Article

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

In Profile: Mac Kerr, Jack Of All Trades

The story of an engineer who continues to pursue his favorite pastime.

“My father died when I was 11,” says Mac Kerr, “but one of the things I remember him teaching me was to find a job that you like.”

“Don’t do a job you don’t like just for money because you’ll never be happy.”

The lesson stuck, he says, and has since served him well.

The New York City-born, Connecticut-bred designer/engineer has worked in virtually every facet of audio production - designing and implementing systems for hundreds of corporate events worldwide and involved in a multitude of live and televised events, including the opening ceremonies for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and seven Super Bowls.

Originally he aimed for a career as a mechanical engineer, studying first at Clarkson College in Potsdam, NY, then Mitchell College, and finally, NYU.

“Without great success,” he adds. “After four years I realized I didn’t want to be a mechanical engineer. I was spending all my time in the theatre as a technician, so I changed my major to theater.”

During his time at NYU in the early 1970s, he took an apartment in Chelsea and began working as a lighting designer/operator at various off-Broadway venues, including the seminal experimental theatre La MaMa.

“At that time in the theatre,” he explains, “sound was still very rudimentary; primarily effects playback and little to no vocal amplification.”

But when a full-time job came up with at Erskine-Shapiro Theatre Technology in 1976, Kerr soon found himself thoroughly entrenched in the audio world. During that time, he learned the craft from the bottom up.

“I was the shop rat. I built mic cables, swept floors, but discovered that I liked sound better than lighting,” he details, and soon began engineering for corporate events at what was a fairly high level at the time – in his first year working the launch of the 1977 line of Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge cars in Atlanta.

As the success of Theatre Technology’s Manhattan studio grew, he was increasingly cooped up in a small room running the studio, and after a decade, he decided to give up the steady gig and go it alone.

“I had a lot of friends who were freelancing, traveling all over the world, making good money, and I wanted a piece of that.”

Since then he’s gone on to work with some of the largest corporate clients in the world, acting as head of audio for product launches for leading automobile manufacturers, pharmaceutical, technology and software companies; working meetings for the likes of Fedex, UPS, John Hancock Insurance, and global financial giants such as Goldman Sachs; and serving special events
such as the Clinton Global Initiative and a nationwide speaking tour with Oprah Winfrey.

For all of this high-profile work, he remains modest about his success. “There was a certain amount of luck involved.”

“I came along when the corporate presentation world was in its infancy, but growing fast.”

And during that time he met others, who, as they advanced in their own careers, came to rely on his skills. “It’s fine to have a resume, but it’s the people that know you that will get you a job.”

Having a broad-based education also aided his career, he notes, helping to develop a keen ability for problem solving and allowing him to communicate comfortably and establish meaningful relationships with others whose interests cover a broad spectrum of disciplines and specialties.

“You can learn the technology - that’s just nuts and bolts. Being able to integrate yourself into a group of people so that you work as a team is what, I think, it’s really all about.”

An early proponent and believer in digital consoles, Kerr did a show on a Yamaha PM1D within the first six months it was available and hasn’t looked back.

“I was hooked immediately,” he says. His favorite board is still the Yamaha PM5D.

“There are operational features to the PM5D that I find important to the way I work. Others, who have a different methodology, might not miss those controls, but I would. Specifically the 24 rotary knobs in the console’s selected channel area.”

Kerr continues to embrace new developments. A frequent panelist at AES Conventions in recent years, in 2009 he co-chaired the very well-received live sound workshops for the convention planning committee.

“It was very rewarding,” he says. “One of the areas I want to be sure was covered was networked audio in live sound.

It’s an amazing jump forward from what we’ve been doing. In one of the monthly meetings I do in the corporate world, the engineer in charge instituted some networked audio distribution.

“We were using a system that was intended for use in radio made by Telos. With networked audio systems there’s huge flexibility.”

“I believe that’s the future; 10 years from now we’re going to look back on analog cable like oil lamps.”

He also feels it’s important to pass information on to others, an ethic he has employed for years as a regular participant on the ProSoundWeb Live Audio Board, and more recently, as its lead moderator.

“When somebody asks how to solve a problem, I’m perfectly willing to tell them how. Even if it means them being more capable of taking my job,” he says with a laugh. “If I can’t stay better than them, then they probably should take my job - we need to keep up.”

Online he shares his broad knowledge base and experience, but happily, he explains, without actually having to get in front of a microphone. “I’m not a public speaker.

In college, at some point during a video production course, I had to be on-camera talent and I was miserable. I was always interested in theatre on the technical side, never as a performer.”

But though public speaking isn’t his greatest joy, Kerr’s experience and approach to his career and life offer some valuable lessons of their own.

“In the corporate world errors are not well tolerated,” Kerr says. And it’s clear that the margin of error he allows himself is equally slim.

In the case of putting off testing for colon cancer, however, the 60-year-old engineer says he made a substantial mistake. “They recommend you get a colonoscopy at 50. I waited until I was 53 and they found a tumor.”

Within a month of his 2003 diagnosis, Kerr underwent major abdominal surgery and faced a long rehabilitation period - “A life-changing event,” he says, “but like anything in life, you have to get over it.”

The personal challenge led to Kerr’s return to theatre and an opportunity to work with friend and sound designer, Tom Morse, as a digital audio console programmer on Broadway shows like the multiple Tony nominated musical Passing Strange, among others.

“There was certain work I couldn’t do. Tom was remounting the show Blast for a Japanese tour and using a PM1D, and he asked if I’d program the console. That was the first time somebody had an IA contract for that.”

In fact, Morse found the impact so positive that he continued to hire Kerr in that capacity regularly. “Theatre,” Kerr continues, “really pushes the use of digital consoles to the extreme. Nothing fully utilizes their power like a Broadway musical.”

Nearly four decades on Mac Kerr continues to work in both the corporate world and in theatre, and still loves his job. Currently based in Bedford Hills, where he relocated in 1991 from nearby Brewster, NY, Kerr says he couldn’t really see living anywhere else. “But,” he adds, “if I win the lottery you’ll see the smoke on my way to Italy.”

It’s his favorite destination, he explains, and one he’s traveled to for both work and pleasure numerous times.

“I’d go back at the drop of a hat; it’s beautiful, the food is unbelievable and the people are fabulous, but I’ve lived within 50 miles of New York City all my life.”

Simply put, it feels like home to him. It’s close to family, including his 22-year-old daughter from a past marriage, friends, and of course, in keeping with the lesson he learned so early on, the job that’s become his favorite pastime.

“I’m very fortunate. Mostly what I do for fun is my work. I don’t feel any great need to escape it.”

Based in Toronto, Kevin Young is a freelance music and tech writer, professional musician and composer.

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