Transcript

The transcript below has been lightly edited for readability and clarity. Click any starting timestamp to jump to that exact point in the YouTube video.

Podcast Introduction

[00:00] Don Costante:

Welcome to the Rundown Podcast, hosted by Don Costante, a sports and event management expert with over 25 years experience. This unique podcast provides an opportunity to hear from some of the best professionals in the industry. You’ll get valuable insight and perspective on what it takes to deliver authentic experiences, activate brands, and most importantly, connect with audiences. All on the Rundown Podcast. Let’s get started.

Meet Tracy Allen

[00:27] Don Costante:

Whether I’m producing an event or just attending, I’m always evaluating presentation with particular interest in how people use and implement music. Music is by far the most powerful entertainment resource and when used correctly can have the greatest impact on any event. Today’s guest is somebody that I have known for 20 years and has developed his audio skills with SeaWorld, the San Antonio Spurs, and now Disney. His talent over the years has been widely recognized. My guest is Tracy Allen, who currently serves as the entertainment stage technician with the Walt Disney World Company, as well as owner of Ace Productions. Tracy and I have collaborated on numerous large-scale events in the sports industry. In this interview, Tracy shares his best practices as we discuss our days working together in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs. Listen as Tracy takes us behind the scenes of being an audio director for the Spurs and reveals his philosophy and techniques that have made him the best in the business. It’s time to get started. Let’s meet Tracy Allen. Hey, Tracy. Thanks for joining me today on the Rundown.

A Long History of Working Together

[01:37] Tracy Allen:

Hey, how you doing, Don? Glad to be here.

[01:39] Don Costante:

You know, we have worked on some really great events over the years, and just to name a few, we’ve worked on three NBA finals, three city championship celebrations, 11 NBA all-star jam sessions, 11 Kansas City Royals Fan Fests, several bowl games in San Antonio, and a couple of golf industry shows. I mean, just amazing. What are your thoughts when you hear those events?

[02:01] Tracy Allen:

I didn’t realize there’s that many, and wow, just amazing. Words can’t express how fortunate, you know, we’ve been working all those events. It’s been a great ride, and I’m looking forward to-

[02:11] Don Costante:

It’s been a fantastic journey. Yeah, no, and I’m looking forward to many more. Where did your love for music first come from?

Tracy’s Lifelong Love of Music

[02:16] Tracy Allen:

Ever since I can remember. When I was a little kid, I got headphones in my ears all the time. Apparently, when I was an infant, my grandmother had to take pots and pans away from me because I was always banging them.

[02:26] Don Costante:

You were banging pots and pans?

[02:28] Tracy Allen:

Yes.

[02:29] Don Costante:

Were you doing it to music videos or something?

[02:32] Tracy Allen:

I guess. I was so young, but yeah, music’s always been a big part of my life.

[02:38] Don Costante:

I’m thrilled to have you on today’s podcast, and I’ve always said to anybody that I’ve worked with or people that ask me, I think that music is the most powerful entertainment resource, and it definitely has the biggest impact on any event by far.

[02:50] Tracy Allen:

I agree.

[02:51] Don Costante:

When I was talking about doing a music topic, well, there’s no better person to talk to than you, Trace, because I consider you to be the best in the business.

[02:59] Tracy Allen:

Thank you, man. Like I said, I’m glad to be here and can offer help any way I can.

[03:04] Don Costante:

I know you’re uncomfortable. Typically, you don’t like to be in front of a camera or on a mic, but I certainly appreciate today your willingness to share your best practices, not just with me, but for those people listening.

[03:17] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, and that’s what it’s all about is learning the craft, and that’s awesome that you’re doing this.

Revealing the Audio Director’s Secret Sauce

[03:21] Don Costante:

Oh, good. Well, you know what? I appreciate that, and today, maybe the best way to go is just to have a discussion, to break down some of those key logistical details that you go through in preparation for a game. And, you know, I also want to talk a little bit about what your mindset is during the game, because I think that’s fascinating. I think people just don’t understand everything that goes on and what you need to be thinking about. So we’ll talk a little bit about that. But in short, Trace, I just want to reveal your secret sauce. I want to let people know what makes you so good at what you do. Is that okay?

[03:52] Tracy Allen:

That’s fine with me. The more people that learn, the better.

Audio Software and Building a Music Library

[03:55] Don Costante:

Great. Well, let’s get started. I think it all begins with really setting yourself up for success out there, and I think that when you’re talking about audio, it comes down to software. What software do you utilize?

[04:07] Tracy Allen:

For live events and sports, I use Sound Director. It used to be called Game Ops, and they redid the entire program, and they came out with that, or upgraded the entire program and came out with Sound Director a few years ago. Wonderful. It’s very versatile. It’s very user-friendly. You can customize a lot of stuff inside of it. So that’s what I use. And I also use SoundForge for my audio editing.

[04:33] Don Costante:

So when you get the software, obviously, it just has some basics that come with it. How do you go about it? What’s your process? What’s your routine for developing music inventory?

