Nika Hall is a sound engineer at the Neurolux Lounge in Boise, ID, and she told us all about it...
How long have you been running sound? How did you get into it?
This is a hard one for me to answer cause I've been messing around with audio gear since I was a kid. But professionally, I'd say about eight years.
My parents, Rick and Debi Schroeder, owned a sound company in Boise, ID and opened a local music store called Gigs Music in 1996. I spent a lot of my childhood at clubs dancing in the lights as my mom soundchecked bands, schlepping gear for my dad as I got older, singing with his band and learning to play guitar, watching my parents mix countless festivals and shows, cleaning and doing inventory for the shop, etc.
I worked with their company in the summer as a teen but didn't know that I fully wanted to pursue audio until around 2013 when I started picking up gigs at a local coffee shop/DIY venue after my band played there a few times. I learned a lot in my small amount of time there and that's also where I connected with Eric Gilbert/Duck Club/Treefort Music fest. I worked my first Treefort Music Festival in 2014 picking up a last minute gig at Graineys Basement and was so exhilarated by the whole thing, I've been to or worked at every Treefort since.
In 2017 I threw myself into audio full force, moving back to Idaho to help my dad with his company. I started taking a regular gig at Tom Graineys where I met local tech Mike Steed--he really brought me up to speed with the digital world and was a great mentor. I started picking up any gig I could to try to learn, bar gigs, venues, stagehand/local crew work, local bands that needed help, etc. Eventually I started doing a lot of "Bread and butter gigs" as my dad would call them. They didn't always pay a lot, but I could load all the gear into my 86 dodge van and run the show by myself to save on labor..
Since then I've been fully immersed in the Idaho music scene. I've worked shows all over the state from 1000 cap venues to smoke filled bars in isolated towns, Rodeos, Festivals in Stanley, ID overlooking the sawtooth mountains, barns in the middle of nowhere, amphitheaters, Ski resorts, Hot springs, you name it.
Currently, I'm one of the production managers at Duck Club Entertainment/Treefort Music Festival and hop between FOH/MONs at Treefort Music Hall, Shrine Social Club and Neurolux and help manage a team of about 12 techs.
How did you get hooked up with Neurolux?
I worked my first show at Neurolux in 2018 while I was working with Jeff Crosby for his annual Homecoming Run, it was packed and we had a blast. I continued to pick up gigs at Neurolux when I could, but I didn't start working there consistently until after covid when I started picking up more gigs with Duck Club. Now I can't count how many shows I've done there, it holds a special place in my heart and I think a lot of local techs feel that way.
Any particular highlights? Which bands have been the best to work with?
Neurolux is an iconic rock club in my eyes. It opened in 1993 and has been one of the top spots in Boise for touring bands ever since, so it has seen some incredible artists come through. Hell, even Lemmy from Motorhead has graced the crowned stage. It's seen artists like Modest Mouse, The Black Keys, Built to Spill, Vampire Weekend, Elliott Smith (I wish I could have seen that one but I was like seven), Colter Wall, Cody Jinks, The Lumineers, just to name a few.
This place tends to bring in really cool bands, bands that work really hard and most of the time are amazing to work with but I think some of my favorite shows have been Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Smokey Brights, Earth, Jenny Dont & The Spurs, Blackwater Holylight, Jesse Daniel and most recently a band called Bent Knee, they were incredibly talented and so sweet to work with.
A lot of bands that come through would be playing in much bigger rooms if we were in a bigger market so Neurolux is a great spot to see some of those bands in a more intimate setting.
How would you describe the acoustics/layout at Neurolux?
Neurolux is approx 300 cap rectangle shaped main room with the bar to the left as you first walk in and a couple pinball machines and a pool table to the right, separate from the main room by a half wall. The stage sits opposite of the door on the back wall so the whole stage is visible as you walk in. The stage is about 18x15 with a 9.5ft trim height so it's not the biggest stage but you'd be surprised how much gear we can pack up there. FOH sits off center to the left of the room and it can be a tricky mix position sometimes, especially with a packed room. It has a nostalgic rock club vibe, it's dark, hazy, loud.. it feels like a relic of the grunge days that's kept current by great bookings and a crew that delivers the best sound possible on a legacy system that has seen a lot of shows.
What gear do you use?
Neurolux has 2 QSC KLAs per side for mains and a pair of 2x18 subs under the stage, QSC powered monitors and an M32 at FOH, we mix monitors from FOH. We've got a pretty basic mic package including Audix D Series drum mics, 57s/58's, Beta 91, Beta 57 (my favorite snare mic) and some Sennheiser 609s and other misc microphones.
Nothin fancy for headphones. I'm still rocking the worn out pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50s I got from my dad years ago.
For more information, visit neurolux.com.
