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.