Stupid, annoying musicians.

[famousbass]

I know what you mean but this is OUR industry.
You know, as a muso with over 30yrs gigging I'm still amazed by the coked up FOH guy who habitually turns up late for soundchecks. And that roadie who argued he shouldn't be fired for wearing a t-shirt printed with the imaginative "F*** Off" at an all-ages family show because it was his first mistake takes the cake for a complete effing idiot.

[Lute]

Can't you politely tell them that their equipment screws yours up and you'd prefer them to use your much more expensive gear?

[Ampex 354]

I have to do something near to that every time I deal with some band that's switched out the Audix vocal mikes I've set up with SM 58s or worse, at the club I run sound at. I have to tell them everything's been carefully balanced for the Audixes and the 58s would make the system sound broken. (I'd appreciate it if they'd ask me about changing things first....I don't like walking on stage and seeing they've just done it without saying anything to me!)

[famousbass]

Originally Posted by Ampex 354

I have to do something near to that every time I deal with some band that's switched out the Audix vocal mikes I've set up with SM 58s or worse, at the club I run sound at. I have to tell them everything's been carefully balanced for the Audixes and the 58s would make the system sound broken. (I'd appreciate it if they'd ask me about changing things first....I don't like walking on stage and seeing they've just done it without saying anything to me!)

ha ha ha
They're just trying to help by making more work for everybody.
Why don't you return the favour and unplug their Les Paul and plug in your Strat.

[brockorama]

Originally Posted by Ampex 354

I have to do something near to that every time I deal with some band that's switched out the Audix vocal mikes I've set up with SM 58s or worse, at the club I run sound at. I have to tell them everything's been carefully balanced for the Audixes and the 58s would make the system sound broken. (I'd appreciate it if they'd ask me about changing things first....I don't like walking on stage and seeing they've just done it without saying anything to me!)

58's for Audix's? Guess the nights over after that catastrophe, eh?

[Ward Pike]

Originally Posted by Ampex 354

I have to do something near to that every time I deal with some band that's switched out the Audix vocal mikes I've set up with SM 58s or worse

What do you mean by "worse"? There's something worse than a 58?

[doom64]

Originally Posted by Ward Pike

What do you mean by "worse"? There's something worse than a 58?

Shure there is: PG58 ;-)

[Ampex 354]

Originally Posted by doom64

Shure there is: PG58 ;-)

Or the SM 48....

[Ampex 354]

Originally Posted by brockorama

58's for Audix's? Guess the nights over after that catastrophe, eh?

No catastrophe. A quick talking-to, my mikes quickly put back in place, and all moves forward.

[Gilli C]

[Ward Pike]

[famousbass]

Well put

[Gilli C]

Originally Posted by famousbass

Well put

haha! ooops. The body of my post evaporated..

Anyhoo, what I was going to say to Mattjew25 if I should turn up at your club one day you will most likely start a post with 'Stupid Annoying Band Engineer', or 'Most Annoying Band Ever!' as I use 11x Beta58a for vocals for the act I mix.

For various reasons which I wont get into right now, needs to Beta 58a, not a mix or 58s and beta's, and no randoms to make up numbers. Sometimes I bring them with the other mics I use if its tricky to make up numbers.

Would you try to convince me to use your 4? Audix vocal mics because the system has been tuned to them?

I am extra annoying as I bring my own reverb and Graphic EQ which goes across a couple of groups. Won't get into reason why, the reason is specific to the act. And I like to be able to at least be able to turn the subs down if I need.

G

[mattjew24]

Originally Posted by Lute

Can't you politely tell them that their equipment screws yours up and you'd prefer them to use your much more expensive gear?

No, they use expensive Sennheisers and all I want them to use is a 58.

[mattjew24]

Originally Posted by Gilli C

haha! ooops. The body of my post evaporated..

Anyhoo, what I was going to say to Mattjew25 if I should turn up at your club one day you will most likely start a post with 'Stupid Annoying Band Engineer', or 'Most Annoying Band Ever!' as I use 11x Beta58a for vocals for the act I mix.

For various reasons which I wont get into right now, needs to Beta 58a, not a mix or 58s and beta's, and no randoms to make up numbers. Sometimes I bring them with the other mics I use if its tricky to make up numbers.

Would you try to convince me to use your 4? Audix vocal mics because the system has been tuned to them?

I am extra annoying as I bring my own reverb and Graphic EQ which goes across a couple of groups. Won't get into reason why, the reason is specific to the act. And I like to be able to at least be able to turn the subs down if I need.

