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| I hate running live sound! [message #83577] |
Mon, 23 April 2007 09:20  |
DC
Messages: 722
Registered: July 2005
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Senior Member |
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I don't do it very often any more, and now I remember why...
grrrrr
I ran two shows on Sat. In the morning was a Veterans parade.
Nice folks, well organized, good parade. COOL old WWII jeeps
and other restored mil vehicles. Pro DJ's from local radio, did
a great job announcing. 4+ hours of hard work...
Ok, no sweat.
Now one of my beloved college faculty was retiring and asked
specifically for me to run sound for the event.
I would never say no...
Soooo, one jackass after another of the "performers" shows
up with their Stack-O-CD's and tells me "yeah, just play track 1
and then track 3 on disc 2, and then track 6 on disc 3 after a
30 second pause. yeah that's the ticket..."
Gee, did you know that you could put all these on ONE DAMN
CD?? With pauses and everything?? But nooo, I don't say a
word.
Then up comes the Dance Troupe with their iPod and sez
"hey you got some RCA inputs on that there mixer?" This,
of course is ten minutes before the event... Well, yeah, since
the last-minute DVD request took my last set of 1/4" to RCA
cables, and my stereo DI, you'll have to go into the 2-track
return... ummm, no level control other than the masters, and
no EQ... Fun... Tinny sounding music, and no EQ...
It gets worse, but my client is here so I will fill you in on the rest
later...
DC
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83580 is a reply to message #83577] |
Mon, 23 April 2007 09:59  |
EK Sound
Messages: 939
Registered: June 2005
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Senior Member |
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That sounds like EVERY street festival I have ever done... ;-)
I have had people show up with mini-discs with no player saying "you
can play these, right?"
David.
DC wrote:
> I don't do it very often any more, and now I remember why...
>
> grrrrr
>
> I ran two shows on Sat. In the morning was a Veterans parade.
> Nice folks, well organized, good parade. COOL old WWII jeeps
> and other restored mil vehicles. Pro DJ's from local radio, did
> a great job announcing. 4+ hours of hard work...
>
> Ok, no sweat.
>
> Now one of my beloved college faculty was retiring and asked
> specifically for me to run sound for the event.
>
> I would never say no...
>
> Soooo, one jackass after another of the "performers" shows
> up with their Stack-O-CD's and tells me "yeah, just play track 1
> and then track 3 on disc 2, and then track 6 on disc 3 after a
> 30 second pause. yeah that's the ticket..."
>
> Gee, did you know that you could put all these on ONE DAMN
> CD?? With pauses and everything?? But nooo, I don't say a
> word.
>
> Then up comes the Dance Troupe with their iPod and sez
> "hey you got some RCA inputs on that there mixer?" This,
> of course is ten minutes before the event... Well, yeah, since
> the last-minute DVD request took my last set of 1/4" to RCA
> cables, and my stereo DI, you'll have to go into the 2-track
> return... ummm, no level control other than the masters, and
> no EQ... Fun... Tinny sounding music, and no EQ...
>
> It gets worse, but my client is here so I will fill you in on the rest
> later...
>
> DC
>
>
>
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83581 is a reply to message #83580] |
Mon, 23 April 2007 11:04 |
DC
Messages: 722
Registered: July 2005
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Senior Member |
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Ok, so the first "performer" gets on stage and turns one of the
mains around so they can hear better...
grrr thanks for that!
Oh, and some hack wrote a "song" that was supposed to be funny
in the Italian opera style, about the retiree's life story...
Not funny. Excruciatingly bad. I would have paid Simon Cowell
to sit where they could have seen him...
They "performers" brought a kiddie keyboard with them that has
no line outs... So we pop into the cans output and finally get
the awful reverb turned off, and it is still much like Schroeder
from Peanuts' little piano... Very thin and toy-sounding
Sooo, while one of the opera singers was performing, (ever work
with opera singers?) another one comes up and orders me to
"bring the piano up"... I ignore him. He says it again, and I
send him away with "please let me do my job" and a good glare
or two... I do the mix, you sing... see how nice that works?
