every city goes as smoothly as possible, for both artist and concert goer. Originally a South Florida native, Lisa has been with DMB since 2005, and relishes the fact that in an industry usuall...

Welcome to episode #90, today's guest has been on my radar for quite some time and it brings me great pleasure to share our interview with all of you. It's almost impossible to be a fan of music and not know the name Peter Shapiro. Chances are you've heard of places like Wetlands Preserve, The Capitol Theater, and Brooklyn Bowl. You may even be familiar with Relix Magazine, originally launched in...

It's the late 1970's, you've stopped drumming in your local band because you realized you could be more effective behind the scenes, you cut your teeth in every major bar or club for the last few years after starting out in Cleveland, and as the 80's fast approach you wonder where life on the road with rock bands will lead you. Then the phone rings. It's a band that's on the verge of dominating th...

For over forty years Norman Harris has been the go-to guy for vintage guitar enthusiasts the world over. His store in Tarzana, CA consistently has the greatest collection of player-friendly stringed instruments, while his dedicated and loyal staff cater to a wide range of guitar enthusiasts and players day after day. After realizing that his passion and curiosity for vintage guitars far outweighed...

Mary Broadbent's path into the music industry started much like it does for most of us: on stage, and in a band. After moving around for much of her childhood, Mary finally ended up attending Emerson University in Boston. After graduation she followed a few classmates to the West Coast where her real education as a live touring professional would ultimately begin. Tour Manager, Stage Manager, Back...

As a young man growing up in Cleveland Derrick Green knew at an early age that following the status quo and fitting nicely into society's neat little boxes was probably not going to work for him. Quietly slipping from long-haired football player to choir boy, Punk Rock and Hardcore lover, Vegan and soul searcher, Derrick has always followed the path that led to personal growth and artistic freedom...

While I was in Los Angeles for the NAMM show, I had the privilege of sitting down with FOH Engineer Lucie Barinkova to chat with her about her career and hear about her incredible childhood, growing up in Czechoslovakia, and her families' eventual escape to an Austrian refugee camp in 1989. Lucie's baptism into the world of live sound came at age 17, when her boyfriend left alone her to mix the Pu...

There are many types of successful people out there; those who fell into their position, those for whom luck comes easy and often, and even those that lie, cheat, and steal their way into opportunities until they find themselves in a position of power, leaving a trail of heartbreak and deceit along the way. Yet there's another group, who climb the ladder of success in a most understated way. Day i...

No one would have predicted the terrorist assaults on concert venues of the past two years. Tragic, frightening and something we don't really want to think about ... but we have to. What can be done to make the concert environment safer? Our panel of concert and safety professionals will define the vulnerabilities and discuss the methodology to prepare for, and defend against, the worst-case scena...

It's always a pleasure to have the opportunity to interview someone on the show that I consider a mentor, and our current guest, Lij Shaw, definitely fits the bill. As the host of the highly successful podcast Recording Studio Rockstars, Lij provides his guests with a peek behind the curtain and into the minds of some of the most successful record producers and engineers working today. In addition...