[04:42] Tracy Allen:

We had a music subscription to Promo Only, which had a lot of different genres of music. It had instrumentals. It had clean versions. iTunes. Any music subscription service is great. Anything you can get your hands on for music. I also have a couple websites where when radio stations get the brand new music, I get it at the same time as they do. So pretty much anything and everything that deals with music, go for it.

[05:08] Don Costante:

Did you ever use… There’s also a music source out there. APM, have you utilized them before?

[05:13] Tracy Allen:

No, but I’ve used other network music and killer tracks, you know.

Choosing Music Genres for Live Events

[05:18] Don Costante:

Okay. Have you found… I know that you utilize all genres of music when you’re putting on an event or doing a game because you want to make sure to hit all the different age groups. But is there one particular genre that you found to be most accepted by fans?

[05:34] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, probably the top 40.

[05:36] Don Costante:

Top 40. Gotcha.

[05:37] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. Top 40.

Organizing Music Into Categories

[05:39] Don Costante:

So when you get all this music, you’re gathering it. Talk a little bit about how you organize that music and the elements that you’re bringing in. I know that you are somebody that likes to segment your music into categories. Can you talk a little bit about that?

[05:51] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. So pretty much I try and organize to the best of my ability for what makes sense to me. So when I download music into my hard drive, I will split up into individual folders and pretty much by year. So I have like pregame music in one folder, hot time music in another folder, promotions music in another folder, ceremonial music. And then I do the same thing within the program of sound director. Label it all out. And I have everything labeled within each segment that I want to use.

[06:21] Don Costante:

You really did segment. I mean, I’m looking at a sheet now from back in the day and you had categories like walk-in, ceremonial, presentations, team introductions, bumpers, contests, crowd prompts, hot timeouts, bring them backs, crowd involvement, situational, and sound effects.

[06:37] Tracy Allen:

Yeah.

[06:38] Don Costante:

That’s a lot of segmentation.

[06:39] Tracy Allen:

It just makes it easier for me to find because, you know, when you’re doing a live event, you don’t have a lot of time to be searching for music. So I try and make it the most sense I can so I can find it fast.

Four Key Music Elements

[06:50] Don Costante:

Cool. So we’ve talked a little bit about software, what software you’re using. And we talked about how you went about gathering music for inventory and how you organized everything. Let’s dig a little bit deeper. Let’s talk about a few of the key music elements that really enhance an event presentation. And I want to talk about four specifically bumpers or transitions, music elements for contests, hot timeouts and bring them backs. So let’s start off with bumpers. Explain to everybody what a bumper means.

Bumpers and Transitions

[07:18] Tracy Allen:

Bumper is exactly what it’s called. It’s a bumper. It’s a music bed that at the end of play of a, you know, during the game, at the end of the, what, end of the ball play, you just play a bed of music and it tells the audience, hey, something’s coming up. We’re either going to do a sound promotion, just pretty much a generic piece of music. I usually do instrumental. But it can be any genre.

[07:39] Don Costante:

Any genre. Okay. Okay. So this is really important. I know that maybe on your scale trace, it was never like one of the most important elements that we had, but for someone like me, philosophically, I don’t like dead time. So in basketball, when that whistle blew immediately, we’d, we’d hit with that bumper. And that bumper is that transition to get us to the next element. And so for me, this helped to make it more cohesive and bring it all together. So very important. The second thing I want to talk about is contests, key music elements. When we’re talking about contests, I think a lot of people make a mistake and not really thinking through strategically the type of music or the elements to incorporate into a contest. Some people would just use one piece of music and it’s played from the beginning all the way through. And it doesn’t really tell that story, you know? And I think that, you know, for us, I remember down in San Antonio, we did, well, we did a lot of different contests, but one in particular was if you remember inflatable race, right? We had the three inflatable mascots. And just to illustrate what I’m, what I’m talking about here is when the whistle blew, just to talk about using music to tell the story and add value to, to the overall activation. We used to, as soon as the whistle blew, we’d hit a bumper.

Using Music to Tell the Story of a Contest

[08:51] Don Costante:

So there was no dead time at that point. The PA announcer would then introduce our host. We would then, you would shift the music or transition to a thematic piece of music for that particular contest that we had themed that music with that contest.

[09:04] Tracy Allen:

Correct. And then the host would talk about the introduction. Yeah. The contest introduced the rules and the contestants, and then you switch the music as the contest actually took place. And in this particular case, I think we use star Wars cantina band by John Williams.

[09:19] Don Costante:

Yep. So you went to that music to illustrate the actual contest, and then you had ready to go the sound effect with win or lose. Ta-da. Want, want, want, depending on the outcome. And then you transition back to the theme music where the host would then congratulate the winner, thank the sponsor, and then tag out. And then you would transition to crowd music for live shots. And then you’d transition into a bring them back type of music to bring the team back and get the crowd back into it. I mean, you’re talking about seven different pieces of music or elements.

