HI James,  
    
  On Sun 2039-Jun-19 12:14, James Bradley (1:342/77) wrote to Richard Webb:  
    
    
    
   RW>   YEah, so many folks don't know anything about how  
   RW> to interact with an actual stage crew and the reinforcement  
   RW> folks, etc.  I've said much the same things as I put in  
   RW> that little file to bands when doing one of these benefits  
    
    
  JB> Admittedly, much of my inclusions were paraphrasing words I saw from  
  JB> you  elsewhere. Sympathy for a person's workload could go a long way  
  JB> toward a  better world, but when a snot-nose throws a hisey fit  
  JB> because you won't  ride the threshold on a gate along with 14 other  
  JB> effects cues for each  song... "SECURITY!"  
    
  YEah I know, that's the other thing frustrates me, was  
  drummers who didn't tune the kit properly, expect me to  
  solve their problems with technology, such as noise gates on tom mics, etc.  
  OFten any signal processing I had available  
  was needed elsewhere, i.e. the bass man who can't play with  
  good dynamics, so I had to strap a compressor across his  
  channel, or the singer with poor mic technique, etc.  That's part of the  
  reason I insist on that input list, stage plot,  
  and some notes about the setup.  IF an act expects to have  
  gates for the toms, etc. etc. it's nice to know about it  
  ahead of time.  i may, or may not be able to accomodate the  
  request.  WHen I owned my big system signal processing was  
  my weakness in fact, I had racks and stacks plus mixers,  
  snakes etc. but my shoestring operation was weak on good  
  signal processing.  I think I had a Yamaha spx-90, a  
  digitech something or other digital delay, a rOland space  
  echo, and about 4 channels of dbx compression.  I could  
  borrow some stuff from the big player I also worked for at  
  times, but oftentimes I'd get the bigger shows I got, or  
  those fests from hell because his A rig, which consisted of  
  both his B level rigs was booked.  THis meant I was having  
  to rent or borrow elsewhere, and I'd only rent if it was a  
  ogtta have it on the rider, and I was getting paid my full  
  rate.  IF I was working on the cheap you didn't get me  
  renting additional signal processing gear.  
    
    
    
    
    
  JB> "Bottom right = good. Top left = bad. Got it?"  In my fantasies,  
  JB> an  automated board might eleviate any mess Junior could do, but to  
  JB> spot the  special idiot that could erase your snapshot of unity gain  
  JB> would be the new challenge.  
    
  YEah I remember the first one I played with, Yamaha 01v with the snapshot  
  automation.  THat was a day from hell, two  
  blind guys trying to figure out interfacing that thing with  
  two Alesis adats for a session.  I was glad my buddy still  
  had the harnesses to his old Studiomaster.  Once his  
  girlfriend got home from work and could help us with eyes  
  for the reference manual we sorted out our problems, and the overdubs sure  
  went smoother with the snapshot automation.  
    
   JB> Did I tell you about the young aspiring motion picture projectionist  
  JB> ...  
   RW>   YEah I can relate.  A buddy of mine who services  
   RW> broadcast transmitters is always telling stories about  
   RW> people wearing watches rings and the like and   
    
  JB> Welding classes are down the hall? Cripes... Imagine how many ways  
  JB> "talent"  finds to ruin a modulator's gain structure? I took over a  
  JB> drive-in theatre  for a fellow that would drive around his charge to  
  JB> see if he could boost  his FM transmitter to give the WHOLE  
  JB> neighborhood a "free show". What a  "clipping mess" that product  
  JB> sounded like!  
    
    sOme people shouldn't be allowed near such  
  things.  A friend of mine in upstate NY was arguing for a  
  poster in an internet forum to acquire a large format Yamaha digital for a  
  church monitor console because setting could  
  be passworded.  I argued for good old analog, because the  
  "praise team" didn't have sound techs even for front of  
  house, talent adjusted it themselves.  SUre it's nice to  
  have those parametric eqs on all the groups and that, along  
  with compression gates and the like, but folks who are  
  boiling hard just to remember to count down to the fourth  
  knob on the keyboard channel if you need more keyboard in  
  your in-ear monitors and turn that one up are going to even  
  have a tougher time selecting things in the menu structure  
  from hell.  Then, since they use in-ears, if some bonehead  
  happens to defeat the limiters that protect his eardrums and deafens himself  
  then he sues the church.  THere are reasons  
  we professionals advocate that anybody monitoring through  
  those earbuds or headphones should strap a brick wall  
  limiter across them.  
  All you need is somebody defeating that because they suffer  
  from the principle of mild, as in "make it loud dammit" ya  
  know what I mean .  
    
