Introductions

Hi there, I'm Michelle Sabolchick and I am a professional touring concert sound engineer.  For more than 30 years, I've made my living mixing the sound for major label recording artists’ live concerts.

I first started working in live sound in the late 1980’s, the era of big hair and spandex, but my interest in sound engineering was born out of a passion for music and science, which started much earlier.  Music had always been a huge part of my life and managed to balance out my total geek side.  You see I loved taking things apart and figuring out how they worked.   So being an audio engineer let me marry those two sides together.  I could let my creativity flow by doing sound and feed my science/technical side by playing with all the cool audio gear.  

I also had another passion- travel.  So when I first realized I could do all of this while traveling with a band on tour, it seemed like the perfect job for me!  And it has been for more than half my life.

When I first realized that this was what I wanted to do, I had no idea how to get started.  They say where there’s a will there’s a way, and after a few twists and turns I finally found my way.

The thing is, in this business, there isn’t just one way.  There is no road map to making a living at live sound.  Some people build their own companies and others work for companies.  Some people work freelance while others work for venues.  Some people just enjoy doing live sound as a hobby, while others are thrust into it purely by accident to find out they love it.  I can guarantee if you talk to ten different people working in live sound you’ll hear ten different stories of how they got their start. 

Some are incredibly creative.  I recall a story about a young woman who wanted a job on the audio crew for a prominent venue.  When she was told they weren’t hiring, she got a job at the coffee shop next door where she made friends with the venue crew who would stop in every day for their coffee.  Next thing you know, a position opened up and she was offered the job!  

What’s your story going to be?