Given the wide range of venues and types of gigs she does, Seggewiss is prepared to use whatever her clients prefer or the venue is equipped with. “But whenever possible I’ve toured with a DiGiCo SD9 for the last few years because it agrees with my workflow. Nowadays the quality of the top range desks is at such a level that they all sound good, but for me the number one criterium is workflow. I like a console to be very customizable so that I can put everything where it’s easiest for me to get to. When I’m mixing monitors, I always look at the band. That’s a really big thing for me. If my attention is on my fingers, I might miss something.” Often, however, she adds, “With bands I’ve mixed for a while, simply judging from what I see on stage and hear in the mix I can tell what they want before they ask.”
Her work at multi-band festivals allowed her the opportunity to work with a wide range of artists such as Manic Street Preachers, The Stranglers, and The Prodigy on a one-off basis; all experiences that have played into her approach mixing the artists she’s worked with long-term, like the Frontm3n (an acoustic band comprised of the current lead singers for The Sweet, Hollies, and 10CC). “I really like variety in work, so I just follow that path and grab every opportunity that comes my way.”
Between Sweet, the Frontm3n and various festivals such as Live at Leeds and other local gigs, her dance card fills up pretty quickly on an annual basis, but Seggewiss has also added several other diverse acts to her freelance roster in recent years; among them Swedish metal band, Opeth, Paul Carrack (Squeeze), and UB40. “2019 was a year with a lot of variety. I did two tours with UB40 and continued to work with the Frontm3n and The Sweet – all on monitors, so the same job, but it’s interesting to take the whole bag of tools and experience I have and apply that to the challenge of mixing different bands and different genres.”
Roads Well Traveled
That desire for variety and new experiences extends to traveling for both work and pleasure, she explains, recalling a gig in India with Opeth. “We flew in and then drove for about four hours to a town nobody goes to on tour, but as soon as we arrived there was an army of people around me asking me if there was anything they could do to help. We were in a dusty field with a stage held together by bamboo, but everybody was so happy to see the band live and so up for making it work.” It was an exhausting gig, she says: “Even my eyes were tired from just looking at all the stuff there was to see, but it was so worth it. If it were up to me, I’d be happy to go everywhere.”
While some overseas tours she’s been on have been challenging – such as one run through Asia during which overnight flights rather than hotels were the order of the day – as long as she’s on the move she’s content. “We slept on the plane and went straight to load in, so sure, you might feel you need to sleep for a month afterward, but I loved it. I really enjoy seeing how people live and experience life in different cultures. And that applies to my work in audio as well. Seeing how other technicians work, I think, is very important.
“I traveled a lot with my family when I was younger and even when I’m not on tour, I’ll probably be traveling,” Seggewiss continues, admitting that made 2020 all that much tougher, she adds, “Because the work stopped and the number one thing I do when I’m not working, I wasn’t able to do. But I was really lucky because I toured through January and February with the Frontm3n, so I was able to finish that tour and earn some money at the beginning of the year.”
She was just finishing up work with The Sweet when the cancellations started. “We were in Denmark and due to play two festivals on a weekend. We played the first one, but the second got canceled, and then everything just stopped. We saw more and more countries shutting down but it wasn’t clear yet what was going to happen.”
By chance, Seggewiss was about to take a couple of weeks off and visit family anyway and already had a ticket to Germany in hand. And although she found herself essentially marooned in her hometown until early July, all in all, it worked out reasonably well, she says: “It’s a little town and my family has a garden and a dog. Whereas, in Leeds, I have a small apartment and no outdoor space. So, if I was going to be locked down anyway, it was better to be there.”
Determination & Passion
Even though work stopped, Seggewiss didn’t. Whenever she’s had a tough patch or had to deal with any challenge personally or professionally, her determination and passion for audio helped her cope.
“Obviously, in March, we were all gobsmacked for a while, but a lot of sound engineers took to the Internet and started doing podcasts and webinars, so I made a watch list of and I’ve still got loads of webinars and things I want to look into to keep my brain busy,” she says.
Recently she’s also been able to put her chops in broadcast audio to use, landing a gig working for a Channel 4 television variety show produced in Leeds. While it’s a definite departure from the road: “I feel really lucky to have work.”
Ultimately, while Seggewiss finds herself, like so many others, living an utterly different reality than normal, the ethic she’s adhered to from the very beginning of her career applies just as much in this situation as it did at her first house gig or on the road. “Everything’s easier to live with and get over when you know that you are part of a team, that everybody’s in it together and doing what they can to make the best out of the situation.”