[09:50] Tracy Allen:

In one time out.

[09:50] Don Costante:

Yeah. In one time out. I mean, we didn’t do that all the time, but primarily that was the case.

[09:56] Tracy Allen:

Well, in contest now, we’re just talking about contest. So in contest, we always had that incorporation of music. That was the underlining element to create the emotional responses that we were looking for granted other things that we’ve done or did maybe t-shirt toss. We’re using one piece of music. We’re not switching it repeatedly. But when we’re talking about contests that involve a race and an outcome, we were incorporating music to go along with each element, right? Correct.

[10:21] Don Costante:

Yeah.

[10:21] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. You just want to enhance whatever you’re doing. So you’re not going to play like Jeopardy theme for, you know, the three mascots.

[10:30] Don Costante:

And so many people do though. I mean, so many people just play one piece of music. I’m not saying, I mean, you know, listen, I’m not here to tell you you’re right or wrong. I’m saying in terms of enjoyment being in the stands watching. I have much more enjoyment having this transition of music that’s leading me down the path of the promotion versus just playing Jeopardy the entire time.

[10:50] Tracy Allen:

Right.

Hot Timeouts

[10:51] Don Costante:

So that’s just, that’s just me. Let’s talk about hot timeouts. Hot timeouts are a biggie. So what are your thoughts on the process for implementing hot timeouts?

[11:01] Tracy Allen:

Hot timeouts, you know, is that’s the, probably the biggest piece of music that you’re going to play throughout the game.

[11:08] Don Costante:

And just to clarify, I don’t mean to cut you off, but just to clarify for people, what we mean by hot, I know a lot of you already know, but we’re talking about when the energy in the stadium or wherever your, your team is playing gets to a peak and the emotions are rising. An example would be in San Antonio. If our Spurs went on a 10 point run and the opposing coach called a timeout, the fans are going nuts. At that point that’s classified as a hot timeout and there’s different classifications for hot. I mean, there’s different situations that created hot, but that’s one of them. And at that point we would bump what, whatever we had in our rundown or format to go with a hot timeout. So sorry, take it away, Trace.

[11:50] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. Hot timeout. That’s your highest level of emotion that you’re going to have throughout the game. It’s up there with winning the game. You know, now there’s different variations of hot. Like if you’re 20 points ahead and you want to go hot, you’re not going to be playing your biggest hot. You know what I mean? Yeah. And you don’t want to literally, I mean, sometimes like in a playoff situation, you might go with your biggest hot first. It all depends on the mood of the game and where the fans are in their excitement.

[12:22] Don Costante:

What would designate the biggest hot, like a song choice that you categorize as the biggest for the Spurs, probably rock and roll part two. Okay. That’s as big as you, cause that everybody does the chance. What would designate the game made you decide that that was the right choice at that time?

[12:40] Tracy Allen:

If we’re behind.

[12:42] Don Costante:

Oh, okay.

[12:43] Tracy Allen:

And we’re, you know, digging, we’re coming back and we just took the lead, you know, on a big three point shot and we took the lead. That’s a rock and roll part two.

[12:52] Don Costante:

And that’s a big moment. So that’s why you classify it as biggest.

[12:56] Tracy Allen:

Right.

[12:57] Don Costante:

Gotcha.

[12:58] Tracy Allen:

Right. And there’s also times where it’s, it’s hard. There’s times where you have to kind of force a hot time out on the crowd. And those are very questionable. Like say, if your point, your, if your team is down 30 points and the crowd’s just not into it. So the director might say, let’s try and get this crowd into it. And you’d play a, like a medium style hot, like let’s get loud.

[13:20] Don Costante:

Yeah. Kind of stuff like that. Tribal dance, stuff like that, just to try to get the crowd involved, get behind the team to come back. Those are the, your different elements of hot timeouts. Gotcha. So, uh, I know the one thing I will tell people, uh, be careful when you utilize hot timeouts. There’s been situations. I know where we were making a run and maybe it’s exactly what Tracy’s talking about in terms of, we were behind, we ended up taking the lead. They called a timeout. We went hot, but there was a foul just before the timeout and it was a shooting foul. So we went with hot and during the hot timeouts, um, we like to bring them back, which is our next key element I want to talk about. And that’s why this is a good transition into it, but we bring them back with some really hot, high energy and they’re at the free throw and we have to kill it because we don’t want our crowd going nuts while our guy’s trying to throw a free throw. So let’s talk about bring them back. That’s the last key music element I want to talk about. Can you explain what bring them backs are?

Using Hot Music Carefully

Bring Them Backs

[14:26] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. Bring them backs are exactly what they’re called. Bring them backs. So you’ve done a timeout. Maybe it’s a hot timeout. Maybe it’s a promotional timeout. And usually when I bring them backs, the big timing of bring them backs is when the team gets up off their seats and enters onto the court. And you want to just enhance that emotion of going out there and winning. You want very emotional music. You want very high, sometimes uptempo music. Sometimes you, you know, pardon my, you want some kick ass, you know, get them going music.

