Need to bounce some house rules off you folks.

[AK Bass Guy]

First things first if this is the wrong location for this thread my apologies.

With that said here is the scenario.
At our venue the general rule of the use of the audio booth and gear was basically unwritten but understood.
Now it’s come to my attention that I need to put up signs and pictures I get everyone on the same page.

So what do you think about the basic framework I have established?
I don’t want to come off as a complete jerk but I do want to be stern about certain things.
We supply a lot of free gear to use and some users just treat the gear like a rental car.
While I would love to not worry about it and just treat everything like a consumable we don’t have the budget to do so.

So here are house rules I’m working on now.

House Rules.

Just like camping leave it better than you found it.

Restore equipment, hard patches, and soft patches to its default state.

Keep booth clean, throw trash in proper receptacles.
If trash can is full or at the end of your show run place trash can in the circ ring for pickup.

Do Not place unsealed beverages or any containers with heavy condensation next to any electronics.

Do Not at anytime go into the back of the control room racks to patch or alter anything.
Anything you need to do can be done from the front of the rack as it was designed to accommodate.

Please be respectful and safe while working with cast and/or crew. High SPL can cause permanent hearing loss, and loud noise sources can cause unaware persons to be startled., potentially putting someone off balanced or disoriented while working in an already dangerous environment.

ADA compliance is federally mandated and is the responsibility of the production staff and the audio tech of the event to accommodate. If any patches are made that alter the default lobby and ALS feeds the audio tech will be required to supply and patch a program feed. Program feeds will be checked by production staff with the audio tech no less than 2 hours prior to the event.

 

[Bullitt5135]

I like running this kind of thing through ChatGPT after I hack out a long and wordy rough draft. I cut & pasted your text and prompted it to edit for brevity/clarity, using a casual tone.

House Rules

• Leave it better than you found it—just like camping.
• Restore all equipment, hard patches, and soft patches to default state.
• Keep the booth clean. Trash goes in designated bins. If full or at the end of your run, place it in the circ ring for pickup.
• No unsealed drinks or sweaty containers near electronics.
• Do not access the back of the control room racks. All necessary patching can be done from the front.
• Be respectful and safe around cast and crew. High SPL can cause hearing damage. Sudden loud noises can disorient people in already hazardous spaces.
• ADA compliance is a legal requirement. If altering lobby or ALS feeds, the audio tech must supply and patch a proper program feed. These feeds will be tested with production no less than 2 hours before showtime.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

I like running this kind of thing through ChatGPT after I hack out a long and wordy rough draft. I cut & pasted your text and prompted it to edit for brevity/clarity, using a casual tone.

House Rules

• Leave it better than you found it—just like camping.
• Restore all equipment, hard patches, and soft patches to default state.
• Keep the booth clean. Trash goes in designated bins. If full or at the end of your run, place it in the circ ring for pickup.
• No unsealed drinks or sweaty containers near electronics.
• Do not access the back of the control room racks. All necessary patching can be done from the front.
• Be respectful and safe around cast and crew. High SPL can cause hearing damage. Sudden loud noises can disorient people in already hazardous spaces.
• ADA compliance is a legal requirement. If altering lobby or ALS feeds, the audio tech must supply and patch a proper program feed. These feeds will be tested with production no less than 2 hours before showtime.

Cool idea. I forget we have tools like chat gpt to use today.
Thanks.

 

[TheReceder]

Rules are for people that follow them. You should have a 75% success rate, don't let the remaining 25% ruin your day.

Always good to let your expectations be known.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

A short list of the excuses you'll should anticipate from rule breakers:
1. We were in a hurry to get outa there!
2. Dude..I thought I threw that away.
3. I really thought I had a shot at that hot girl that was hanging around the booth.
4. I thought you wanted to be heard!
5. There were...rules?
6. My bad dude.

 

[Lo-E]

I’m not sure if this applies at your venue, but I would add:

Not sure how a piece of gear works? Please ask! We’re happy to help you get set up.

It could avoid bigger messes later.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

I’m not sure if this applies at your venue, but I would add:

Not sure how a piece of gear works? Please ask! We’re happy to help you get set up.

It could avoid bigger messes later.

Thank you. This is definitely going in. Don’t know how many times I’ve seen the aftermath of someone creating more work because they didn’t want to ask for help.

 

[SharpCat]

Dunno if it'd help or hinder, but you don't have any consequences listed. (Like "Not following above rules will be grounds for immediate summary execution.") OK, maybe not that harsh.

 

[HolmeBass]

The chat got version is better.

Clean up the grammar. Every malapropism detracts from your message.

 

[Geepers]

6. My bad dude.

The sound of a generation…

 

[Hillie]

I loaned an amp out when I was young, impressionable and had a desire to keep everyone as a friend. My nice new amp. I saw it being treated like the proverbial rental car, apparently these type of guys always have broken gear and the way they smack on knobs explains all. Anyway, it helped turn me into a cynical middle aged guy.

