O'Neal Audio Meets Albaledo Media

If you listen to this show you’ve heard at the end of every episode the credits “today’s show was engineered by J T O’Neal” and “photos were taken by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez.” But do you know what that actually means? What is an audio engineer? What do photographers actually do that’s different from what you do with your phone?

Host of Out to Lunch Amy Irvin turns the mics on her production crew. “What does an audio engineer actually do?”

On today’s Out to Lunch we turn the mics on our production crew.

J.T. O’Neal, Audio Engineer and owner of O’Neal Audio Services. ” Touring essentially as a live sound engineer is kind of the best gig you can have.”

J T O’Neal got into audio engineering by recording his own music as a teenager. He started by making beats and recording instruments, which naturally led him to learn how to record live drums and bands.
J T got his big break when, while working as a barback at Spanish Moon, he took over for the house sound engineer who was going on tour. He was such a success that J T became the full-time sound engineer there in 2013.

J T is now a full-time freelance audio engineer, working at such diverse locations as Chelsea’s Live, Varsity Theatre, Bethany Church, and touring with Small Pools and Marc Broussard.

Photographer Miranda Albarez, the “Alba” half of Albaledo Media. As a steward of someone’s public image and conduit of their career to the public, she and Ian “take care of some of the most vulnerable aspects of someone’s life work.”

Miranda Albarez and Ian Ledo met while studying at LSU and working in marketing at LSU UREC. Both had creative backgrounds—Miranda in digital art, communications, and music, and Ian in photography, videography, and screen arts.

The “ledo” half of Albaledo Media, photographer Ian Ledo says he was motivated to start his photography career to help contribute finances to his family and help pay for his siblings in private Catholic school.

It was while they were dating that they realized how well they work together. So, they decided to launch Albaledo Media while still full-time students. Now, after just a few years in business, Albaledo Media has completed more than 40 projects, ranging from small-business branding and websites to large-scale creative work for Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Tulane University and LSU Opera.

JT, Ian and Miranda are vital contributors to the production Out to Lunch. In the future when you hear their credits at the end of the show you’ll have an appreciation of what their professional lives entail.