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Everyone's an expert........


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Since it's been quiet around here I thought that I would toss something in:

This past week I worked a musical at a local prep school. My gig was to mic the band (located under the stage) and mix/balance the band to the singers. During the production I read the conductor's score and punch in oboe solos, etc. and advise the other tech (who mixes the voices) on how to balance the singing..(this particular production was short on basses thus I had to keep telling him when to kick up the bass vocalists in the large ensemble numbers) It's a fun gig as I get to use my music/mixing skills..

The funny:

Dress rehearsal night the other tech forgot to bring down the mic of a vocalist that has a huge voice...after some dialog she came in va-voom!!! The rafters were shaking....it was a bit funny, he wrote down the cue in his notes for the next night...all set.

 

Opening night (prior to the start of the show) the "costume lady" comes over to the other tech and says that the vocalist (mentioned above) was too loud......

I thought that the tech was going to explode...

 

The tech turns to me and says "they're all experts on sound....did I go to her and giver her advise on her costume design?....." he was taken aback...

 

I had a good chuckle....

 

Yup....they're all experts!!

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
Then there is the "fake" slider tweak and the "hows that now?" Expert says yea that is better. ;)

 

The Funk Logic rack stuff is perfect for situations like that - let them adjust it themselves all they want until they're happy with the sound. ;)

 

http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/Forums_General/acapella-57/32194745-studio-hardware-guaranteed-to-make-your-tracking-and-mixing-sound-better

 

 

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Since I went digital last year, it was hard at first to find something tangible to "adjust" to make the expert of the moment happy. I put an ART TPSII above the media player in a small rack and routed an output from the board for signal and let them have at it. Nobody really knows what those knobs do and if needed I explained that it was a high resolution device that I inserted on the money channel (which ever one they were concerned with) and that the adjustments were subtle. These days is still in the rack, but I've found that whipping through a few layers of motorized faders (thank you fader glow!) and adjusting a third octave eq on an unused output will pretty much leave them looking like a deer in headlights and mumbling, "Thanks, that's much better." as they wonder off to complain about a non-existent problem to someone else.

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I may have told this story here before... I don't remember, but here goes:

 

Many years ago our band was booked to play a "cruise night" dinner and dancing affair at the legion hall in a local small town. We had to be set-up before the event's dinner. We were set-up and cooling our heels as the guests started arriving for dinner. Many/most of the guests arriving where decked out in jeans and white tee-shirts (with a pack of Camels rolled up in a sleeve) and flat top haircuts/ being the guys, and poodle skirts for the gals... and lots of letterman jackets with dates from the late 40's and early 50's... being those folk's own jackets. We thought "we might be in trouble" since we were a late '60's - '70's cover band at the time. As dinner was finishing up, it was time to perform.... so sizing up the crowd we started with "Blue Suede Shoes" (1956), followed by "Rock Around the Clock" (1952)... the crowd was generally sitting, glowering at us. After our second song, two of the couples in the audience, being the car club president and such, came up to us and requested we play some '50's music. So we launched into "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). The two couples remained on the dance floor, standing... arms folded... glowering... and stopped us mid-song: "No, No, No... don't you know any '50's music?!!!" Our lead singer asked "Like what?" They said, "Oh, you know, like "Glenn Miller" or "The Andrew Sisters" (both I'll suggest were most popular in the 1940's) or "Don Ho" (1960's?), etc... It was a long night, but fortunately we knew enough older "county music" to fairly well appease the crowd. One of the highlights of the evening was when we played "Proud Mary" (1969)... the car club president and his wife complimented us on finally playing a '50's song.

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gotta love good booking agents... i was working with a show band, doing broadway and jazz standards... new york, pennsylvania... our agent booked us in a “posh jazz club... The Pub.. in a town in ohio...”. we followed directions to “ the Pump”. ? walking into the very dark, biker bar, the lead female vocalist walks to the jukebox and unplugs jimi’s purple haze so she can talk to the manager... the keyboard player looked at me and said “ so this is how it ends?”. that evening we were a two piece... and not a single request for gershwin was heard.

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I played for awhile in a country band, we got booked at a place called the "Ponderosa" sounds like a fit right? Went into the place not a single Caucasian or anyone over 30 in the audience. Most had pants hanging below their underwear. JayZ playing on the jukebox, the owner said the audience changes the later it gets, it didn't. Rough night, drug dealing in plain site, hookers and a shooting in the parking lot! As far has mix goes if no less than 3 people complain about the same thing, I usually do the fake slider on an empty channel.

 

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My favorite is when they contradict... one "expert" complains about one thing, and the next comes up a while later and says the exact opposite. :philpalm:

 

 

It all depends on whose girlfriend is talking to you at the time.

 

Singers girlfriend: can’t hear the singer

guitarist girlfriend: can’t hear the guitar

drummers girlfriend: can’t hear the drums

bassists friend: can’t hear the bass

 

 

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Just did an event where I was to provide background music on guitar and then provide mics and PA for speeches. One medium sized room with a spill-over area. One hundred and fifty people. I asked the person in charge whether they wanted me to cover the spill-over area - and they said emphatically no! So I covered the main area and just left my satellite speaker in the back with my cases. Speeches started and besides the fact that folks were holding the mics two feet from their mouths, it was okay. However after five minutes another woman comes up and says, she couldn't hear the speeches in the spill-over area! Too late now says I.

 

Normally I don't listen to people when they say things like "I won't need a mic, I have a big voice". I know that thirty seconds in they'll ask for a mic. Sometimes though, you take someone at their word - and of course that's when they go back on their word.

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