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Conversations with soundmen

#81
JimmyM said:
Word again. Musicians are pussies. Sure, we serve a purpose on this earth, but compared to guys like you and gals like my wife (charge nurse for a critical care unit at a local hospital), we're pussies.
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Yeah a job like that gives you a whole different perspective on life. But when you have someone walk out of a hospital that was dead when you brought them in, and they come up and thank you, its an undescribable feeling. It makes it worth all the BS you put up with in those jobs.

Hey SA you want to talk about tough, I'm looking at doing it all over again (medic or RN school) @ 41 y/o since the music biz is slowing down so much. Try that!:spit:
 
#82
The only stress I have now is I was just listening to some tunes I'm learning for an upcoming show, and I have 16 bars of a solo! OH NO!:help: I hope the soundman doesn't throw a Behringer DI at me. :D

Funny how much I make doing that vs working 911 calls! Hmmmn, that ain't right!
 
#83
rdmjazz said:
The only stress I have now is I was just listening to some tunes I'm learning for an upcoming show, and I have 16 bars of a solo! OH NO!:help: I hope the soundman doesn't throw a Behringer DI at me. :D

Funny how much I make doing that vs working 911 calls! Hmmmn, that ain't right!
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Yeah, but it can go away at any time, whereas a paramedic or nurse can work anywhere in the country in the worst of economies. I was thinking about RN school because of that and how well my wife does with it, but then she told me they do background checks ;)
 
#84
JimmyM said:
Yeah, but it can go away at any time, whereas a paramedic or nurse can work anywhere in the country in the worst of economies. I was thinking about RN school because of that and how well my wife does with it, but then she told me they do background checks ;)
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Believe me I know! I'm slower than ever right now.
I'll bet I never get hired again for a "real" job, I've been playing music so long, if I put that on a application I'd have a better chance and get more respect saying I was hardened criminal.:hmm::smug:
 
#85
JimmyM said:
I was thinking about RN school because of that and how well my wife does with it, but then she told me they do background checks ;)
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Now that's funny!

"Well Mr. JimmyM, it says here you've been a professional musician for the last 20 years. I've heard about you musicians and your parties, I'm afraid we can't accept someone with that kind of background." :)
 
#87
GregShadoan said:
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.
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O.k., heres the thing though. First off, I'm a touring bass player and road manager for a band. I always, 1-2 weeks ahead, advance the show to the sound company or venue FOH. (with an up-to-date and correct stage plot and input list) Always. I provide email and cell contact info. I follow up with an email and phone call day before show. I also call day of show to make sure the venue is ready for us. I would say 60% of the time I receive no email or call back, and the other 40% are somewhere in between. About 10 - 15% are what I would deem professionally handled. The reason I do this - the band I work with are seasoned pro's and don't want or need to sit around while a soundman figures out how he wants to set everything up. Thats what my job is there for - to get that stuff ironed out before hand. So, when I get to a venue and the FOH or whoever isn't ready, I ask 'didn't you get our stageplot?' they mostly reply 'ah we never look at those , cuz theyre always wrong' I say 'well if you'd returned any of my calls or emails you would have known that was not the case with us' now still, most guys are able to somewhat pull this off, but still - just return a f@#$ing phone call or email. So I guess my point is, don't assume anything, and take your job professionally and seriously.
 
#88
i didnt downplay it.. i said it was entirely different. but ive been held at knifepoint, i know what short bursts of stress and danger are about. it sucks.

but im talking about sustained stress and chaotic scheduling. similar to RN school, id imagine. FS is the least routine place on the planet. sure.. no blood and guts, but we pay a lot to go through a lot and HOPE to learn a lot in a (relatively) short period of time. its not even about the studying. its the idea that you dont have time to sleep 4 hours a day AND study. no social life makes you go insane, further complicating the process. the 15 minute lunch breaks.. the malnutrition that ensues. making it worse. the problems compound very quickly.

its nothing like getting shot at.
 
#89
robass said:
O.k., heres the thing though. First off, I'm a touring bass player and road manager for a band. I always, 1-2 weeks ahead, advance the show to the sound company or venue FOH. (with an up-to-date and correct stage plot and input list) Always. I provide email and cell contact info. I follow up with an email and phone call day before show. I also call day of show to make sure the venue is ready for us. I would say 60% of the time I receive no email or call back, and the other 40% are somewhere in between. About 10 - 15% are what I would deem professionally handled. The reason I do this - the band I work with are seasoned pro's and don't want or need to sit around while a soundman figures out how he wants to set everything up. Thats what my job is there for - to get that stuff ironed out before hand. So, when I get to a venue and the FOH or whoever isn't ready, I ask 'didn't you get our stageplot?' they mostly reply 'ah we never look at those , cuz theyre always wrong' I say 'well if you'd returned any of my calls or emails you would have known that was not the case with us' now still, most guys are able to somewhat pull this off, but still - just return a f@#$ing phone call or email. So I guess my point is, don't assume anything, and take your job professionally and seriously.
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Good point, that is if the production manager forwards me YOUR contact info. Then I proceed with confidence that what I get is correct. You are a rare one. Mostly though, it's the agency and the production managers that have the info for me, and I can assure you, 98% of the time that info is out of date. The idea of me wiring a stage before backline gets in is silly. I/we can and do wire/mic/stand plot the inputs on the drop snakes, patch the headbox before you are ready. The drum tech is still changeing heads, or the guitar tech is fiddeling with the pedal boards, etc.. well before line checks. Then I/we can lay in a whole other set of wires/mics/stands, and backline several bands, and sound check 2 more acts before doors. Do it all the time. Sorry you have had such frustrating experience's, but when you visit my room, www.doubletee.com, rest assured you will be in compitent freindly and professional hands.

