Briefcase gig w/a Box Mixer!

[Shaster]

I did a series of downtown outdoor concerts in a very large sunken courtyard. The PA was supplied and it was great to just walk in with a small rolling case, but the PA was not great, to say the least. It was an eight channel box mixer, two of my least fav speakers for FOH and three ratty monitors - oh and Samson mics that looked liked they'd been used for carpentry. I also had to mix from the side of the "stage".

 

I actually managed to get a fairly good sound, based on the band's opinions, the promoter, and my own assessment but it was no mean feat. It was difficult and sometimes embarrassing to be working with some of my town's top freelancers while wrestling with the low pro PA. I would get questions like, "how many monitor mixes", to which I had to reply one if you're lucky.

 

I'm curious as to what other people would do in this situation. Would you just go with the flow, would you augment the system (I brought some mics), or would you evben refuse the gig? I was tempted to bring in all sorts of gear, but that might have insulted the promoter and it certainly would have turned it into a bad financial deal for me.

 

As I mentioned, it wouldn't have mattered so much if it had been for amateur hour, but many of the musicians were top notch, and it was frustrating not to have my own gear, or at least something better than a twenty year old box mixer with rotary pots, no clip lights, no trim, no pads, no sweep mid, no PFL, no signal present light, essentially no nothing - and no sound check!

 

Oh well, the music was great. Here's one of the bands http://www.tillersfolly.com/

[Audiopile]

Been there, done that... many times.

 

Yes, I know it's frustrating. FWIW: I always bring my soundperson DR bag with me, which includes about 20 - 30 lbs of decent mics, DI boxes, instrument cables, gaff tape, sharpies, functioning flash lights, toilet paper stuff, deoterant, about 20 sets of ear plugs, mic lines, adaptors, a tuner, a brick of 9v batteries, and on and on...

 

And I just do the gig and pull out my tricks when needed, and never say a word... nadda.

 

and shows just seem to go better when I'm there.

 

And I'm seemingly in demand to do whatever it is that I do that makes shows seemingly go better when I'm there... box mixer show or other.

[Craig Vecchione]

If I'm getting paid to mix, then that's what I do. Opinions of the gear are to share here, not at the venue, unless asked by someone who's paying me. I suspect that if the person in charge knows the rig sucks, he/she doesn't need to hear it again from me, and if the suckage is unknown, it very likely doesn't matter, as there's little to be done to change the rig. Run what was brung.

[Shaster]

Thanks for the sage advice gentleman. I was basically of the same opinion, but was constantly second guessing myself.

 

If I'm asked to do the gig next year, I might bring in a couple of working mic stands, and offer to fix his speaker stands (that were pieced together with gaff tape). and leave it at that..

 

On a slightly unrelated note, I visited a club last night, that had replaced their twin Bose system with a distributed K Array PA, complete with monitors that looked like floor mats. DL1608 as a mixer and so on. It apparently cost $100k. One of the bands I had mixed in my summer outdoor series was playing there. Now it was probably a combination of deployment, room acoustics, ambient crowd noise and/or operator error but I can say that the band sounded better on the $1000.00 box mixer system, than the $100,000.00 micro line array system. Life is funny that way.

[Craig Vecchione]

Someone paid 100-large for a system, and got a DL1608 as the mixer?

[Shaster]

They also purchased a $150,000.00 Fazioli piano that many folks use as a keyboard stand! I myself used to use it fo hold my set lists. Below are some stock photos of folks playing there (with the old system).

 

I'm not sure why they went with the Mackie but maybe it's because there isn't usually a sound tech, especially for the afternoon performers. Maybe they just needed something relatively easy to operate that could fold away out of sight. Management is VERY fussy about looks. It's a high end hotel where the money people go to play.

 

They run live entertainment six to seven days a week from 3 pm to late in the evening, so I'm certainly not knocking the venue. Just wondering if they've been getting the best bang for their buck.

[Audiopile]

If I'm getting paid to mix' date=' then that's what I do. Opinions of the gear are to share here, not at the venue, unless asked by someone who's paying me. I suspect that if the person in charge knows the rig sucks, he/she doesn't need to hear it again from me, and if the suckage is unknown, it very likely doesn't matter, as there's little to be done to change the rig. Run what was brung.[/quote']

Agreed. I never whine.

 

When faced with the situation: Acoustic guitarist (or similar) has a 1/4" jack on his guitar... I can offer to put a condenser mic on the guitar (that they'll likely be hit and miss on) or plug the guitarist in. "Plugging the guitarist in" oftentimes involves me providing and installing a 9V battery for their guitar electronics (that they didn't know about sort-of... they generally know the electronics exist but "have never plugged in" and don't know about some battery thing) and a 1/4" instrument cable, and a DI... and pot it up in their monitor to their liking... generally they smile and I smile concerning the results (after "we" get over the thing about a sound person communicating with an artist... yea, I know, I'm a control freak... that's why somebody is paying me to be at the knobs controlling "that").

 

Yea... I'm out the 9V battery and the time... but the shows just seem to generally go better (as I've been told) when I'm there and "do whatever it is that I seem to do that gets the results... and I charge accordingly... and seem to be in demand enough to be able to charge accordingly and pick and choose my schedule.

[wesg]

The other thing that gets guitarists at that level is that some of them don't seem to realize that their electronics are on whenever they are plugged in. So they practice plugged in, put their guitar on the stand, two days later they put it in the case and take it to the gig. Yeah. Dead battery.

[RoadRanger]

I buy the cheap two for $1 ones at the dollar store - they'll last a couple gigs in a guitar or pedal (not in a wireless though) and I don't feel ripped off having to give one away on occasion . Actually in the bad old days before pedal power supplies were common I found that the cheapies lasted as long as the expensive ones for most guitarists as they usually died from being left "on" vs actually dying a normal death.

[Audiopile]

 

I buy the cheap two for $1 ones at the dollar store - they'll last a couple gigs in a guitar or pedal (not in a wireless though) and I don't feel ripped off having to give one away on occasion . Actually in the bad old days before pedal power supplies were common I found that the cheapies lasted as long as the expensive ones for most guitarists as they usually died from being left "on" vs actually dying a normal death.

 

I use the "done a show" 9V batteries out of wireless mics and such to load into acoustic guitars and the such. Those slightly used 9V's generally work fine.