Sohel Dantes - Audio Systems Engineer of the Year
A career in live sound is now more competitive than ever, and few live sound engineers have been able to stand out and make their presence felt. This is even more so when it comes to Systems Engineering which has more often than not, been overshadowed by the glamour of Front of House engineering.
PALM Sound & Light Awards 2019, honoured Sohel Dantes with the award for AUDIO SYSTEMS ENGINEER of the year for delivering outstanding audio systems design, calibration and alignment for live sound events in 2018-2019. This article takes a sneak peek at Sohel’s journey to becoming a sought after live sound engineer.
Sohel Dantes with the award for Audio Systems Engineer of the Year
Live sound systems engineers are responsible for designing the sound system, installing, optimizing, and maintaining the complex PA systems and amps and the PALM Sound and Light awards has always attempted to recognize the genius of Systems Engineers for live events. Sohel Dantes who won this award, in 2019, beautifully sums up the crucial role that systems engineers play in live events. “To be honest, it came as quite a surprise that left me in a blissful daze until I was up on that stage receiving the award for ‘’Systems Engineer of the Year 2019’’! It was at that instant when the realization of how important this accolade was that began to dawn on me. It is the subconscious responsibility that we as Systems Engineers have taken upon ourselves to ensure the truest representation of an artist’s creation to their audiences. To ensure that mix engineers are able to recreate that art with utmost ease in the most stubborn venues. To ensure that clients and audiences alike, get what they paid for, never compromising on quality, consistency and efficiency day in and day out. It is as simple as that! The toughest part is acknowledging this fact first! The math and physics are still to follow.”
“ I am extremely grateful to PALM India for bestowing this honour on me and for recognizing the years of hard work put in. I also owe this success to my colleagues, mentors, crew, students, teachers, inspirers, lovers & haters, without whom I would never be able to build the mettle to survive this crazy industry. This award is the beginning of a new chapter and a shout out to all budding Systems Engineers from different parts of the country... keep your heads on your shoulders and FOCUS! ”
Sohel Dantes
Born and brought up in Mumbai, Sohel was always fascinated by the world of audio. An audio aficionado, Sohel loved anything to do with music/sound/acoustics and technology. He eventually dropped out of an MBA course and moved to UK with his family to pursue his quest for perfection in audio. While in UK, he joined the Manchester MIDI School (now called School of Electronic Music) and enrolled for a diploma course in Music Production & Recording. It was when he was told that “live sound is not meant for you” that Sohel decided that ‘’Live Sound’’ is exactly what he had to do!
After completing his course Sohel joined a small rental company in London eagerly devouring all the work that came his way, from audio to video and lighting. Post the short stint of one year with the rental company, Sohel moved to Bangalore 10 years ago to work with Reynolds, one of India’s premiere rental companies.
Since then he has honed his skills in Systems Engineering and worked with some of the biggest acts touring the globe. From the late Pdt. Ravi Shankar to Metallica, Musical Theatre Productions and numerous high profile corporate events, Sohel has gained considerable experience taming different rooms to work with a wide variety of genres.
Developing from an enthusiastic kid, interested in all nuances of audio, to designing and optimizing systems for some of the biggest acts to tour our shores; doing what he does is no more a job for Sohel. “It has become an obsession,” he enthuses.
In the last two to three years, Sohel has been part of some of the most high profile live concerts and music festivals which included Bryan Adams Ultimate Tour, Bangalore Open Air, Steven Wilson, Guns N Roses, Poets Of The Fall, Deadmau5, Tiesto, Avicii, Hardwell, Indigo Blues and Jazz Festival, Backdoors Festival, NH7 Weekender, Sunburn, Timeout Festival, and Serendipity Music & Arts Festival to name just a few.
“Over the past 15 years, I have been exploring different ways of expressing myself through the medium of sound; be it spinning tracks as a DJ, sound design and music production or recording bands in studios, to live sound reinforcement – This journey (with its fair share of ups and downs) has been epic! He concludes.