(Photo Credit: Allison Hauswirth)
How many years have you been doing lights and sound?
Working with live bands and running sound for me started in 2014 under my original alias IV Studios. Since April of 2020, I adapted and rebranded the live audio production to GS7 Productions.
How far do you normally travel to do sound, and where is the farthest that you’ve traveled to do this?
My average distance to travel for an event is within 60 to 70 miles from Burlington, Iowa. During February and March of this year I was traveling to Des Moines, IA just about every weekend to work with Sellout Productions, being 330 miles round trip.
The furthest distance I’ve traveled for a gig would have to be when I worked under Bonnie Finken, a Grammy Award Winning Alt/Rock artist. We had traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah for her to perform at the Utah Art Festival. We had also traveled together to perform at Hard Rock Café in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
What inspired you to get into this field?
What kicked it off for me was being in a band and never having a sound guy. That caught my interest and sparked the passion after the band extinguished. Though, I had tinkered with audio gear like record players, Walkmans and speakers just out of curiosity as a child.
What would you say the biggest success in your business has been?
The biggest success for me is that I have made friends and colleagues from every corner of the country solely based on our common interests: music. There’s nothing like sharing the experiences of a great concert with your friends and knowing you had an impact on the results.
On the other hand what would you say your biggest challenge has been?
Myself. It’s so easy to compare what you are doing or what you are not doing to others and it really burns you out. Keeping the end goal in mind and not falling into self doubt is my constant challenge.
What is a piece of advice that you want to tell someone that is just getting into the same kind of career, and what is one that you wish someone told you when you were just starting out?
Mess up. Know your worth and never be afraid to ask questions. Advice I wish I was given; expect the unexpected. Never underestimate the challenges ahead.
When you’re not doing shows, what are 3 songs that you keep on repeat in your car?
As of lately, I would have to say "Boomslang" by Kublai Kahn TX, "Micro-Aggressions" by Animals As Leaders, and "Escape" by The Devil Wears Prada.
Where can we find your business? We have a GS7 Productions Facebook page and I post my adventures, business and personal, on Instagram @iv_seentaufo. I am working on building up a YouTube channel, which will have some cool content coming next year, so that’ll be something people can look forward to.
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