Once again... If you don't know, please ask!

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Once again... If you don't know, please ask!

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:22 pm

I have explained this so many times over the years to new people, as it was to me when I was starting out. If you are helping out in live or recording situations with things technical or otherwise, and you don't understand what has been said to you, please ask for it to be clarified so you do understand. I will not make fun of you, I will never ridicule you, I just want you to get it right so we are all happy in the end. It will most always take more time for me to fix what you mess up because you didn't understand, than it will to explain it so you get it right.

I just had something happen to me the other day that involved having to do a classic re-patch after someone who appeared to know what I was asking for got it mostly wrong.

Remember... Statistically, guessing has a pretty high failure rate. That's a great way to get attention drawn to what you did wrong in a big way.
"Once again, it is NEVER the gear that makes a good record.
It just fills Forum pages..." --compasspnt

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Re: Once again... If you don't know, please ask!

Postby sean.boyer » Wed Sep 12, 2012 4:41 pm

I have had to deal with a particular person as of late in a live sound setting, where they are mixing for my band, and I am getting quite frustrated on stage because of incredibly unsavvy handling of feedback vs. output level and tonal decisions.
Now, I don't expect that every tech automatically be an expert when they first start out, but I would expect that if you were, say, getting an enormous and easily identifiable HURRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN of feedback at 80hz every time the kick drum is smacked, and the only thing you can come up with to mitigate that feedback is to turn the channel off, that you might possibly inquire after the gig "gee, what can I do to fix that", instead of just standing there with an ear to ear smile, giddily enjoying your horrible mix and disparaging looks from the musicians on stage.

Also, this ->
"I'm getting some compressors soon!"
"Umm, I think you might be better served to get yourself some 1/3 octave EQ's to use, at the very least, on your monitor mixes... I don't know how you function without them, honestly"
"Yeah, I don't even know how to hook them up, let alone how to use them! *obnoxious drooling laughter*"

Yeah. I'm only barely paraphrasing there folks.
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Re: Once again... If you don't know, please ask!

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:47 am

Sean's post is another similar, somewhat related problem. I hear such horrendous stuff at so many smaller venues in this burg that it makes it pretty hard for me to want to go out and hear anything. Some of these techs are truly oblivious to what's going on around them, but the fact that they are hired consistently proves to them that they know what they are doing. Who are we to say otherwise? Maybe artists need to step up and either bring their own techs, or demand more consistent assistance at the gigs.

I don't believe any of that is because clients and audiences can't hear the difference, I just think they aren't hearing the alternative in a familiar setting to make the choice to go with an alternative. If I started to actively pursue mixing in clubs right now, would I be able to sell the service? I doubt it. Clients are most interested in someone who will hump an entire rig by themselves, mix a show, and do it all for peanuts while smiling about it.

I recently had an inquiry from a local band that is aspiring to cater to a more "corporate" or upper class crowd. I have worked with some of this group over the years, but the leader is new to me. I had a hard time explaining that I don't own my own sound and light rig, though I can do pretty much anything you need, but you'll pay more for it than most of the regulars you've been dealing with. I probably won't be hearing from them again except for emergencies.
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It just fills Forum pages..." --compasspnt

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Re: Once again... If you don't know, please ask!

Postby Jef » Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:20 am

Malcolm Boyce wrote: I hear such horrendous stuff at so many smaller venues in this burg that it makes it pretty hard for me to want to go out and hear anything.


My sentiments exactly... The boardwalk venue is one that comes to mind.
I attended the Idol contest finale that Jarrett won. The vocal channels were terrible. I couldn't get past that enough to appreciate what was happening on stage. It just kept my attention focused on that terrible (400hz) frequency.

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Re: Once again... If you don't know, please ask!

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:19 pm

Jef wrote:
Malcolm Boyce wrote: I hear such horrendous stuff at so many smaller venues in this burg that it makes it pretty hard for me to want to go out and hear anything.


My sentiments exactly... The boardwalk venue is one that comes to mind.
I attended the Idol contest finale that Jarrett won. The vocal channels were terrible. I couldn't get past that enough to appreciate what was happening on stage. It just kept my attention focused on that terrible (400hz) frequency.


Yeah... It's not necessarily operator issues that are causing the biggest problems. The setup and implementation of that system down there make it impossible to do an even half way decent job with the sketchy coverage of that rig. You could have Brad Madix down there mixing, and it would still sound like crap in 99% of the available area.
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It just fills Forum pages..." --compasspnt

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Re: Once again... If you don't know, please ask!

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:23 pm

The guy running FOH at the boardwalk is someone that I have known for many years. Going way back to the Revolver days. He is quite capable as a FOH mixer. He is however dealing with really difficult venue that would be hard to get right regardless of the skill of the mixer.

There are a lot of cases in town though where it's not the venue or the equipment, it's purely the lack of skills of the technician in question. Like Sean said, if someone thinks that compression is going to "fix" the feedback then clearly the lack of EQ on the monitor sends is simply a symptom of a much larger issue. There is one venue in particular that I don't frequent anymore specifically because of that. No matter how much the band may be one I'd want to see unless they tour with their own guy, I'll avoid the show. Since I was worried about being biased, I brought my girlfriend out one night without telling her anything about it. When she said it sounded so bad that it was hurting her ears, we left. So it wasn't just me. Unfortunately most of the bands that played there had no idea, and the manager of the venue seemed to not be aware either. I never discussed it with anyone in public, but I just stopped going out there.
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