I wrote a piece sometime back regarding where new concert sound techs were going to come from. The pro sound industry continues to “gray” and pursuing jobs in concert production attracts fewer and fewer young people interested in this career.
A recent story in the online version of Pro Sound News points out what is happening in the pro sound field. This story highlighted the “retirement” of Paul Owen, after mixing monitors for Metallica for 22 years. That’s right. 22 Years!
While it is a little surprising that anybody could live through the Metallica soap opera for this long, it is certainly no surprise that there are touring sound techs out there who are actually reaching retirement age.
Paul Owen has logged 1340 Metallica shows and reads lips so well that no one realizes that he has been deaf since 1994.
Metallica’s lead singer James Hetfield honored Owen from the stage at this week’s concert in Detroit. Wonder if his replacement will be under 40?
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