Surround Sound

Introduce yourself!
My name is Hafiz, I’m 29 this year, and I’m a freelance audio engineer that specialises in live sound.

Cool! What was the last gig that you worked on?
Usually in Singapore, most of our events are our corporate, so the last gig I did was just another conference. That said, I do live music events as well, like Subsonic Eye’s album launch.

That’s exciting! What made you wanted to pursue sound?
I’ve always loved music, but I didn’t have the chance to learn an instrument when I was younger. So while I wasn’t privileged enough to pick it up, I’ve spent a lot of time just listening to music and songs in general. Over the years, I’ve developed a strong sense of what I enjoy hearing, and now I use that to help shape how things sound for others.

Basically, if it sounds good to me, there’s a good chance it’ll sound good to the crowd too.

Speaking of music, how do you usually discover new music?
I discover new music in any way possible. Either organically from shows, or diving into Spotify and YouTube. But sometimes, algorithms don’t do you justice, so from time to time, I like to go to record stores that allows you to listen to records in-store to discover music. And of course, word of mouth too.

Honestly, I’m open to discovering music from just about anywhere!

Given the fact that you practically attend gigs for a living, what’s the best show you’ve been to recently?
The best one I would say was watching AIR at Maho Rasop last year. They were the headlining act for the festival, and the reason why I liked their set so much is because as a guy who’s been doing doing live sound for almost a decade, the mixing for the performance that night was phenomenal. The guy who mixed it did a superb job at it, and it felt like I was experiencing the album for the first time all over again!

Sounds amazing! There’s just something about live music that, when done well, always hits different. Having worked in sound for a while now, what would you say is the biggest skill you’ve picked up on the job?
There are so many aspects to it. For example, handling the backend and paperwork is one thing, but then you also start to realise that certain parts of the job aren’t quite what you imagined. Some things are just illusions, a façade. Like in Singapore, there are a lot of corporate shows, and the perception about my role is is that I’m just the “sound guy.” But in reality, I’m more of a service provider. What you see on the surface is just for show—you’re expected to smile, say yes to the client, and get the job done. That’s just how it works here.

The client’s always right, eh?

We feel you! Finally, if you could pick up any instrument today, what would it be and why?
I would learn to play the piano because I feel like it’s a balance between rhythm and melody. There are so many aspects of it that require different skill sets, while most other instruments only have one or two, and it also has more dimensions to it.