Then one of the dancers is changing and lays the top of her
suitcase on the power cord, that I carefully taped in place...
Eventually it sags enough to take the system down while the MC
is talking. I run back and put it back in, and ask her (nicely)
to please be extra careful, and she glares at me...
ohhh, and here's the worst part. Some helpful soul who I knew
years ago decides to help me tape cables down. I look at his
tape, and I see he is using my gaffer tape.. Oh well, there goes
13 bucks as he reels it off covering every inch of cable.. Except...
it's NOT my gaffer tape, it is a roll of painters blue masking
the exact same shade as my blue gaffer tape. We discover this
as we are tearing down. Turns out the painter's tape releases
nicely from painted surfaces and sticks like friggin' SUPER GLUE
to Canare audio cable. It takes an extra 45 minutes to get the
tape off the cable, and even then, it left most of the adhesive
and a good portion of the backing on the cable.
So last night, I discover that the nice citrus-based goo-remover
stuff doesn't budge this sh*t and I end up out in the studio for
and hour, with the big fan on, and a rag and a can of lacquer
thinner. I was still dizzy this monring...
Now all I have to do is return all the gear to the office and put
the studio back together...
I HATE live sound...
DC
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83583 is a reply to message #83581] |
Mon, 23 April 2007 11:26 |
rick
Messages: 1976
Registered: February 2006
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Senior Member |
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don,
so what are you really upset about???really???
On 24 Apr 2007 04:04:32 +1000, "DC" <dc@spammersinthewedges.com>
wrote:
>
>Ok, so the first "performer" gets on stage and turns one of the
>mains around so they can hear better...
>
>grrr thanks for that!
>
>Oh, and some hack wrote a "song" that was supposed to be funny
>in the Italian opera style, about the retiree's life story...
>
>Not funny. Excruciatingly bad. I would have paid Simon Cowell
>to sit where they could have seen him...
>
>They "performers" brought a kiddie keyboard with them that has
>no line outs... So we pop into the cans output and finally get
>the awful reverb turned off, and it is still much like Schroeder
>from Peanuts' little piano... Very thin and toy-sounding
>
>Sooo, while one of the opera singers was performing, (ever work
>with opera singers?) another one comes up and orders me to
>"bring the piano up"... I ignore him. He says it again, and I
>send him away with "please let me do my job" and a good glare
>or two... I do the mix, you sing... see how nice that works?
>
>Then one of the dancers is changing and lays the top of her
>suitcase on the power cord, that I carefully taped in place...
>Eventually it sags enough to take the system down while the MC
>is talking. I run back and put it back in, and ask her (nicely)
>to please be extra careful, and she glares at me...
>
>ohhh, and here's the worst part. Some helpful soul who I knew
>years ago decides to help me tape cables down. I look at his
>tape, and I see he is using my gaffer tape.. Oh well, there goes
>13 bucks as he reels it off covering every inch of cable.. Except...
>it's NOT my gaffer tape, it is a roll of painters blue masking
>the exact same shade as my blue gaffer tape. We discover this
>as we are tearing down. Turns out the painter's tape releases
>nicely from painted surfaces and sticks like friggin' SUPER GLUE
>to Canare audio cable. It takes an extra 45 minutes to get the
>tape off the cable, and even then, it left most of the adhesive
>and a good portion of the backing on the cable.
>
>So last night, I discover that the nice citrus-based goo-remover
>stuff doesn't budge this sh*t and I end up out in the studio for
>and hour, with the big fan on, and a rag and a can of lacquer
>thinner. I was still dizzy this monring...
>
>Now all I have to do is return all the gear to the office and put
>the studio back together...
>
>I HATE live sound...
>
>DC
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83613 is a reply to message #83577] |
Mon, 23 April 2007 20:09 |
Paul Braun
Messages: 391
Registered: September 2005
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Senior Member |
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On 24 Apr 2007 02:20:25 +1000, "DC" <dc@spammersatFOH.org> wrote:
>
>I don't do it very often any more, and now I remember why...
