monitors, and eventually became the front of
house guy. I liked every position and
started seeing that music is something I wanted
to do." Mostly self-taught, Alvarez
later enrolled in a course at the Audio
Engineering Institute in San Antonio. "I would
sit in that course to just gather information
on how things are done in a basic form
so that I knew what was going on--so I used the
right terms and lingo when I was
hanging out with the real dudes. I learned a
lot, but most was self-taught. To a certain
degree, it's all about your own ears. Hearing
everything exactly, or trying to hear it,
the way it's supposed to be
heard."
After a year at UTSA, he set aside architecture
for a full-time career in music, and
landed a gig with Century Music Systems, a
full-line production company. Over the
next six years, Alvarez continued to hone his
skills, working with artists like Robert
Earl Keen. Along the way he met steel guitar
player/producer Lloyd Mains. Impressed
with Alvarez's skill mixing Keen, Mains asked
if he would be interested in mixing the
Dixie Chicks, his daughter Natalie's band. "I
had heard about them. Their first single
had just come out, so I gave him my business
card and said, `Sure, call me if they ever
need someone.' I really didn't think much about
it." Three months later, Senior
Management's Simon Renshaw telephoned and
offered Alvarez the job. He joined up
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE
JOB:
"What I hate the most is exactly what I love
most: having to overcome
challenges. At times it's a little
stressful."--FA
"This last summer I probably worked between 90
to 98 hours a week.
This past March I did 70 to 80 hours, with only
a day off each week.
The long hours start to get to
you."--RO
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
"It's a different scene every day out there [on
the road] in the sound
business. Different faces, venues,
cities--that's the best part of it.
Seeing a lot of different things and trying to
overcome the chal-
lenges."--FA
"It is exciting to realize some of the people
I've worked with: Loretta
Lynn, Michael Bolton, Ray Charles, Spyro Gyra,
Roberta Flack.
Because I was a piano player, Billy Joel has
been an idol of mine since
high school. Working with him--standing three
feet from him while
he played for 45 minutes--that was probably the
biggest moment in
my career so far."--RO
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