PROFILE
Joel Livesey
By Andrew King
Joel Livesey enjoyed a pretty enviable up-
bringing as far as some audio enthusiasts
might be concerned.
As the son of famed British record pro-
ducer and engineer Warne Livesey, he got
to spend time in some of the world’s most
iconic recording studios as a kid. But while he
began his own audio career in studio control
rooms, following in his father’s footsteps, the
younger Livesey has since built a successful
career in live sound, and now finds himself
working in a whole new set of hallowed
venues as a touring professional with an array
of different acts.
Livesey was born in London, England,
and spent much of his childhood going
back and forth between the U.K. and Austra-
lia. His first job out of school was as a runner
at Metropolis, a famed London recording
studio, though in 2001, he moved to Van-
couver and began working as an assistant
engineer at Mushroom Studios and as a Pro
Tools editor with a slew of accomplished
producers and engineers.
In 2005, one of his recording clients was
looking for a new FOH engineer and Livesey
figured he was up to the task. “It was a huge
learning curve,” he admits in hindsight. “I
realized quickly that a lot of the techniques
we rely on in the studio to make a band
sound great weren’t going to work live, so I
learned a lot on the fly.”
In the years since, he has dedicated
plenty of time to honing his craft and ex-
panding his skillset, and has built himself an
impressive résumé in the process.
Currently, he’s touring with California
rockers Young the Giant as their production
manager and monitor engineer, and is also
the go-to FOH engineer for seminal emo
outfit Dashboard Confessional. “Those two
bands keep me very busy, but in my down-
time, I also help a number of other artists with
playback and monitor solutions,” he tacks on.
Looking back at his professional path
thus far, Livesey considers his time with
alt-rockers Brand New from 2012-2018 as
a career milestone that paved the way for
much of his success since. “I loved their mu-
sic before I ever met them, and every night
working with them was a huge thrill for me,”
he enthuses. “One of the biggest highlights of
touring with them was working at legend-
ary venues like Madison Square Garden, Red
Rocks, and the O2 Arena. Since then, I’ve
been back to those same venues and they’re
still incredible and exciting, but nothing
compares to the first time... I hold a lot of
fondness in my heart for those memories.”
Making the leap from engineering to
production management was also a sig-
nificant professional undertaking, but one
that’s proven to be quite rewarding. “Most
of the job comes very natural to me, but
there is a lot to learn outside of audio,” he
says. “As prepared as you think you are, there
will always be things that come up and need
to be solved for the show to go on.”
Of course, overcoming the inherent
challenges of life on the road is a lot easier
with a trusted team surrounding you, and
Livesey acknowledges that it’s the people –
crews and artists alike – that make pro audio
such a rewarding professional endeavor.
“I consider myself very lucky to work
with such talented and hardworking
people,” he says of his current and past col-
laborators. “Every day is a new adventure.”
He’s also pretty fond of the people he
gets to spend time with off the road. “When
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Sound.
20 PROFESSIONAL SOUND
I’m not out on tour, I can mostly be found
in my studio or at home with my family,”
he says. “One of the best things about our
profession is that you can take extended
periods off between tours,” and that typically
means quality time with his loved ones.
He and his family enjoy travelling to-
gether, so it’s not uncommon for them to
plan extended trips around Livesey’s diverse
tour schedule.
The engineer and production man-
ager says that 2019 is already shaping up
to be one of his busiest years yet, in large
part thanks to Young the Giant’s exten-
sive tour schedule. The band is currently
crossing North America alongside Fitz
and the Tantrums and will do so through
mid-August before setting off for a string
of European shows in September. That’s
in addition to a few high-profile festival
dates throughout the summer at events
like Osheaga in Montreal and Reeperbahn
in Germany.
“I’m really looking forward to new
challenges and new experiences,” Livesey
shares after a scan of his schedule. “You
never know where you might end up, but
you always know it’s going to be exciting.”