>
>grrrrr
>
Sounds like fun!
Like my gig last Sunday night where I open the front of the amp rack
right at the beginning of soundcheck, only to discover that some
asshole at the theatre had removed my two Crown monitor amps from a
PERMANENT INSTALLATION (apparently to use for our annual fundraising
banquet, completely ignoring the FULLY-POPULATED, WIRED, EQ'D AND
PATCH-PANELED 'BANQUET-IN-A-BOX" ON WHEELS that I had already built)
and then, not only didn't tell me or anyone, but also didn't have the
common freakin' courtesy to PUT THE DAMN THINGS BACK IN THE RACK.
Yeah, that was fun. I swore a lot. Fortunately, artists were all
good friends of mine and we all pitched in and put it back together...
pab
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83619 is a reply to message #83581] |
Tue, 24 April 2007 00:52 |
erlilo
Messages: 405
Registered: June 2005
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Senior Member |
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He, he, it sounds like a "normal" live session for the man sitting behind
the mixer with those multishows.
It's just improvisations and adrenalin with good help of much luck.
It's really hard trying to smile in all those situations;-)
Glad you survived:-)
erlilo
"DC" <dc@spammersinthewedges.com> skrev i melding news:462cf530@linux...
>
> Ok, so the first "performer" gets on stage and turns one of the
> mains around so they can hear better...
>
> grrr thanks for that!
>
> Oh, and some hack wrote a "song" that was supposed to be funny
> in the Italian opera style, about the retiree's life story...
>
> Not funny. Excruciatingly bad. I would have paid Simon Cowell
> to sit where they could have seen him...
>
> They "performers" brought a kiddie keyboard with them that has
> no line outs... So we pop into the cans output and finally get
> the awful reverb turned off, and it is still much like Schroeder
> from Peanuts' little piano... Very thin and toy-sounding
>
> Sooo, while one of the opera singers was performing, (ever work
> with opera singers?) another one comes up and orders me to
> "bring the piano up"... I ignore him. He says it again, and I
> send him away with "please let me do my job" and a good glare
> or two... I do the mix, you sing... see how nice that works?
>
> Then one of the dancers is changing and lays the top of her
> suitcase on the power cord, that I carefully taped in place...
> Eventually it sags enough to take the system down while the MC
> is talking. I run back and put it back in, and ask her (nicely)
> to please be extra careful, and she glares at me...
>
> ohhh, and here's the worst part. Some helpful soul who I knew
> years ago decides to help me tape cables down. I look at his
> tape, and I see he is using my gaffer tape.. Oh well, there goes
> 13 bucks as he reels it off covering every inch of cable.. Except...
> it's NOT my gaffer tape, it is a roll of painters blue masking
> the exact same shade as my blue gaffer tape. We discover this
> as we are tearing down. Turns out the painter's tape releases
> nicely from painted surfaces and sticks like friggin' SUPER GLUE
> to Canare audio cable. It takes an extra 45 minutes to get the
> tape off the cable, and even then, it left most of the adhesive
> and a good portion of the backing on the cable.
>
> So last night, I discover that the nice citrus-based goo-remover
> stuff doesn't budge this sh*t and I end up out in the studio for
> and hour, with the big fan on, and a rag and a can of lacquer
> thinner. I was still dizzy this monring...
>
> Now all I have to do is return all the gear to the office and put
> the studio back together...
>
> I HATE live sound...
>
> DC
>
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83640 is a reply to message #83577] |
Tue, 24 April 2007 08:39 |
Don Nafe
Messages: 1206
Registered: July 2005
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Senior Member |
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Now imagine doing that with Nuendo as tour front end.
With more than one band
With circuits popping
Welcome to my nightmare
"DC" <dc@spammersatFOH.org> wrote in message news:462cdcc9$1@linux...
>
> I don't do it very often any more, and now I remember why...
>
> grrrrr
>
> I ran two shows on Sat. In the morning was a Veterans parade.
