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Apprentice?

tomhanzo

tomhanzo

Apr 20, 2008
1,293
80
West Virginia
#1
hey Justin, have you ever thought of having an apprentice? (im free anytime :smug:)

Seriously though, have you ever thought of taking someone and making them the next you? Like have you ever seen someone and thought they could be you, or would you think it defeats the purpose of being an original artist?
 
#3
"...making them the next you...". How horrifying!

Well, my assistant Mike, who is also my touring guitar tech, is kind of my man on many levels, thought I wouldn't call him an apprentice. He's a 25 year old dude, recently moved to LA from Nashville. I hired him for his ProTools skills, then had him re-wire my studio. In the process, I found he had many other skills.

During NIN rehearsals in June '08, I was assigned a bass tech I hadn't worked with before who I didn't really like. All my normal long-term dudes I had with Beck, Ima Robot, and Air were busy with other gigs. He had a temper, was grumpy about making changes to my rig, and didn't have a lot of savvy with programming. Anyway, 5 days before the last day of production rehearsal, I had had enough, and was urgently looking for a new tech. My assistant/engineer guy Mike chimed in casually "I've been a touring guitar tech before". Next thing you know, he's my guy in NIN, working with some high technology, 8 basses, 4 guitars, two 16 space racks, upright bass, keyboards, etc. I don't think he slept for a week, he had so much to learn and do. Anyway, he basically goes everywhere with me now...it's pretty rad having someone like that at my disposal, his skills are remarkable, and he's a super cool guy.

JMJ
 
#4
Speaking for the group, we'd love for you to get Mike on here and have him talk a little about his duties as a tech for you. Of course it sounds like you work him to a frazzle ;) , so if he doesn't have time or inclination, that's cool, but being a tech for a big-time rock band on tour is a pretty cool job that actually doesn't pay too badly at all from what I hear, so it might be worth looking into for some folks on here who are good with...well...everything.
 
#8
MikeSchuppan said:
Hello Hello.

This is Mike. I'm Justin's tech. I AM so inclined to answer any questions.

Nice to meet you all.

Fire away...
Click to expand...
Well first, I'd like to know how you survive taking care of all that gear and still get a little sleep occasionally ;)

But seriously, I think the first thing we'd like to know is what all a guitar/bass tech needs to know in order to be successful. Like in Justin's case, do you need to be able to do things like refrets on the spot? Or major keyboard repairs? I'm sure those skills help, but is it necessary to be able to do luthier-level repair work in order to be an in-demand tech?

And welcome! Justin speaks extremely highly of you, so I'm looking forward to your participation here!
 
#9
To answer your first question, I take a massive amount of vitamins actually. It's very important to keep your body's immune system in top notch. While on tour we're in another city at least every other day not to mention different countries. We're exposed to all sorts of stuff, usually getting about 6 hours of sleep. So basically I survive by staying healthy. This is a job you can't call in sick. The show must go on. I survive quite well.

What skill's are needed? That's a big answer. I guess that would depend on the artist you're working for needs.

In a normal gig you would need to be able to do a basic setup and have a good understanding of signal flow. You need to be able to solder and solder well.

(If you don't know what a basic set up is or how to do one let me know and I can explain what it is. For the sake of this reply i will assume you know what a basic set up consists of.)

Any tour is going to be rough on gear. So obviously the more you know the better.

I am not a luthier but on this last run I re-crowned frets, repaired a broken headstock made nuts out of superglue and baking powder (you don't always have a music shop around), repaired the tailpiece of the upright bass (in Mexico on a Sunday without spare parts btw), fixed/made cables and repaired the electronics on guitars/basses.

We use a lot of midi so I need to know quite a bit about midi as well.

I'm sure I'm leaving tons of information out so keep the questions coming.

Justin is great to work for. He's a super cool guy and cares a lot about the people around him.

:)
 
#10
Geez, making nuts out of superglue and baking powder...that's MacGyver-level resourcefulness right there!

