Take 5 with Scott Mullane

Scott Mullane is the owner and driving force behind Aisle 6, a production company that excels in audio, lighting, and vision for events and live audio productions

Scott’s roots in the music industry can be traced back to his time as a musician and songwriter, where his hands-on approach led him to learn the ins and outs of audio gear. We took five with Scott after his recent show at Miami Marketta with The Screaming Jets.

1) Could you tell us a bit about your background in audio engineering and what first sparked your passion for live sound?​

I was a working musician in original bands and an Auto Electrician by trade. The Auto Electrician side of life trained me to understand electronics and circuits, etc., while the musician side grew the songwriting and recording side of things. I wrote songs and wanted to record them, which sparked my tinkering with electrical equipment to make that happen. ​

I then gravitated to the recording studio, where I Produced and Engineered hundreds of songs and albums for many artists, including the Amity Affliction, Skipping Girl Vinegar, Grand Atlantic, Dumpster and many more across several genres. I won a few local and international awards for these recordings and continued to play in bands myself. ​​

I slowly got dragged into live sound, and the bands I worked with seemed to like my approach and results, and this slowly grew from local gigs into touring gigs. Having now regularly worked with artists like the Screaming Jets, Marina Prior, The Baby Animals, Short Stack, Wafia, etc., most of who I have worked with for years. Live sound now keeps me very busy.​​

2) Walk us through your recent show. How did tonight’s experience differ from others?​

Every night is different—different rooms, mostly PA systems and deployments, etc. You are at the mercy of the deployment, and I usually spend much time massaging the elements to work together for the room. Time alignment, etc., is at the top of the to-do list. ​

Tonight, I was on a familiar rig, an Adamson system I once owned. I had forgotten just how good it was. It was incredibly linear in response, and I did not have to do anything to the system… gain up the channels and mix. It was a great night.​

3) Which feature or aspect of the gear impressed you the most, and why?​

As mentioned, the linearity of the Adamson system is most impressive. The subs are not lumpy, and the mid/highs are accurate. The vocals were easy to get out front and had a beautiful amount of space around them to hear the FX. The headroom was also excellent, and although there was not a lot of PA, I never got close to running out of headroom. ​

4) Which equipment or software could you not imagine working without, and why?​

That is a tough one, as it depends on the circumstances. I tour a D-Live console as it is powerful, lightweight for fly dates, has extremely low latency, and has an excellent user interface. I run DANTE for virtual sound check when needed, playback from iTunes, Spotify and Q-Lab during the night when needed, and multi-track recording features. However, it is probably the new Harrison Live Trax that is my favourite at the moment, as it is a straightforward and solid recording platform that works and is cheap. Once captured by Live Trax, I import it into Pro Tools if I do any post or mixing. So, all the apps are critical to a simple workflow and stability. ​

5) Any advice for up-and-comers looking to get into the industry?​

Probably the best advice I could give is not to rush or fast-track your profile, as you will miss out on the experiences that build you into a great engineer. You need to both succeed and fail to learn the craft. You also need to pay attention to young and old engineers to see how they do things, as there is always more than one way to approach a situation. In my experience, I know that I have a few ways to achieve the same thing, and it is vital to understand when and why to choose an approach. ​

I love watching young engineers who might seem to be doing some crazy things and even things that do not seem to work. I take note of the idea behind it and think, I can see what they are trying to do, and it is cool, but a failure in this situation, but in the right situation, it would be a great idea. An idea that I may not have thought of. Whereas we old dogs know the core discipline of system design, deployment, gain structure, etc., these disciplines should be practised repeatedly. I guess I am saying that you can learn something new from anyone, so do not right them off because they are too young or old or even pulling a terrible mix. There could be a little gold nugget in there just for you.​

Stay tuned for more Take 5 interviews in the coming months!

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