G

If our booking people booked you they'd be clear about how setups need to be less than 20 minutes and 10minutes for line check. I've gotten real good at being efficient and talking to bands politely while making it clear we need to hurry.

I deal with whatever mics the bands bring in. I'd just much prefer it if they brought wireless in-ears...because seriously, if you want to spend money on your career choice, you should protect your ears and make sure you can hear yourself.

[tedpenn]

Originally Posted by mattjew24

If you have a shitty wireless sennheiser, please also get a shitty wireless in-ear setup so I don't have to deal with you.

I'm not aware of any Sennheiser live vocal mics I'd describe as "shitty" to the point of being unusable in the way that you describe. Unless you've got some sort of extenuating circumstances like crazy speaker placement, or very difficult/strange acoustics near the stage, this just sounds like operator error to me.

Originally Posted by mattjew24

If our booking people booked you they'd be clear about how setups need to be less than 20 minutes and 10minutes for line check. I've gotten real good at being efficient and talking to bands politely while making it clear we need to hurry.

Perhaps that's part of the problem right there. Unless you're spending time before the bands set up and check ringing out the monitors with their vocal mics, I don't see how you'd ever expect to accurately ring out the monitors from the FOH position (as it sounds like you're mixing monitors from there), while also trying to mix their set. I'd imagine that by the very end of their set (which I'm assuming is a short one, given that they're only getting a 10 minute line check), you might have made some progress.

Originally Posted by mattjew24

I save recalls for this band every time I do them on the board.

You do realize that unless you have your mics, players, and monitors in the exact same position they were in when you stored your recall, you're wasting your time? Even small movements of any of these elements is going to change which frequencies will feedback. Your recall may give you a decent start, but you'll have to adjust the graphics on your monitors for each show. FOH is another story obviously, and your recall should save you some time there.

Originally Posted by mattjew24

I deal with whatever mics the bands bring in. I'd just much prefer it if they brought wireless in-ears...because seriously, if you want to spend money on your career choice, you should protect your ears and make sure you can hear yourself.

Blaming these problems on the musicians and their (perfectly reasonable) gear is a copout. We've been mixing live shows with wedges for years and years before IEMs even existed, and while IEMs do help a ton, there's really no excuse for not being able to handle the situation you described (especially with a digital desk with graphics on every output at your disposal) without complaining about the band's "shitty Sennheisers".

I don't mean to single you out, but, in general, too many live engineers at this level spend way too much time bitching about everything under the sun keeping them from doing a good job, and way too little time trying to improve their skill set.

[coffeecup77]

The reason why I always bring my personal mics to gigs is ... I know who sang and spat in mine. When you see the house mics (or rentals) full of rust, you don't want to put your mouth within a mile of those. Do you clean and disinfect the house mics after every set ?

Cheers.

[chiimba]

Originally Posted by coffeecup77

The reason why I always bring my personal mics to gigs is ... I know who sang and spat in mine. When you see the house mics (or rentals) full of rust, you don't want to put your mouth within a mile of those. Do you clean and disinfect the house mics after every set ?

Cheers.

+1. I don't always bring my mic(s) but if I do this would be a reason. I was sick last Saturday so brought my own knowing other bands would be playing that night.

Plus I have a bad habbit of touching my mouth to the mic too much (i'm working on it).. This is because we couldn't afford a PA initially and I would sing through a Peavy Amp in practice and needed to make out with the mic to hear myself lol.

[donpakka]

A clean tooth brush and some Listerine works wonders....

[DaveE]

^ you realize we're dealing with musicians, right?

[Sir Chris]

Bands bring their own mics because
A: They don't want to sing into a house mic that more then likely never gets cleaned, let alone get cleaned after every show.

B: They feel the mic they bought is the best fit for their voice.

How would you deal with this problem if it were a national act? At that level all these singers have a preferred mic for live applications.


Only time I ever got upset with a band bringing their own mics was when the singer kept getting feedback, would keep complaining that she could barley hear herself, and her voice sounds really muffeled , why can't I make it brighter?

After the set I went over to get to the bottom of this and sure enough it was her POS superstar wtf mic. I googled this mic on my phone and it came up "brand new" $17...face palm...

Long story short, the band got an earful about how the venue pays its bands too much $$ to deal with this BS and they were not to come back without a proper mic.

The venue doesn't have in house mics for those wondering. Just an expense they don't want to have and all the acts come with their preferred selection of mics anyways.



Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

[Beat Poet]

Originally Posted by coffeecup77

When you see the house mics (or rentals) full of rust, you don't want to put your mouth within a mile of those.

I've seen duffed up rehearsal room mics with brown marks on them which I'm certain was not rust . . .