X
xstatic
New member
I saw someone lower a hydraulic orchestra pit once without asking. 90 minutes to doors and the pit sliced a 56 channel snake in half.
MadAudio
Damned if I do
Ouch! I'll bet you didn't see that person there again after that.
H
Harvey Gerst
New member
Hearing the guitar player ask at a mixing session:
"Which channel am I on?"
"Which channel am I on?"
TerraMortim
New member
Ummmmm.....It's all yours, Benny.....
Sorry, Terra, nothing personal. But if you keep launching "those high hard ones" people are going to keep "swinging that way".
G.
well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
J
jndietz
The Way It Moves
Definitely have had that happen a couple times to me... blah. I hate seeing people walk out.
antichef
pornk rock
E
elicantu
New member
come on ..someone post a story.. i even subscribed to this thread....
DavidK
New member
Reminds me of this:
I was in Fort Worth, playing in the pit for a ballet, a hydraulic pit. In the middle of the performance, the pit ROSE up while we were playing. So if you were watching, all of a sudden a 50 piece orchestra slowly rose up, and then went back down.
WhiteStrat
Don't stare at the eye.
Reminds me of this:
I was in Fort Worth, playing in the pit for a ballet, a hydraulic pit. In the middle of the performance, the pit ROSE up while we were playing. So if you were watching, all of a sudden a 50 piece orchestra slowly rose up, and then went back down.
That's a great visual. I'm sitting here laughing all by myself...
dgatwood
is out. Leave a message.
Ever feel like you'd be just as well do your own 'mic-up, little on stage mixer... and hand the sound guy one XLR line out..
No. They'd just plug it into a preamped input. ALWAYS hand them a 1/4" line out. That means ALWAYS carry an XLR to 1/4" TRS transformerless adapter with you....
dgatwood
is out. Leave a message.
I once had a drummer show up late.
Dang it. You screwed up the joke again. It was supposed to be:
Daisy said:
You mean you've had a drummer come in on time?
Farview
Well-known member
One of my clients was playing an outdoor show at Hemp-fest. (that should have been a clue) They wanted me to run sound.
I show up, they have a 16 channel Mackie...the rack mountable one, two subs loaded with Pyle speakers (those are cheap car stereo speakers from 15 years ago), and a couple 15 and a horn things that were flown 20 feet off the ground. All of this was run off of two amps. There were two wedges for monitors.
Now, this is a metal band with two guitarist, three vocals, and a 10 piece drumset all with internal mics. That's 16 channels minimum.
The soundguy tried to mic the kit with 3 mics, that's what he had been doing all day. (kick, snare, overhead) We had two kicks and 7 toms, that was clearly not an option.
There were three bad channels on the snake and 4 bad channels on the mixer. No outboard at all. Mic-->mixer-->amp-->speakers
I set up a few mics around the kit, told one of the guitarists that he doesn't have to sing today and just about got everything going. The last thing I soundchecked was the backup vocal, it wasn't working. The PA guy fiddled around with something and got it to work.
The band starts the set. I'm not getting one of the guitars any more! The PA guy unplugged the mic on the guitar cabinet to make the backup vocal mic work!
So I go up to the stage and switch the cables back.
The PA guy saw me messing with the cables, so he decided that that looked like fun. He started unplugging and plugging cables. I was still getting everything at the board, but stuff was all of a sudden coming up on different channels. I run up and chase him away (from his own system) and go back to trying to mix.
I noticed that I couldn't get any low end out of the bass. No matter how much I cranked it, there just was no low end. I ran upto the stage and, sure enough, the low cut switch on the DI was on. So I flipped the switch. OOOOPPPPSSSS!!!!!!! The low end was still cranked at the board, byt the time I got back to FOH I had blown the subs and the amp running them.
I shut off the amp to let it cool down. Waited until between songs to turn it back on to see if it would work again, POW! Took out the generator.
They got the generator going again and the band finished the show without subs.
The guy that owned the PA came up to me after the show, thanked me, told me how good it sounded and asked if I wanted to run the PA for the rest of the day. (it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon) I declined.
I show up, they have a 16 channel Mackie...the rack mountable one, two subs loaded with Pyle speakers (those are cheap car stereo speakers from 15 years ago), and a couple 15 and a horn things that were flown 20 feet off the ground. All of this was run off of two amps. There were two wedges for monitors.
Now, this is a metal band with two guitarist, three vocals, and a 10 piece drumset all with internal mics. That's 16 channels minimum.
The soundguy tried to mic the kit with 3 mics, that's what he had been doing all day. (kick, snare, overhead) We had two kicks and 7 toms, that was clearly not an option.
There were three bad channels on the snake and 4 bad channels on the mixer. No outboard at all. Mic-->mixer-->amp-->speakers
I set up a few mics around the kit, told one of the guitarists that he doesn't have to sing today and just about got everything going. The last thing I soundchecked was the backup vocal, it wasn't working. The PA guy fiddled around with something and got it to work.
The band starts the set. I'm not getting one of the guitars any more! The PA guy unplugged the mic on the guitar cabinet to make the backup vocal mic work!
So I go up to the stage and switch the cables back.The PA guy saw me messing with the cables, so he decided that that looked like fun. He started unplugging and plugging cables. I was still getting everything at the board, but stuff was all of a sudden coming up on different channels. I run up and chase him away (from his own system) and go back to trying to mix.
I noticed that I couldn't get any low end out of the bass. No matter how much I cranked it, there just was no low end. I ran upto the stage and, sure enough, the low cut switch on the DI was on. So I flipped the switch. OOOOPPPPSSSS!!!!!!! The low end was still cranked at the board, byt the time I got back to FOH I had blown the subs and the amp running them.
