Every now and then I jokingly tell people that Sound Engineering is more difficult work than running a nuclear reactor. Considering I spent a number of years as a Reactor Plant Operator for the Navy and am currently the Live Mix Engineer on a world premiere musical with 16 wireless microphones on actors and an orchestra of two keyboards, violin, cello, french horn, and percussion (also all mic'd and/or direct inputs)... I can safely make the comparison. In all honesty, running a reactor may require memorization of a lot of operating procedures; but even in casualty and high power testing conditions (both of which I have first hand experience on); the mixing I'm doing now is easily more taxing/demanding mentally.

Being able to break down all those complexities of sound into distinguishable (improvable) components with an awareness of what the current state means, what active manipulation can do, and how the end result can be put back together for better musicallity...in real time... makes the most complicated gaming boss fight or even a nuclear power plant fast recovery start up procedure following a scram... seem like child's play. Ok, admittedly, if I mess up a show mix, there's no risk that I'll irradiate half the west coast. But still!

Or... in simpler terms... my brain may have been fried Monday... but that was just the searing to lock in the flavor. It's spent the rest of the week roasting in the smoker.

However... even my toasty brain can get a little relief long enough to announce this week's content: we continue with Part 3 of "The Final Trump" from Bek D. Corbin! Enjoy!