Professional Sound - June 2019 | Page 20

PROFILE Meaghan McEachren By Andrew King A s a fixture of Toronto’s profession- al audio community, Meaghan McEachren has compiled an impressive resume in recent years – one that includes stints working with some of the biggest companies in the business on some of the biggest shows and events in markets across the country. Inter- estingly, though, her journey in professional audio didn’t start in the epicentre of Canada’s entertainment community; far from it, in fact. The northern Ontario township of Chap- leau – about 200 km west of Timmins – is best known as the home of the Chapleau Crown Game Reserve, one of the largest in the world, and the Canadian Pacific railyard that dissects its downtown; however, in past years, it also played host to a relatively popular arts and culture festival that presented some of the country’s best-known artists from various disciplines for local residents and visitors from a pretty wide radius. “My dad was the technical director while I was in high-school, so I was a volunteer and followed him around doing odd jobs and helping to set up the sound and light production that came up from a Burlington company called FM Systems,” McEachren explains. “That was my first real exposure to audio and lighting.” Needless to say, she developed a keen interest in live production and its related technologies and, after finishing her second- ary studies, enrolled in Sheridan College’s Technical Production for the Performing Arts Industry program. Almost immediately after her graduation in 2007, she landed a position in the shop at Clair Canada (then Towers). A few years and a slew of gigs later, she left the position and set off to travel the world for a year-and-a-half. Since returning, she’s been working as an in-demand freelance tech for top produc- tion suppliers like Clair, Solotech, Westbury National, VER, and PRG. “I’ve started to branch out and do some TV work lately as well as live audio,” she adds. At this point, between live and broad- cast applications, her list of credits would be enviable to even some of the country’s most seasoned techs: the CTV music discovery se- ries The Launch; live telecasts like the MMVAs, JUNO Awards, and Grey Cup Halftime Show; major music festivals including Boots and Hearts, Wayhome, and VELD; and tours with Arkells, Roxette, and WE Day. “Whenever they need local production for events at Bud- weiser Stage or one of the arenas in town, I’ll take those sometimes, too,” she adds. Most recently, she was out crossing the country with Metric and July Talk as part of the PRG team and is now getting ready for a busy summer festival season. Asked about her favourite aspect of a career in pro audio, her answer is a common one: “Getting to work with great people all the time.” In fact, that’s also the thing that makes one of the bigger challenges she faces more bearable. “Being a woman in this industry is difficult – especially in audio,” she says bluntly, “but I work with a great group of people that don’t put up with others’ sexist nonsense.” Outside of work, she likes to travel as often as her schedule will accommodate – “usually to Fiji, but I’ve been to other places in the South Pacific, as well as North, Central, and South America, parts of the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Eng- land,” she shares. The travel helps her deal with bouts Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Sound. 20 PROFESSIONAL SOUND of depression, which might surprise some people considering she has a reputation among her peers for being generally happy and upbeat. (It was actually comments from colleagues about her skills as a tech and pleasant demeanor on gigs that prompted Professional Sound to reach out for this Profile in the first place.) She also enjoys various forms of crafting and baking in her downtime. “And I also like to get out to the gym – mainly for Aquafit,” she adds. As far as what’s on her calendar for the rest of 2019, she’s hoping to take a few months at the end of the year to continue her global expeditions, hitting some new and some familiar destinations. In the meantime, though, she’s looking to “keep learning new things and correcting misconceptions I have about other things” with regards to her work, and will undoubt- edly be plenty busy with summer festivals and a myriad of other projects – all of which will be additions to an already impressive pro audio resume.