Going Pro

Hello friends!

I don't know if anyone even reads these anymore, however it has been some solid time since I last wrote and much has happened! Before I get into what my life is like nowadays, I want to kind of reflect on my previous, and set the tone for my future posts. When I started this blog a few years ago, I was writing from a very depressed, distraught mindset, I had just been through a terrible breakup and was feeling like absolute shit about myself. My confidence was shot, I felt like I had no one to support me and just wasn't happy with who I was or where I was at in life.  So, I took a good look in the mirror, and I realized that I was the source of a lot of my pain, I had brought it all on myself.
I flew from Eugene, Oregon to Florida. I was helping my sister Jaime get her house ready to rent out before making the cross country trip to Tucson, Arizona. I think that was one of the most therapeutic things I could have ever done. Even though I was listening to music, and we would stop often, for the dogs to go or to get a bite to eat and refuel, I was completely alone in the cab of that truck and therefore I had a lot of time to think, process and heal. In a way, I found myself on that journey, I realized areas I was wrong and right and dwelled a lot on mistakes I made, but above all, I allowed myself for the first time to just let it go. To leave it in my rearview, to watch it get further and further behind me until I forgot it was even there. And in many ways, that is what I am going to do with this blog. I am leaving all of that negativity, pain, resentment and any other bad feelings where they belong, in the past, behind me. It is still a part of me so it will remain, if you want to read through them, because it is a part of me whether I like it or not, and many great lessons were learned.

Now to the good stuff! Where to begin? I started working at a company in Tucson called Arizona Cine Equipment, which is a full service production company. We do Sound, Lighting, Staging, Power, Backline, Trade Shows and Conventions, Audio/Visual and more. Turns out, they also have a sister company in Phoenix who specializes in concerts and music festivals, and all Pro Audio related things. Where as in Tucson, we did mostly trade shows, corporate events, things like that. On my first day, we were setting up for a famous Christian rapper named Lecrae. Both companies were working side by side together, which is common, Cine doing mostly the pipe and drape, lighting, power, etc, where Pro Production Services focused on the audio side. Which was absolutely massive, by far the biggest system I had ever worked on. 12 JBL VTX V25's per side for mains, and I think it was 9 JBL VTX G28's for subs. I was a little in over my head from what I had done in the past, and was excited to learn. I met the Director of Operations, Donovan and the Warehouse Manager, Jeremy. Both of those guys were very happy to have the help and explained things thoroughly and (were and still are) very patient with me. I knew immediately I had my foot in the door, and I knew where I wanted to go. I put in my dues in Tucson, and was approved to transfer to Phoenix after 8 months. I learned so much from all the guys at Cine, from how to run cables clean, tape them down for safety, lighting and how their consoles work, building stages, truss systems, supplying power, all of the things I still use today. I am and will forever be grateful to those guys for being so patient and helping me learn how this company does things. Moving day came, and my beautiful and absolutely incredible girlfriend Shaina and I could not be more excited to get out of Tucson. We had a really crappy, cheap apartment and were both so ready for a change. We found a perfect apartment complex and she found work right away. While we are both still adjusting, we love it here and so does Yogi!

My day to day is ready to change at a moments notice, but fairly steady 9-5 at the shop mon-fri unless we have an early setup, or a late strike, or are working shows, which can go pretty late by the time I get home. It's not uncommon for us to work 20 hour days, sometimes back to back, which is still a struggle to recover from. Good thing I have been working hard since I was super young, thanks dad! It really prepared me to push myself, to keep going when I am tired, and to strive to be better everyday. I am learning so much, just today, on my day off, which are few and far between during the busy season, I was at the shop at 10am to set up a small system and go over some basic patching and get some hands on training on the console. Man, I was rusty! It has been like 5 years since I graduated from my Audio Engineering and Recording School and I have not been using what I learned for much of that time. Jeremy came in on his day off too to help us out and show us a few things which was awesome and greatly appreciated, he is a great teacher. I did just get the pleasure of setting up and mixing for an impromptu living room rock show for my buddy Justin Alonso's 25th surprise birthday party. My buddies from Long Beach, Bearwulf, consisting of Danny Cadiz on lead guitar, and Rob Gravely on rhythm guitar. It was such a blast working with those guys again, I used to help them out a lot when they first formed the band and were playing shows in Long Beach when I lived there. We also set up Justin's electronic drum set and a little stage light, it came together pretty sweet! I have a few videos on my Instagram- @natedoggdeezy and on my snapchat with the same username if you want to check those out as well as some other gigs I have worked on. Including Creedence Clearwater, Volbeat, Blues Traveler and more! I really love what I do and can't wait to continue to get better and to learn as much as I can.

Thanks for tuning in, I am hoping to be writing more about what I am learning and some funny stories from shows are sure to come up. Hard work pays off! If you want something, go out and freakin get it! Thats the only way you will accomplish your goals, I strongly encourage you to never give up. Good things come to those who work hard to get where they want to be. As always, feel free to message me, comment, share, whatever. I hope all is well with you all!

Peace out,

Nathan