Building on a natural aptitude for music and turning it into an engaging career has seen Charlie Rodgers travel the world with NZ band, L.A.B, as well as imparting his skills and knowledge to up-and-coming talent, through his tutor’s role at SIT Sound.
Charlie is a SIT alumnus; he achieved the Certificate in Audio Engineering and Production in 2004, followed by a Bachelor of Audio Production, graduating in 2007.
“I always knew I wanted a career in music, and always had a feeling that’s what I was going to do,” explaining he got into the idea of being a sound engineer after starting his audio course.
With 16 years experience as a Live/Studio Sound Engineer, Charlie has been teaching audio production, live sound, and sound engineering at SIT since 2017. He’s also an Event Manager and Musician; he plays guitar and “a bit of bass”, and is in his own local band, Sweep The Leg. Outside of these roles, Charlie is widely known for his “regular gig” - the monitor engineer for NZ band, L.A.B, for the past nine years.
Charlie developed his passion for audio during his time as a student at SIT. “Once I passed my bachelor’s it made me realise I could do anything if I just put my mind to it and dedicated myself to completing my goals.”
And gaining the qualifications helped him to reach professional goals. Microphone selection and placement, live sound set-ups, and basic theoretical knowledge needed to operate equipment safely and efficiently, were all skills learnt and developed through Charlie’s time spent at SIT Sound. It also taught him how to work effectively with people. “The biggest take-away was learning to work with a diverse range of people and how to listen to their wants and needs without my ego getting in the way.”
Being involved with L.A.B, Charlie has industry experience with relevant, current lessons to pass onto his students. He’s toured extensively - arenas and iconic venues throughout the United States, Netherlands, England, Australia, New Zealand – and has also worked with a number of Aotearoa’s music royalty: Sir Dave Dobbyn, Six60, Stan Walker, Tiki Taane, The Black Seeds, Fat Freddy's Drop, Kora, Katchafire, Salmonella Dub, Shihad, Devilskin, Shapeshifter, and Hollie Smith. His work with international acts includes members of Bob Marley's band, The Wailers, UB40, Napalm Death, Carcass and more.
“... it helps me to give my students real-world industry skills and up-to-date knowledge within the field of live sound engineering and audio production,” he says,
and believes some of the best advice he can give to students is around the realities of working in the music industry. “You have to work hard, don’t expect everyone to like how you do things, and never quit.” In his tutoring, Charlie finds the most enjoyable aspect is connecting with future sound engineers and seeing where their journey takes them once they finish their studies.
2024 has been a year of Charlies’ talents being individually lauded by the community; he received the Production Award in The Southland Musicians’ Club annual Southland Music Awards in July, and was a nominated finalist in the Creative Excellence Award in the inaugural Southland Creative Arts Awards in September. “It was really nice to be acknowledged”, he said, adding “It was also amazing to see many other people from Invercargill are doing great things within the arts.”
There are positives to being based in Invercargill and working with SIT, such as the good community. “The people are super friendly, once you meet someone from Invercargill, they’re basically your mate for life,” Charlie says. He endorses the supportive environment created for students by SIT, and the icing on the cake is the relative affordability of living here. “The cheap mortgage is also nice,” he quipped.
Charlie is currently recording an album for Sweep The Leg at SIT Sound Studios, and it looks like there’s a busy summer coming up with L.A.B. - shows in New Zealand and and Australia, with plans to tour Hawaii, America, and Europe again next year.