[14:57] Don Costante:

A big part of this was when the team’s coming off the bench, you would rely on me in terms of cuing you, basically giving you an estimate when you were 30 seconds out or so, so that you could go into this piece that would just to put it in simple terms, give you goosebumps.

[15:12] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. And it would give you goosebumps. And it would give the team, Hey, we’re behind you. Yeah. It would hopefully energize the team as they’re walking out onto the court. Right. So when it comes to bring them backs, we used to do that. We didn’t do it every time. We did it in key strategic moments. Exactly. Yeah. Because like anything else, if you do it too much, then it loses its steam. Yeah. So, you know, the one thing I will say of the four things that we just covered, bumpers, contests, hot timeouts, and bring them backs.

Timing, Mountains, and Valleys

[15:42] Don Costante:

You know, what’s equally important to those key music elements is that understanding of proper timing. I mean, knowing exactly the right moment, which each element should be incorporated to give it its greatest impact because you’re trying to evoke those emotional responses that you desire from the audience. And if you miss that timing, it just doesn’t work. It falls flat. It just doesn’t work. Yeah. That’s the one thing you were a genius at. You know, and that’s what I was so thankful for you for. I call it the mountain and the valleys and nobody wants to talk about the valleys, but that’s just illustration. It’s the point that the valleys are just as important as the mountains.

[16:15] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. True.

[16:16] Don Costante:

You’ve got to give the crowd a rest. And so that way, when you play whatever it is you need to play to get them up, they’re up. You got to let them breathe. Yeah. And you take them on a roller coaster of emotion and music.

[16:28] Tracy Allen:

Exactly.

Getting Game Ready

[16:28] Don Costante:

Music is just music. Like I said, it’s just so powerful. So now that we’ve highlighted some of those key elements for music, let’s talk a little bit about getting game ready. And what I mean by that is, you know, when you receive the game format or the run of show, different people have different terminology, but for us, it was game format. How did you design sound director specific for that game? I know you had all the categories with all the different music, but didn’t you create something specific for that game based on the game format?

[16:56] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. So like you said, you’d get the rundown, the game format, and I would go back up to mixed position, sit at the computer, and I would try and at least make the full game, the whole game on a single page in sound director.

[17:11] Don Costante:

Yeah.

[17:11] Tracy Allen:

I would label it down as, you know, first quarter, first time out, first quarter, second time out, first quarter, third time out, and so on.

[17:18] Don Costante:

So you’d lay the whole thing down on one sheet?

[17:20] Tracy Allen:

I would lay out the whole thing. At least, I mean, because it, you know, as well as I do, it very rarely does it ever match what you’re going to do.

[17:30] Don Costante:

Yeah, no question.

[17:30] Tracy Allen:

You know, but at least you have that laid out and you have it in front of you and you always have at least some basis of a format that you’re using. So to me, it makes it a lot easier. I don’t have to look around and then that way I can have other pages set up for like the bringing backs and the hot time outs. And we talked about that.

[17:48] Don Costante:

All the segmentation, all the categories that you have, those are still all in your arsenal. You know, one of the things that I did in terms of communication with you also in preparation for each game was the development of what I call the music sheet. And it basically had, you know, 14 to 16 different categories. I would have hot time outs listed out. I would have a column for bring them backs when we’re ahead, bring them backs when we’re behind and just bring them backs other because there are different classifications, different levels of music that you want to use for, for each game. And I’d also have music columns for hot time outs. If it’s a 20, when we’re starting the third quarter, what music elements did we want to use there? When we’re starting the fourth quarter, what we want to use with our mascot, what we want to use with our interactive team. It was basically a play sheet. And, you know, that’s something that helps as a game director to ensure that I’m not going to play the same music twice. But for you, Tracy, talk a little bit about how beneficial that can be.

The Music Sheet and Director Communication

[18:49] Tracy Allen:

It does wonders. It’s that trust bond between you and the game director. He knows what you got. You know what he’s going to look at and what he has. It’s a great foundation of trust bonding with your game director.

[19:04] Don Costante:

I totally agree 100%. Anybody that wants that sheet I’m talking about that I created, feel free. Just email me at therundownatkastanigroup.com. Let me know that you’re interested in receiving the music sheet and I’ll just send it off to you. You know, one of the most climatic moments in any game is the player’s introductions. And I know in working together with you at the Spurs, you really enjoyed coming up with the music or the track for the player intro video each and every year.

Creating the Player Introduction Track

[19:30] Tracy Allen:

Yeah.

[19:31] Don Costante:

And that was something that I know that you loved.

[19:33] Tracy Allen:

I enjoyed it because it was something that was going to live the entire season.

[19:36] Don Costante:

Share a little bit about your approach to how you went about finding the right track.

[19:42] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, that was probably the best for me, for the entire game, for the entire career.

[19:49] Don Costante:

That’s your moment.

