Ryan Stephens runs sound at Cypress in Reno, and he told us all about it...
How long have you been running sound? How did you get into it?
I have been running live sound for five years now but have been doing studio work for over 15 years. Growing up, my parents owned a local recording studio where I worked as an audio engineer, recording international and national conventions. After college, I began working at a 1,000-person capacity venue called Cargo as a stagehand and worked my way up to an A2 position running monitors and eventually became an A1 running front-of-house.
How did you get hooked up with Cypress?
We had a large stage crew working at Cargo. After covid hit, we no longer had an in-house crew at Cargo, and we all split off into different venues. A coworker named Ryan Spector was working at Cypress and hired three of us ex-Cargo employees positions at Cypress.
Any particular highlights? Which bands have been the best to work with?
My girlfriend Porsche Mothe [pictured here with Stephens] runs lights during all my shows. I really love the staff that works there. Shoutout to my fellow audio engineers Whitney Thomas, Quinton Bunk, Greg Gilmore, Jack Rolli and Keagan Chipp who help make the magic happen at Cypress. We have had so many great acts come through here, including, Blue Egyptian, Balkan Bump, Rivers of Nihil, Kyle Smith, Minnesota, Butcher Babies, Vokab Kompany plus many amazing local acts.
How would you describe the acoustics/layout at Cypress?
Cypress is a 350-person capacity nightclub style venue that feels like a nicely finished warehouse. The performers play on a two-foot tall 15 x 20 handmade wooden stage with subwoofers built into the front edge. The tall ceilings are unfinished and are adorned with large sound diffusion panels. The room sounds tight and reasonably dead despite the brick walls due to curtains surrounding the stage and all the acoustic treatment throughout the venue. Overall, this room sounds awesome!
What gear do you use?
At Cypress, we are running a Midas M32 through (2) flown-in Meyers CQ-1’s (tops) and (2) Meyers dual 18-inch Subwoofers. This sound system is more than enough for this intimate room. For monitor wedges, we have (5) RCF NX 912 SMA’s which sound great on this wooden stage.
For more information, visit cypressreno.com.
