After getting a taste of the live events industry through college work experience, Tom decided to study BA (HONS) Live Events Production, as he was drawn to the idea of a course that offered a broad range of hands-on knowledge and skills.

Although his first year at ALT was fast-paced and intense at times, he describes the experience as “fun.” A key highlight for him was the opportunity to get hands-on with equipment for the first time and produce work using his newly developed skills.

“My first year at ALT gave me a really good overview of how everything worked and where I wanted to go next.”

Here are just some of the skills Tom learnt in his first year on campus. 

1. Live Sound Set-Up.

The live sound practical assessment was my first hands-on experience setting up a large-scale sound system . In the module, we worked through each stage of the setup process — from placing microphones and stands, to setting up backline instruments, amplifiers, and the patch system. By the end, we broke into smaller teams and successfully set up an entire stage and front-of-house sound system.

I'd never been hands-on with a sound desk before, so it was great learning how you set it up to start manipulating the sound.  I learnt about the placement of mics, the different types of mics, the process of getting mic cables to amps and then to the front of house. It's a really holistic way to understand live sound set-up. 

2. Festival Sound Changeovers

At a festival where multiple bands perform on the same stage, equipment will need to be rotated quickly between performances. Each band comes with their own set-up, including things like a drum riser and guitars. All of this then has to be plugged in and sent to a patch bay, which sends the signal to both the front-of-house and monitor desks.

In our live sound festival changeover lecture we built two or three risers, rolled them on, plugged them all in, did a sound test, unplugged and rolled another one in. We repeated this process throughout the day. It was a nice way of learning how it’s done if we ever want to go on to work the festival scene.

3. Truss and Stage Deck Assembly

We had a whole module dedicated to the staging aspects of live events. It taught us how you set up truss with motors, set up staging ,and look at different configurations. Over the weeks, we played around with different stage and truss designs, honing our skills. When you're hanging equipment in the air, it's got to be safe. I'm very confident with this now, especially when we're putting rigging in the air.

4. Lighting Set-Up

As part of our lighting lecture, which focused on ground package builds, we built a top rig with truss and mounted lights. As a group, we went through the entire process—moving the fixtures from the flight cases or meter racks to the floor, positioning them correctly, and ensuring they were connected to both power and data sources. We set it up so that it was all running to front-of-house so that you could control it all.

5. How to Use Load Cells

Load cells are devices that we put on the motors to check how much weight each motor is carrying, ensuring we don’t overload them. We had a demonstration of the amount of weight the load cells and the motors can take. It can seem counterintuitive because the motors will take different amounts of weight depending on whereabouts the weight is distributed along a piece of truss. When you raise or lower truss, the weight the motor is carrying changes. It was good to see it happening in real time. We’d learnt about it but seeing it in action made it really sink in.

6. Stage Lighting Principles

We set up a top and ground rig and then had 20 minutes to hop on the desk and create a lighting look using stage lighting principles. We used colour and stage lighting theories to create a look using front and side lighting.  It was good to put our theoretical knowledge of lighting into practice.

I think the best way to learn is always just having a go. If you have an idea you want to test out, the best way is just to try and figure it out yourself. Having time to play around was really cool.

7. Double-Stack Projector System

If you’re projecting something onto a screen but the projector isn't bright enough, or you're in a bright room, then you can use a double-stack projector system to compensate. You put another projector on top of the original projector and send it the same image. You have to calibrate them in a way that means the pictures overlap exactly, so it doubles the brightness. We learnt how to use some of the software that enables you to do this and got to grips with the buttons on the back of the projectors as well. 

8. Vision mixing & multi-cam systems

During my first year, I had my first introduction to using a live camera system.  We set up multiple cameras, either on tripods or wheels, and link them to a vision mixer. This allows you to switch which camera goes out for live broadcast. That led into our video assessment, where we had to set up the video wall projector and multi-cam system. We decided what content appeared on the video wall, and  what we sent to the recorder from each camera. It simulated how a TV studio or a football game might work.

9. Vectorworks

Vectorworks is a 3D design software that we used to create lighting and stage concept as part of our Concept Design and Presentation module. Using Vectorworks was a bit of a steep learning curve, but once I understood how the software worked, it was really fun to use and I enjoyed designing in it. For this project we had to choose an artist and create a concept which was in line with their brand. We had a pre-made CAD of Studio 3 in Vectorworks to design our stage in. I chose to base my project on one of my favourite artists, NF.  I researched his tour, lighting setups, and his artistic visions. I tried to emulate that with the CAD stage and the lighting design I came up with.

10. Avolites Titan

Avolites is a company that manufacture lighting desks, and their software, Titan, is used to control lighting fixtures. The software includes also includes a visualiser as well. Essentially it’s what we use to control the colours and movements of the lighting. I used Titan to demonstrate how the lights would look when I positioned them. I decided to visualise my lighting design using Avolites because it felt like the most intuitive way to do it.

If you fancy following in Tom’s footsteps, you can find out more information about our Live Event Production course here. Why not book onto one of our upcoming Open Days to get a taste for life as an ALT student?