As the tenth most successful touring act of 2007 (grossing $41.6 million), Rascal Flatts are one of the biggest names in country music today, with a live show that is a force to be reckoned with. Full Sail graduate Jon Garber has been along for the ride for the past five years.

As Front of House Engineer for the Rascal Flatts tour, Jon’s job is to ensure that the audio that the audience hears is top-notch throughout the course of the show. “My daily schedule starts with running the crew and making sure that our audio team is efficient and getting the show’s PA up in the air,” Jon explains. “I tune the room and mix the show. It’s very important that I make sure that the sound is consistent no matter where you might be in the room, and to make sure that the band is properly mixed.”

In the world of live sound, Jon’s got to be alert and on his toes throughout the show. “It’s live sound, so it’s definitely all in the heat of the moment,” Jon says. “You don’t really know what’s going to happen. You have to be ready for anything to happen. You hope that you can control things, and just have to be good at roping in that audio.”

Garber’s proven so good at “roping in that audio” that he won the “Rising Star” award at the 2007 Event Pro Forum Awards in Las Vegas. A big country music fan who previously worked for Brooks and Dunn, Toby Keith, and Brad Paisley, Jon says that life on the road with Rascal Flatts is a blast. “The three main members of the group and their backing band are all really great guys and good musicians. It’s very close-knit, sort of like our own separate family,” he says. “It’s not like the typical rock ‘n’ roll band that tours for about two months straight and then takes off for a while. We tour almost year-round.

“It’s very intense,” he continues. “I’m gone almost every weekend of the year, pretty much. And when it’s not regular tour dates, I also am doing TV programs and award shows that the group performs on. I’ve also gotten to mix the band for the President of the United States a couple of times in a small office room – that was pretty cool.”

With a lifestyle that sees him constantly out on the road most days of the year, it can be difficult to focus on anything but the next destination. But Jon still looks back at his Full Sail experience as a crucial step in getting him into his current career.

“With Full Sail, what you put into it is basically what you get out of it. I was going to every single lab that I possible could, trying to get that real world education. So I was learning quite a bit while I was there,” he says. “That hands-on experience – from mixing to learning different consoles to applying things to the digital realm – that all really did a great job in preparing me for what it is that I do now.”