> Nice folks, well organized, good parade. COOL old WWII jeeps
> and other restored mil vehicles. Pro DJ's from local radio, did
> a great job announcing. 4+ hours of hard work...
>
> Ok, no sweat.
>
> Now one of my beloved college faculty was retiring and asked
> specifically for me to run sound for the event.
>
> I would never say no...
>
> Soooo, one jackass after another of the "performers" shows
> up with their Stack-O-CD's and tells me "yeah, just play track 1
> and then track 3 on disc 2, and then track 6 on disc 3 after a
> 30 second pause. yeah that's the ticket..."
>
> Gee, did you know that you could put all these on ONE DAMN
> CD?? With pauses and everything?? But nooo, I don't say a
> word.
>
> Then up comes the Dance Troupe with their iPod and sez
> "hey you got some RCA inputs on that there mixer?" This,
> of course is ten minutes before the event... Well, yeah, since
> the last-minute DVD request took my last set of 1/4" to RCA
> cables, and my stereo DI, you'll have to go into the 2-track
> return... ummm, no level control other than the masters, and
> no EQ... Fun... Tinny sounding music, and no EQ...
>
> It gets worse, but my client is here so I will fill you in on the rest
> later...
>
> DC
>
>
>
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83644 is a reply to message #83640] |
Tue, 24 April 2007 09:23 |
DC
Messages: 722
Registered: July 2005
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Senior Member |
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Yeow! It boggles the mind...
Are you using Nuendo for live tracking every show?
DC
"Don Nafe" <dnafe@magma.ca> wrote:
>Now imagine doing that with Nuendo as tour front end.
>
>With more than one band
>
>With circuits popping
>
>Welcome to my nightmare
>
>
>"DC" <dc@spammersatFOH.org> wrote in message news:462cdcc9$1@linux...
>>
>> I don't do it very often any more, and now I remember why...
>>
>> grrrrr
>>
>> I ran two shows on Sat. In the morning was a Veterans parade.
>> Nice folks, well organized, good parade. COOL old WWII jeeps
>> and other restored mil vehicles. Pro DJ's from local radio, did
>> a great job announcing. 4+ hours of hard work...
>>
>> Ok, no sweat.
>>
>> Now one of my beloved college faculty was retiring and asked
>> specifically for me to run sound for the event.
>>
>> I would never say no...
>>
>> Soooo, one jackass after another of the "performers" shows
>> up with their Stack-O-CD's and tells me "yeah, just play track 1
>> and then track 3 on disc 2, and then track 6 on disc 3 after a
>> 30 second pause. yeah that's the ticket..."
>>
>> Gee, did you know that you could put all these on ONE DAMN
>> CD?? With pauses and everything?? But nooo, I don't say a
>> word.
>>
>> Then up comes the Dance Troupe with their iPod and sez
>> "hey you got some RCA inputs on that there mixer?" This,
>> of course is ten minutes before the event... Well, yeah, since
>> the last-minute DVD request took my last set of 1/4" to RCA
>> cables, and my stereo DI, you'll have to go into the 2-track
>> return... ummm, no level control other than the masters, and
>> no EQ... Fun... Tinny sounding music, and no EQ...
>>
>> It gets worse, but my client is here so I will fill you in on the rest
>> later...
>>
>> DC
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83645 is a reply to message #83619] |
Tue, 24 April 2007 09:26 |
dc[3]
Messages: 895
Registered: September 2005
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Senior Member |
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You would think they would figure out that just a little pre-production
maybe a phone call, might help their careers, no?
DC
"erlilo" <erlilo@nospamonline.no> wrote:
>He, he, it sounds like a "normal" live session for the man sitting behind
>the mixer with those multishows.
>It's just improvisations and adrenalin with good help of much luck.
>It's really hard trying to smile in all those situations;-)
>Glad you survived:-)
>
>erlilo
>
>"DC" <dc@spammersinthewedges.com> skrev i melding news:462cf530@linux...
>>
>> Ok, so the first "performer" gets on stage and turns one of the
>> mains around so they can hear better...