[19:50] Tracy Allen:

Because it’s almost like you’re actually putting together a soundtrack for your team, you know, a motion score for your team. Because you’ve got to remember that video, it’s only like a minute, minute and a half, maybe? That’s usually the entire season. So it better be good. It better be real good. When we started doing that, you’d say, hey, I need some music for this. And I’d always ask you, so what’s the concept? What’s just give me a…

[20:20] Don Costante:

Yeah, give you the theme, basically.

[20:22] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, give me the theme. Remember, I used to drive you crazy because I would give you like 30 probably possibilities of this video open music.

[20:31] Don Costante:

Yeah, you would come strong, no question. And I actually enjoyed it. I would go through all 20 or 30 that you provided. And the unique thing about it and what was a lot of fun, and you know this. I mean, I would listen to all the music and come back to you with the exact marks in each of the pieces that you sent me with the marks that I thought I loved the most. I would say, Tracy, in this particular piece, I loved the beginning, but this one, I loved the middle. And this other piece over here, I really loved the ending. Can you just piece all these together? And you would do it in your fashion to make it sound incredible. And there was our track for player intro video.

[21:05] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, I mean, in the behind the scenes of this, you’ve got to talk with your director. And people are probably asking, well, why aren’t you just giving them a whole clip of what you want for the video open? Well, it takes a lot of time to edit these. So instead of wasting your time on this one edit, having the director, ah, it’s okay. Well, you just wasted all that time. So you got to be loose with it. You got to give them options and let him decide which options he likes. And that’s another, you know, you’re developing that bond, that trust with the game director.

The Best Genre for Player Introductions

[21:41] Don Costante:

Now, Tracy, when you were putting those together, what genre stuck out to you as the best genre to utilize, in your opinion, for player intro videos?

[21:50] Tracy Allen:

It’s got to be the orchestra.

[21:52] Don Costante:

Powerful.

[21:53] Tracy Allen:

The cinematic type.

[21:54] Don Costante:

Yeah.

[21:55] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, cinematic with a little rock thrown in to give it an edge. That’s what we always found out that the crowd liked. And it just draws that emotion.

[22:04] Don Costante:

When you come up with the right track and it starts with the track before we even put the video together, we start with the track. And from the track, the video is created and seeing how it all comes together and seeing people enjoy it and getting energized and inspired by it. I mean, there’s no better feeling. There’s no better feeling. I mentioned this early on. I wanted to talk about having the right mindset because when thinking about what truly makes you the best at what you do, for me, your mindset, when the game is in action or you’re at an event, the event begins. You are locked in. I mean, people have no idea how much thought and the strategic reaction that you have that goes into producing an event as an audio director is incredible. I mean, I need to illustrate this, you know, make sure that I provide the landscape here for what I’m talking about in San Antonio for a typical game. What I’m about to tell you, all of this, keep in mind, as I’m explaining these details, all of this is happening at the same time during the game. So imagine Tracy sitting at his console at a game at the Spurs. He’s paying attention and being proactive to the game action.

The Audio Director’s Game-Day Mindset

[23:06] Don Costante:

Of course, he’s anticipating all the outcomes so that he can utilize his designated music elements. He’s playing offensive trains. He’s playing defensive trains. He’s adjusting the music levels in house. He’s testing mics for hosts. We need to test the mics for the host for upcoming timeouts. He’s locating and editing new music that we’ve added. Things that we hadn’t previously discussed prior to the game, but just came up as the game started. He’s playing stingers for great plays like three pointers and slam dunks. He’s communicating with the game director and the video director on a variety of topics. It could include anything from game adjustments that we’re making, confirming the music sources, whether the video is with audio or the audio is with video. He’s syncing music and digital elements for our crowd prompts. He needs to be ready for the next time out and the activation at that moment’s notice. He’s ready to pivot for a possible hot timeout, 20 or full. And in San Antonio, our hot timeouts were layered in most cases, meaning that we’d start off with a hot piece of music. He then transitioned to the dance team who would do a short performance and then transition to the mascot and a call to action.

[24:13] Don Costante:

And then out of that transition to a bring them back. And the list goes on. I mean, it’s just amazing. It’s crazy, Tracy. I mean, how are you?

[24:22] Tracy Allen:

I do all that.

[24:23] Don Costante:

Yeah, man. It’s nuts. How do you balance everything and stay present in the moment?

[24:28] Tracy Allen:

It’s a lot. You know, a lot of people just think, ah, he’s just hitting a button and playing a song.

[24:34] Don Costante:

Exactly. You know? No, that’s exactly right.

[24:36] Tracy Allen:

It’s hard because, you know, thank you for appreciating that because it’s a lot more than just, you know, playing a song.

