PROFILE
BLAIR BONDY
By Andrew King
Since graduating from the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology ( OIART ), Blair Bondy has had the opportunity to work with some of music ’ s biggest acts , including Bryson Tiller , Migos , Future , and Kelsea Bellerini . What ’ s odd , though , is that instead of doing so sitting in the control
room of a world-class studio , he was at a FOH or monitor console with thousdands of people in attendance .
Bondy was born and spent the first decade of his life in Windsor , ON , before trekking a short distance east to nearby Belle River on the shore of Lake St . Clair . The youngest of three boys in a very musical family , he ’ d learned his way around several instruments early on . When his older brother ’ s band started playing shows in the mid-2000s , he ’ d try to tag along to help with load ins and soundchecks .
“ Eventually , the time came where they were renting their own PA for shows but didn ’ t really have anyone to run it ,” he recalls .
“ Somehow , I had a plan as to how soundcheck would go . I had no clue how to hook it all up at the time , but when it came to messing with the mixing board , I seemed to have a really good understanding of how it worked .”
With a quickly growing interest , Bondy began volunteering at his church , learning the basics of signal flow and live mixing from its TD , John Hunt . “ When I realized how much I was in love with audio , I knew it was time to think about an education in the field ,” he shares .
That ’ s what led him to enroll at OIART , where he spent a year “ nerding out ” and adding to his knowledge bank . “ We spent a lot of time just learning how to listen and how to use analog gear , restricted to 24 tracks , and understand signal flow before we were even allowed to touch things like plug-ins .”
Armed with a solid grasp of the science of sound , Bondy jumped back into the live side of the industry and took some contracts working on a cruise ship , mixing show tunes and performing basic gear maintenance . “ But I felt like that was a dead end and decided I needed to get back on land before the consistent paycheck got too comfortable ,” he says .
Ever since , he ’ s been freelancing as a FOH and monitor engineer , working regularly in the worlds of pop , hip-hop , and R & B , despite being a longtime metalhead whose favourite band of all time is the mighty Killswitch Engage . “ I actually ended up befriending their FOH engineer , and now I get to go to their shows and hang out , and that ’ s really cool ,” he shares . “ If I told myself 10 years ago that this would be happening , I would have never believed it . Ever .”
The perks are many and major , though Bondy maintains that his favourite part of the industry is the mixing itself . “ Any time you ’ re mixing monitors on a random one-off and the artist comes over and personally thanks you or gives you a hug is always a huge highlight – especially after trying to fix a million problems and wrap your head around why the advance and rider was so wrong ,” he says . “ As for FOH , my highlight reel tends to just be the bigger gigs . Pushing up a fader in front of 10,000 people and making them scream on command is wild .” Conversely , he says the major hurdle he ’ s faced is learning what ’ s actually important when it comes to building a reputation and maintaining a healthy workload as a young freelance technician .
“ You come in wanting to just mix audio and find out that 90 per cent of your job as a live audio engineer has little to do with actually mixing ,” he says . “ It ’ s organization , it ’ s driving a truck , it ’ s the politics of dealing with managers and artists … It can be difficult to wrap your head around , and sometimes , I find myself looking at things from the wrong angle , so I ’ m happy to have a few mentors that tell me when to stand down and get myself together . It ’ s not at all like people ever think it is ; it can be a very , very strange job .”
But he ’ s learned how to handle himself and roll with the punches relatively quickly , and now , he isn ’ t wasting any time amassing an impressive list of credits and bolstering his skill set . In fact , he ’ ll have an opportunity to do both on his upcoming tour with R & B star Monica .
“ The fact that I get to do something I enjoy is just such a blessing ,” he says , audibly grateful . “ It ’ s not easy , and it ’ s not all fun and games , but I love it .”
Beyond the Monica tour , Bondy ’ s schedule is filling up fast for the rest of 2017 . “ Most of it is stuff I can ’ t talk about yet , but it ’ s going to be huge ,” he enthuses – and that ’ s saying a lot considering his existing list of accomplishments . “ I take it all one show at a time and appreciate every day I have out here doing this .”
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Sound .
20 PROFESSIONAL SOUND