Advertise on podcast: Live Sound Bootcamp

Rating

★★★★★

from

53 reviews

Description

Hosted by a trio of touring engineers, Live Sound Bootcamp (LSBC) is meant to help new engineers to learn live sound from the ground up, and also maybe provide some insight and humor to seasoned professionals. It is a primer on all topics in live sound. Ryan O John is a musician turned engineer, turned product designer, turned podcast host. He was playing instruments by 5 years old, with his first shows at age 12, recording his own albums by 13, and touring by 16 -- he leans heavily toward the geeky side of sound. From small local clubs to international stadiums, metal to pop, Ryan's career in live sound mixing has covered a lot of ground traveling the world with a ton of artists including Jessie J, Andy Grammer, Tove Lo, Banks, Liam Payne, Capital Cities and many more. Beyond just touring with pop and rock acts, he also designs audio consoles and software, mix records, and race cars. After Brendan Dreaper picked up the drums in middle school, live music became an important part of his life. With a number of diversions under his belt, which included studying economics and working as a professional glassblower, he returned to music and found his footing behind the mixing console. Working from bar gigs to local festivals and eventually to touring with Magic! and Snoh Aalegra, Brendan has had the pleasure of making live music happen. Outside of geeking out about live sound on a podcast, he likes to play drums with the band vverevvolf, produce music and get real nerdy about anything Lord of the Rings related. The third member of the trio, Joe Santarpia, is a live sound and recording/mixing engineer of 15 years, Tour Manager, Musician and Producer. His touring resume includes Mac Demarco, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Connan Mockasin, Best Coast, Surfer Blood, Inner Circle and others. Joe was a former staff engineer at Circle House Studios in Miami, FL and Faultline Studios (RIP) in San Francisco. during his free time he is an electronics hobbyist and recreational ice hockey player.

Unlock Live Sound Bootcamp podcast Email contact info,
Listeners & Audience details

Email contact information

Direct podcast contact details

Listeners

Audience numbers & engagement insights

Audience details

Podcast Insights

Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from Live Sound Bootcamp podcast

Ep 6 Moving On Up: How to Work on Bigger and Better Things Pt 2

2025/12/08

This question has come up over and over again through the years, and it seems to land in a topic that isn't discussed widely. How does one move from small clubs, to big clubs, to festivals, to arenas, and sheds to stadiums? Not just how do you get the gig, but also what changes in your daily workflow, in how you communicate, in who's on the team, and how you manage succeeding in that transition. Welcome guest Josh Benton as we talk through the process of progression in your career. One would think this would be a simple episode, but nope, as usual, we go on and on, and this is part two of this two part series.

Ep 5 Moving On Up: How to Work on Bigger and Better Things Pt 1

2025/12/01

Ep 4 Orchestras and Classical Instruments in Bigger Mixes

2025/10/16

Remember last episode when we said we would land in the concept of Season 3, answering listener questions, well we screwed that up. In this episode we answer a question that we had, about how best to go about capturing and mixing orchestral instruments, in classical environments, and also in the context of adding strings to a pop or rock act. One would think this would be a short and simple episode, but nope, as usual, we go on and on. This Episode features guest host Aram Piligian.

Ep3 Dialogue, Talking Heads, the "Simple Stuff"

2023/10/24

So finally we fall into the concept of Season 3, answering listener questions. In this episode we answer a question that digs into dialogue, corporate events, house of worship, expectations, auto mixing, noise reduction, how to make a talking human sound like what the audience expects. One would think this would be a short and simple episode, but nope, as usual, we go on and on.

Ep2 Being Efficient When Doing Shows

2023/09/12

Lies and lies, we told you that we would have shorter episodes, and we told you that Season three would be dedicated to digging directly into listener questions, but this episode ended up being the very long answer to some in-person questions that we had run into recently. In this episode we talk about how to start your day when arriving at a new venue, all the way through how to get through your load out. There are quite a few interesting tidbits on how to move through your daily checklist faster, more accurately and more efficiently

Ep1 Troubleshooting

2023/08/08

As we enter season three of this podcast, we've decided it makes sense to finally really dig directly into listener questions. We also had realized that while we had touched on this in many other episodes, we didn't actually ever make an episode dedicated to one of the most important skills in live audio: Troubleshooting. We knock on a few of the most common issues one may come across, and some of the most likely fixes!

