Messing with the board...

[sbass traveller]

Maybe this belongs in the "Gig Stories/Bass Humour" thread, but I thought I'd throw it in here based on the live sound content.

I picked up a gig in the house band at a nice upscale restaurant here, doing some easy listening covers. One of the servers has been assigned to set up the PA before we get there so we can just plug in and go whenever we're ready. It's simple enough as it all sits in a big road case and just has to be plugged in and hooked up to the speakers before it's ready to go. I've spent about 3 and a half years working sound semi-professionally back in Canada (I'm hardly an old hand, but my mentor was really good and thorough), so I've been making sure we all sound good and the levels are acceptable for the venue.
The server comes over about once every 20 minutes, mid-song and keeps messing with things, be it the delay (which he totally oversaturates everything with) or the overall volume. I can't imagine how many times I've told him "It's a restaurant, not a rock concert..." and yet he still tries to make us louder and mess with everything.
I finally had enough and re-hooked up the board so he doesn't know as much about how it works anymore (it was poorly set-up to begin with - you could either have effects on everything, or nothing at all - needless to say it's fixed now), but he still comes over to mess around with the reverb/delay unit now, adding as much as he can

He admits I have more experience than him, but he still continues to mess around. I can still laugh about it though, and usually the band sees him coming right for us and we all shoot each other knowing looks when he shows up haha.

Anyone experience anything similar? I'm sure I can't be alone in this.

[R. Laevinus]

Yep, every band I've ever played in has had the guitarist/singer attempt to mess with the board at every opportunity.

It's usually a contributing factor to my leaving the band, not gonna lie.

[Never_grew_up]

Big difference between another member of the band looking for 'more me' in the mix and someone who ISN'T part of the band screwing with your sound.
If your band sounds like crap because you mixed or eq'ed it poorly and get complaints/fired, well that's on you. But if it's because someone else screwed it up then they've cost you a gig.
If you are the one responsible for mixing your band, you have 2 choices -
1. Get him as an ally. Explain to him what you're doing and why - "We like it this way because the drummer is deaf in his left ear.." "The guitar player can't hear himself with too much reverb in the monitors...", whatever.

2. Tell him to keep his f%&king hands off and quit screwing with it. He's messing with YOUR sound and he's not part of your band. Period, end of discussion.