Exclusive Interview with Ryan Nichols – Switchfoot’s Sound Engineer and Production Manager

Jeanna: “Ryan thanks so much for talking to us today, we really appreciate it. I guess we’ll start at the beginning… how long have you worked for Switchfoot and how did you get started with them?”

Ryan: “I’ve been working for them for 9 years. It started when I was working for another management company and Switchfoot had a different guy with them at the time, but he was unable to be there for a few shows, so I said “Sure, yeah, I’ll fill in” and I just had a great time…. loved it. So I told them, “Hey if you ever need help again, just let me know” and sure enough, a couple of months later the guy they had at the time left, and they called me and it worked out, so I started working with them. I was with another band at the time, pretty good gig… I got huge breaks from that, so I told them at first, I was just going to do a when I could fill in kind of thing, nothing full time, but that quickly changed! When you meet the guys you understand why! They’re just SO great to work with, from everything to their songwriting to… well as you can imagine, when you tour with someone it’s not just a “job” – it’s pretty much an entire lifestyle. It’s like a family, so it’s pretty important to like the people you work with and get along. There’s a lot of people out there that don’t necessarily care… they just get gigs here and there and they could really care less, but I’ve always looked for more than that. The guys obviously provide a great environment and it’s just an amazing thing to be a part of, I mean I’ve felt blessed to even just be able to spend time with them and work with them, and here it’s been nine years! It’s hard to believe. It has been great. Long story short, that’s pretty much it. I just kind of fell into it and next thing you know… 9 years. And there’s no looking back, so it’s been awesome.”

Job: “Could you outline your duties? Like what does a day look like for you?”

Ryan: “I’m not just their sound engineer, I’m also their production manager so basically any time there’s a show – any sort of event – I even do Jon Foreman’s solo stuff as well as Fiction Family stuff, so if there’s any performance by the band, whether it’s on a TV show, whether it’s in a hotel ballroom for an acoustic thing… anything like that. I have to advance all the requirements and what the show will entail as far as sound, lights, whether we need backline and if you don’t need backline, how are we getting our backline there – the logistics of all of that. That can be as simple as going to the studio and picking up our gear in an abandoned trailer and driving it 20 minutes down the road to a show or it can be as complicated as flying to Australia with our gear and then playing on rented backline every single day. It’s totally different.

Long story short, a normal tour day is typically waking up at – sometime in the morning! Then spend a little bit of morning time working out, having breakfast, relaxing – pretty much my window of free time is in the morning. Probably at about 9:00 or 10:00 I’m loading the show – but now that’s if we’re handling all the production; if that’s being brought in… because a lot of times I’ll just have a local company do that. So they know what I want basically, so they handle setting it all up. Luckily on those days, I don’t have to get in till maybe 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon, at which time we bring in the bands gear, set up the stage. I oversee all my crew guys as well as the local crew guys, making that happen. Then the lighting – as soon as I can, I have to get our lighting guy on the system because a lot of times it’s different equipment to deal with. The band comes in, typically at around 4:00 for a soundcheck which can last anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half, depending of if they have new songs they’re working on, or if they have something they want to rehearse, because that’s their only window to do that. So we finish that, let the other bands get on stage – (of course this is all if we’re headlining). Then at that time, we go eat dinner, relax a little bit, make sure things are cool for the doors to open up – typical time would be 7:00.

The show would then start at 8:00 and we go on anywhere between 9:00 to 10:30 and then play usually about an hour or an hour and a half… now that is when I run sound for the band, out front, next to the guy running lights. We run the show, show ends, we break everything down, put it all away and go on to the next place! That’s my day!

Jeanna: “That’s an INSANE day.”

Ryan: “Yeah then you wake up and do it all again!”

Jeanna: “Along those lines, we solicited questions from the fans, and one fan asked ‘With back to back tours and busy schedules, how do you prep for each show in order to not burn out?”

Ryan: “That’s a good questions. I mean obviously there is only so much you can do ahead of time but of course doing as much as possible ahead of time saves a LOT. It basically means I, in advance, prep everything with the local crew, of course our gear is all set up, so that whatever of our own stuff (or if we’re going to go on tour and rent things long term) it all gets labeled. So basically you go in with the mindset that I’m going to break this down as little as possible so that tomorrow I have to set it up as little as possible. So the little things – like Chad’s drum kit, you know you only take apart as much as you need to, to get it to fit in the box type of thing! Now we’re getting ready to go to Australia and South East Asia and every day we’ll have a different drum kit, that won’t be set up for Chad. So the set up takes a lot longer… that’s pretty much where I would say, I prepare for that by working with people that I like! It makes every other aspect of touring enjoyable because it can get really… you can get burned out I guess. But I am just lucky enough, because I really love it, I love the people I work with, we have a great time, so I enjoy it. Now I’m away from my family, so it’s a hassle, but I’m with my other family and we go do things… like I said in the morning, we go work out, we go have a good breakfast somewhere, relax, hang out. At night we watch movies – of course you’re driving down the road in a bus! So I guess what I’m trying to say is you really learn to appreciate the windows of opportunities to relax and have fun, so that when you work you don’t get burned out.

