Drunken live sound engineer!!!!!

[jimcroisdale]

Hi all,

I'm in a fairly decent pub rock band - AD/DC, Lizzy, all that type of stuff. Have a wee look at our myspace, you get the idea.

Yesterday we had a gig at a large pub. It's never the busiest gig, but the walls are all blacked out like a proper rock club so It looks the part for taking video and pics without having paintings and brass light fittings in the background, like you get in most pubs in the UK!

The problem is that the landlord is basically an alcoholic. The band thing is also his baby and he insists that all the bands use his PA. It is not as good as our own and we are at his mercy.

So last night we turned up and his wife is like "Oh, he's been on the beer all day and he's in bed - I'll go and wake him up."

Alarm bells ringing yet?

So the guy comes down and he's a fvcking shed, eyes like pissholes in the snow, as they say.

We souncheck, and it is painful. Twenty minutes of feedback while he tries to remember what to do. Then the usual "guitar amp down please", followed by none in the monitors so I can't hear what I'm doing. Vocal reverb like a bad karaoke, booming toms, the works.

So we start playing (he's on the cider by now) and he's fiddling about with the sound all the way through the set. Monitors are up and down (mostly off, though) and it gets on all of our nerves.

Second set he wants to get his mate up to sing. We reluctantly agree. Runnin' With The Devil has never sounded quite like *that*.....

We finish. Thank God.

Do we want more gigs next year? Ooh! Yes please!

Why do we do it?

[Lute]

LOL

I don't know, why do you do it there? Surely there's a better boozer(as in, venue)/landlord?

Cheers
Phil

[jimcroisdale]

Decent payers, plus an early finish on a Sunday SHOULD make it an ideal gig.......

He's never been as bad as he was last night. Perhaps his alcoholism is on a slippery slope.

Gotta feel for the guy as his business is going to suffer if he can't keep it in check.

[jimcroisdale]

Speaking of better gigs - are there any good paying rock cover venues in Manchester?

We've got a demo now so we're looking for better gigs for next year. Any thoughts Lute?

Jim

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by jimcroisdale

Speaking of better gigs - are there any good paying rock cover venues in Manchester?

We've got a demo now so we're looking for better gigs for next year. Any thoughts Lute?

Jim

The usual chain pubs circuit always used to be quite good...The Walkabout, that sort of thing. 2 45 minute sets, no soundcheck but competent live engineer.

[Lute]

Originally Posted by jimcroisdale

Speaking of better gigs - are there any good paying rock cover venues in Manchester?

We've got a demo now so we're looking for better gigs for next year. Any thoughts Lute?

Jim

Manchester venues for cover bands? I'll say, try: Night and Day, great venue for the cold months, sweltering in the summer. Tight bastards really do need to buy some air con
Night & Day Café, Oldham St, Manchester

Best one will be the Academy, 3 rooms so you're bound to get in one of em. Hawkwind are playing there this week
Welcome To Manchester Academy

Good luck
Phil

[bulley]

I don't think night n' day or academy 3 do covers bands, unless they're touring "tribute" band type things.
Walkabout's a good shout, try the Witchwood in Ashton as well.

bulley

[Glenn Kuras]

So the guy comes down and he's a fvcking shed, eyes like pissholes in the snow, as they say.

lol... Never heard that one before.

[patchmonkey]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

lol... Never heard that one before.

Michael Caine in the 1971 classic, Get Carter:

YouTube - Get Carter (1971) - Forgot what your eyes looked like ..

[jimcroisdale]

I never knew that!

[Diskordia]

landlord=bar owner=sound engineer

baaaad combination

[Lute]

Originally Posted by bulley

I don't think night n' day or academy 3 do covers bands, unless they're touring "tribute" band type things.
Walkabout's a good shout, try the Witchwood in Ashton as well.

bulley

Good point Bulley, I thought it'd be original stuff too..........
Witchwood? Not been there for ages. Love the place

[jimcroisdale]

Thought I'd bring this post back from the dead.

