Lessons in people management

[mixedupsteve]

Cool old thread. Great advice and I'm lad everyone made out OK.

This is a cool combat audio tool:

EAW Microwedge, Audix OM7, Ultimate XLR Cable Tester, Pro Audio: Ultimate XLR Cable Tester - Rat Sound Sniffer/Sender Pack

[Remoteness]

When it comes to whether or not an active splitter system of any brand (for that matter) has any dead channels I feel it has more to do with the maintenance of the device than the device itself.

Any splitter or whatever can have bad channels -- You are only as good as the last prep / test / scratch & sniff session.

[LX3]

True. Gear (especially gear that goes on the road) goes wrong. Rental kit especially it seems.

Since that particular episode, any time I have to use someone else's split we test every channel on it before doing anything else... And just as well, because shortly after that show we were doing another one where we again were instructed to use the PA company's BSS splits. Four channels weren't working, even though I'd been assured it was 100% functional.

(Before you ask, no, it's wasn't the same rack as on the previous show!)

[Remoteness]

I like to trust (the situation at hand), but varify before addressing it.

[justpushplay]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

That would be very cool. Please let us know.

I guess I'm old school on this one. I like using phantom powered mics because I can listen to the lines with or without someone speaking (or playing) into the mic. I can listen for noise or hum and buzz that I may not hear with the generator running. I also can hear the difference between the lines. IE: Some lines may sound thinner than the others. It's hard to tell with a single tone and much easier with pink noise running, but...

If you know how that mic supposed to sound like and it sounds a bit different you'll know right away. Tone generators are cool, but for me not the most perfect solution. With that said, they ARE better than nothing and, I have used them when applicable.

+1.
We do the phantom mic thing for every input on the rig, too, regardless of whether those lines are going to be used for that particular recording. And we've found more than our fair share of pairs (On other people's gear, of course :-)) that would have tested OK were it not for the phantom mic test. Plus, the person on the test mic doesn't need to key their radio, because you can already hear him through the console. On rental gear, it's illuminating how many channels will often NOT work, that you weren't going to be using anyhow. (Or works at FOH, but not in Monitor Beach, but always works for the direct split, or a combination thereof) But now, when something DOES goes awry and you have to switch lines, at least now you know which ones to avoid. Critical when you are re-patching the vocalist during the bridge of the song....:-) However, if you are working alone on a stage with no one to help, a Cue Box is indispensable. (We call it the Clue Box) Another workaround when you are alone is to put all of your tracks in record, and work your way through the splitter/stage wiring with the phantom mic. Then listen back to the recording and you'll quickly hear where the problems lie.


Michael

[Thomas W. Bethe]

We got ready to do a recording of Tanya Tucker at the Punch and Judy theater in Michigan. Her road crew was GREAT to work with. The people doing the sound were less than professional and as it turns out so was their equipment.

We get there about 4 hours before the performance. We had been hired by the record company for a live recording. They sent us a tech rider, the same one they sent to the sound company. We were prepared to do a 24 track recording which is what we were told would be required. The Tucker crew arrives and begins setting up her drum kit. The set took up the whole middle of the stage. We are told that she requires 32 microphones for just her drum kit. We have a total of 24 channel available. After some negotiation with her crew we get the list down to 16 channels which leaves us with 8 channels for the rest of the band. So we get ready to hook into the splitter which we have been told is pre arranged with the sound company. I go find the FOH and the Monitor mixer and ask them for permission to plug in. They say their boss, who is not at the gig, said he had decided NOT to let us plug in unless we were to pay them $200 for the split. I call my boss and he says "no way" so I go find the record exec and tell him of the problem and I see him and the sound crew huddled together in a meeting and then he comes over and tells me that we now have permission to use the split. So I get a set list from the sound crew and begin plugging in the sends to our recording truck. I ask them how their splitter is constructed and what I will be getting - transformer out, direct out, amplifier isolated. ??? and the sound guy looks at me and says "what the #%^& are you talking about? He says that it is 3 way split and that is all I have to know. Their feeds are on multi-pins and ours in on XLRs. I plug in and go out to the truck and bring up the faders and all I have is a mess of hum. I go back to the stage and look to see if there are any ground lift switches which there are not. I go to the FOH engineer, who seems to be the crew chief and ask him about the problem and he says that ever since we plugged in our stuff the FOH and Monitor Mixer have also been having hum problems. Our AC is plugged into an outlet near the back door. Their AC feed is from the mains via a pigtail. I put a ground lift on our AC feed and everything calms down. Next is a sound check and I start to bring up various microphones and find that some of have problems. One in particular sounds very tinny and distorted but none of them sounds great. I again find the FOH mixer and ask him about the microphone. He says it has been dropped a number of times and that it "just the way it is" So I suggest that we loan him a microphone to which he replies "we do not allow other people's equipment to be plugged into our equipment so the answer is no" Ok so it is a backup singer and we just won't use it.