The guys typically have a tendency to plan lots of shows in a row… that’s not most people’s touring plan. I guess their idea is the least amount of time we have to be away from home, the better, so if we have 9 days, let’s do 9 shows, rather than let’s do 2 shows then have a day off so we can relax… we’ll stay at home for a week, go out for 9 days, then come home for a week, rather than consistently going… spreading it out. It works really well but sometimes it’s hard. We just had one of our toughest tours ever, which was the one in Latin America and South America, recently. I can’t even… you know what’s funny, my mom could probably tell you exactly how it was… actually she did, she spouted it off the other day when she was visiting here… something like 9 shows in 10 days in 8 different countries… something crazy like that! All I knew is I left home, and then I came home and I was really tired and I’d been to some amazing places but I didn’t really experience that much. Again though, it’s awesome. Playing for people in all these different places also helps… I guess one last thing on this question would be that one thing I would say, is I do the production management thing because I like to work. When I’m out, I’d rather be working than sitting around, so I do lots of work, however, the audio mixing the band part of it, is very creative to me, and it’s a side of it that I wholeheartedly love. That hour and a half that I’m mixing Switchfoot… you know, I guess some people would say “How do you not get tired of hearing the same songs over and over again?” I mean I’ve seen every show that the band has played in the last 9 years, minus a couple that I missed because of my honeymoon and all, but I LOVE hearing the band. It never gets tiring for me. I love mixing the band. Without that hour and a half of creative time to blow off steam if you will, I would probably go crazy. I have to have that. Without that I wouldn’t be able to do what I do. It’s something that I really, really enjoy and take lots of pride in. So that would be my answer to that question: I have to mix every day then I’m good! You take that away from me, I’m going to burn out!”

Job: “How does the size of the venue effect the way you mix the audio, does it change the way you mix or is it mostly the same?”

Ryan: “It does change, a lot of it has to do with – you have to take into account what the audience is going to hear onstage… I’ll give you two examples. Say like the Roxy, where you’re in a room, the size of a small elementary school cafeteria, that holds 500 people, so everyone is going to hear Drew’s amp on stage, right from the stage. So if I put it in the speakers, the same line that I would use if we were playing a show in say, the Staples center or an arena, where most people don’t get most of the sound from Drew himself, I have to give it to him – there’s a huge difference there. Basically what I have to do is I have to always be aware of the environment as far as what they’re going to hear. The goal is to have everything the same balance for each person every night, and of course that’s NEVER going to happen because of the way it’s set up. I do my best to make it that way, and I feel pretty confident in what I want Switchfoot to sound like, what I feel like they want to sound like, and the ability to get that sound to a person – whether it’s a little club or a giant amphitheater. It’s a big challenge for sure! It’s something that I’ve worked on for 9 years, since I was 22, but I still work on that! That’s basically my craft. I haven’t mastered it… I don’t know if I ever will! I guess the hope is that you never really master it, because then that would be boring. There is always a new challenge and there’s nothing like playing an intimate show for 350 people in a little theatre, but trying to make that show sound good can be really difficult… but sometimes it can be really easy.”

Jeanna: “Well like you said, you’ve been with them for 9 years so we’re just wondering what are some of the crazy tour stories that you have to share, just crazy weird things that happen on the road?”

Ryan: “Well let’s see… crazy weird things that happen on the road… I’ll start with super fun days off… we don’t always have that many, but certain ones come to mind. One of the best ever was a day off in the Edmonton Mall. It has a waterpark in it and we got an entire day to just run around. And it was a snowy day outside, and they had a big glass roof, so there is snow all over the glass roof, and you’re inside in trunks, running around, riding waterslides. It sounds really childish, but you have to understand we’re all ocean kids, so we love that stuff. They have a wave pool there and waterslides that they don’t really have anywhere else… let me put it this way: We went in when the place opened and we were some of the last people to leave. We were worn out! Little things like that. We do a lot of shows in amusement parks and most of the time we get the ability to go ride some rides. I’ve ridden a lot of roller coasters!

