The Art Of Sound

Head Audio Engineer Kevin Harvey calls it a career after more than a decade of sonic bliss inside Myron’s at The Smith Center

Kevin Harvey had barely entered his teenage years when a singular experience set him on his life’s course. 

“I went to see The Who in Bristol (England) in 1966 when I was 13, and it completely changed my life,” Harvey says. “I realized I couldn’t be Pete Townshend, but I could be the soundman.”

Before long, Harvey made good on that dream, mixing live sound on the road first for a theater company in 1970 and then for rock bands like Judas Priest and The Police during the remainder of that decade. Big names continued to line up for the Englishman’s services during the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s – Barry Manilow, Diana Ross, Prince, Fiona Apple, Chicago and Black Sabbath among them.

And then, in early 2012, Harvey heard about an opening for a sound engineer at a facility preparing to launch in Downtown Las Vegas: The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. 

“A friend of mine was already working there to help open the place, and he knew I could mix,” recalls Harvey, who had called Las Vegas home base since 1991. “I obviously knew what a performing arts center was; I’d worked in many of them. But to be honest, I thought Vegas and performing arts center … hmm. I wasn’t sure how many people would be coming to this place.”

Still, Harvey signed on as the head audio engineer for The Smith Center’s 240-room club – then known as Cabaret Jazz, now called Myron’s – and headed up the venue’s mixing console from opening night in 2012 until this past December, when he retired from the industry and moved to Eureka, California. He leaves The Smith Center having helped Myron’s earn recognition among the best-sounding music rooms in the world.

“We were very fortunate to have someone of Kevin’s stature and ability shaping the sound inside Myron’s from Day 1,” says Myron Martin, CEO & President of The Smith Center. “He’s one of the people most responsible for The Smith Center’s sparkling reputation with artists and guests alike.”

For Harvey, that respect is mutual. “Myron’s has the best sound system in America – a phenomenal PA system – thanks to Myron. We didn’t have everything that I would have wanted in the beginning, but over a period of two or three years we got the system quite right.

“Myron is the best boss you could ever have when it comes to audio, because he actually understands audio. He understood what I was trying to get to.”

And those doubts Harvey had about The Smith Center’s viability in Las Vegas? They vanished during Year 1, as he witnessed the valley’s reception to the majestic performing arts center and its diverse programming. “The Vegas community needed The Smith Center, really needed it, and it performs a very important function in this city. And I got to help.”

So how did a man known for manning the board for Black Sabbath and Judas Priest fit in so well amid the jazz masters and Broadway stars of Myron’s? By doing the most important thing an audio engineer can do – listen.

“You’ve gotta have an ear, and you have to adapt to the different genres of music,” Harvey explains. “My way of doing things is to listen to a lot of their music. I shut myself in a room and listen to them, especially if they have any live albums, and see what I think they’re looking for. So when we start rehearsals, I’m not in the dark; I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

Harvey says it’s tough to select individual favorites among some 2,500 performances during which he ran sound in Myron’s. Opening night, when The (Canadian) Tenors launched the room, comes to mind, as does an experience in 2013 that still makes him emotional. 

“We had a Composers Showcase that night, and around 10 a.m. I got the news that my father had passed away,” Harvey remembers. “I got through rehearsals and the show, and when we were done Clint Holmes came over to me and said, ‘Are you OK?’” He could tell something wasn’t right with me.”

I remember thinking, ‘Wow, if these are the kind of people I’ll be working with here, it’s gonna work out OK.”

From the start, Harvey was a hit with performers. A 2012 email from musician Paul Voudouris, a member of Doc Severinsen’s touring group, reads in part, “You know your board inside and out, and your kind, open demeanor makes working with you a joy. You are the perfect example of what a sound engineer and human being should be, and it was truly an honor to work with you.”

Harvey is quick to credit his team – fellow audio engineer Kevin Ruschmann and lighting director Steven Mack – for Myron’s nightly success. And he also offers praise for the room itself, which he says made his job relatively easy.

“It’s a beautiful room, and very neutral when it comes to acoustics, “Harvey says. “I didn’t have to do much to make it sound good, because we have great equipment, and the room has great acoustics.”

That will ensure that Myron’s continues delivering brilliant sound in its post-Harvey era. And it won’t hurt that Ruschmann and newcomer Darrin Capps have been learning from Harvey for quite some time, preparing for the transition.

“He taught me everything about mixing,” Ruschmann says. “I can do any show now, so it’s gonna be seamless.” 

Agrees Martin, “Kevin Harvey has left us in great shape, and with the team in place, guests can be confident Myron’s will deliver the same audio experience they’ve come to expect through the years.”