Hi. I'm Olly Wickes, a freelance sound engineer based in the South West of England. Almost fifteen years ago, I left a former career in aircraft engineering behind me to pursue a new life in Plymouth, Devon. I studied at dBs Music on a Music Production and Sound Engineering Diploma, and later on the Live Sound BA Honours degree.
I worked for dBs Music, initially as a technician installing and commissioning studios and IT spaces for educational use and later as a lecturer on the Live Sound program. I met Simon Honywill and Jim Parsons whilst working as a technician, both of whom were lecturers on the Live Sound degree course. I felt naturally drawn to them and their exciting career paths and so signed up to the Live Sound course myself as soon as I could. The rest as they say...
As a dedicated live sound technician for the course, I became responsible for preparing resources, maintaining and testing equipment as well as engineering in our dedicated live music venue, The Hippo. (Later, the Hub) It was in this venue that I cut my teeth mixing bands and learning my craft as a front of house and monitor engineer. The venue had an installed Martin Audio WT3 point source pa system which I helped to install and maintain. Over the years I mixed many a band in this space, advancing shows, dealing with touring crew and managing a small team of in house sound engineers to cope with the venue's busy schedule..
I qualified as a lecturer and have taught on the Live Sound degree at dBs Music to the present day. I am passionate about education and learning and consider it an essential part of modern day sound engineering. I enjoy embracing the wide range of training and educational opportunities presented by many manufacturers. To better oneself is key to adding value to the services we can provide.
I have always considered Jim and Simon my professional mentors and have gained so much from working with them both over the years. Their pursuit of excellence has never failed to impress and motivate me. I find their passion for the industry and their love of all things "live sound" to be somewhat addictive.
Nearly a decade ago, Simon introduced me to RG Jones Sound Engineering, who I have gained extensive experience working with as one of their regulars. I have worked on a wide range of music, classical, corporate and sporting events with RG Jones and have been able to hone my craft using top of the range equipment and cutting edge technologies, whilst working alongside a great team of other sound engineers whom I am continually learning from to this day.
I manage the audio provision across this small festival site with a team of local freelancers, working on behalf of dBs Music. We use a combination of Martin Audio and d&b Audiotechnik loudspeaker systems for the main stages, combined with a range of Digital consoles, esnsuring the setup is rider friendly and capable of providing consistent audio across the audience areas. The festival showcases a wide range of up and coming indie and electronic acts. My job is to advance the show and ensure we have a suitable stage package of microphones and monitors to facilitate each act as required. On site I lead the team of audio engineers and communicate with the client to ensure the event runs smoothly and to time.
I have been mixing monitors for the 8 piece Martin Barre band across this summer at a number of UK and European festivals. I hope to continue my work with the band in to 2020 for the next leg of American touring. We are using an Allen and Heath SQ5 package for FOH and Monitor consoles.
As part of the RG Jones team, I helped to install the ground stacked PA system for the Muller Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium in Strtford, London. I mixed the House band on a Yamaha QL5 which formed part of the program material during the show.
As part of the RG Jones team, I helped to install and operate site wide audio provision across all venues, including the Main Floating stage which features a Martin Audio MLA Compact loudspeaker system, the Jazz Club and Bedouin stages, each utilising MLA Mini systems, a site wide paging system consisting of a networked 100V Line system and the Comedy Club, using a distributed sytem of DD12 Loudspeakers. Once rigged, my main responsibility was to operate sound as FOH and Monitor engineer in the Jazz Club venue. The venue featured a wide range of talented jazz acts as well as all of the BBC Introducing acts over the week long festival program.
As part of the site wide RG Jones team, I worked on the West Holts stage. My main responsibilities were to rig the main and delay pa towers and assisted the system technician whilst getting the pa system online. I also worked on stage to build the stage patch and microphone world as one of the patch engineers.