Only a couple years have passed since Andrew Bongardt graduated from Full Sail University’s Show Production program, 但从那时起，世界各地的旅行就像旋风一样，学校感觉就像遥远的记忆. 作为大型巡演和演出制作公司的巡回音响技师 Clair Global, 安德鲁发现自己在各种各样的角色工作-包括PA技术和监控系统技术/工程师-艺术家，如 Sir Paul McCartney, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and AC/DC.

安德鲁从小就渴望在幕后工作. 在高中期间，他经历了一系列的本地/区域制作经验, he enrolled in Full Sail University’s Show Production program. It was there that he learned more about large-scale touring production companies; Clair Global in particular stood out, 这不仅仅是因为该公司雇佣了这么多Full Sail毕业生的历史, 但也因为它的全明星客户名单和世界一流的扩声系统.

尽管他把毕业后为克莱尔工作作为自己的主要目标之一, 他仍然感到惊喜和兴奋，因为在他真正从Full Sail毕业的三个星期前，他就被公司录用了. 刚毕业几周就在利蒂茨的克莱尔总部工作, Pennsylvania, Andrew was on his first national run with boy band Big Time Rush on their Summer Break Tour with Victoria Justice ——并完全沉浸在克莱尔国际的文化以及旅游的世界中.

“我已经为克莱尔工作两年半了，我仍然热爱这份工作. 在这里工作的每个人都志趣相投，这在你出差的时候非常有帮助. 你身边有谁并不重要——你知道他们会经历同样的故障排除步骤, 甚至他们会以同样的方式绞死私人助理," he says. "I’ve been asked to come out and replace people on tour, whether due to injury or family emergencies, and was able to fit right in to the tour. 知道公司里的任何人都可以接替你的工作是一件很棒的事情. 我们能够给客户带来的纯粹资源是很棒的. 它帮助我们高效地完成工作，并继续让我们的客户满意, which is always the number one goal."

Keeping the client happy and ensuring that operations run smoothly can be a challenge for any job; especially when the client is an iconic performer like Sir Paul McCartney or AC/DC and the operation entails a full-blown stadium tour, things can get really tricky.

"Sir Paul McCartney’s ’Out There’ tour was my first stadium tour. 这也是我第一次处理一个真正的大制作和扩音系统. I had done similar setups before in smaller venues, 但这是我第一次需要自己完成三个巨大的悬挂和一个50多英尺的电缆桥, with local stagehands help of course," he says. “但是和那群人一起工作——他们中的大多数人已经在那里呆了很多年——真是太棒了, and definitely felt like a family experience. Sir Paul McCartney is an amazing person, too; someone who will come out in the middle of a load-in and shake your hand and say hi while you are working on getting the rig up."

麦卡特尼巡演的规模和范围无疑帮助安德鲁为他目前在AC/DC的大型摇滚或Bust体育场世界巡演做好了准备, 哪一项将占据2015年及以后的大部分时间，同时带着船员环游世界. 这次旅行的特色是四个PA扬声器悬挂，每个大约36英尺高，重约7英尺.5 tons. Between crew, production, local labor, drivers, and the band, each show is driven by the contributions of over 300 people.

他说:“这是一种有大量非常有经验的人参加的旅行，其中许多人实际上是大材小用, 但他们过去曾和AC/DC一起巡演过，他们想回到我们这里的家庭氛围中来," Andrew says. "Everyone knows one another, 你有很多知识渊博的人，他们愿意回答问题，分享他们的经验. 这是一个持续学习的环境，你每天都能学到新东西."

不断学习新的方法和技术是Andrew职业生涯的驱动力, even during his time at Full Sail. 除了吸收的概念和教训，他的现场实验室在节目制作课程, 在他的学生时代，他也在许多校园活动中发挥了积极的作用, including WWE NXT events and Full Sail Live Venue concerts like Christina Perri, Mark Broussard, and Matt Kearney.

“节目制作部门的每个人都应该利用这些外部活动来更多地了解行业的运作方式. Getting involved in those environments, even just the Live Labs in class, can be daunting, but as soon as you get out of school, 你的系统可以是你在Full Sail中使用的10倍大小, and you’ve got to get the job done in half the time," Andrew says. “但如果你能排除故障，你就会成为任何巡演的宝贵财富. Life on the road can be stressful, 但在一天结束的时候，当你看到人群玩得很开心，乐队在舞台上表现得很出色, all of the stress goes away. I have always found a lot of joy in doing what I do."