Lizzo's famous for her hits "Truth Hurts" and "Juice," but Brandon Blackwell remembers her most for singing "Happy Birthday." As the front of house engineer on her "Cuz I Love You Too" tour, Brandon was responsible for running the audio equipment and making her voice sound perfect for a new audience every night. Last year on his birthday, Lizzo called him out onstage at a show in Phoenix.

“她停止了表演，走了, ‘The guy in the back who makes me sound good but always talks bad about my vocals — let's sing Happy Birthday to Brandon!’”他说. "And it's like, yeah, I do talk about her vocals because I want her to sound great."

When you're watching a concert from the crowd, it looks like the artist is doing all the work. But it takes a lot of experienced engineers like Brandon to bring those nights together.

“音乐会的那天, I'll wake up around nine or ten and my stage manager puts all of my gear out to front of house,布兰登说。. He picks some stage hands to help him set up his console, 调广播, and performs a virtual soundcheck by playing back the multi-track from the previous night's show.

"A soundcheck with the artist is a waste for me. It's not a show, so they don't have that same energy," he says.

In between equipment set ups and tunings, 布兰登找时间吃饭, 和他的家人谈谈, 为他的音响公司开具发票, 布莱克威尔作品, before the night's performance demands his full attention. After the show, Brandon packs everything up and gets ready to do it again the next day.

It takes time to build up a resume and work with big artists like Lizzo, but Brandon got to work with her at the Grammys and on 周六夜现场 入职不到十年. 满帆的节目制作程序 helped prepare him for that quick ascent.

Brandon started mixing sound for his church when he was eight, and found out about 满帆 a few years later. He chose the 显示生产 program because he wanted to help create unforgettable concerts.

“我的第一场演唱会是《菠菜台子大全》, 我想, “我想成为这16年的一部分,000人在一个竞技场, 被同样的音乐感动,’”他说.

Brandon spent a lot of time mixing on 满帆's soundboards, but he also remembered to network. He learned a lot from 显示生产 faculty members like Dave Dean, John Sheldon, and Vince Lepore.

约翰是一名巡回监听工程师. Dave found the time to work for 满帆 and tour with KC and the Sunshine Band on the weekend. And Vince worked for one of the largest churches in Orlando while reviewing gear for magazines. You put those three guys together, that's what I wanted to be," says Brandon.

After graduation, Brandon's success came more quickly than he was expecting. 他遇到了 美国偶像 musical director Ray Chew through a family friend and started working special events with him. Brandon got to mix monitors for artists like Usher, Pharrell, and Ne-Yo. Those connections helped him land a touring gig with TLC in 2016, and he's been on the road almost continuously since then.

Brandon's traveled with big names like A$AP Rocky and Camila Cabello, and there's a lot more he wants to accomplish — like mixing the broadcast and front-of-house music for awards shows.

"The mixer at the Grammys has to take care of every artist on the show. I want to be that guy and mix what you hear on television," he says. "Sending that mix out into the world gives me that pins-and-needles feeling I got during my first arena shows."