An Interview with Nationwide Video LED Tech Matt McKay
As part of Nationwide Video’s commitment to making life easier for its clients, they have started offering lead LED technicians to further elevate their LED wall rentals. One of Nationwide’s standout LED technicians is Matt McKay. In this article, Matt shares about his experience in the industry, his time at Nationwide, and some on-site stories.
NW: Can you walk us through your background in the AV industry?
MM: I “started” in AV as a teenager, pushing cases and running cameras unofficially with a family friend who brought me on shows both to give him an extra hand and get me out of the house more. From there, I went on to learn audio and was the A1 and show caller/production manager for a large local church. At community college, I went to the broadcast side and worked with the athletics department at my school where I was in charge of live-streaming sporting events.
After college, I became the Director of Video and Content for my local rental house, planning and executing the entire video system for any and all events from Hyatt ballrooms to arena shows, as well as designing and deploying systems for their permanent installations department. Eventually, I needed a change of scenery, moved to Florida and joined NW. I’ve had my hand in almost every category of AV, but LED has been my primary specialty since 2014
NW: Can you tell us a little bit about Nationwide Video’s LED Techs?
MM: I joke that the program is really “freelance lite” as every project can be a different client and a new crew to work with, much akin to freelancing. But unlike freelancers, we’re backed by NW, removing a lot of the headache for our clients of having to find a freelancer and taking a chance on them based on their resume. Furthermore, we aren’t freelancers for NW. We are full time employees and fully immersed in the culture of Nationwide and the Nationwide360 client focus. On site, I’m on site. In the office, it’s a mix of QC, advancing shows and preparing documents for the event, and helping with shipping and receiving.
NW: How does having LED techs on site help the project managers?
MM: Some of the clients we work with are new to LED and love the “easy button” aspect of having someone backed by NW. Others are familiar with LED and just need additional support for large projects or their own technician was unavailable for whatever reason.
Having techs from NW on site helps the project managers by removing anything LED related from their plate. As soon as the rental quote is written, we plan the system, offer our clients options of different configurations, and figure out which one is best for their specific event. That way, we can work with our customer service team to ensure all needs are met. On site, from load-in to load-out, LED is handled by the NW team. During the shows, I’m watching the error logs to catch and resolve any issues that may arise before anyone in the audience has any idea anything happened.
In addition to all things LED, I get to act as a Nationwide representative and help resolve our client’s other needs or any issues with the NW order without them even having to pick up the phone to call someone off-site.
NW: Are Nationwide Video’s LED techs involved in the pre-planning for shows? If so can you speak a bit on that.
MM: We’re happy to be as involved in the planning process as we can be. Proper planning leads to well executed events. Our standard process is minimally one pre-production call with the TD or PM to ensure all needs of LED are met. We also discuss the signal paths, anything the client and or venue may be providing like power distribution, and confirm the dates, timelines, and travel logistics. As soon as the quote comes across my desk, I work out all possible configurations and work with the client to figure out which solution best suits their event. From there, I work with our customer service team to ensure we have all the gear our clients need on their job.
NW: What type of issues do you run into on show site and how do you go about troubleshooting them?
MM: Modern LED systems are fantastic about error reporting if you know where to look. Common problems are color calibration issues and the occasional faulty cable. You’ll only ever run into color calibration issues during the build, and it’s an easy fix from the laptop. The configuration I most commonly deploy is fully redundant, so that if a cable gets run over by a catering cart, or a data jumper on the wall fails, I can repair or replace it without so much as a single dropped frame.
NW: Any memorable situations where Nationwide was able to remedy a problem on show site?
MM: On one event, some of the clients own equipment didn’t make it to the venue. Specifically, mission critical cable for power and data for their lighting rig never arrived on-site. With some spare Ethercon I had brought already and a quick call to the Nationwide team in Detroit, we had a case full of power cable for them at the venue overnight and their LD was able to get the rig up and running on schedule.
To learn more about Nationwide Video’s LED technicians or add a lead LED technician to your next rental, reach out to Nationwide Video at 800.935.2323 or info@subrent.com.