So glad to be getting out of the rehearsal studio biz after 40 years.

[Bassmec]

So tonight I banned yet another customer. What did he do? like all music tech students in the UK he has a studio that he records his band in yet comes to mine to rehearse because of noise?
for this I get £25 for 4hrs.
I sound check the band and everybody seems totally happy with the balance of 3 VOX and one Kick mic against their back line.
When the vocalist asked how he is going to control his levels I tel the band that all levels are controlled from the main studio control room by agreement and saved to protools and there are no adjustments in the rehearsal studio.
I hang around for an additional half an hour and nobody has any comments or complaints so I go out down the shop for 15 mins when I return still nobody says anything and I start watching a film and eating.
After the rehearsal is over and the band has left I go to turn the PA off and immediately notice that the gain controls of the Macrotech 3600 that does mid bass in the active PA is now not adjusted to the same position I left them, having adjusted it very carefully with an audio spectrometer years ago.
Nobody told me they had decided they would totally ignore exactly what I had asked them not to do.
So they have changed the global EQ of every band I have saved rehearsal settings for since I last adjusted it.
It's not to big of a headache as I am long since forced to run all PA power amps at max gain and the output of the JBL 260 system controller attenuated and password protected, not the ideal signal to noise ratio but when you are surrounded on all sides by Music Tech Students, what's an engineer supposed to do to keep his settings.
I promised myself that the next bloke in my amp rack twiddling knobs uninvited can find somewhere else to rehearse.
Now they are all winging about me on my Springvale Studios Facebook page.
What happens in the states when someone gets in an amp rack against the wishes of the engineer.
You guys have guns, perhaps we could cull some of the music tech horde before it's too late.
I have it on good authority that they feel no pain and are thankfully extremely unlikely to find a mate and thus reproduce, therefore I suggest that it's open season all year.X

 

[Killed_by_Death]

dang 6.25 GBP per hour is next to sod all

 

[Bob-I]

First off, the rates here in New Jersey are higher. We pay $80 for 3 hours. Second, all the rehearsal studios have mid range PAs in the room completely under your control. The engineer will help out if needed but basically you're on your own. The control room stuff is locked and only used when you pay for an engineer.

 

[JGbassman]

I drive an hour and a half to our rehearsal studio, but they also feed us and the beer/soda is free. Well so it the rehearsal venue. The drive stinks but the perks are great.

 

[Mr. Foxen]

Everything in reach of musicians requiring them to not interfere with them in order to function correctly needs to be fitted with dummy knobs. Marshall introduced this as a feature on their amplifiers quite some time ago, when the Marshall tone became established as the go to rock and roll tone, favoured over the previous 'amp eqed really badly' tone guitarists previously used.

 

[agedhorse]

I feel your pain, really I do. People often don't recognize how darn good they have it until it's too late, right?

Funny story, I was doing a 2 band bill with a national act and an opener. I provided (cross-rented) a specific (and expensive) esoteric bass preamp/DI (actually it was also a mic pre, about $2500 worth of preamp) for the headliner and the opener really wanted to use it as well, but the national act said no go. That's fine with me, actually preferable as I have plenty of channels so I took his DI on a separate channel. He kept on me bitching and whining about how he needed this unit for his sound too, you know, the whole dog and pony drama show, After the third time of telling the guy to leave the headliner's gear alone I walk up from behind the back line before the opener's sound check and see that he plugged his DI line and bass cable into the said preamp rig and was tuning up as though I wouldn't notice. I blew a freekin' gasket, pulled out my Leatherman (knive) turned the preamp down, unplugged his cable and cut the end off of it. He of course freeked out, but maybe standing there holding a knife caused him some better judgement and he just yelled at me. Told the PM for the headliner what had happened and the headliner decided that this would be an excellent time to teach the guy a lesson by kicking the entire band off the show and doing a gtr, bass & drums w/ vocals opening set... a sort of an "evening with" show which was really good. It was nice that the PM did the dirty work, and he told the bass player that if he had walked on stage and seen what was happening (he was the one who told the dude no in the first place), his connector wouldn't have been the only thing cut off that night... he was even more pissed than I was.

Can't name the band because it's way to well known, but I never would have expected the night to go down the way it did.

 

[Bassmec]

dang 6.25 GBP per hour is next to sod all

The problem over here is that the local government have taken the idea of Tony Blair's Education, education, education.
To mean that is fine to offer rehearsal space at £1 per person for 3hrs in a municipal building for those not in education employment or training or just good mates with those in control of these new socialist arts fiefdoms.
A local competitor studio has taken to the education thing big time, offering .gov sponsored recording and rock schools for kids and the disabled as he is a music teacher.
For that they have a registered charity, the main studio is a normal commercial business.
They have just received a £50k grant to extend into a new facility next door by a charity run by a waste disposal company.
For some reason this is not considered an anticompetitive practice and the waste disposal co. Are not considered to be part of an anticompetitive cartel.
Invalid Link Removed
Of course everybody involved in volunteering or teaching there is one of my former customers.
And that's just one of many new music charities operating locally most offer free recording studio and video time if students do the work.:-(
Like this:
Get Known, Be Heard | Facebook
Funny I thought Rock School was about an underemployed musician pretending to be a teacher
rather than the other way around.X

 

[crguti]

Maybe they didn't want to interrup you while you were watching a movie and eating.

