In Episode 336, Sean, Andy and Steph Farina get together again to pick up where their last conversation left off (here), diving deeper into the art and methodology of troubleshooting audio systems. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.

Steph is a Chicago-based theatrical sound designer, mixer, and educator who heads the sound design program at DePaul University and teaches a dedicated troubleshooting course there. The trio covers systematic troubleshooting methods — working input to output, swapping known-good for suspect components, and changing one thing at a time — before taking a deep dive into managed vs. unmanaged network switches, VLANs, Dante networking best practices, and why backplane bandwidth matters more than port speed.

They wrap up with a candid discussion on troubleshooting the humans around you: managing crews, communicating with actors and clients, and why the golden rule of live audio might just be “don’t be a jerk.”

Episode Links:
Steph Farina, Faculty At DePaul University
Episode 335: Musical Theater Sound Designer, Mixer & Educator Steph Farina
Episode 325: Chris Lapp Of Cisco On ‘Anything & Everything’ With AV Networking (Part 1)
Episode 326: Anything & Everything’ On AV Networking With Chris Lapp (Part 2)
The Art of Troubleshooting By Jason Maxham
Dante Information For Network Administrators
Yamaha Dante Network Design Guide
Configuring A Network Switch For Shure Devices & Dante/AES67
Episode 336 Transcript

Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!

Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”

The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.

Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:

1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”

2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there

In Episode 335, Sean and Andy are joined by Steph Farina, a Chicago-based musical theater sound designer, mixer, and educator who heads the sound design program at DePaul University. The conversation covers Steph’s journey from intern at the Goodman Theatre to in-demand regional designer, the art of transitioning from mixer to designer, and her collaborative approach to communicating with mixers without overprescribing. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.

The trio dives deep into theater sound system tuning, exploring tricks for naturally sourcing vocals from the performer, delay setting techniques using reference loudspeakers and click tracks, and how even fairly basic auditorium systems can be dramatically improved with some delay work. Along the way, they compare notes between theater and corporate audio worlds, share hard-won lessons about crew collaboration, and tease future episodes on troubleshooting and more theater nerdery.

Episode Links:
Steph Farina, Faculty At DePaul University
Steph’s TSDCA Meyer Galaxy & System Tuning Workshop With Costa Daros
Andy’s TSDCA Workshop On Yamaha DM7 For Theatre
Episode 335 Transcript

Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!

Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”

The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.

Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:

1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”

2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there

In Episode 335, Andy welcomes Russ Long, a Nashville-based recording and live sound engineer with a wide-ranging career working with artists including Sixpence None the Richer, Dolly Parton, Wilco, Amy Grant, Miley Cyrus, and more, as well as Grammy and CMA Awards broadcasts, films, and much more. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.

Russ is also currently part of the field marketing and R&D team for Yamaha Pro Audio and can regularly be found showing folks the “ins and outs” of the company’s large-format consoles at the Rock Nashville facility. He talks about his journey from being a “big drummer in a small pond” to recording and front of house engineer to working a steady day job with a manufacturer, and everything in between, including engineering two of the hottest singles of the late 90s, and more.

Episode Links:
“There She Goes” by Sixpence None the Richer
“Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer
Rock Nashville

Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!

Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”

The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.

Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:

1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”

2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there