Good luck. :hmm:
 
#90
When I was working FOH for a local sound company one problem I had was the owner was the contact for advancing shows. He was not concerned with getting accurate details and wouldn't hand me any info till show day. That got frustrating, cause he just relied on me to iron things out at showtime.:mad: He was more worried about keeping the promoter happy and getting paid.
 
#91
GregShadoan said:
Good point, that is if the production manager forwards me YOUR contact info. Then I proceed with confidence that what I get is correct. You are a rare one. Mostly though, it's the agency and the production managers that have the info for me, and I can assure you, 98% of the time that info is out of date. The idea of me wiring a stage before backline gets in is silly. I/we can and do wire/mic/stand plot the inputs on the drop snakes, patch the headbox before you are ready. The drum tech is still changeing heads, or the guitar tech is fiddeling with the pedal boards, etc.. well before line checks. Then I/we can lay in a whole other set of wires/mics/stands, and backline several bands, and sound check 2 more acts before doors. Do it all the time. Sorry you have had such frustrating experience's, but when you visit my room, www.doubletee.com, rest assured you will be in compitent freindly and professional hands.

Good luck. :hmm:
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Thanks Greg
I'm sure if we ever work together it will go smoothly - you obviously have your stuff together. thanks also for your reply and it seems that the key to alot of this is removing unnecessary middlemen - I always try to get the FOH's phone number from the PM. Btw, we were just in your area a couple weeks ago - played at mississippi studios in portland and eugene celebrations in eugene. I look forward to working with you someday
 
#92
rdmjazz said:
When I was working FOH for a local sound company one problem I had was the owner was the contact for advancing shows. He was not concerned with getting accurate details and wouldn't hand me any info till show day. That got frustrating, cause he just relied on me to iron things out at showtime.:mad: He was more worried about keeping the promoter happy and getting paid.
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total agree rdm - see my post above about removing middlemen
 
#93
robass said:
Thanks Greg
I'm sure if we ever work together it will go smoothly - you obviously have your stuff together. thanks also for your reply and it seems that the key to alot of this is removing unnecessary middlemen - I always try to get the FOH's phone number from the PM. Btw, we were just in your area a couple weeks ago - played at mississippi studios in portland and eugene celebrations in eugene. I look forward to working with you someday
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Looking foward to it as well.

Cheers,
Greg
:):)
 
#94
My fave FOH conversation goes like this:

Me: "Thanks for making us sound so good. I especially appreciated you taking the time to mic the bass instead of just running it direct. Here's a beer for you."

It happens sometimes, and the more often you thank people for getting it right, the more often they get it right.
 
#95
JimmyM said:
Word again. Musicians are pussies. Sure, we serve a purpose on this earth, but compared to guys like you and gals like my wife (charge nurse for a critical care unit at a local hospital), we're pussies.
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You know what Jimmy , don't be ashamed or whatever , a lot of people , myself on top , really love pussies......

:D




Sorry , had to write it.......
 
#97
I can't believe I read this entire thread hoping to get back to something helpful.

Oh well... the info about the pins being switched on the Countryman was good. I haven't had an issue with mine ever, though.

What effect does sending an out of phase signal have? Is it the same as two speakers wired out of phase? I'm completely clueless about this DI situation.
 
#100
Craig_S said:
Oh well... the info about the pins being switched on the Countryman was good. I haven't had an issue with mine ever, though.

What effect does sending an out of phase signal have? Is it the same as two speakers wired out of phase? I'm completely clueless about this DI situation.
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JimmyM said:
Out of phase signal sounds thin and reedy.
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only if you're also hearing the in-phase sound at the same time. (in "polarity", actually, "phase" is something slightly different)

if you're just sending one signal to the house, it won't matter to them. it might matter to you if you're also running an onstage amp and the house sound bounces back to you out of polarity with your amp.

that's pretty unlikely, as phase does rear its ugly head here due to time delays and whatnot, so your amp is not going to be exactly in or out of polarity with the "bounceback" anyway.

if you're also mic'ing the cab, it gets a lot more important.
 

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