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Soundman rant

carlos840

carlos840

May 27, 2008
1,887
142
Down in the middle somewhere.
#1
I know this is not the place but i just have to get it out!
Just came back from my first gig with my most recent band, really was looking forward to playing it...
Got there in time for soundcheck, soundman arrived two hours late, did a crap job at soundchecking, kept getting horrible feedback from my bass, blaming me and my gear (i was playing a Fender jazz plugged into a sansamp bass driver, how much more standard can you get!) saying that i must have a boost on, and asking me if my tone was up looking at my bass like it was the devil!
After 20 minutes we just dont have any more time to soundcheck, so we leave the stage sound is average but hey, it happens!
Start the gig, after 2 songs the soundguy does something and shuts down my monitor! I have no amp, no sound, can barely hear myself from the FOH, i signal to the soundguy and the guy just starts playing around, putting me back on, cutting me out, raise the volume, drops it, left monitor, right, in short, complete mayhem!
It lasted for the whole of the last 6 songs... Felt like stopping to beat the guy up with his own mixing desk!

If there is one thing i have learnt from this: Never, EVER, assume you shouldnt bring an amp cause a sansamp is going to be enough and that the soundguy knows more than you do about what all those little knobs do on his desk!

End of rant.

PS: the only reason i didnt bring my amp was that it was an acoustic gig without drums, i thought nothing could go wrong with 2 guitars, bass and vox! This is actually a pretty famous London venue!
Absolute joke....
 
#3
Sometimes them there are the breaks and as you've found out there isn't a lot you can do about a less than perfect sound guy, but certainly don't turn to or even threaten violence - it's a small business! Best you or your manager/agent if applicable talks to the venue or company bringing the sound.

Best thing is you learned something, including that you should never assume a sound guy is going to give you what you need so plan accordingly.
 
#4
First, his total lack of proffesionalism for showing up that late tells me he is a screwball. I'm a soundman myself, and if I were going to be late I'd call. If I were going to that ridiculously late, I'd never taken the gig.
Second, if he can't get a good sound out of a SANSAMP then I would be highly suspect of his skills as a sound engineer. The SANSAMP is a great piece of gear. No different than going directly out of a regular amp through an XLR or the like.
Third, if this is a famous gig in London, he won't be a sound guy there for long...there's hope.
 
#5
carlos840 said:
If there is one thing i have learnt from this: Never, EVER, assume you shouldnt bring an amp cause a sansamp is going to be enough and that the soundguy knows more than you do about what all those little knobs do on his desk!
Click to expand...

I've done many a gig with just my bass and Boss GT10B without issue. Sounds more like you got a bad soundman that night. It happens from time to time and IME is not the norm.

You could bring your amp, but in that situation where you were barely audible in the FOH sound you'd have to turn up loud enough to be heard in the house and that would've downed out your band mates on stage, which in turn would/could cause problems.
 
#7
Thunderitter said:
Sometimes them there are the breaks and as you've found out there isn't a lot you can do about a less than perfect sound guy, but certainly don't turn to or even threaten violence - it's a small business! Best you or your manager/agent if applicable talks to the venue or company bringing the sound.

Best thing is you learned something, including that you should never assume a sound guy is going to give you what you need so plan accordingly.
Click to expand...

I would never turn to violence for something like that! Just felt good to imagine it! It really pissed me off...
All my other bands have their own PA so i got used to not having much issues, this was a big punch in the nuts... Wont ever trust a soundguy i dont know again...
 
#8
Snipper! said:
Never played that one, should have been a nice gig.....the guy 'out of it' moody, narky, drunk?....2 hours late he's definitely been doing s**t he shouldn't have for sure.
Click to expand...

Nah, the guy was actually very nice, apologized a lot for being late, apparently his car broke down and he had to cycle from the other end of London!
Either way, he was a nice guy, doubt he was drunk or high, he was just a crappy sound guy!
In my book, a soundman who looks at a Fender jazz like hes never seen one before and asks you "do the tone knob boost the bass" has nothing to do behind a desk!
You should have seen his face when i told him " no, its a passive bass!"
 
#10
Bass feedback on an acoustic gig.....impossible. There is just no way, unless the feedback was actually coming from another source and the soundman just assumed it was the bass. As soundman the bass is the very last place i have ever had to look for feedback. more often it is one of the floor toms' mics that cause issues, or an acoustic guitar.

Sorry, I think the soundman got sick and asked the casher at Walmart to stand in for him....
 
#13
If there is one thing i have learnt from this: Never, EVER, assume you shouldnt bring an amp cause a sansamp is going to be enough and that the soundguy knows more than you do about what all those little knobs do on his desk!
Click to expand...

Anymore, I just roll to every gig with my 150-watt kickback style combo in the back of my car.

If there is ANY indication during soundcheck that my SansAmp-to-board isn't going to work out, I bring in the combo amp... end of discussion. I work too hard at what I do to have the final product screwed up by an incompetent sound tech.
 
#15
I always bring my monitor , plug it , put the volume to zero.
At the end of the soundcheck if everything is OK and if it looks like I won't need it , I'll wrap it up.
Better safe than sorry.
 

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