A day in the life of a Live Audio Engineer - Quadstock Festival 25
- Angus Edwards
- Sep 29, 2025
- 3 min read
Welcome to the blog! I'm excited to share a little backstory on what is probably my first proper video on YouTube. I’ve wanted to start documenting my work for a while, and this recent show felt like the perfect opportunity to start.
This video is a quick, behind-the-scenes look at the prep and setup that goes into a live show. It was actually filmed after the event, which went really, really well, and everybody was super stoked. While I was really hoping I was going to get more footage of the show, I unfortunately didn't. Still, I was able to capture a bunch of the behind-the-scenes kind of shots so you can see how much work goes into it.
The Prep Day Grind
Before the doors open and the lights go down, there's a mountain of prep work to be done. A huge part of this is the digital groundwork. As you can see in the video, this involves a couple of hours of deep focus:
System Design: I spent time going through Array Calc’s. The program day pretty much just consists of building an Array Calc File and making sure when you export to R1, you've called the groups and everything is pretty much ready to go.
Console & Show Files: I also had to program my file for this show. With the console all sorted, the band's entire performance was arranged using snapshots.
Plugins & Racks: I prepped my Waves files for Super Rack to make sure all the effects and processing were locked in and ready.
For the gear heads out there, we were using a D&B system for this one. The setup consisted of three boxes on each side, with two Q subs, two SL subs, and some Q ones in the middle. And let me tell you, it sounded really good.
It's Showtime!
On the day of the show, it's all about bringing the plan to life. We got the front-of-house area set up with the console and the Waves rack all sorted. With the band's snapshots loaded and ready, everything was going pretty good. The video captures a bit of the on-the-day vibe, from the load-in to those final moments before the show kicks off.
Why I'm Sharing This Journey
I've been trying to do this in my downtime, mainly because I always love sharing the craft. I feel like there are a lot of people in this industry who, if they learn something new, they're not going to want to tell anyone. My philosophy is different. I feel like everybody's just going to figure it out anyway, so you might as well pass on whatever you've learned. That way, the industry can be a lot more positive and everyone gets to share their ideas and thoughts.
These videos are kind of just a hobby, so they're not to be taken too seriously. This is just the start. I'm hoping to make a lot more, including more in-depth videos with tips and tricks and stuff from the studio. I have a few tours coming up in the next couple of months, and the teams are pretty keen for me to get footage.
If you want to see more videos like this, just subscribe, and you'll get them whenever I upload. Thanks for watching!
