So, during setup for a gig there was a loud hum in the PA. The band leader was a know-it-all and didn't want anyone offering advice on what might be wrong. Having some amateur electrical experience, I knew that the fact that the mixer was in a wall outlet 40 feet from the outlets the amplifiers were using, and it was an old building, that there might be a polarity issue on the two circuits.
Even with the mixing board turned off there was a very annoying hum. I suggested he try unplugging the board to see if that stopped the hum. He explained that it was turned off so it had nothing to do with it. I asked him again to "Just humor me". He raised his voice and said he had it under control. I raised my voice (this attitude thing had been ramping up too) and said, "It will take a second. Unplug it to see, then you can go back to your own troubleshooting path." He gave a big harrumph and unplugged it. The hum stopped. Not that it's safe, but they used a ground lift adapter to fix it.
And regarding that same band: They had a terrible in ear system and NO back line. I kept complaining that I could not hear the bass. I also discovered that the FOH sounded like a transistor radio. I then noticed that the sound man had the graphic EQ set to look like a big frown. The sound guy was some sort of "charity case" for the leader (apparently) so it was not polite to say anything about the sound, no matter how "nice" or "constructive feedback" it was. So one gig I tried to make an adjustment while nobody was looking but got caught, and chewed out. Anyway, my wife kept saying that he was going to fire me from the band if I kept complaining. My response was that either he fixes it or I'm out, either of which is an improvement. Well, he fired me.
The next week they had a gig and the guitar player told me via email that during the second set a customer came up to the band and held up a piece of paper with handwriting on it that that said, "you sound like a transistor radio." And two weeks later, the owner of their favorite club to play took the leader out and bought him lunch. During the lunch he told him that he had to do something about the sound or they couldn't play his club any more.
The band went to a full back line and "real" sound man and gigged for years afterward. They were darned good, too. Now the leader of that band is in multiple kick butt tribute bands in the Seattle area. We're still friends. I think we both learned from the experiences. Our biggest problem was that we are both eagles and eagles don't flock.
Even with the mixing board turned off there was a very annoying hum. I suggested he try unplugging the board to see if that stopped the hum. He explained that it was turned off so it had nothing to do with it. I asked him again to "Just humor me". He raised his voice and said he had it under control. I raised my voice (this attitude thing had been ramping up too) and said, "It will take a second. Unplug it to see, then you can go back to your own troubleshooting path." He gave a big harrumph and unplugged it. The hum stopped. Not that it's safe, but they used a ground lift adapter to fix it.
And regarding that same band: They had a terrible in ear system and NO back line. I kept complaining that I could not hear the bass. I also discovered that the FOH sounded like a transistor radio. I then noticed that the sound man had the graphic EQ set to look like a big frown. The sound guy was some sort of "charity case" for the leader (apparently) so it was not polite to say anything about the sound, no matter how "nice" or "constructive feedback" it was. So one gig I tried to make an adjustment while nobody was looking but got caught, and chewed out. Anyway, my wife kept saying that he was going to fire me from the band if I kept complaining. My response was that either he fixes it or I'm out, either of which is an improvement. Well, he fired me.
The next week they had a gig and the guitar player told me via email that during the second set a customer came up to the band and held up a piece of paper with handwriting on it that that said, "you sound like a transistor radio." And two weeks later, the owner of their favorite club to play took the leader out and bought him lunch. During the lunch he told him that he had to do something about the sound or they couldn't play his club any more.
The band went to a full back line and "real" sound man and gigged for years afterward. They were darned good, too. Now the leader of that band is in multiple kick butt tribute bands in the Seattle area. We're still friends. I think we both learned from the experiences. Our biggest problem was that we are both eagles and eagles don't flock.
