OIART Goes Backstage at Ozzy Osbourne’s Black Rain Tour On Friday, January 19th 2008, OIART students were treated to a rare opportunity to go backstage on Ozzy Osbourne’s Black Rain Tour at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario. Ozzy’s Front of House Engineer, Gregory Price, hosted and treated us to a master class in large format arena sound reinforcement. The day started at 8:00 am when 10 semi trucks rolled into the John Labatt Centre parking lot, bringing with them a staff of 75 touring crew in luxury tour buses. OIART students watched the entire set up from load in all the way through to sound check, with every step explained in detail by Price. Greg Price began his career in the 1970s at Los Angeles’ fabled Record Plant, eventually becoming a top notch live sound mixer for acts ranging from Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, and Van Halen, to Hannah Montana and the Cheetah Girls. He has been the Front of House Engineer and Technical Director for the last twelve Ozzfest tours. His passion for sharing his knowledge and experience was evident as he answered all our questions about the technology, the business, and the job prospects. “There is a shortage of talented young people in the live sound business,” he said. “Companies are desperate to find good people to work on tours like this, and eventually take over the top jobs.” Students were able to watch, up close, tons of PA gear being assembled and flown fifty feet in the air, while riggers hung from the rafters above. Greg Price gathered us around his front of house mix position and demonstrated how he puts together his console and recording setup, which includes the state of the art Digidesign Venue console, integrated with the 64 tracks of Pro Tools HD used to record every show, every night. He demonstrated calibrating the system for the building, and some of the mixing techniques he has developed over decades of experience, including how he gets Ozzy’s vocal sound and Zakk Wylde’s guitar tones. On this leg of the tour Ozzy is joined by opening act Rob Zombie, whose stage show features numerous pyrotechnics and props - including a six-foot tall devil head which breathes fire out of its nostrils! As the crew assembled the stage, Rob Zombie’s Front of House Engineer provided a demonstration of live drum miking using Zombie drummer Tommy Clufetos’ kit before it was lifted to its position on the stage on a 7 foot tall riser by forklift. The gigantic megawatt sound system and pyrotechnic show was provided by Clair-Showco, North America’s oldest and largest provider of concert tour sound support. Greg Smith,who manages the company’s tour operations from their home base in Pennsylvania, calls the Ozzy Osbourne tour a “well-oiled machine.” Organized by OIART’s Career Development and Industry Relations Director Robert Breen at the suggestion of current OIART student and AES Student Section Vice President, Ryan Enockson, the event received television coverage, was reported on numerous Metal fan sites, and will be featured in an upcoming issue of MacWorld magazine. It will surely be one of the highlights of a great year at OIART... but not the only one. Says Breen, “Our commitment is to provide our students with the connections they need to fulfill their dreams in the audio industry. Their participation and leadership in the global Audio Engineering Society fosters networking and friendships, and that’s the key to a long career. Over the course of every year, OIART provides dozens of opportunities for our students to meet and talk with audio professionals like Greg Price - who are at the very pinnacle of the business. It’s these connections that make the difference.”