Marcel Cacdac stays fairly busy these days. As co-founder and Chief Development Officer of audio/lighting design company reFRACTion (now approaching its ten-year anniversary), he has a constant stream of projects and live events to provide live production for. And with clientele as diverse as the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Steampunk Treehouse at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and alternative rock band The Breeders, no one job is exactly like another, which is how Marcel prefers it.
“I pretty much steer the reFRACTion ship between technology and people. More specifically, I’m also Head of Audio Department, so I design all aspects of audio for each show, whether it’s corporate, festival, theater, or a circus. But when it comes down it, if you’re a small business, you really get to do everything,” Marcel laughs. “When it comes to my role along with the other three owners of the company, it’s kind of misleading to have titles. We all just do everything, from cleaning shop to maintaining gear to going out and selling concepts and production services and staffs to clients.”
Working with clients to provide their needs for their live event is a deeply involved creative process, according to Marcel. “We provide all audio, lighting design, implementation, and show operation for The Crucible, a non-profit educational facility in Oakland, CA that provides training in fine and industrial arts,” he says. “It’s great to be involved in every aspect of preproduction and design, and we get to be there with them working side by side during their show productions or festivals, translating their idea to a mass audience.”
When not operating on live events at home, Marcel also tours with bands as a live sound engineer. “The Breeders will be doing a European festival tour this summer, and I’ll be out there with them,” he continues. His skills behind the boards also earned him the gig of mixing in-ear monitors for folk-rock band the Decemberists.
“That’s been one of my biggest challenges, but it’s also been very satisfying,” he says. “The band has tons of instruments onstage with them, including three glockenspiels, a Hammond B3 organ, violins, cellos, and an upright bass – we’re at about 48 inputs coming from onstage, and that’s a lot to wrangle! For them to trust me and have that amount of confidence in my mixing capabilities was very cool.”
Looking back at his days as a Recording Arts grad at Full Sail, Marcel says his goals may have changed, but his educational experience was still a great asset that helped land him in the industry.
“When I was first at Full Sail my whole focus was on producing or mixing a GRAMMY®-winning album – a pretty common thread for students going to school, right?” he laughs. “But over time, it became way more exciting for me to do live projects than to just sit in a studio.”
“I learned a lot technically there – the studio maintenance class in particular was one of the most important things, because when you’re on the road, having the knowledge and being unafraid to open up equipment right there is pretty valuable,” he adds. “But I also learned about networking and communicating with people, and putting yourself in the right place at the right time. I haven’t used a resume in a long time; it’s all about the relationships.”