Ep14 Strings

2023/07/25

Sticking to the "wall of sound" instruments we chat about strings and some of the various methods for getting them to sound cohesive, or stick out as solo instruments. While this may not be the most common input an average live sound engineer may come across, the methods for achieving natural sounds with unnatural micing are somewhat easy to transfer to other similar instrument types. We chat about how to best capture strings, and we dig into monitoring, equalization, dynamics processing, and more!

Ep13 Choirs

2023/07/13

We gave up on the idea that we would cover multiple topics in this one episode, but in this extra-long episode we knock out one! Choirs and background vocalists, why did we even think that this was similar to horns and strings? Because the goal is often a "wall of sound." We chat about how to best capture groups of singers, and we dig into monitoring, equalization, dynamics processing, and more!

Ep12 Horns and Brass

2023/04/06

We really really did think that we would cover multiple topics in this one episode, but in this extra-long episode we barely covered one! Not the most common input but brass instruments can be challenging to get right. We chat about how to best capture live various brass instruments, and we dig into equalization, dynamics processing, isolation, effects and a lot more.

Ep11 Pianos, Keyboards and Synths

2023/03/17

Since it's been ages since we've done an episode, in this extra-long episode we try to make up for lost time! Continuing down the path of the channel by channel season, we spend a lot of time chatting about how to best capture live pianos, how to set up patches in pianos and synths, and we dig into equalization, dynamics processing, saturation, effects and a lot more.

Ep10 Vocals

2022/06/20

In this extra-long episode we skip ahead a bit, and dig into arguably the most important input, vocals. Like all of the previous episodes we spend a lot of time chatting about how to best capture the sound, and we dig into equalization, dynamics processing, saturation, effects and a lot more, but we also talk a lot about goals and intent with vocal sounds. This episode also features a special guest host, studio owner, producer, and touring musician Greg Karas.

Ep9 Playback

2022/02/21

Covering anywhere from one to a sixty inputs this episode, we dig into playback. We chat about how to setup the outputs in the rig, how to prioritize the sounds, the difference between monitors and FOH in this regard, how to manage these lines during your line check, and of course we dive into some of the things you can do to make it work for you.

Ep8 Acoustics and Stringed Instruments

2022/02/07

A whole family of inputs in the channel list, this episode we dig into an assortment of instruments that come up in many genres. Acoustic guitars and other stringed instruments can be a pain. A pain to get cleanly into wedges for monitoring, and a pain to make sound good given how dynamic they can be, but they're such commonly played instruments. Like the previous episodes we spend a lot of time chatting about how to best capture the sound, and we dig into equalization, dynamics processing, saturation and a lot more.

Ep7 Group Bussing and Master Bus Processing

2022/01/03

Throwing the hosts for a loop, this episode is an off-the-cuff dive into how routing affects your line check. We dig into the idea of using grouping for drums, bass, and other instruments, talk about when to get this routing going, and what the benefits can be. We really dig into idea of when and why to use group bussing, and also the processing that an engineer might use on a group versus a channel.

Ep6 Guitars

2021/12/20

Guitars, often the next input in the list, can be quite complicated to manage. This episode dives into how to capture the tones, how to process them, and even how to approach conversations with the players themselves to achieve tones that are best fit for the mix. We touch on microphones, placement, and some options on what to do when you have one guitar player, versus two, versus three!

Podcast reviews

Read Live Sound Bootcamp podcast reviews

5 out of 5

53 reviews

★★★★★

South Of Neptune - Trace 2025/10/31

Loved the content and perspective

Thanks for putting this out there. Very much enjoyed!!! Hope you bring back more episodes and more guests!

★★★★★

ashleyjsimmons 2021/07/07

On the way to pro

This podcast is awesome. Being the only girl in my audio program in college was tough & I felt like I always needed to be ahead of the curve. This pod...

★★★★☆

Budget concious 2023/05/23

Please stop eating while recording

Good stuff, but I listen with earbuds in and the sound of you eating while talking makes me gag.

★★★★★

guyinmn 2021/05/22

Great topics for any level of engineer

These guys cover everything from basics to complex topics, but in ways which are applicable to any level of engineer. Definitely my go-to podcast for ...

★★★★★

Scalingwallofsound 2020/05/17

Excellent and fun

As a amateur self taught sound engineer, this is the best pod cast I’ve ever heard! These guys address issues in detail that makes it so interesting ...

★★★★★

Fredellsworth 2020/05/05

Thank you!!!!

Totally legit

★★★★★

breathemusic_ 2020/04/09

Informative, Fun, Useful

Real live sound audio engineers talk and go through many aspects of their job.

★★★★★

RyanJohn 2020/04/07

Humorous and educational

But of course I’m biased, I’m one of the hosts ;)