Over her 15 years as a freelancer she’s held virtually every position there is to hold on tour – audio assist, drum tech, stage/production/tour manager; and most often, Front of House and monitor engineer/RF tech.
Often, she’s wearing multiple hats simultaneously, as she is on her current gig with Jann Arden.
In fact, as she speaks with Live Sound from her home in Mount Hope, Ontario, she’s getting ready to leave for the final East Coast leg of Arden’s tour.
Though she still regularly fills the Front of House position for a variety of clients, Hutchins has a definite fondness for monitors, and in-ears specifically.
“I prefer mixing in-ears over wedges,” she says, citing four years of having her head taken off during Sloan’s shows in small U.S. clubs.
“I took out my dB meter at their guitar player’s mic position, and from his two Marshall cabs it was 105 dB.”
Her preferred role depends largely on the artist. “I would do either Front of House or monitors for any of my artists, but I really like doing ‘ears’ for Jann because she has excellent musicians and a great catalog of songs.”
Further, she enjoys the intimacy of in-ears. “You really feel close to the band. It’s more about the artists’ trust in you as a technician and the relationship between you and the artist than between you and the equipment.”
This tour is Arden’s first with a digital monitor console. “Traditionally we’ve always had Midas Heritage 3000, Midas XL250 – warm, analog consoles. We’ve switched to the Digidesign D-Show Profile. I just love it.
The warmth of the sound, the EQ is very intuitive, the user interface is excellent and so is the offline software editor. What you see on your laptop when you’re building your show in the hotel room, or on the plane, is what you see on the screen of the console. It’s very true. Same thing with the (Digidesign Venue) SC48 – great sound in a small footprint console.”
She’d still rather mix on an analog console, but it’s a matter of convenience and consistency. On fly-in shows, for example, “It just makes your day a lot easier,” she explains. “I email my show files, they load them into the console, and 90 percent of my monitor mix is already done. That’s a huge selling feature.
Trying to dial in seven stereo in-ear mixes with 48 inputs on the fly, if your flight’s delayed, or production is late loading in, that really adds to the stress of your day.”
Once, Hutchins says, she did briefly toy with making a shift to the U.S. market. “Years ago I considered it, but I’m an hour from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. I can get to anywhere in the world I need to go from here. I love living here and I’m always happy to come home.”
Residing in the Ontario countryside was a very deliberate choice, she continues. One that allows her to be close to family, as well as within easy reach of the isolation and peace offered by some of her and husband Mike’s favorite camping destinations.
“We camp a lot on Crown land, up near Sudbury, and Temagami. We used to do quite a bit of camping in Algonquin Park, but it’s getting busier and busier, so we’re branching out.”
With a stable of acts that keep her on the road roughly six months of the year, it’s not a bad lifestyle. But while her schedule allows for regular travel, there are certain things she studiously avoids when planning her escape into the woods. “Anything that has to do with border crossings, flights, or hotel check-ins – because that’s not a vacation, that’s a gig.
“When you’re on tour it’s all hotels and flights and man-made structures. You don’t get to see daylight, or nature,” she says. Connecting with nature on those vacations helps to keep her spirit healthy, which enables her to maintain her high personal standards of professionalism, remain courteous, and avoid ever becoming jaded. “The biggest challenge is trying to be fresh – to be excited about the show and what I do. That’s hopefully what people buy into when they hire me.”
“My new thing is just to work with bands I like. I’ve been self-employed and freelancing for 15 years. Most small companies don’t last five. I’m happy to be passionate about my work. I still love what I do. All my work is referral work, all word of mouth.”
Based in Toronto, Kevin Young is a freelance music and tech writer, professional musician and composer.