[24:43] Don Costante:

Yeah, it’s a lot of work. Well, I just enjoy like sometimes when I’ve gone and maybe it was for a WNBA game and I had my assistant doing the game and I’d be up there watching you. And it’s like a magician, if you will, kind of how you operate and how you’re thinking two or three steps ahead and what music you want and your pulse is on the crowd. Where you think a hot might’ve been, you already talked about it. It could be a bigger hot because of the moment or the situation and it makes you pivot or adjust to a different that you had cued. So, I mean, having someone in that seat that is forward thinking, proactive, strategic, they’re intentional with every movement, every, every act that they do with the sounds. It just elevates everything. And so, like I said, it’s just amazing to me and how you’re able to stay in that moment all the time and still be able to hold communication and conversations with everybody. It’s very impressive.

Taking Audio Beyond the Expected

[25:39] Tracy Allen:

Well, thank you. You know, when I first started out, I wasn’t, I wasn’t that great. You know, I just did what I could. And throughout the years, I just wanted to be the best that I could be and give the fans the best that they could, they deserve. You know, yeah, you can make, say for a three point shot, you know, you can make a clip for a three point shot. But I went on beyond further. I had certain shots, like if Tim Duncan scored, I’d play a certain bet for him. Tony Parker scored, I’d play a certain bet for him.

[26:07] Don Costante:

So you identified certain pieces of music for specific players.

[26:11] Tracy Allen:

Exactly.

[26:11] Don Costante:

Yeah, that’s great.

[26:12] Tracy Allen:

Because it just, you know, I just decided to take it to that next level. And I, you know, I don’t know if people recognize, I think they do, especially for like Tim Duncan, just always pushing the envelope, you know, always trying to see better.

[26:26] Don Costante:

Oh, definitely. It definitely added value. I mean, you were recognized by the NBA league office every time they came in to evaluate the music selections and the timing of the music and the pulse of the music was always scored extremely high, if not the highest in the league. And it’s because of that mentality and you going the extra distance. And this is important for those that are listening. You know, you can take music to an average level or you can take it above and beyond to make it an experience. And, you know, that’s exactly what you did. So let’s talk about communication because we’re talking about that, you know, the communication between the game director, but not just the game director, the video director, the entertainment teams, host, etc. Early on, when we first met in San Antonio, I remember going to great lengths to identify and communicate with you music selections for activation throughout the game. And I would put those into the game format. I’d write those into that, that audio column. As a director, this was great for me because it guaranteed the audio outcomes, but more importantly, it helped me to illustrate the type of music selections I was looking for and what I was looking for to have you implement for each activation.

Communication and Collaboration

[27:38] Don Costante:

But you and I both know over time, I mean, as we gained trust with each other and I became more and more comfortable with you, I didn’t need to do that anymore. I stopped doing it and left all the music selections up to you, but that didn’t mean that we stopped communicating, you know, so talk in terms of communication. I mean, obviously the game director is a big one, but the video director, the entertainment teams, the host, give me your viewpoint on communication and collaboration.

[28:06] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, just like you said, you know, at the very beginning, I, you know, I don’t know you, you didn’t know me. We just collaborated and I got inside your mind of what you was wanting musically.

[28:18] Don Costante:

Right.

[28:19] Tracy Allen:

You know, it takes years to, you know, it’s not one season done. I mean, we got pretty good, pretty fast, but it’s just building that trust instead of, you know, arguing with you and just saying, Hey, you know, that’s not going to work.

[28:31] Don Costante:

Right.

[28:32] Tracy Allen:

You know, that’s not going to work. You know, sometimes you have to prove them wrong.

[28:35] Don Costante:

Yeah.

[28:36] Tracy Allen:

And you did.

[28:36] Don Costante:

I mean, uh, the beautiful thing about what we had and what’s good about good relationships with audio directors and game directors, that communication, as I said, is key is the ability to put ego aside and think about what’s best for the product.

[28:50] Tracy Allen:

Right.

[28:51] Don Costante:

There were many times I would say to you, Hey, Tracy, this is the hot that I want. And you’d say, Don, you know, do you mind, do you think we could go with this one? And said, I think this will have a better edge to it. And I’d say, you know what, trace, let’s do it. And, you know, most of the time you were right. I’m not going to say you were right all the time, but, but I went with those and that communication, not just with me. I mean, the communication that you had with the video director and the entertainment teams with the dance choreographers, and then there’s the host, right?

[29:17] Tracy Allen:

Right.

Working With Hosts in Real Time

[29:18] Don Costante:

You know, that collaboration with the host, let’s talk about like Chris miles, Chris miles, who I’ve had on this podcast. He was very complimentary of you. Each and every time that he comes into an event or a show with us, the first step for him is always to reach out to you and he’s connecting with you. He’s talking about some of the music that he’s looking for. And yes, you have history now, so you know a lot about what he wants, but he always does connect and talks about what new elements he might bring to the table. And the report that you guys have is fantastic because when he’s on stage, he’s leaning on you in many situations to take them places that he might not necessarily go because you can sense in the crowd, the energy, and he’ll go with it and vice versa. He’ll take you places and that’s what makes a special audio director, somebody that in real time can make decisions without it necessarily being planned out and come through. Because I’ll give you an example. Like we were doing a FanFest event and we had thousands of people in front of the stage and Chris started going into, hey, we’re all my single ladies out there. And he started going into some monologue about that and all of a sudden, bam, Tracy, you’re playing Beyonce single ladies.

