Sunshine Coast SoundCoolum, Sunshine Coast

Training — student operators, volunteers and staff across the Sunshine Coast

Teach the people who'll actually be on the desk.

Hands-on sound training in your own hall, on your own system, by a working live sound engineer. For school tech crews, church and club volunteers, and the staff member who got handed the mixer.

Why the system isn't the problem

Most halls have a sound system that's better than it sounds. The gap is that nobody was ever shown how to use it — the manual is in a drawer, the last person who knew left, and every Sunday someone turns the knob that squeals.

A few hours with an engineer fixes most of it. Not theory: your desk, your microphones, your room, with the people who'll be running it. We start with the thing that goes wrong most and work outward from there.

It's practical, not accredited, and it's designed so that when we leave, the room works without us.

Three or four students around a digital console in a school hall, one on the faders, Jack pointing at the screen. Landscape, natural light. Hero shot.trn-01-students-desk.jpg

Who we train

School student tech crews

Drama, music and media students who'll run assemblies, speech nights and the musical. A crew that sets up, sound-checks and operates without a teacher hovering.

Teachers

The performing arts or media teacher who inherited the hall system. Enough to run it confidently and to teach the next crew.

Church volunteers

The Sunday roster. A spoken service, a band, a baptism, a funeral — one system, several people, no feedback.

Club and hall committees

Surf clubs, bowls clubs, RSLs, community halls. Whoever picks up the raffle mic and whoever hires the hall out.

Venue and function staff

Resort and function-room staff who set the room and get asked "can you turn the mic on" by every client.

Bands and performers

Running your own small PA, mixing yourselves from the stage, and knowing what to ask for from a venue.

A student setting up a mic stand on stage while another checks a wireless pack — hands-on, not watching. Landscape.trn-02-students-setup.jpg
Church or hall volunteers at their own mixer with Jack beside them, a laminated card taped to the desk. Landscape.trn-03-volunteers-mixer.jpg
The laminated quick-start card itself, on a desk or wall panel, legible. Square or portrait.trn-04-quickstart-card.jpg

Learn it the way the professionals do it, on the desk you'll actually use.

Jack Scandrett has spent fifteen years on the desk in professional musical theatre, where the crew is trained properly because the show depends on it. The same approach scales down to a school hall: a clear order of operations, a sound-check that catches problems before the audience arrives, and a way to fix feedback that isn't "turn it down".

Students in particular respond to being treated as crew rather than helpers. Give them a real job and a real standard and they'll run your speech night better than the hire company did last year.

Your systemTaught on the gear in your hall, so nothing has to be translated afterwards.
Hands onFour to six on the desk at once. Everyone sets up, sound-checks and mixes something.
Leave-behindsA laminated quick-start card for your desk and a one-page troubleshooting sheet.
Come backA refresher a month later, once people have found the real questions.

Three ways to book it

Fixed prices, GST included, in your venue, travel across the Coast built in.

Volunteer half-day

$590inc GST, three hours plus a one-hour refresher

  • Churches, clubs, halls and venue staff
  • Your system, your room, up to six people
  • Set-up, sound-check, speech, music and a band
  • Feedback, wireless and the raffle mic
  • Laminated quick-start card, refresher a month on
Book a half-day

Student operator day

$990inc GST, a school day, up to eight students

  • Morning: how sound works, mics, the desk, wireless
  • Afternoon: run a mock assembly and a band from scratch
  • Roles for a student tech crew, and who does what
  • Quick-start card and troubleshooting sheet
  • Certificate of participation
Book a student day

Show-week mentoring

From $1,490inc GST, alongside a production package

  • Students learn the show on the real rig
  • We programme the desk, they operate it
  • Engineer beside them for tech, dress and opening
  • Radio mic backstage crew trained too
  • Step back as they're ready, still in the building
Book mentoring

Extras: a written operating manual for your system, a follow-up visit before a big event, and training bundled with a new installation or wireless purchase at a reduced rate. Everything is quoted in writing first.

What a session covers

Set-up. Speakers, stands, cabling, power, and the order to switch things on so nothing pops.

Microphones. Which one for what, how to hold and place them, wireless packs, batteries and what a dropout sounds like before it happens.

The desk. Gain, EQ, faders and the three things you'll actually touch during an event. Presets for your regular uses.

Sound-check and the show. A routine that catches problems early, how to fix feedback, and what to do when someone hands you a laptop.

Where we teach

Your hall, church, clubroom or school, anywhere from Noosa to Caloundra and the hinterland. If your system isn't in a fit state to teach on, we'll say so in the first half hour and often fix the worst of it on the spot — that's usually the best lesson of the day.

Questions teachers and committees ask

Do you train on our equipment or yours?

Yours, in your hall. Learning on the desk they'll actually use is the point. If your system needs tidying first, we say so and often fix it in the first hour.

How many people at once?

Four to six for hands-on time. Bigger groups work for theory and demonstration with smaller rotations on the desk.

What do students walk away with?

A laminated quick-start card for your system, a troubleshooting sheet, and the ability to run a speech night or small show without a teacher hovering.

Does it count towards anything?

It's practical, not accredited. Schools use it as enrichment and as tech-crew training. We provide a certificate of participation and, for senior students who've earned it, a reference.

Can you come back?

Yes, and we recommend it. A refresher a month later is where it sticks; it's included in the volunteer half-day.

Tell us who needs training

The venue, the system if you know it, how many people and what they'll be running. A written quote comes back within a day.