This is how it all started...

Matt Viv started out by going to college at West Virginia University in August 2001 as a Recreation, Parks, Tourism and Resources (RPTR) management major. During his attendance at WVU, he began his journey in live sound via a work study with WVU Arts & Entertainment. In August 2006, he graduated with a Bachelors of Science in RPTR and a love for managing sound production for live concerts.

He started working for WVU Arts and Entertainment in Feb 2002, the first show that he worked was with OutKast and 2 Skinnee J's as a stagehand by building and tearing down the event. At the end of the school year he was offered a position as an Audio Visual Technician.

Coming back in August 2002 as a new staff member and with a new boss, they let him loose on an older Peavey mix-head and a pair of Yamaha speakers, without any training of the equipment. Midway through the semester, the orginal boss left for another job, and a replacement was hired, Keith R. From then on, he trained Matt and opened up his eyes to a new level of sound reinforcement.

In August 2004, he learned everything about the PA systems that A&E had to offer. At this time he began training other new staff members on each of the PA systems that A&E owned. A&E had roughly 5 different PA systems; 2 house systems and 3 portable systems.

He also had a taste for large scale concerts and theater productions that were scheduled. During the majority of the time these shows consisted of full Line Array systems from EAW or JBL, with mixing consoles from Yamaha, Soundcraft and/or Midas.

A partial list of musicians and bands that he worked with while at college is below:

2002

• OutKast and 2 Skinnee J's

2003

• 311
• 3 Doors Down, Default, Black Eye Peas, and Mississippi All Stars
• Nickel Creek
• John Mayer
• County Crows and Sixpence None the Richer

2004

• Fuel, Kayne West, Trapt, and Particle
• John Mayer and Gustar
• Lonestar
• Matchbox 20 and The PushStars
• DMX, Nas, Lil Kim, and Pitch Black

2005

• Ludacris and Lil' Jon
• Cypress Hill and OAR
• Gavin DeGraw, Michael Tolcher
• G.Love and the Special Sauce, and Slightly Stoopid
• Doobie Brothers

2006

• Brad Paisley

1. Other companies wanted to charge a fortune for an OLD PA which wasn't sufficient for rock shows
2. Other companies owned the "best of the best," but the sound engineer didn't know what half of their rack gear was supposed to do. They bought it because the lights blinked and moved.