Specialist Role: A Conversation With Playback Technician Ben Bodoano

Playback tech Ben Bodoano on stage prior to showtime.

Specialist Role: A Conversation With Playback Technician Ben Bodoano

Talking with the veteran specialist about his recent work with Queen + Adam Lambert and Take That, the evolution of the role of playback tech, and much more.

With multiple departments such as lights, video and special effects now relying on timecode to synchronize their show operation, and of course the band needing to synchronize their performance accordingly, it’s now a rare show that doesn’t have at least some element of playback.

The role of the playback technician has become increasingly significant on the majority of large productions in the last couple of decades. Where once playback was restricted to tracks printed on a couple of hard drive machines with a backline tech pressing play and little changing for the duration of the tour, these days ever more complex and versatile technology offers the capacity for much more “on-the-road” creativity, meaning that playback has become a specialist job. A good playback tech must be intimately familiar with different digital audio workstations (DAWs) so that they can edit multiple tracks fast and efficiently as well as run a rock-solid system with all the necessary redundancy.

Yorkshire, England-born playback/keyboard tech Ben Bodoano is one such person, and we toured together throughout 2023 and 2024 on Queen + Adam Lambert and Take That. I recently had the opportunity to find out more about his journey into this specialist area of backline and explore his experience of the variety of DAWs now available.

Becky Pell: Ben, thanks for agreeing to chat with me about your live sound journey! Let’s dive in. First, how did you get into this business?

Ben Bodoano: To be honest, I never had any plans to do this as a career and got into the world of touring a little later than most, at the age of 28, by a complete stroke of luck. My father had been a musician and I had always been musical, playing in bands, etc., but believe it or not in 2001 I was working in marketing at a private hospital having felt I should take a sensible career route.

However, by 2004, I decided that wasn’t the life for me. Having applied to music colleges I moved to Brighton to do a degree in music. Around that time a friend of mine moved into a flat and the guy living above was a backline tech. Through him, my friend fell into the world of touring and began working with British artist The Streets. In 2007 he asked me to cover a show for him… I haven’t stopped working since.

Pell: What a great story! We’ve obviously toured together recently on Queen and Take That – who else have you worked with?

Bodoano: Kano, The Music, Delphic, Craig David, The Kooks, Temper Trap, Chvrches, Bloc Party, Years & Years, Unkle, Grace Jones, ELO, The Chemical Brothers, Rufus Du Sol, Yungblud, Stormzy

Pell: That’s quite a variety! What’s your favorite part of the job?

Bodoano: It’s very satisfying taking on a new project, figuring the best course of action technically for the brief and seeing it come to fruition. On top of this though I’ve been very lucky with the places I have been, the people I’ve worked with and the experience I’ve encountered. It’s not a glamorous job like people expect, but at the same time I’ve had many “pinch me” moments.

Pell: What are your top three of those “pinch me” moments?

Bodoano: Definitely the first stadium show I got to do was a crazy moment. Standing on a stage looking out at 80,000 people is quite special.

Having climbed the old Glastonbury fence in 2000 to watch their headline performance, running the Chemical Brothers show during a festival run in 2022 was very much a full circle experience.

And I’m not one to name drop but there’s definitely been a few surreal experiences with people I’ve met along the way. Being a big hip-hop head, casually chatting with Jay Z backstage at Summer Sonic was definitely a moment!

Pell: What’s the most challenging thing about your job?

Bodoano: For me the most challenging is missing family and friends and all the associated occasions. The job can be amazing but it can also come at a huge personal cost.

Pell: Agreed, it’s an incredible way of life but it certainly requires a lot of sacrifices. Let’s get techie: Can you walk us through your current rig? And the Queen one?

Bodoano: The Take That rig I’m currently using (pictured directly below) is based around the specifications presented to me by the musicians who wanted a MADI rig using PreSonus Studio One as the DAW.