Crazy tour stories? It’s the little weird things like Jon loosing his passport in Costa Rica when our next show is in Bogota, Columbia and it’s the NEXT day, and how are we going to get Jon there?”

Jeanna: “How DID you get Jon there?!”

Ryan: “It was really a challenge. Our tour manager at the time, who is amazing, stayed with Jon while the rest of us went on to Bogata and they started working on getting a new passport – which I should also say that it’s Saturday, so that was all challenging in itself – or at least some sort of document that would allow him to go on. In the meantime, Jon and the promoter started working on the process of backtracking everywhere Jon had been, to just see what they could come up with, on the off chance that they could find it. And they ended up finding it in the bus that we rode from the airport to the hotel in. He had lost it the minute we got to Costa Rica, but didn’t realize it until we were leaving, because you don’t use your passport when you’re there. It had sat on the floor of this bus – and I don’t know if anyone else road the bus either. So we had gone from Bogota and set up the show, and Jon had basically got on the last flight in, landed, went through customs, went right to the venue. I think we held the show for half an hour, and kind of pushed back the openers, knowing we would need to. And he basically walked right into the venue, walked right on stage and did the show. That was how close it was!

Most of the crazy stuff has been out of the country, just because that’s where crazy stuff happens. Another extremely memorable day off was the day we spent in Prague, just running around and enjoying the day, and it was BEAUTIFUL. We tend to get really lucky, or we have been really lucky with our days off – I’ve been to Seattle fifteen times in the last 3 years and it’s always beautiful when I go. People are always like “It’s always raining in Seattle!” – but not when we go apparently! I don’t understand!

So little things like that, the guys always seem to have some sort of ability to arrange water sports with people so we fun boat days, and riding motor boats and going wakeboard, wakesurfing – stuff like that. We just spent a really good day in Miami that was really fun. Again, I don’t really have that many CRAZY stories. I’m trying to think of a good crazy SHOW story. We just did a show in December in Denver – it was December or January. I think it was January in Denver. The show was going to be outside because it’s for this big huge ski jumping competition and it’s in DENVER, COLORADO. And I was like “They’ve got their instruments on stage… how cold is it going to be?” and they’re like “Oh it will be cold, but we have heaters and stuff!” Well the heaters KIND of work, but it’se also really hard because the instruments sit off stage and then they come on stage… and having a heater blow on you, but you’re still playing a guitar in 35 degree weather, it’s still playing a guitar in 35 degree weather. You can’t wear gloves, let’s put it that way! So it was pretty cold. And the guys had a good time, but it was interesting. But to make it more interesting, it started to snow. So it was pretty good. We had a blast at that. That was a pretty good time, I have to say. I’m not looking forward to doing another show outside in the snow. Several years ago we did one at Sundance and that was even colder. And again they had heaters, but when it’s 4 degrees outside, the heater isn’t going to do what it needs to. You’re still playing a show in 4 degree weather. I actually remember having the bonfire next to the mixing station, which I thought was going to make me warm, but nah. Nah. It kind of helps but…

Jeanna: “Cold weather is just COLD, it’s not going to help.”

Ryan: “Ha yeah! So those were some pretty good ones! Also though, the Sundance one included a couple of days of snowboarding so, how can you complain about doing a show for an hour outside when you get 2 days of snow boarding at park city.”

Job: “Since the guys are getting ready to put out a new album, do you know anything that’s going on with that, or anything about the upcoming tour, anything you can share with us?”

Ryan: “Well let’s see, I have been able to listen to some of the songs. I tend not to spend a lot of time listening during the beginning of the process, just because it changes so drastically. I usually wait until they get at least the basic format of each song, because they’ll change drastically. There have been songs that have gone on records that sound absolutely nothing like their initial demo. Let me just say, I’m EXTREMELY excited about this record. The guys have this ability to put out a record that is even better than the one before it. Which people think “Oh my gosh, how are they going to do that this time!?” because “Hello Hurricane” was a great record and we had a really good time supporting that and playing those shows, and doing the Hello Hurricane shows. So you look at that and you say “How in the world do you come up with something better than that?” but they have somehow managed to do it. I cannot wait for this record.”

Jeanna: “Neither can we.”

Ryan: “I know! And it’s going to be REALLY good. This is the hardest time for me because there is still a lot left to be done to it, as far as mixing and mastering and all that, but for the most part, the meat and potatoes of it is done, and it’s going to be months before it comes out. It’s like “Ugggh what do I do for now? I want to be able to play it for my friends and have them buy it and listen to it, and then come see it!” This is a tough part right now. But I’m excited about it, I can’t wait for everyone to hear these songs. They are absolutely amazing… and I’ve only been able to really hear probably 3 of them live because the guys haven’t really worked out how they’re going to play it live yet. Little things like one… “Dark Horses”… that’s amazing.”