[30:29] Don Costante:

And it wasn’t planned.

[30:30] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, it wasn’t on the format.

[30:32] Don Costante:

But the timing of it was impeccable. It was so quick. It was as you were anticipating it. You knew it was coming in some regards just by what he was talking about, even though he hadn’t planned it. And then right when he said single ladies, it hit. And, you know, a lot of people will say, hey, I’ve done that. But the timing is so quick. Timing is critical. Maybe you’ve done it and maybe it’s after he’s already said single ladies and they’ve talked about it for a little bit and then the music comes on. That’s too late in my opinion.

[31:00] Tracy Allen:

Yes, that’s where the organization comes in.

[31:02] Don Costante:

Yeah.

[31:03] Tracy Allen:

Chris Miles, when I first met him, we sat down. Even to this day, he will text. If we’re doing an event together, he’ll text me, you know, a couple songs. But we’re to that point where we know pretty much what each of us like. And it’s just, like I said, building that trust. Miles is just phenomenal. Just absolutely phenomenal. You know, I don’t think I make him look good. I think just the reverse. I think he makes me sound, you know.

[31:27] Don Costante:

It’s a combination of the two. The both of you mesh very well.

[31:30] Tracy Allen:

But yeah, I mean, we’ll still like the Fan Fest. We’ll get together like the first day and just hash out a couple ideas. And I’m thinking this and this and this. And that’s pretty much it. We got each other’s back.

[31:40] Don Costante:

Yeah. You know, the more events you do with your host, the more you’re going to know his flow. His or her. I mean, we have both male and female hosts. And, you know, we had Kat come out for Major League Baseball. And she communicated with you and a lot of collaboration going back. And I think that’s what we’re talking about here. Whether it’s the game director, the video director, the entertainment teams like the choreographers, your hosts. Have those conversations. Find out what their likes and dislikes are. Find out what their actions are going to be in terms of if they’re doing a call to action. You certainly don’t want to hit with a hot piece of music before they’ve actually, you know, initiated the cue for it. And it’s kind of loses its luster.

[32:20] Tracy Allen:

Very true.

Building a Plan B

[32:21] Don Costante:

So when you do events, Trace, and yes, games with the San Antonio Spurs or games with other professional teams is one thing. But when you’re out doing an event like we did with Major League Baseball in Cleveland, we did play ballpark. Talk a little bit about, I mean, you need to be prepared for all situations and things go wrong. Talk about what your plan B is. What happens when maybe you’re bringing your laptop and the laptop goes down. Obviously, the show needs to go on. Talk a little bit about your mentality towards what your plan B is.

[32:51] Tracy Allen:

Well, I have two laptops and I have three external hard drives backed up. And I keep them updated, every single one of them, because anything can happen and it will. Remember that time we were at the, I think it was a playoff game. You called it hot and we went hot. And cut out. Cut out. So what happened was the coach for halftime, I think it was the end of the second quarter. Halftime was having a dance team or something and we always had the coach come up and check their music. Well, she dropped something and she went to pick it up and my computers are down underneath the cabinet where the console is. And when she bent down, her knees bent and her knees hit the power button. Totally went off. Yeah. Here we are in the middle of a hot, no music. And it took, you know, five seconds to realize what happened. And then I realized that she turned off the computer and she was so regretful. You know, thank God I had that second backup.

[33:49] Don Costante:

Yeah.

[33:49] Tracy Allen:

And I just took it off again. I mean, it was weird for the crowd. There’s stuff like that you can’t control. But the faster you react to it, the better.

[33:56] Don Costante:

So you always have a backup.

[33:58] Tracy Allen:

Always.

[33:58] Don Costante:

But the fact is you had that backup.

[34:01] Tracy Allen:

I had the backup.

[34:02] Don Costante:

And although I was like, holy crap, what happened here? Obviously, things worked out. But the important point here for anybody, whether you’re producing an event, directing it, or the audio director in general, need to be thinking through on that backup plan what that plan is going to be. And so you always had those backups, as you mentioned. You’ve been doing this for a long time, Trace. What’s been your biggest challenge?

The Biggest Challenge

[34:26] Tracy Allen:

Biggest challenge? Probably containing Chris Miles. Anybody knows Chris. He’s a free spirit. So he is difficult to rein in.

[34:35] Don Costante:

But seriously, I mean, with everything that you’ve done, what’s been the biggest challenge?

[34:41] Tracy Allen:

Probably always striving to be better.

[34:45] Don Costante:

Yeah.

[34:45] Tracy Allen:

That’s my biggest challenge. I mean, you know, you go from, you know, I’ll be honest. You go from winning championships many years in a row going to playoffs, and then you come back for the next regular season. It gets kind of dull, to be honest with you. It only gets exciting when playoffs start again. But even through all that, you still want to make your event the best you can possibly make it. Because you’ve got to remember, there’s people that’s in that crowd that’s never been to a game before or never been to your event before. So that’s what I try. That’s probably the biggest challenge is always, always try to do better.

