Something New

Walking into my dorm room I immediately sit down at the computer. This isn’t unusual for me, in fact it has become my habit to sit down, even if only for thirty seconds, to check my Facebook and e-mail. When I went through this routine last Monday, I noticed I received an e-mail with the subject “Got Talent?” It was from the Area Two coordinator so I quickly opened it to see what it was about. The message stated that there would be an acoustic evening/talent show Friday September 9th along with a “Meat” and Greet for the people living in Area 2. While I normally would have been interested in performing at an event like this, I had nobody to perform with (I’m not a very good solo act) so I was a little discouraged by that. I still wanted to get involved with this event. I e-mailed the coordinator back asking if I could help set up and run sound for the show. Being a freshmen I didn’t expect to be able to help with much. I figured I would get in the way more than I could help, but I had to start getting involved somewhere. A couple of days later I got a reply. The coordinator responded saying he would love for me to help with setting up and running sound and to meet in the Smith Hall lobby Friday at 3:30. I excitedly accepted the offer and couldn’t wait for Friday. As the 9th rolled around I got up and went to my regular class that day. I came back and just relaxed in my dorm until 3:30. When the time finally came I quickly got up and headed over to Smith Hall. Jeremy, the guy who usually runs sound for these types of events, was already there and waiting. I introduced myself and we started to set up. I told him I had run shows like this before so he was confident he could tell me to do something and I would be able to do it without a problem. We took out all the equipment including tents, chords, stands, microphones, speakers, monitors, and the mixer. I quickly set everything up just like I would back at high school and then proceeded to check the mics. Once I knew they were all working, I checked the speakers and monitors. Jeremy was very helpful showing me how to use the mixer. I had used one before, but there are so many different makes and models, there is always a slight learning curve when you work with one you haven’t before. He showed me the basics of how the board functioned and I was ready to go in no time. He even told me that I better keep living in Area Two so that I can run sound when he was gone. He really had faith in me. The show started and went smoothly. I carefully adjusted the volume and tone of the speakers as needed to make sure everyone who played sounded good. Once the show got rolling Jeremy stood back and let me control everything for the most part.

I enjoyed my time getting to run sound and was glad I could get involved so early into my freshmen year. In high school I was known as the guy who ran sound for almost everything. It was really something new for me to have to take the initiative to get involved and try to get my name out there once again.