Whether they're stepping up to engineer front-of-house sound at Lollapalooza, setting up speakers for Taylor Swift, or soundscaping award-winning video games, Michigan Technological University alumni are making waves in the audio industry.
On the Road with Superstars
Charles Southward graduated from Michigan Tech in 2018 with a degree in audio production and technology. His career hit the ground running with Eighth Day Sound in Cleveland, Ohio. The company provides equipment and technicians for live touring productions. Soon after graduation, Southward found himself working with artists such as Tyler, The Creator; The Script; and 311. The highlights of his career are two more recent tours he calls "ones for the history books” — Rage Against the Machine's summer 2022 tour and Taylor Swift's Eras tour in 2023-24.
“It was cool to see how Rage Against the Machine and Taylor Swift attracted fans of all ages to their productions," said Southward. “Both tours consist of iconic artists with powerful fan bases and fantastic atmosphere every minute of every workday.”
This summer Southward gets to work with another legendary group: Earth, Wind & Fire. He credits his star-studded career's swift launch to the hands-on learning of Michigan Tech's Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Southward recalls spending many hours in the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts and Walker Arts and Humanities Center studios and learning spaces.
“We had the opportunity to learn in an environment that allowed for failure and exploration of ideas,” said Southward. “Sometimes that meant long nights in the catwalks of McArdle Theatre, but they were the most memorable experiences as well as the most educational.”
Southward said students and young professionals interested in live touring as audio professionals should be ready to “get physical with heavy gear” and be a quick adapter to new technologies. “A positive attitude is 90% of the job,” he said.
Taking Family Business to the Next Level
Dave Peterson graduated from Michigan Tech with a degree in audio production and technology in 2020, but his experience with the audio industry began long before then. His father Mark Peterson bought musical instrument store Sound EFX in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, in the 1990s. To keep up with the ever-changing music industry, Sound EFX Production Services pivoted to become a one-stop shop for staging, sound, lights, control, tour bus leasing and tour staffing.
“I essentially grew up backstage seeing all the gear and real behind-the-scenes of events,” said Peterson. “As I got into my teenage years I started working for my dad and found I had a pretty good aptitude for anything entertainment industry related. This inspired my path to MTU.”
Peterson continued learning by doing at Michigan Tech. He built skills as a sound engineer, system designer, broadcast engineer and more. After graduation, he became co-owner of Sound EFX alongside his father. Their clients include Disturbed, Bring Me the Horizon and Third Eye Blind.
Peterson said the biggest challenge he's faced so far was unexpectedly stepping in to work front of house (FOH) for pop artist Clinton Kane at Lollapalooza in 2023. Peterson manned the mixing board and controlled the sound heard by the audience as a favor to friend and fellow Michigan Tech alumnus Chase Cloutier, who graduated in 2021 with an audio production and technology degree. Peterson had never met Kane and had very little time to prepare before the performance. He tested equipment in a hotel room, did a very quick line check with the musicians, and before he knew it, it was showtime.
“I heard the first electric piano notes with the lead vocal come out of the sound system — actually sounding great and at the right volume,” said Peterson. “That feeling of relief is what makes me love what I do.”
Peterson is FOH engineer for the band Badflower, while also working with The Plot In You and Eagles of Death Metal. His time at Michigan Tech taught him a lesson he's carried into his career: “The learning never stops, and you'd be surprised how far you can go if you push yourself forward.”
“Opportunity is at the crossroads of who you know, what you know and how fast you think you can learn something new without letting anyone know you didn't know how to do it before,” said Peterson.
Pioneering New Frontiers in Sound Design
Audio adventures for Husky alumni also abound off the concert circuit. Steven Green graduated from Michigan Tech in 2014 with a degree in sound design and has since become a technical sound designer on award-winning video games. Green spent his time at Tech learning audio theory and technical skills through theater productions. Though sound design for video games was a relatively young field, Green remembers faculty Chris Plummer and Jared Anderson strongly supporting his exploration into video game audio and pushing him outside of his comfort zone.
“Making theater productions taught me to conceptualize a project all the way through to completion within a single semester,” said Green. “It taught me how to be scrappy and figure stuff out on my own — a skill that's vital in game development, where tools and workflows are constantly shifting.”
Green has used those audio theory and technical skills in his position as technical sound designer working with Double Fine Productions on games like Psychonauts 2 and RAD. Double Fine was started by Tim Schafer, a major player in video game development, and is part of Xbox Game Studios. Green was also the lead sound designer for 2018 BAFTA Game of the Year winner What Remains of Edith Finch. His career has led him to work with actors such as Daisy Ridley, James McAvoy and Willem Dafoe, as well as composers such as Austin Wintory, Jeff Russo and Peter McConnell.
Green said the biggest challenge of his career so far was the five years spent creating Psychonauts 2. During production, Double Fine moved from in-person to remote production. He and his co-workers had to adjust to working across different time zones, home studios and hardware. The “chaotic but fun” process, as Green called it, is told in Double Fine's 23-hour documentary “Psychodyssey.”
“Psychonauts 2 had complex audio systems and incredible creative direction,” said Green. “I got to help build some really weird, wonderful levels.”
Green has a practical view of what has brought his career such success so far. He advises any Husky interested in video game sound design to learn middleware, like Wwise or FMOD; practice by building small games with friends; and get involved in Husky Game Development, a multidisciplinary team in Michigan Tech's Enterprise Program. Green also recommends finishing projects, no matter how small they are. “A finished project is better than a perfect one,” he said.
“Above all though, stay humble and ready to continuously learn,” said Green. “This field is still new. It can still be a bit Wild West out here.”
Michigan Technological University is an R1 public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan's flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
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