The only thing that can ruin the fun is people, especially those who have a big hand-out for themselves.
That reminds me, funny story, about 2 years ago. Bad example really, I lost my "cool".
A well known singer had to do something for MTV. He didn't want to, but management .......etc.
It was to be a "without the band" kinda thing, so he asked me to help him put together a backing track and mix it down - a day before. When I got to the studio I asked him to phone the production team for the program in question at MTV, and find out some detail, what media they wanted it on, the level they wanted it mixed to, with or without compression, if we could bring our own mic and pre amp etc. First he found it difficult to get through. Then he talked to someone who really didn't know but pretended she did, and while he repeated her answers to me, I was saying "bullshit! Get someone who knows on the line, ask for the sound person!". 15 minutes wait, the guy in question was paged. He came on the phone with a "WHAT!". The artist got a bit upset, and told him he was taking me along to do his sound. Answer, No way!, I can't just let anyone do this, this is a professional's job. He explained who I was, but that didn't make a difference. Also didn't get a response on any of his other questions. So, he handed the phone to me. I really tried to be nice, I tried, I tried. But the guy was a complete asshole. One of the things he barked was "bring me a tape up to the level, that will show me you know what you are doing. Nobody can even do that." Also I couldn't bring the artist's own mic or pre-amp, and I was not to tell him what effect to use on his voice, actually, I wasn't allowed anywhere near the control room.
OK - I put a mix on DAT. As there was no live band, we made the track a bit synth heavy, so not to pretend there was a band. You can do funny stuff with synths.
I put 2 mixes on the DAT. The first was, as requested, proof that I can get things "up to the level", the second the real thing.
The artist had already made up his mind that he wasn't going to do the show, but he went there to give them an excuse, he'd find one there.
Apparently he walked in for a rehearsal, was told "give your tape to him", Him snatched the tape without saying a word, went to a control booth - and blew the monitors as well as 4 pairs of headphones..............
I managed to get a bit of a level......
They told the artist to wait until they had things fixed, but he said "sorry, can't, no time" and went home.