>>
>> grrr thanks for that!
>>
>> Oh, and some hack wrote a "song" that was supposed to be funny
>> in the Italian opera style, about the retiree's life story...
>>
>> Not funny. Excruciatingly bad. I would have paid Simon Cowell
>> to sit where they could have seen him...
>>
>> They "performers" brought a kiddie keyboard with them that has
>> no line outs... So we pop into the cans output and finally get
>> the awful reverb turned off, and it is still much like Schroeder
>> from Peanuts' little piano... Very thin and toy-sounding
>>
>> Sooo, while one of the opera singers was performing, (ever work
>> with opera singers?) another one comes up and orders me to
>> "bring the piano up"... I ignore him. He says it again, and I
>> send him away with "please let me do my job" and a good glare
>> or two... I do the mix, you sing... see how nice that works?
>>
>> Then one of the dancers is changing and lays the top of her
>> suitcase on the power cord, that I carefully taped in place...
>> Eventually it sags enough to take the system down while the MC
>> is talking. I run back and put it back in, and ask her (nicely)
>> to please be extra careful, and she glares at me...
>>
>> ohhh, and here's the worst part. Some helpful soul who I knew
>> years ago decides to help me tape cables down. I look at his
>> tape, and I see he is using my gaffer tape.. Oh well, there goes
>> 13 bucks as he reels it off covering every inch of cable.. Except...
>> it's NOT my gaffer tape, it is a roll of painters blue masking
>> the exact same shade as my blue gaffer tape. We discover this
>> as we are tearing down. Turns out the painter's tape releases
>> nicely from painted surfaces and sticks like friggin' SUPER GLUE
>> to Canare audio cable. It takes an extra 45 minutes to get the
>> tape off the cable, and even then, it left most of the adhesive
>> and a good portion of the backing on the cable.
>>
>> So last night, I discover that the nice citrus-based goo-remover
>> stuff doesn't budge this sh*t and I end up out in the studio for
>> and hour, with the big fan on, and a rag and a can of lacquer
>> thinner. I was still dizzy this monring...
>>
>> Now all I have to do is return all the gear to the office and put
>> the studio back together...
>>
>> I HATE live sound...
>>
>> DC
>>
>
>
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| Re: I hate running live sound! [message #83703 is a reply to message #83702] |
Wed, 25 April 2007 16:21 |
dc[3]
Messages: 895
Registered: September 2005
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Senior Member |
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Will do.
thanks!
DC
EK Sound <askme@nospam.com> wrote:
>It's very cool, easy to use, and fast to get around in for basic
>mixing. The Processing and FX are great... SPX2000 chips for the FX.
> The nice thing about the desk is that you can use USB thumb drives
>to create "operator keys". You can program these "keys" to allow as
>much or as little access to functions as you like. Perfect for
>volunteer sound as in churches. The touch screen helps a lot with
>navigation, allowing you to get somewhere instantly. Recallable head
>amps make it a breeze for festival apps. You really should check one out.
>
>David.
>
>DC wrote:
>> Hey David,
>>
>> I've been wanting to try one of those. How do you like them?
>> The 32 looks to be about 19K. Is it fast to use? Good sounding
>> processing?
>>
>> Looks like a cool box, but maybe not for volunteer sound people...
>>
>> DC
>>
>>
>> EK Sound <askme@nospam.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Or, a Yamaha M7CL and scratch the outboard! :-)
>>>
>>>David
>>>
>>>DC wrote:
>>>
>>>>Paul Braun <cygnus_nospam@ctgonline.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I've seen a demo of Digi's Venue system with a Show Control surface.
>>>>>Pretty damn slick.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Yeah everyone likes it. Some folks even buy it.
>>>>
>>>>Or, for 1/5 the price:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.glseries.com/images/gl48/GL4800_threequarter-smal l.jpg
>>>>
>>>>and a bunch of outboard gear.
>>>>
>>>>Think the audience would hear any difference?
>>>>
>>>>DC
>>>>
>>
>>
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