Thanks for the reply, Mike. It sounds like you really have to know quite a bit and be able to think on your feet. And Justin's needs are quite unique, I'm sure, not only for the massive amount of stuff he needs for the shows, but I've seen these NIN dudes throw down a serious beating on their gear (and each other) at times. Glad it's working out for you working with Justin and NIN...sounds like a lot of work but you must be having a great time!
 
#11
MikeSchuppan said:
Justin is great to work for. He's a super cool guy and cares a lot about the people around him.

:)
Click to expand...

I think out of all that, this is the most important part. Good to know that even though he is playing in one of the biggest bands in the world, he still knows how to treat those around him.

Although, after reading many of his posts on here, I am not at all surprised!!

Keep up the good work!! :hyper:
 
#12
Any specific/memorable stories(which you are allowed to divulge) which required "Emergency action" on your part to aid the show during a gig on the last tour?

I would also like to know what a day in the life of a tech is like...when do you get up? Actually go to sleep? Any leisure time to do things like email family? Do you eat with the crew? Ever get to see the sights in a new city?

Thanks

Mark
 
#14
Emergency action.....

Only a few things come to mind. There was one show that Justin's In-Ear monitor pack came flying off in the middle of the show. I had to quickly jump on the stage and give him my pack, then find his pack so I could hear what was going on.

There was another show that some where in between line check and the show (which are about 15 min apart) a partial short occurred in the main cable running from his bass to the pedal board. Since it was only a partial short there was still audio but all of the tone was gone. In a normal situation I would hop up and swap the cable, but I was running my spare because I found that there was a slice in the main cable. So we suffered through the first half of the set with crappy tone. During a 4 song section of the set called Ghosts where Justin is playing upright bass I ran around the stage, grabbed the cable, checked it with a tester to make sure that my suspicions were correct (it was bad), cut the bad end off, soldered a new one one and had it ready before the set change.

I now carry 2 spares incase one of the spares goes bad.

I think my favorite one was at the last show of Light's In The Sky in Vegas. Towards the end of the set during a very high energy song all of the guys were rocking harder than ever. Trent was running around the stage with his mic and stand, naturally knocking things over and what not and then at the end of the song he throws his mic stand about 8 feet in the air landing directly on something in or around Justin's pedal board. The next song starts I give Justin his next bass, run out to rearrange everything that had fallen over and moved. Justin plays the first note and I have no sound. I have no idea what could be wrong because so many things were out of place. I grabbed the spare cable plugged him directly into the rack bypassing the pedalboard and snake, ran out grabbed his main cable and sure enough it was almost cut in half only being held together by the rubber jacket. So during the next song change I handed Justin his next bass, and plugged him back into the pedalboard and we were back to normal.

I think that was about it as far as emergency repair.

For now, I've got to run.

Mike
 
#18
Hey guys, I was just wondering how someone would go about getting a job as a tech? Like I understand everyone wants to be playing shows to thousands of people each night like Justin. But lets be realistic that doesnt happen overnight.
Here is my situation I live in upstate NY in a little village. It is unheard of to "make it" around here. So im trying to figure out what I can do to make things happen for myself. A job as a tech would help me to understand the industry a little more.
Is anyone in a similar senario? stuck in a town with 5000 ppl?
 
#19
Itshollywoodyo said:
Hey guys, I was just wondering how someone would go about getting a job as a tech? Like I understand everyone wants to be playing shows to thousands of people each night like Justin. But lets be realistic that doesnt happen overnight.
Here is my situation I live in upstate NY in a little village. It is unheard of to "make it" around here. So im trying to figure out what I can do to make things happen for myself. A job as a tech would help me to understand the industry a little more.
Is anyone in a similar senario? stuck in a town with 5000 ppl?
Click to expand...

yeah my situation is similar except im from england my approach has been to go and study sound design at a specialist school possibly leading to jobs as an engineer and in the meantime try to build a reputation as a player locally and play with bands constantly. i dunno if that helps.
 

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