I have two MacBook Pros (main and redundant) with show files being run at 96k. I also have a number of external displays so the laptops are equipped with 96 Gb RAM. I’m using RME interfaces which are outputting MADI into a Exbox.MD for redundant MADI switching. The MADI stream is sent to a DiGiCo Orange Box, and the Exbox is also connected to a Ferrofish A32 for analog breakout options.

I’m getting word clock from the Orange Box, which goes into a word clock distribution unit which then feeds clock to the RME interfaces, Exbox and Ferrofish. The rig is controlled from stage by one of the musicians and I also have local control should there be any issues.

The Queen setup (pictured below) is much simpler as they barely use playback… but it would be impossible to play something like “Bohemian Rhapsody” without it. Two laptops running Logic. I have MOTU sound cards going into a Radial SW8. I control the system from off stage and it’s basically me hitting go at the end of Brian’s solo to bring in the opera section.

Pell: Wow, simple maybe, but no pressure – ha ha! There are quite a few DAWs out there these days. Which ones do you use regularly? What do you see as the relative merits and drawbacks of each of them?

Bodoano: When I first began in the game Logic (pre Apple purchasing from Emagic) and Pro Tools were the main contenders, but usually the weapon of choice these days would be Ableton. It’s such a powerful and versatile piece of software and has more or less become the industry standard. As I said, I’m using Logic on Queen and Studio One on Take That. Studio One was a request from the session musicians. I’d not used it previously, but it has been completely solid and it has some cool features.

All the DAWs are very similar now. You need to know the software is stable and not prone to glitches or crashing, but it kind of depends how much extra the job requires above just outputting audio. For something like the Chemical Brothers, which has a lot of MIDI being sent to various pieces of equipment, Ableton gives you everything you need.

Pell: What’s the biggest technical change you’ve seen in your job since you began?

Bodoano: Technology has moved on a great deal since I first started. Obviously, computing power has gotten bigger and bigger and all computers nowadays come with solid-state drives as standard, but back when I began unless there was the budget to splash out it was hard-disc drives with moving parts, which could easily be susceptible to sub bass frequencies.

It was also the case that the audio switchers needed for redundancy were bespoke units with a button you would hit if the A system went down. Now most people are using something like the Radial SW8 with auto-switching capabilities.

Pell: Yes it’s advanced so much in recent years, hasn’t it? Do you do any studio work?

Bodoano: I’ve done studio work in the past but don’t really have the time normally.

Pell: What are the essentials in your toolkit?

Bodoano: I need to be able to cover any eventuality. My tool kits go from standard tools to numerous different audio and MIDI utility boxes, cables, audio connectors and adapters. Probably the most important though – a good sense of humor!

Pell: Definitely! What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you do?

Bodoano: Tricky question as I feel I fell into this job with no plan, but I’m good at spotting opportunities and making the most of them. However, I do feel it’s important to know that there’s always something to learn, no matter how long you have been working in the industry or how good you may think you are, there’s no way anyone knows it all and there’s no one way of doing something. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or advice from colleagues – I’ve never met anyone successful that doesn’t appreciate this.

It’s also a job that requires good people skills. From artists feeling comfortable around you and confident in your abilities to colleagues enjoying working with you. Without wanting to sound cheesy, it’s very much a case of team work makes the dream work.

Pell: It really is, and I love this advice. Finally, are there any tech advances you foresee which could make your life easier?

Bodoano: With all the advances in streaming technology it would be great at some point to be able to run the playback from home… maybe then I could find a better work life balance – not sure how the artists would feel about this though!

Pell: Ha ha, yes, I think you might get some pushback on that! Ben, thank you for sharing your story with us. I’m looking forward to touring with you again soon!

Becky Pell received TPi Awards for Monitor Engineer Of The Year 2022 and 2024. With more than 25 years of experience in live sound, she toured as a monitor and RF tech with Black Crowes, Travis and Kylie Minogue before moving behind the desk to mix monitors for artists including Aha, Muse, Anastacia, Westlife, and most recently, Queen + Adam Lambert and Take That.

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