 

[Snaxster]

So tonight I banned yet another customer. What did he do? like all music tech students in the UK he has a studio that he records his band in yet comes to mine to rehearse because of noise?
for this I get £25 for 4hrs.
I sound check the band and everybody seems totally happy with the balance of 3 VOX and one Kick mic against their back line.
When the vocalist asked how he is going to control his levels I tel the band that all levels are controlled from the main studio control room by agreement and saved to protools and there are no adjustments in the rehearsal studio.
I hang around for an additional half an hour and nobody has any comments or complaints so I go out down the shop for 15 mins when I return still nobody says anything and I start watching a film and eating.
After the rehearsal is over and the band has left I go to turn the PA off and immediately notice that the gain controls of the Macrotech 3600 that does mid bass in the active PA is now not adjusted to the same position I left them, having adjusted it very carefully with an audio spectrometer years ago.
Nobody told me they had decided they would totally ignore exactly what I had asked them not to do.
So they have changed the global EQ of every band I have saved rehearsal settings for since I last adjusted it.
It's not to big of a headache as I am long since forced to run all PA power amps at max gain and the output of the JBL 260 system controller attenuated and password protected, not the ideal signal to noise ratio but when you are surrounded on all sides by Music Tech Students, what's an engineer supposed to do to keep his settings.
I promised myself that the next bloke in my amp rack twiddling knobs uninvited can find somewhere else to rehearse.
Now they are all winging about me on my Springvale Studios Facebook page.
What happens in the states when someone gets in an amp rack against the wishes of the engineer.
You guys have guns, perhaps we could cull some of the music tech horde before it's too late.
I have it on good authority that they feel no pain and are thankfully extremely unlikely to find a mate and thus reproduce, therefore I suggest that it's open season all year.X

What does this have to do with bass amps and cabinets?

 

[Bassmec]

Maybe they didn't want to interrup you while you were watching a movie and eating.

Perhaps the guitarist had an unfortunate background leading to an underperforming state school education, blighted
by truancy, he sadly missed the module on proffesional etiquette, deference and his parents also couldn't afford to buy him a copy of "how to win friends and influence people"X

 

[Bassmec]

What does this have to do with bass amps and cabinets?

Well he unilaterally decided to turn the gain down on an electronically crossed over 3600 watt amp feeding 8 X 12" drivers and 8 X 15's when he had been told specifically not to do so.
That's a heck of a lot of bass.X

 

[BassmanPaul]

I have found in the years I have been playing a complete lack of respect by so called musicians for gear they didn't pay for. I’ve seen it when hosting open stages and the volume levels in rehearsal studios without a care for the poor bands in the rooms next door. Folk seem to think that ‘cos they pay a fee for the room that that gives them carte blanche to treat the supplied equipment in any way they want. Sad That!

 

[bobcruz]

What does this have to do with bass amps and cabinets?

I'm not sure but I enjoyed reading the thread.

 

[agedhorse]

I'm not sure but I enjoyed reading the thread.

Agreed, it's helpful to understand other people's experiences... especially if they are located in a different market (or country).

 

[ferdinandstrat]

Isnt the first rule of the studio business is NOT to shag with the engineer?

 

[Pumpkin]

I wish I could book time at your studio. Where my band practices (Washignton, DC) we have to pay 75+ for a three hour block and do all of our EQ'ing. I know my way around a PA, but every space is feedback city due to speaker/ mic placement and small spaces and ringing out takes too long to do properly when you're paying for time. If I had a tech to set levels for the band I would be a happy man!

 

[TigerInATrance]

If you have rack gear that should not be messed with you need this...

Middle Atlantic Products SECL Security Cover - 4 Rack Spaces

 

[Duder]

I have found in the years I have been playing a complete lack of respect by so called musicians for gear they didn't pay for. I’ve seen it when hosting open stages and the volume levels in rehearsal studios without a care for the poor bands in the rooms next door. Folk seem to think that ‘cos they pay a fee for the room that that gives them carte blanche to treat the supplied equipment in any way they want. Sad That!

It's not just musicians. I work in hospital IT and a supervisor just returned a brand new tablet used for taking food orders. The hostess using it was having fun walking with an exaggerated arm motion and the case opened up resulting in a totally smashed screen. If it had been her personal tablet I doubt she would have handled it in such a way.

 

[bobcruz]

If you have rack gear that should not be messed with you need this...

Middle Atlantic Products SECL Security Cover - 4 Rack Spaces

Looks like that particular locking cover would block airflow through the front vents of most power amps. There must be similar vented products.

 

[agedhorse]

Looks like that particular locking cover would block airflow through the front vents of most power amps. There must be similar vented products.

I see stuff like that broken open all the time.