    
    
    
    
  JB> "Show up in uniform, and be on time." is a saying I've heard  
  JB> elsewhere. I  wanted to include, if you show up in a second hand  
  JB> leisure suit and penny  loafers borrowed from dad's closet or steel  
  JB> toed boots, cargo pants with a  water bottle in 'em and a t-shirt  
  JB> with only a couple of well deserved  holes; who would *you* trust  
  JB> more?  
    
    Seen that more than once too.  
    
  JB> Consider it work, kids! Consider the pro's workload. Respect their  
  JB> advice.  Showing up to learn and assist if and WHEN asked to, and  
  JB> you might have a  future in the biz.  
    
  Well spoken.  i tell newbies working a crew with me, show up professional  
  dressed, actual shoes on feet, ready to work.  
  DOn't ask questions unless they're essential to getting the  
  job done right, that is, until afterword, then ask any  
  questions you have.  IN the studio the newbie working for me isn't just a  
  gofer coffee gofer this, he's the documenter,  
  everything that goes down in documentation is written by the newbie, even if  
  he doesn't understand it.  tHen we go over  
  his session log after the day's work is done, and we explain why he was told  
  to make note of that.  This means making  
  notes of the position of every knob button and fader on the  
  console, what's patched where on the patch panels, etc.  
    
   JB> Oh... MENTION BATTERIES in the spares department! How many cordless  
   JB> mikes  go dead right after sound check and just before the first  
   JB> chorus in the  first song?  
    
    
   RW> Indeed, that's why I never got into band management.  IT's  
   RW> hard enough just managing the tech part of the shows.  
    
  JB> When we picked up a *real* soundman, it was interesting watch him  
  JB> consistently improve our product. What a wealth of knowledge that  
  JB> guy was!  Appreciate it if you got it kiddies!!!!  
    
  INdeed, there's a reason that sound techs demand the kind of money they do,  
  and often they're underpaid at that.  WHen  
  I'd work for my main man and do the big arena or other  
  venues for a national act I'd usually get tagged with mixing monitors, and  
  usually get a compliment from the performers  
  after the show, because I tried to anticipate their needs.  
  Biggest problem I'd have with them was communication, they  
  couldn't just use hand signals and point to tell me what  
  they needed more or less of.  But then, often they didn't  
  need to.  I'd actually listen to their monitor feed, and  
  factor in their position on stage so as to give them what  
  they'd need to blend properly and emphasize what they might  
  have difficulty hearing.  A lot of folks don't like mixing  
  monitors, but I enjoy it.  
    
   RW> COnvincing these guys of all this is a nightmare.  dId the  
   RW> raod bands as a muso for years.  WAs funny, often I was the  
   RW> only guy on the bandstand who had gaffer's tape, basic hand  
   RW> tools, etc.  
    
  JB> Oh, PHART!!! Like I wrote to you elsewhere: fluids, expendables, zip  
  JB> ties,  and yes; gaffers tape... Us drummers need to know at least a  
  JB> *little* about  lubricants, but I've heard about guitarist utilizing  
  JB> WD-40 (Silicone by  the end of the day, with a petrolium water  
  JB> dispersant carrier.) on their  fretboards and such. Drummers... If  
  JB> you don't know the difference between  Teflon and Graphite, LEARN  
  JB> IT!  
    
  As well as what the different lubes are supposed to be used  
  for.  
    
   JB> Right-handed sewer flute?   
    
   RW>   DOn't know.  I got that "left handed sewer flute"  
   RW> from PDQ bach.  ARdith would get the reference I'm sure .  
    
  JB> You punishing me behind my back for my absence, or trying to write  
  JB> The  Blue Man Group into a classical score?   
    
  Maybe both.  See Dallas's post on the left handed sewer  
  flute.  I replied to it, but had a little technical  
  difficulty here and it never made it upstream.  
    
    
  Regards,  
             Richard  
  ... NO highs, no lows, must be Bose.  
  ---  
   * Origin:  (1:116/901)