Hiring AV Freelancers 101: What to Look For

The freelance AV market has matured a lot in the last decade, and the bar for "qualified" has gone up with it. If you're a production company or in-house events team putting together a crew for a one-off show, here's a short field guide to evaluating freelancers fast.

Read past the title

"Audio engineer" means very different things in different markets. A broadcast A1 and a touring monitor engineer have almost no overlap in skills, even though both will list themselves as audio engineers. Look at the gear list and the venues / shows they've worked — that's where the real specialization lives.

Ask about specific consoles, not categories

"Are you comfortable on digital consoles?" gets a yes from everyone. "Have you ever programmed scenes on a dLive S5000 with Dyn8 dynamics on a multitrack virtual sound check?" tells you the truth in 30 seconds.

Verify availability windows clearly

"Available the week of June 3rd" should mean every day that week, not "three of those days but I haven't told you about the other gig yet." Ask specifically about the load-in date, the show date, and the strike date.

Travel costs are real

If your tech is flying in, factor in the day before for travel and the day after if there's a late strike. A $600 day-rate freelancer becomes a $2,000 line item once you include travel days, hotels, and per diem. Surprises here cause the most friction at invoice time.

Check insurance

Most working freelancers carry general liability and equipment insurance. If they don't, your venue's certificate-of-insurance requirement is going to become your problem. Ask up front.

Pay on time