The Sound of Success: Daniel Schwartz, Freelance Audio Engineer

| Print Post This | Like (223) | Comments (0)

» Name: Daniel Schwartz, 25

» Job: Freelance audio engineer and producer

» Salary: About $32,000

» Education: Florida State University, Montgomery College and Ohio University; bachelor's degree in audio production with a minor in music.

» What he does: This Bethesda native, often found behind that big board of knobs and slide-y things you see in clubs with live music, wears many hats. Winner of the Washington Area Music Association's 2008 award for Live Sound Engineer of the Year, Schwartz sets up audio and video feeds for everything from long-distance surgeries to Webcasts of luminaries speaking at the National Press Club; provides "live sound reinforcement" for concerts and performances at various venues in D.C. (including Iota and Strathmore) and elsewhere for bands such as Rocknoceros; and engineers sound for musicians recording in studios.

On top of that, he plays drums in seven bands, including the Justin Trawick Group to Sir Alan and the Calypso Ponzi Schemers. His performing helps him empathize with those who he's paid to make sound good live: "I know what it's like to drive all day to show up at the venue and the sound guy acts like he'd rather be somewhere else, so I never half-ass it with anybody," he says.

» Would you want this job? "It's a lot of hustling," Schwartz says. Sure, he has the freedom to take a month to travel and play drums at various campaign events, as he did last fall in support of then-candidate Barack Obama, but he has to keep working his contacts in order to make sure he'll have jobs when he gets home.

» How you can get this job: Schwartz cites networking prowess, building on-the-job experience, and understanding music theory and genres as critical. "Understand what a banjo is supposed to sound like," he says. And a nyckelharpa (a Swedish string instrument). And a Moog synthesizer. To learn more, visit Schwartz online at Dhssound.com.

Written by Express contribotur Amy Rogers Nazarov
Photo courtesy Kenny Reff/Limelight Productions