In addition to gigs with high profile artists, for the past 12 years Sanders has also worked with ATK Audiotek as part of the sound crew for the Super Bowl. There he works with Bob Sterne – his former boss – who serves as Audio Coordinator for the Super Bowl. “We’re the backbone audio crew. We’re there two and a half weeks before the game and three days after. Anything that needs an audio feed we get it there, then we start branching off.”
Typically, Sanders game day gig is mixing the post game interview room for broadcast on NFL affiliates. But the labor intensive part of the gig is set up – and building the halftime stage in about four minutes. “On the Super Bowl, I don’t touch a lot of knobs per se, but I work with some of the best people in the entire world and we put on the biggest rock show that there is.”
Sander’s approach to his gig remains as straightforward as it is thorough. “I call it combat audio: When I get on an airplane I’ve got a 58 with a switch on it – because I don’t want anybody else’s germs and I don’t want anybody else to have mine – a $30 pair of headphones, and a phase checker. I’ve got a thumb drive for the Venue or the Profile, a Flash Card for the 5D, and if I walk up and see something analog, I think, ‘All right, it’s gonna be a good day.’”
That statement speaks directly to Sanders preferences when it comes to gear, “but they don’t make my preference anymore,” he says. “The greatest console that ever graced our industry was the Midas XL4.”
If he sounds slightly crusty, he comes by it honestly. “I did 192 days on the road last year. I’m a crusty old bastard.” Maybe so, but he laughs easily and often. During down times, he’s back to his home base of Milwaukie to see his family, girlfriend, mother, sister and her family, and he still plays music with some of the same people from that original band of 12-year-olds. You can get more info and music at www.burrmans.com.
A motorcycle enthusiast, Redford also rides his 1984 Harley FXR and 2002 Harley Road King as often as he can. For the past 10 years, one of his favorite rides has been the Portland Toy Run, where he and other enthusiasts and bikers – there’s a difference, he explained – fill several city buses with toys for sick children at the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. “This year we set a record, there were 7,000 motorcycles and we filled three buses with toys.”
While repeating, “I’m the most fortunate human being,” he makes it clear there are a lot of folks he’s seen in professional audio that are less so. “This business is not for the squeamish. You can get squashed like a bug, but if you can survive it, you can make a comfortable living, you can work half the year. You’ve just got to pay attention, and stay out of jail.”
And once more, there’s that laugh. “I look at it this way,” he concluded. “There’s 24 hours in the day, and sometimes 22 of them can suck pretty good. However, when the lights go down, and the people stand up and start screaming, I get two hours that make it all worth it.”
Based in Toronto, Kevin Young is a freelance music and tech writer, professional musician and composer.
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