but for him for sure ,” he remarks . “ I ’ ve never seen a stage design the way that his creative team put together . It was incredible for this last tour , man .”
As a monitor engineer , Snipes is able to build a great relationship with the artists he works with , including Post Malone . Part of how Snipes achieves the consistency he strives for is from knowing the artist , and he ’ s gotten to a point with Post where he is able to tell if something is up .
“ When he ’ s on stage , I know when he ’ s not comfortable ,” Snipes elaborates . “ Because his energy will change , or he ’ ll be messing with his pack consistently throughout the song or from song or song . So , when you see him doing his own element , and it ’ s like he doesn ’ t even have a pack on , it ’ s just him up there performing , he doesn ’ t have any in-ears on , and it just looks like he ’ s just in it all the way — that ’ s when I know it was a great night . He didn ’ t ask for anything , didn ’ t need anything , that ’ s a smooth night for me .”
Snipes has hit his stride with Post Malone and doesn ’ t see himself needing to change anything in the foreseeable future , unless Post decides to go out on tour with a full band or something requiring a wholly different setup .
“ He ’ s loved the sound that we ’ ve built for him and doesn ’ t complain about anything ,” Snipes says . “ He ’ ll tell me if he wants a little more music or maybe a little bit more vocal on a particular night , but other than that , it ’ s been really , really solid for us , man .”
All in all , Snipes finds being a monitor engineer much different than any other role he ’ s filled , and the sense of reward that comes with it is different as well .
“ As a monitor engineer , you can become very close to the artists because it ’ s just you and them . You have to communicate back and forth more so than anyone else outside of maybe a production manager , but in terms of what they want , and what they need to perform , is just you and them , so it ’ s a very rewarding and a very great position to be in to build a relationship and understand them , not only as an artist , but as a person and the things that they like and the things that they don ’ t like onstage ,” he says . “ It ’ s a very personal experience , to be able to be a monitoring engineer , because you have to literally build a relationship with that person and understand their language .”
In a high-energy and interactive show like Post Malone ’ s , Snipes strives to find a balance between the artist hearing himself and his levels clearly without burying that special touch that is the energy coming from the crowd , making the performance stronger . He says there are parts in Post ’ s show where the singer wants to hear and feel the audience ’ s response and not feel like he ’ s alone in a booth — especially when he ’ s in an arena under enough lights that he can ’ t see the people .
“ I had quite a bit of audience spikes on
42 PROFESSIONAL SOUND his last tour ,” Snipes says . “ It was just a matter of blending and panning and getting it to feel really natural and real when he ’ s onstage , but not too much when he ’ s performing , because you don ’ t want it to overpower what he ’ s hearing in his ear . That ’ s definitely a part of it as well , just feeling that he ’ s in an arena , and being able to feed off of the energy of the crowd .”
Speaking of crowd interaction , Post Malone goes beyond simply having his audience sing with him — in some shows , he brings up a fan to play guitar with him . Snipes says this is something he and the rest of the sound crew are always ready for , and it usually only involves a few small adjustments on his part .
“ That ’ s something he just started , I think , on this last tour ; I ’ d never really seen him do it before , but it ’ s really cool , man ,” says Snipes . “ And honestly , it doesn ’ t change much for us , because we don ’ t know when he ’ s going to do it , what night he ’ s going to do it , but it ’ s just one of those things that we ’ re always prepared for . It ’ s essentially just making sure we have enough cable for the guitar to be pulled a little bit more . I might make a little adjustment in terms of how they ’ re playing , if
he might need more or less , that type thing . Somebody might get up there , and they ’ re going really hard on the guitar , or they might be playing very soft . So I might adjust again , but for the most part , we ’ re pretty set up for the event that he wants somebody else to play . And he has his in-ears , so the only thing that we will try to compensate for is maybe the person not being able to hear as much , but it ’ s more so the experience when that happens , than it is being perfect .”
A little moment Snipes looks forward to each night is the few minutes before Post Malone takes the stage when the two will greet each other , catch up briefly , and Snipes hands Post his in-ear pack and watches him grab his mic and take the stage . Then the show begins and Snipes knows exactly what he ’ s in for .
“ I consider the monitor engineer like the stage general ,” Snipes says . “ You have to be able to make sure that everything is correct for them , once they hit the stage , and that they ’ re comfortable up there .”
PHOTO BY : DANIEL MACADANGDANG / SEATTLE REFINED