The sound check starts and the band starts to play and I am not very happy with what I am hearing coming out of the monitor speakers. Everytime someone sings loud or plays loud it is fuzz and distortion city. I go out into the house and it doesn't sound much better there. I go over to the FOH guy and ask him what the problem is and he says "what problem" everything sounds great to me. Ok so this guy has either lost his hearing or it is so use to hearing a bad PA it is not registering with him. I go back to the truck and find that some of the channels don't work. I check our mic lines with a tone oscillator and they are all good. I go up to the splitter and some of the XLRs are really badly corroded so I get out my can of DeoxIT and clean the connectors. I go back to the truck and they are working but just barely. We get through with the sound check and I head on out to the FOH and ask why the sound is thin and distorts easily and I get a lecture on "it must be your equipment everything here sounds GREAT" I am concerned about the splitter and take my trusty LCD VOM with me and I check out the ohms on their splitter and find that the splitter is just the input wired to the output on the XLRs and the multi-pin connectors. What we have is a three way "Y" splitter and nothing more. No transformers no active amplifiers. So all three boards are tied together through the splitter and the FOH is sending his phantom supply to all the consoles since he is powering the microphones. For the $200 we got a big "Y" splitter.

Before the show starts the record exec stops by with a bag full of sandwiches, munchies and pop and says he is sorry and that they will never hire this sound company again. The show is about 45 minutes from starting when I hear a knock at the door of the van and the FOH mixer is standing there saying that our gear is screwing with his equipment and that he may have to pull us off the splitter. I go find the record exec and tell him about the "problem" he goes and talks to the FOH engineer and comes back and says everything is AOK. I am back in the van and there is another knock at the door and I guy says he is from the band and will be doing the recording. News to me. This with about 30 minutes before the start of the show. He is followed into the van by his girlfriend who will be "assisting me". I call my boss and he says just do it and don't worry about it. So I show the visiting "engineer" where everything is and how things are marked. He says thanks and asks me if I could "please leave the van" and I say "sorry but no, it is our equipment and my boss is very strict about one of us being around when our equipment is being used. So I sit in the drivers seat of the van and the guest "engineer" and his girlfriend sit at the console only she is sitting on his lap. OK so this is going to be interesting. The show starts with a BANG and everything peaks. I look over at the "engineer" and he is frantically turning down all the trims that he previously turned up from where I set them. The set goes on and so does the relationship of the "engineer" and his assistant and they are getting more and more romantically engaged as the set goes on with lots of heavy kissing and fondling. No one is watching the board and the levels are all over the place. Intermission comes and the "engineer" and his assistant leave. The next set is about to begin and no "engineer" and no assistant. So I roll tape and let everything ride where it was and about 1/2 though the 2nd set the "engineer" and his assistant show up somewhat the worse for wear and somewhat inebriated. They finish up the rest of the show, I give the tapes to the record exec and we pack up and leave. About 75 miles south of Detroit we run into a white out snow storm and we are stranded in a truck stop for about 3 hours. We then wind out way back home and try and forget the gig even happened. UNTIL NOW!

YUCK!

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by Thomas W. Bethe

I give the tapes to the record exec and we pack up and leave.

That's the best part - never having to deal with it again. Make sure they don't mention your name on the CD or whatever this may be turned into...

[videoteque]

Thomas, what a nice evening you are describing!!!