Show dictionary · Audio
A1
The A1 is the lead audio engineer on a live event: the person responsible for the sound system and for mixing the show, usually from FOH. The numbering convention (A1, A2, V1, L1) comes from corporate AV and broadcast staffing grids.
In practice
On corporate shows the A1 owns the entire audio chain: system design or verification, console programming, RF oversight, and the mix itself, from podium mics to walk-in music. The A2 (or several) handles the stage side: mics on bodies, line checks, patch changes.
The concert-world equivalent splits differently: FOH engineer and monitor engineer as peers, with system techs beneath. When concert people and corporate people staff a show together, mapping A1/A2 onto FOH/monitors/systems is a first-morning conversation worth having explicitly.
How you’ll hear it
"A1 wants the podium swapped to channel 4; A2, re-patch it during the video."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.