Editor’s Note: Go here to read the first installment in this series.
Ben Davis knew this was it, and he was ready. He had secured an interview with Frank of Frank’s Sound Company and Show Rentals, and he was right on time.
Frank let Ben walk into the office behind him, and then shut the door and motioned for Ben to sit down in one of the leather couches at the corner of the room. “You can relax, Ben,” said Frank with a warm smile. “This will be nice and casual.”
Ben sat down and felt the cool luxury of the leather, which did nothing to diminish his excitement. He handed his resume to Frank, who set it down on the stylish coffee table between them without looking at it.
Frank started out by asking Ben: “So, tell me: why do you want to work here?” This question threw Ben momentarily because he simply hadn’t thought of that in so many words.
He stammered just a touch, “Well, uh, that’s a good question. I think it comes down to my desire to work in the audio field and you guys are the big company in town. Your reputation is excellent, as both a place to work and as a service provider. Mainly, I want the opportunity to work in a place that will give me opportunities to grow, both personally and professionally, and to use the skills I’ve learned in a positive way.”
Frank had heard this kind of thing plenty of times, and he recognized some of the typical job placement coaching that students typically received before they left school.
At the same time, nothing about Ben had offended Frank yet so he asked another question: “So, tell me about these skills. Which ones you think are the most important in terms of working here?” Ben was ready for this one, so he jumped right in. “Well, for starters, I have a pretty good handle on basic electricity like Ohm’s Law and I understand fundamental acoustic issues like the Inverse Square Law.”
Frank nodded, so Ben continued: “I have a pretty good amount of experience mixing, and I’ve helped set up a number of sound systems at my college, for events like Spring Fling and all that. I’ve tuned a system with Smaart before, and I’ve even mixed monitors.”
Frank was still smiling and Ben thought he was doing well – but he was waiting to have Frank take him out back and let him mix, or to maybe at least talk about audio.
Frank continued: “So, what was the worst problem with a sound system you’ve ever encountered, and how did you solve it?” This stumped Ben, because he had never really had to dig himself out of a hole on the job yet.
But he remembered one thing: “Yeah, there was this one time when the bass player’s channel was humming real badly at the festival. We had his amp miked, and then the preamp out into a direct box for the PA as well. We tried the ground switch on his Fender amp, and also on the DI box, but it didn’t get much better. So we used a ground lifter on the AC power for the amp. Problem solved!”
Frank inwardly cringed, but didn’t show it. “Just a couple more questions. How are your soldering skills?”