Jeanna: “Yeah we’ve heard that one, that’s a popular one.”

Ryan: “Yeah! It’s actually changed a little bit since they’ve played it, so it will be interesting to see how that works. But that’s such a good, heavy rock song that I excited about that. The tour? We’re going to Australia and South East Asia, doing a lot of shows down there. It’s been a little while since we’ve been there, so that will be fun. Then we’re coming back and we’re going to go to Canada in MAY! Which is REALLY exciting for me, because the last 2 times we’ve been to Canada it was in January and February and May is a drastically different time of the year to go. When you go to Canada and it snows EVERY single day, it starts to wear on you. But I have a feeling we’re going to escape that… I hope? Maybe?

Job: “Finger crossed!”

Jeanna: “My best friend lives in Canada and apparently the weather is really nice then, so you should be okay.”

Ryan: “There you go. Okay! Yeah, so we might even see flowers and stuff! That’d be nice. Then we come back and we’ll do some US shows finally, so I’m pretty excited about that. Of course the Bro-Am is a super fun time of the year in June. It’s going to be June 18th this year… always, always enjoy that. I don’t know if you guys have had a chance to come out for that? It’s awesome.

Jeanna: “I haven’t.”

Job: “I have. It’s so great.”

Ryan: “You should try! I know it’s a trip but it’s the hardest day of work for me of the year, but it’s also the most fun. It’s not every day you get to work on the sandy beach of Encinitas and do a rock show while the guys are doing a surf competition, and hang out in the sun with family and friends. It’s a really good time. We always have interesting bands come and play. Everything from pro-surfers bands to OK GO, last year and Chris Shiflett from the Foo Fighters, his side project. It’s really, really kind of eclectic bands, we try to mix it up, have some singer songwriter types, more popular bands, whoever we can get to come out. It’s an interesting show, and it’s an interesting time for me because they always try to put as many bands as possible on the stage, so it’s a lot of work, but again, it’s REALLY fun.”

Jeanna: “Are you mixing all the bands that come on for the Bro-Am, are you taking care of that? Or do they all have their own?”

Ryan: “Well no, they all won’t have their own, some will – OK GO did, and a couple of the other bands some times do, but for the most part, basically, what I try to do… well when I first started to do it, I tried and I was like “yeah I can do this” and yeah you can, but by the end of the day, you’re just fried. So basically I have friends who work for other bands and locals who work for some churches and this and that, that mix. Plus, there will be a guy who works for the production company. A lot of times, what I do is try to set it up in a way, like “Hey you mix this band and I’ll mix the next band, you can go get some lunch or some sun or go swimming in the ocean;” “I’ll do a band, and then you do the next band,” so it’s kind of like we just share it. I kind of oversee it all and make sure the system is pretty tight on how loud it can be, so that’s a challenge… I try to make the PA so that it can’t get too loud… I know that sounds weird, but you can put a governor on, like you do on your car or something. So I’ve learned over the years to share that, and it just becomes a much more enjoyable experience for everyone, and that way nobody works too hard and we all have a good time. But yes, I do oversea the entire production of that show and like I said, it’s a big day, but it’s super fun. When your work is fun, it’s a weird…”

Jeanna: “Yeah can you call it a job even? Well we’re running out of time, but do you have time to answer one more? I think the fans would like to know what kind of mixer/soundboard do you use?”

Ryan: “That’s an easy question! It’s a digidesign profile is the console that I use the most and that I enjoy working on the most. Digidesign makes Protools, so it’s the same company that makes the program that the guys record their records on, so there’s a lot of cross over of sounds and plugs ins… it’s kind of like apps for your phone. What’s really fun and exciting about that console is that it’s digital so it’s computerized… so basically I carry around thumbdrives, USBs, that have my console on them. So if I go to Singapore and I get this console, I put my thumbdrive in and bam, it has all my stuff in it. So I don’t have to carry around this big console, I carry around my little thing to put in there… now every once and awhile, I will travel with one because it makes it easy, and I don’t have to worry about it, because you can’t always get it. I have Switchfoot things for maybe 8 or 9 different digital consoles, so if I get one of the 8 or 9, I’m good to go! If not, I have a lot of work to do, but at the end of the day, I’ll have 10!”

Jeanna: “We really appreciate you talking to us, I know you’ve been with the band forever, and we’ve both been wanting to interview you for years now, so thank.”

Job: “Thank you so much Ryan.”

Ryan: “Right on, please come say hi next time you’re at a show! I will look forward to it!”