从那以后，几年过去了 安德鲁Bongardt 毕业于满帆大学 制作程序, but it’s been such a whirlwind of world travel since then that school can feel like a distant memory. As a Touring Audio Technician for large-scale tour and show 生产 company 克莱尔全球, Andrew has found himself working in a variety of roles – 包括 PA tech and monitor system tech/engineer – for artists such as 保罗·麦卡特尼爵士, 麦莉·赛勒斯, 黛米•洛瓦托, 交流/直流.

Andrew has had a desire to work behind the scenes in 生产 since he was a child. After a string of local/regional 生产 experiences during his high school years, 他参加了满帆大学的节目制作课程. It was there that he learned more about large-scale touring 生产 companies; 克莱尔全球 in particular stood out, not just because of the company’s history in hiring so many 满帆 graduates, but also because of its all-star client roster list and world class sound reinforcement systems.

And although he made it one of his primary goals to work for Clair after graduation, he was still pleasantly surprised and excited to get hired by the company three weeks before he actually graduated from 满帆. Just a few weeks after graduating and starting at Clair headquarters in Lititz, 宾西法尼亚, 安德鲁第一次和男孩乐队一起参加全国巡演 时间紧迫 参加他们的暑期巡演 维多利亚正义 – and fully immersed in the culture of both 克莱尔全球 as well as the world of touring in general.

"I’ve worked for Clair for about two-and-a-half years now, I still love it. Everyone who works here is very like-minded, which is incredibly helpful when you’re on the road. It doesn’t matter who you have out there – you know they’re going to go through the same troubleshooting steps, 甚至他们会以同样的方式绞死私人助理,他说. “我被要求出来代替巡演中的一些人, 无论是由于受伤还是家庭突发事件, 而且能很好地融入巡演. Knowing that anybody in your company can step in and cover for you is amazing. 我们能够给客户带来的纯粹资源是很棒的. It helps us get our job done efficiently and continue to make our clients happy, 哪个永远是头号目标."

Keeping the client happy and ensuring that operations run smoothly can be a challenge for any job; especially when the client is an iconic performer like 保罗·麦卡特尼爵士 or 交流/直流 and the operation entails a full-blown stadium tour, 事情会变得非常棘手.

“保罗·麦卡特尼爵士的《og体育》巡演是我的第一次体育场巡演. It was also my first time dealing with a really big 生产 and PA system. 我以前在较小的场地做过类似的设置, but this was the first time that I needed to do three huge hangs and a 50 plus foot cable bridge by myself, 当然有当地舞台管理人员的帮助,他说. "But working with the group of people on that tour – most of whom have been there for years – was amazing, 绝对是一次家庭体验. 保罗·麦卡特尼爵士是一个了不起的人, too; someone who will come out in the middle of a load-in and shake your hand and say hi while you are working on getting the rig up."

The size and scope of the McCartney tour definitely helped prepare Andrew for his current gig on 交流/直流’s massive Rock or Bust stadium world tour, which will take up the majority of 2015 and beyond while taking the crew across the globe. The tour features four PA speaker hangs, each roughly 36 feet tall and weighing about 7.5吨. 工作人员之间, 生产, 当地劳动, 司机, 还有乐队, 每场演出都有超过300人参与.

"It’s one of those tours where you have an extremely large number of very experienced people – many of whom are actually over-qualified for their positions, but they have toured with 交流/直流 in the past and wanted to return to the family atmosphere that we have here,安德鲁说. “每个人都互相认识, you have people with so much knowledge who are willing to answer questions and share their experiences. It’s a constant learning environment where you learn something new every day."

Being open to constantly learn new approaches and techniques has been a driving force in Andrew’s career, 即使是在满帆的时候. In addition to absorbing concepts and lessons in his Live Labs in the 显示生产 curriculum, he also played an active role in many opportunities hosted on-campus during his time as a student, 包括 WWE NXT 活动和满帆 Live Venue音乐会 克里斯蒂娜Perri, 马克布鲁萨德, 马特·卡尼.

"Everyone in 显示生产 should be taking advantage of using those outside events to get more knowledge of how things in the industry work. 参与到这些环境中, 甚至是课堂上的Live Labs, 会让人望而生畏, 但只要你一离开学校, 你的系统可以是你在满帆中使用的10倍大小, 你必须在一半的时间内完成工作,安德鲁说. "But if you’re able to troubleshoot, you become such a valuable asset to any tour. 旅途中的生活可能会很有压力, but at the end of the day when you see the crowd having fun 还有乐队 is on stage killing it, 所有的压力都消失了. 我总能从我所做的事情中找到很多乐趣."