Personally, I would argue against providing free gear. You can include a "gear package" as part of the venue rental and have it covered under damage retainers and conditions. Nothing worse than having your nice setup get ruined by a useless stoner/drunk going "oops, my bad dude" and doing a surprisingly swift side door departure.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

Dunno if it'd help or hinder, but you don't have any consequences listed. (Like "Not following above rules will be grounds for immediate summary execution.") OK, maybe not that harsh.

Oh, there are consequences. But that is usually put into the client contract.
Also if anyone egregiously misuses gear knows they will loose the ability to use house gear.
One large venue with 4 stages, I don’t have a budget or time for people breaking things due to incompetence or abuse.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

I loaned an amp out when I was young, impressionable and had a desire to keep everyone as a friend. My nice new amp. I saw it being treated like the proverbial rental car, apparently these type of guys always have broken gear and the way they smack on knobs explains all. Anyway, it helped turn me into a cynical middle aged guy.

Personally, I would argue against providing free gear. You can include a "gear package" as part of the venue rental and have it covered under damage retainers and conditions. Nothing worse than having your nice setup get ruined by a useless stoner/drunk going "oops, my bad dude" and doing a surprisingly swift side door departure.

I’m trying to push upper management to have a gear package cost, to be able to deal with replacing gear as it breaks.
The free gear stuff is legacy, before my time.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

Seems completely reasonable, and yes - it needs to be spelled out.
Doing so in a way that promotes / motivates compliance is the tricky part, but you're on the right path.

 

[getBAK]

How about:
NO food, drinks or smoking in the audio booth (These things are not needed, and will only bring pain.)

No changing patches, if you want to use FOH, this is the configuration, work around it.

 

[joeLowB]

I would only add the old adage "People follow the rules which are enforced, not the rules which are written."

It's worth you thinking ahead of time just how you would handle rule infractions from the start.

Good luck!

 

[dmt]

Seems reasonable, and is not coming off like a jerk. I wouldn’t be bothered at all by those rules, and in fact they’re even helpful for setting the tone, like that the garbage doesn’t magically clean itself up or the trash can doesn’t magically empty itself afterwards (because, otherwise, I’ll admit that I’d think it would). I was going to say that the rules were a little long to read through, but after re-reading them, it’s not that they’re too long but rather that it gets a little complicated/abstract at the end..

One that made me think was: "Do Not place unsealed beverages or any containers with heavy condensation next to any electronics."

Okay, fair enough. (Sigh, but, fair enough). Interesting point about the condensation.

Other:
"Do Not at anytime go into the back of the control room racks to patch or alter anything."
My initial thought was, "Yeah, right…" (heading back now, lol)

But then
"Anything you need to do can be done from the front of the rack as it was designed to accommodate."
I thought, "Ah, okay."

"Please be respectful and safe while working with cast and/or crew. High SPL can cause permanent hearing loss, and loud noise sources can cause unaware persons to be startled., potentially putting someone off balanced or disoriented while working in an already dangerous environment."
I’m still not exactly sure what this means. But, after thinking about it awhile, I guess it means be careful about sudden noise when plugging in/unplugging cables and turning gear on. This could possibly be more directly worded, I think.

"ADA compliance is federally mandated and is the responsibility of the production staff and the audio tech of the event to accommodate. If any patches are made that alter the default lobby and ALS feeds the audio tech will be required to supply and patch a program feed. Program feeds will be checked by production staff with the audio tech no less than 2 hours prior to the event."
Umm, I’ll have my lawyer review that later (I don’t have a lawyer). My feeling here was like when [not] reading a software license that’s preceded by a button that says "Click agree if you have read the agreement and agree to the terms" "Click", move on.)

Might want to tighten up that last one, possibly two.

But anyway, having some rules like that isn’t being a jerk. I think you’re on the right path

 

[Dust2Dust]

I don’t want to come off as a complete jerk but I do want to be stern about certain things.

No worries, bro. It's not coming off that way.

But even if it was, whenever I see a sign like that, I already know it's because some previous jackass' *made* management go there

 

[2tonic]

All seems reasonable and concisely expressed (the chat gpt version)...don't forget to mention "this venue operates in compliance with all local noise ordinances" (whether there are any, or not), and the first rule should be "We provide this equipment for our partners who can follow the rules....if you don't, we won't ".

 

[MindinAction]

I think it's great to set out the house rules. Being clear about expectations puts you in front of the game. In writing like this, even when it's industry-specific, I find it helpful to use the simplest language possible (for example, use "sound levels" instead of SPL). The first time you use an abbreviation, spell it out, or explain at the end. I've noticed that people don't always understand even common abbreviations and they rarely ask.

SPL: Sound Pressure Level
ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act
ALS: Assisted Listening System

The last item starting with "ADA" is not easy to get through. It might help to add information about the venue's intent regarding both the audience and the timing.