A while back I had an interesting session recording auditions and providing camera audio feed over the course of three days for 24 instrumental and vocal performers, all of whom were hoping to get on the roster with Cirque du Soleil. Roger Butterley, the Music Casting Advisor and Talent Scout, was supervising and guiding these sessions. As we tracked (overdubbing on live pieces from actual shows) Roger worked with the musicians to see how well they took direction, as well as how they incorporated changes in their next performance. All of these players and vocalists were top notch — Roger had already reviewed and vetted many applicants and watched hundreds of YouTube clips. The people walking in the door could all deliver the goods. Occasionally a performer would say, "If I could just roll back and punch in that one part," with a little laugh. They knew full well that these were "live" auditions and that "fixes" would not be happening. They knew they were asking to be considered for a job where they'd be asked to perform flawlessly for two shows a day, five nights a week. There are no punch ins, rewinds, breaks to tune or any other such "luxuries" afforded the musicians on a Cirque show. As I watched and listened to the auditions, I contrasted this experience with several recent projects I had worked on.