Soundperson questions

[NitroBobby]

True. It must be laziness....I'm always the last guy out of a venue, typically an hour after closing. Must be lazy...why else would I show up 2 hours before showtime, if not to have more time to hang around doing nothing? And it's a well-known fact that 188lb subs and 114lb mains lift and move themselves, and there's nothing to it at all if a 100lb amp rack and 300lb cable trunk are sitting on the ground outside the truck. They have their own lifts!! Yup, nobody's got it easier than the sound guy! :lol:

 

+1

i recently started working with a good friend of mine. he's a pretty awesome sound tech. he's got good quality gear and a great ear for the sound. i do a lot of the lifting, carrying & set-up stuff as well as electrical maintenance and on the fly electrical repairs. in order to make sure we get everything set-up and working so we can do the best show we can, we're there way before the bands even think about showing up. get there later and trying to load-in the gear around the customers getting {censored}ty becomes more trouble than you can imagine. the speakers, bass cabinets, monitors, amp racks, snake, sub-snake etc.. all weigh a lot. there's a lot of lifting & bending and what not. then the bands show up and bring their egos with them. who the hell plays an instrument on a stage and doesn't even bring their own 1/4 inch instrument cable? they expect the sound guy to have an array of cables from which to choose. then there's the "i'm not setting up here, i want to play over there..." BS.

 

anyway, it ain't as glamorous as it looks. the ladies don't walk up to you with beer, shots and offers for physical gratification as much as you'd think. but i do get paid to hang out and listen to live music. it's not a lot of money, but i enjoy it. i've met a lot of really good musicians (and some not so good one too). good luck to you in your endeavor.

[FreestyleIntruder]

PROTIP: Having a desk with a DBA channel can be a life-saver

[Craig Vecchione]

Not that anyone cares, but, hey! Well, it went down, and it went pretty well! The old soundperson ( ) is the drummer now, so he was there to help me out. I pretty much sussed how to hook everything up, there wasn't that much gear (7 mics, 2 mains, 2 monitors, 2 poweramps, EQ, mixing board), which made my job pretty straightforward and easy. There was a little feedback a few times but nothing too bad (people kept asking for more stuff in the monitors and I think I put in TOO much). The band was good, good songs, I had a good time... and I got 3 beers and 30$! Sweet!

 

You're a cheap date...better up the ante for the next gig to at least 50 bucks (that's pretty typical for a briefcase gig).

 

"More monitors" requests usually indicate the backline is too loud. That usually means a lot of backline is bleeding into the vocal mics, which makes it really hard to get a clean and controllable mix, since raising a vocal mic means you're also raising the level of whatever backline source is bleeding into that mic. It's a vicious cycle, and hard to deal with if the band isn't cooperative. That's why IEM's are like soundguy gold.

[WynnD]

To Hi.Flyer. You're selling yourself cheap. Skip the beer, you're working, and go for the cash.

 

To CraigV and Georgestrings. You really don't know how loud that is. Do you want db meter readings? Is it wrong to expect to be able to listen to a band, dance and hold a conversation in the same room? (That's about the right volume to me.) And while I don't do huge jobs, I've provided general PA for crowds of 5000 outdoors. I've also had my share of celebrities on my system. One currently fighting for a Senate seat in the courts and another who was arrested this past week protesting. And I've noticed that most people would rather sit in the blazing 95 degree sun at 90 dbc than sit in the 82 degree shade at 115 dbc. I'm not wrong here and no one who wants to hear the music is missing it. And most people will go home with their hearing intact and ears not ringing. Leaving the really big jobs for other guys. (And yes, I do haul in setup run and tear down and haul out by myself.)

[hi.flyer]

To Hi.Flyer. You're selling yourself cheap. Skip the beer, you're working, and go for the cash.

Word, it was kinda just my introductory/training session, tho, so I took what they were giving. And the beers were just hook-ups, I think... but at 4$ each, not bad!