Looking for the Light Within
In this continuing series, PLSN aims a key light on the Next Generation’s shining stars who are making a name for themselves for their stellar work.
Bothered by the church service’s “pretty rough” audio quality, a curious Daniel Rehbein snuck up into the church balcony to scope out the source of the sound. A seventh grader at the time, he surveyed the scene, thinking, “My dad has a stereo system at home. I bet I can figure this out.” So he bought Yamaha’s The Sound Reinforcement Handbook and rebuilt the sound system.
This was nothing new for Daniel. His parents encouraged his experimentation with fixing broken electronics around the house. His father, an electrical engineer, taught him to solder, and the two built a shortwave crystal radio set together. In grade school, Daniel was so interested in the field that he took an electronics course at the Pavak Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park, MN, whose collection features vintage radio and television equipment.
Brimming with self-taught audio fundamentals, the Minnesota teen tried to pursue this path at Concordia Academy, a private Christian high school in Roseville, MN. “I wanted to run sound for theater, but since that position was already filled by an upperclassmen, I ended up on lights,” Rehbein explained. “I learned a lot from the lighting designers that came in to design for our productions.”
From Music Row to Musical Events
Still, after graduation, the siren song of sound beckoned him, and he moved to Nashville in 2009 to pursue a degree in Audio Engineering at Belmont University. The career plan was to work in a recording studio on Music Row. “That dream lasted about a night,” he said. After orientation, a walk through the historic studio district revealed scores of “For Sale” signs. He quickly switched his focus to live sound.
But again, his audio ardor was dampened. While attending a student job fair during Welcome Week, Rehbein learned that audio gigs were not available, but his lighting skills were needed. Belmont did not offer a lighting degree, so Rehbein stayed in audio engineering and opted to learn lighting informally from Thom Roberts.
Roberts, then the assistant facilities manager at the university’s School of Music, was responsible for overseeing the lighting for events and concerts. The lighting veteran offered mentorship and casual “on-the-job training” for student lighting operators, who were paid to work on the crew.
During those college years of 2009-2013, Rehbein joined the crew as lighting designer, stage manager and audio engineer. Roberts recalled: “Daniel came in with a good background in high school theater. I remember him frequently taking calls from his [former] high school and troubleshooting problems for them! I taught him how to run a Road Hog 3, but it was mostly just which buttons to push; he already had a good idea of what he wanted to create.”
One of the concert designs that inspired the future lighting designer during his college years was U2’s 360° tour, which rolled into Nashville’s Vanderbilt Stadium in July 2011. Rehbein reminisced, “I had already been a fan of what I had seen of the production from the DVD of the 360° tour from Netflix. When I went, I ended up getting a wristband for the ‘inner circle’ between the stages. It was amazing. I got to see my favorite looks from the inner circle, but I could also move out and see it from FOH. I’m honestly still inspired by that production and how everything from the sound, to the lights, the video, and the stage all worked hand-in-hand to create an experience.”
On the Road
After graduating in 2013, Rehbein took his Bachelor of Science in Audio Engineering/Technology degree and pivoted 360 degrees himself, following the light to launch his freelance lighting career. He started at Bandit Lites. “Typically, I’d help out around the shop during the week, stocking, prepping or in Tech Services, fixing lights,” he said.
His first tour spanned two years as lighting director for country singer Easton Corbin (May 2013-June 2015). Along with the usual job duties, he also performed field repairs and maintenance of the touring rig on the road. “I remember being really excited and really nervous,” Rehbein recalled of that first tour. “I was the artist’s first lighting director, and management was concerned with hiring someone fresh out of college to the position.”
Tours continued as Rehbein served as lighting director for Ben Rector (August-October 2016 /September-November 2018) and Amos Lee (October 2016-December 2017), then as lighting designer/director for Old Crow Medicine Show (March-August 2017). Tours for which he still has involvement are as lighting director for Jennifer Nettles (September 2015-June 2016), lighting director for Sugarland (with Nettles and Kristian Bush; March to September 2018) and most recently as lighting director and programmer for Brothers Osborne (January 2019 to present). He was preparing to travel to Australia for a festival tour when the Covid-19 lockdown hit in March 2020.
Looking for the Light Within
During the past year, Rehbein has had some local gigs as house LD at a church while also working some stagehand gigs here and there. One highlight was as the designer/programmer for a Brothers Osborne music video shoot, whose video directors wanted the performance to feel live and organic.
But without lighting gigs, much of the time he’s had to find the light within — and he sought help. “Before Covid, I would rarely have a night at home. Between working and hanging out with friends, I was always busy on purpose so I would not have to contend with all the stuff in the back of my mind. When the brakes slammed on our industry, I wasn’t busy and I wasn’t sleeping well, so [thoughts] started to get loud,” he admitted. “Thankfully, I ended up finding a great therapist who has been helping me work through all of it.”
Hobbies are also helping him be easier on himself. Already a wine maker, photographer, and a Dungeons and Dragons player, Rehbein is teaching himself circuit design, programming microcontrollers, gardening and candle-making. “This pandemic is emotionally draining, and I’ve learned it’s okay to take a break,” he says.
Mentors and Musings
Many in our industry sought out mentors for guidance along the way, and Rehbein points to his with thanks for the valuable lessons learned. “I looked to and still look to Jake Tickle and Mark Steinwachs at Bandit, and Thom Roberts and Chris Lisle. In my career, I’ve had some ups and downs, and it’s good to have these people in my life to be a sounding board. I know they will have good advice.”
Roberts thanks him for the acknowledgement. “We stayed in touch after Daniel graduated, and he started touring almost immediately. He was one of the few people I trusted to call as a substitute on my gig with Here Come the Mummies, although he quickly became so successful, and busy, he became less and less available. I suspect I could not afford him anymore! It is gratifying to see someone grow and become successful, and know I played a small part in getting them to that point.”
Rehbein looks forward to the days when touring comes back, and his association with Bandit Lites continues on. “Bandit has treated me very well, and I am thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had working there,” he noted. But he still has flexibility as a freelancer to work with whichever vendor the artist or client chooses.
And what happened to his audio skills? Rehbein still knows how to run sound, but the most he has done is mix at church or sync audio up for some timecoding that he needed to do. It’s been a few years.
Looking forward, Rehbein reflected on the best advice he’s received, which he passes along to future touring pros. “At a Touring Career Workshop one year, Chris Lisle was talking about planning your career with an exit strategy for it. You have to think about how each gig affects that plan. Another piece of advice was from my first production manager, who talked to me about how our industry is so small and tight knit and that your word and your name are all you got — you have to protect that. I’ve turned down higher paying gigs because I had already committed to another gig. Some would say that’s crazy, but at the end of the day, you end up gaining respect and not losing your reputation.”