[35:17] Don Costante:

Yeah. No, I get that. I mean, that’s, that’s the big challenge for everybody and everything for sure. And I’m glad you touched on that because you’re right. Playoffs were so intense. And we were very fortunate, you know, when I was there, you know, there were four championships in seven years. And so to go from championship level to regular season and, you know, starting with preseason and you’re right, it can be kind of hard to get going. But you do have to have that understanding, that mentality that so many people in those stands are there for the first time. And it’s their first experience and they’re experiencing your product for the first time. So you want it to be the best show. And so you’re always pushing yourself. And I think we were all good about doing that. What about advice? I mean, what’s the one best piece of advice you would share with somebody that wants to be an audio director?

Advice for Aspiring Audio Directors

[36:04] Tracy Allen:

Best advice I can give, and this is going to sound kind of corny, but you have to be a fan of the fan.

[36:11] Don Costante:

That’s great advice.

[36:12] Tracy Allen:

Yeah, you’re there for the game, but you’re ultimately there for the fans. So as you’re watching the game, really concentrate on your fans. You know, look around, see the smiles, see if people shake in their heads. You know, my thought is I’m looking around, looking at the fans. And if I see a smile, I want to make that smile bigger. I just want to keep that smile going. That’s honestly the best advice I can give them. That was my.

[36:36] Don Costante:

That’s great.

[36:37] Tracy Allen:

That was my core value is just to be a fan of the fans.

[36:41] Don Costante:

Well, I know you were always reading the fans. And the beautiful thing about being in San Antonio is that your console was located in the stands in the lower level.

[36:49] Tracy Allen:

In the stands.

[36:50] Don Costante:

So that you were able to feel the vibe and hear the decibels and see the reactions. And all that is a perfect formula for being able to provide a successful result. So it was good.

[37:01] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. And another piece of advice, don’t be afraid to try something new. It might be the best thing you’ve ever done or it might be the worst thing you’ve ever done. But you’re not going to know unless you try it.

[37:11] Don Costante:

Yeah. So what are your final thoughts? What would you like to leave to the listeners who have been with us today?

Final Thoughts From Tracy Allen

[37:18] Tracy Allen:

Yeah. It’s not just playing music. There’s a lot more strategic elements going into it. And it’s, you know, for me, it’s just been like you said earlier that all those events that we’ve done, the championships, the finals, the golf, all those events has just been a fantastic, unforgettable journey. You know, I look back at all those and I’m just in amazement that I was part of that. For me, it’s the best feeling in the world. You know, I love what I do. And hopefully you people out there listening love what you do. Just have fun.

[37:50] Don Costante:

Yeah.

[37:50] Tracy Allen:

There were some challenging times, but overall I couldn’t have asked for any better career path. I tell you that.

[37:56] Don Costante:

Well, you know, I know being on a call or on a mic isn’t your favorite thing to do. And for you to join us today and to share some of your thoughts and best practices.

[38:07] Tracy Allen:

Thank you.

[38:08] Don Costante:

I just can’t thank you enough.

[38:09] Tracy Allen:

Well, thank you again. And it was fun. Hopefully this helps some people.

Don Costante’s Key Takeaways

[38:15] Don Costante:

Tracy and I go way back. And today I really enjoyed listening to him share his thoughts on several topics. Besides, it’s not very often you get a chance to hear an audio director’s point of view regarding live events in the sports industry. As uncomfortable as Tracy was about doing the interview, he did a great job of illustrating his philosophy and techniques that have made him so successful. Here’s what stood out to me during our conversation. Sound director. Tracy talked about how he prefers sound director because it’s user friendly and it offers the most versatility for live events. When it comes to organizing music elements, segment them into categories. Be specific. When you’re doing an event, you don’t have time to be searching for music. Keep in mind that there are different variations of hot music. Know the situation. Don’t give away your biggest hots in the wrong moments. Every game is going to have mountains and valleys. You need to give your crowd a rest. Be strategic in how you use your music. Remember, it’s impact versus quantity. The ideal genre for player intro videos is powerful, epic, cinematic type music with a little rock for edge.

[39:28] Don Costante:

And finally, be a fan of the fans. Concentrate on your fans at your event and keep them smiling and having a great time. Those were just a few details that stuck out to me today. As always, I hope that you were able to pull a few ideas that will benefit you. I want to thank Tracy for being on the podcast and for sharing his best practices with all of us. Well, that wraps up this episode of The Rundown. As always, I encourage you to reach out to me and share your thoughts and or questions at TheRundown@CostanteGroup.comEmail The Rundown. That’s TheRundown@CostanteGroup.comEmail The Rundown. Also, I would really appreciate it if you would subscribe and share this podcast and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram. And until the next time, I’m Don Costante.