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Conversations with soundmen

#21
I had a good one last week. We're plugging into the DI wired into my rack . . .

Can you give me phantom power?

Phantom power for a bass?

It runs this DI here in my rack.

Bass amps don't need phantom power!

I have a battery in this DI if you don't have phantom, but I prefer 48v.

Phantom for a bass!?

Never mind I will use the battery.

Then we did the line check and he gave me thumbs up and moved on to other instruments. He could not deal with the edrums and kept repeating that the kick sounded like a tom. We didn't like the edrums either but that's what we had so please make it work as best you can and stop bitching. It's not like we can make an acoustic kit magically appear.

Then during the show he told me to turn up my master volume twice. Cool! I like to crank up my power amp. At the end of the show I said . . .

It's nice to be asked to turn up once in awhile.

I was getting a weak signal at the board.

I ignored him at this point, but wanted to say Then why did you give me a thumbs up at line check? The level could not have changed %^$#&$%&!!! The master volume does not affect the DI. I could have given you a stronger signal to the board if you knew how to ask for it.

There were several hundred people in the audience, but not all at once (street fair). They enjoyed it and danced. I'm glad I brought my biggest cab (Ampeg 2x15) and will continue to do so for all outdoor shows whenever possible because of idiots like him.
 
#22
JimmyM said:
Dude, I play some pretty big gigs on some pretty big stages, and you would be surprised at how many of them give me an Imp 2. $500,000 worth of PA and a $45 DI. Nice. The shows went fine and the bass sounded fine, but still...put a little effort into shopping for DI's!
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+1. Any soundguy advancing towards me with an IMP-2 in hand better have a gun in their other hand.
 
#28
MNAirHead said:
Jimmy ..

Your setup is slightly non-traditional

With funky setups, I've found that having a typed/diagragmed laminiated sheet helps them.

If you're sincerely committed to this setup.. have the kids at Countryman jot something on letterhead.
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Slightly unorthodox, yes, and not a bad idea, but if the DI has a switch that says "pickup/speaker" on it, I would think that's proof enough. Besides, it's never an issue anywhere else, and I prefer to flaunt my authority on a "because I can" basis with guys like that ;)
 
#29
JimmyM said:
Slightly unorthodox, yes, and not a bad idea, but if the DI has a switch that says "pickup/speaker" on it, I would think that's proof enough. Besides, it's never an issue anywhere else, and I prefer to flaunt my authority on a "because I can" basis with guys like that ;)
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In all fairness, they may have thought there was a speaker in the DI. One that no one ever uses.
;)
 
#30
JimmyM said:
Slightly unorthodox, yes, and not a bad idea, but if the DI has a switch that says "pickup/speaker" on it, I would think that's proof enough. Besides, it's never an issue anywhere else, and I prefer to flaunt my authority on a "because I can" basis with guys like that ;)
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I've had tons of gear with bad silk screening.. tons of manuals that were elusive.

I prefer to make it super simple and straight forward with sound dudes.. knowing full well they can scramble a barnacle after sound check.

I know I'll sound geekish.. I have a typed card I give to sound guys.. gives them a bit of heads up of my requests and funky gear.

Timmy
 
#32
MNAirHead said:
I've had tons of gear with bad silk screening.. tons of manuals that were elusive.

I prefer to make it super simple and straight forward with sound dudes.. knowing full well they can scramble a barnacle after sound check.

I know I'll sound geekish.. I have a typed card I give to sound guys.. gives them a bit of heads up of my requests and funky gear.
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Yeah, we send out a stage plot and stuff, but what I like has been in a state of flux lately, plus it's also gear dependent. If they can't get me an SVT, it makes no sense to use a speaker DI, so I don't always use it. I agree that informing the soundman ahead of time is a good idea if you have oddball wants and needs.
 
#33
JimmyM said:
Yeah, we send out a stage plot and stuff, but what I like has been in a state of flux lately, plus it's also gear dependent. If they can't get me an SVT, it makes no sense to use a speaker DI, so I don't always use it. I agree that informing the soundman ahead of time is a good idea if you have oddball wants and needs.
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LOL... yeah, well, maybe I'm jaded, but unless I get the plot and input list directly from the FOH person, I pretty much disregard them as being completly wrong. I never do anything till well into setup anyway, so it really doesn't matter to me if I get say, Dragonforce stage plot from 08, when I know that it will be different in reality. Like it was yesterday. Typically only takes about a half an hour to get all the mics on stands, wire the stage and be ready for line checks.

I am referring to advance stage tech info. Not day of show on site hand written ones. Thats what we work from.
 
#34
I hated when as a FOH/TM I would advance a show with a current input list, and when I would get to the show all I hear is crying because my list doesn't fit with their "festival" input list. I always used 2 kick channels,2 -snare, and 2 for bass. They always tryed to get me to drop channels simply because they were lazy burned out crybabies. Very frustrating indeed!
 
#36
The best thing to do is make the monitor engineer aware of what you want done before you just do it.Approach the stage manager if there is no monitor engineer then approach the FOH engineer. Be nice. ALWAYS. Doing this will get you further. It is just like your reaction would be if they told you how to use your rig.If this is a problem everywhere, do as I have done while touring, make it known on the line and input list.Most of the guys trolling the stage are sound techs. The amount of training for these guys is at times questionable. The engineers @ FOH and monitor world have reps on the line as well. Their job is to make you sound great out front and to make your aural experience on stage as good as possible.
In my humble opinion.
 
#38
bigdaddy1965 said:
The best thing to do is make the monitor engineer aware of what you want done before you just do it.Approach the stage manager if there is no monitor engineer then approach the FOH engineer. Be nice. ALWAYS. Doing this will get you further. It is just like your reaction would be if they told you how to use your rig.If this is a problem everywhere, do as I have done while touring, make it known on the line and input list.Most of the guys trolling the stage are sound techs. The amount of training for these guys is at times questionable. The engineers @ FOH and monitor world have reps on the line as well. Their job is to make you sound great out front and to make your aural experience on stage as good as possible.
In my humble opinion.
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You are right, but it kind of galls me that so many soundmen just refuse to roll with what a band wants and put up such a wall like, "No, this is how -I- do it and what you want doesn't matter." It's offensive, especially to someone who's been doing it as long as I have.
 
#39
WalterBush said:
+1. Any soundguy advancing towards me with an IMP-2 in hand better have a gun in their other hand.
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Hey, the Imp's the sm58 of the DI world. It has it's place.

Some Radial boxes are in the works here, but my imp2's have never let me down.

I'll never buy Countrymen, I'm a pin2 hot person. I'm not spending that chunk of money on something that cant even so much as keep up with the industry.




I think being a musician first and a Sound company owner second has it's advantages.
 
#40
What's up with pin2 hot? Can't say it's yet been an issue at any gig I've done, but it's always good to prepare in case it is, so I should probably ask why that's better so I can invent yet another problem for myself that only throwing money at it can solve ;)
 

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