I shut off the amp to let it cool down. Waited until between songs to turn it back on to see if it would work again, POW! Took out the generator.
They got the generator going again and the band finished the show without subs.
The guy that owned the PA came up to me after the show, thanked me, told me how good it sounded and asked if I wanted to run the PA for the rest of the day. (it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon) I declined.
AMcB
Why you gotta be so mean?
I live in an apartment, so I have to bring my stuff to them. And I get there to record a band, set up all my stuff, get the 50% down. they start recording, and then they say you know what why don't you come back next week, this cymbal ust sounds to bad...... Through talking to them I come to find out one of his cymbals was cracked pretty bad, but they though it would be fine, but after I get there and set everything up they decide they'll ust wait till they get a new one. And then they say "I guess we will call you when we get the new cymbal, so just give us our money band and we'll pay you then"........ Right.
Farview
Well-known member
4 days later, I was running sound at another outdoor fest for a different client. This time it was a professional PA with tons of power.
We get everything set up, the band hits the stage, I can't get any volume. This is a monster PA and the board is running at about +5 and there is just a distorted mess coming out of the PA that is barely louder than the stage volume.
I look over at the mains compressor and notice that the makeup gain control is DECKED. So the ample signal coming out of the board is being jacked up 20db and I can't get any volume out of a 20,000 watt festival PA system!
Now, this is after I get a 412 guitar cab dropped on my toe. So, there I am...standing in a pool of my own blood, doing anything I can to get the vocals above the monitor wash from the stage.
I found out after the show that the guy that set it up used the wrong crossover preset which attenuated the signal going to the amps. He is also the jackass that tried to make up for it by decking the gain on the compressor feeding the crossover.
I don't do live sound anymore.
We get everything set up, the band hits the stage, I can't get any volume. This is a monster PA and the board is running at about +5 and there is just a distorted mess coming out of the PA that is barely louder than the stage volume.
I look over at the mains compressor and notice that the makeup gain control is DECKED. So the ample signal coming out of the board is being jacked up 20db and I can't get any volume out of a 20,000 watt festival PA system!
Now, this is after I get a 412 guitar cab dropped on my toe. So, there I am...standing in a pool of my own blood, doing anything I can to get the vocals above the monitor wash from the stage.
I found out after the show that the guy that set it up used the wrong crossover preset which attenuated the signal going to the amps. He is also the jackass that tried to make up for it by decking the gain on the compressor feeding the crossover.
I don't do live sound anymore.
AMcB
Why you gotta be so mean?
Oh I have another one. Me and my band get asked to play a battle of the bands, that sounded pretty lame. So we figured the PA will suck, So we talk to them on the phone trying to get them to let us use ours, but they refuse. Then we drive an hour, get there and I ask is this the pa we are using, and they say "Oh no this is only for special events the sound guy isn't here and I don't know how to work it" well I do so it's fine "oh no we don't want to risk having you mess it up" so we fight awhile I get really pissed and they end up letting us use it.
L
LP2006
New member
Stuff I've learned the hard way:
-Always do your own system design
-Only get help from people who know what they are doing
-If you are using house stuff, you had better test it all at full volume first
-Better yet, don't use house stuff, you didn't do the system design
-Do your design before you get to the venue
-Know where the power is, and what else is plugged into the circuit.
That last one reminds me of another nightmare.
I was mixing a gig for a friend, and was asked to do just a couple of days ahead of time. It wasn't going to pay much, so I didn't really want to bring my own console/amps/speakers. Just some mics and some outboard.
I go check the bar out a couple of days ahead of the show:
JBL M-Pro's flown in excellent fashion, enough upstage to the point where I could get away without monitors, but high enough so HF feedback wouldn't be too bad. There was also a Cerwin-vega folded horn sub in good condition. Not too shabby.
Next I checked out the amp rack. Had to be on a ladder to get to it...not great, but I notice they have separate amps for the sub and the mains, with a properly adjusted crossover. Everything is plugged into a power conditioner with lights if something needs to be adjusted.
No house console, just stereo feeds (the system is usually used for D.J.s). My friend says its O.K., he can bring a mixer.
The day of the show, I have a ton of crap to do. I can't get to the venue until 15 minutes before the show starts. I show up and notice my friend has given me a 4-preamp behringer P.O.S. with no insert points to mix an entire 4 piece rock band. Also, he has set up a pair of peavey molded cabinet crappers with a seperate power amp to "supplement" his vocals. I try to explain to him how this is a terrible idea, and the mixer isn't going to work, but he seems to think everything will be just great.
The peaveys were set of on an aux out...
...and the first thing I notice is that they feedback almost immediately. The house system has way more gain before feedback. I tell my friend once more that the peaveys are stupid. ..he ignores me. No problem, they start playing and I just don't use them 
. For four channels in a small bar I can still do a four piece. The guitarist all have half stacks, so they don't need any help. I give the band vocal mics, kick, and snare. At this point, the sound isn't great, but it isn't terrible either.
However.....
what I forgot to do during my time at the venue before hand was to check what else was plugged into my amp circuits. You know what was? all nine of the bar's big screen t.v.'s
. All it took was me boosting the kick at 80hz. The crossover sent more voltage to the sub amp, which drew more power and CLICK!! Everything turns off.
eyema_believer
Bondservant
Was that at the Blind Pig??
L
LP2006
New member
Nope, elbow room. Never had anything but good experiences at the blind pig. Sound wise at least
. The pig actually has a very nice PA. Soundcraft at the FOH (I think), EAW tops and bottoms. I have heard some horror stories though. I think they have several engineers, and its a luck of the draw type of thing.