Another gig. This time at a newly refurbed rock bar/club, everything looking really good. The sound guy says "Why don't you use my rig?" The singer looks at me for answers....

"If it's ok with you, we'll just use our own."

Well, the sound guy didn't like this at all. The singer ended up placating him and me. "The PA speakers are just like ours, after all."

"Ok", I say, "But don't complain to me when it's crap."

So we start setting up the backline and the sound engineer comes over and says

"Will you need monitors?" as if this is a rare and awkward request.

Alarm bells ringing.....

"Err... yes please."

So he goes to fetch them. I see him put something on the stage out of my eye corner, and It looks like two kiddies sandwich boxes. 10" speaker in each max, one powered, one slave. About 20watts probably.

Cue next 25mins of howling feedback while he tries to get any level out of the damn things. I'd be feeling smug if only I wasn't going to have to play..... I think I would have needed to wear them as headphones for them to be of any use.

Eventually I told him to forget it. One of the speaker stacks was kinda facing across the room so I asked him to just rotate the top cab inward a bit, so it aimed across the front of the stage. He looked quite surprised at that - like he might even do it again.

Problem solved. Great gig. Decent monitoring gave even my crap BV's half a chance!

Do I have to do everything myself? I hate feeling like a know-all in these situations, but I'm yet to be proved wrong.

Whatever next......

[dft3670]

I got a good one.
Working as a photographer on a very high end corporate gig. Fortune 10 compnay. Large tented venue. VIP guest list. Senator, celeb, types and the CEO of the compnay. During the pre-event meeting, all staff contractors, etc. are told no alcohol consumption. FOH engineer is set up near a bar. Starts hammering beers down and lining them up along the top the console. Eventually abandons mix point all together during a set and hangs out at the bar. End of night he's pissing on the side of a tree at the main exit as people are leaving. His boss recieved a massive ass ripping the next day. Never saw the engineer on another gig. Go figure.

[jimcroisdale]

I must admit, when you play in bars so much of the time, it does get hard to separate drinking from playing. It's like they go hand in hand.

I'm trying to stop that from leaking into other areas, such as when I do live sound or recording.

Not easy though.





I like a beer........

[musikwerks]

I used to mix a lot of pub gigs when I was younger. We'd get paid cash at the end of the night but were also allowed a certain amount of free alcohol. I don't drink much so I used to get 4 cans of Guiness every night I worked and then take them to a tech I knew whose wife wouldn't allow him to buy his beloved Guiness. He'd then fix any gear I had that needed it or would hire me out his own gear for whatever job I was working on at the time. What he gave me in time/gear far outweighed the value of the Guiness but he loved it. Good times.

[Hxd Ped]

I don't think I've ever had a SOBER live sound guy.

For one show, the sound guy told us to get on stage. We plugged in and told him we were ready. Then he pipes up in he monitors, "Hang on, I gottat do something," and turns off the house speakers. After ten minutes of waiting and having the crowd asking why we arent playing, I go look for him. I find him in the alley smoking a bowl with his friends. I go back on stage and anounce to the crowd why they are waiting.

He came back in like it was no big deal. We asked to never have him again.

[Sqye]

.

i couldn't tell if this thread title was an advertisment, a want-ad.
...or a band name...



one thing's for sure - if i had to do live sound engineering,

...i'd be fukking drunk ALL THE TIME, too.....[fukk THAT shit!...].........

.

[Birdi]

Originally Posted by Sqye

.


one thing's for sure - if i had to do live sound engineering,

...i'd be fukking drunk ALL THE TIME, too.....[fukk THAT shit!...].........

.

i wish i was drunk. sigh. just got in from mixing at possibly worst crapshow festival ever. now im going to relax by watching national geographic air disaster episodes, that will cheer me up


B

[Corran]

I subbed at a local bar a couple times, learned the system. The resident sound engineer was always getting drunk. One time I was recording off the board a friend's band, and the sound guy is passed out drunk. The sound was awful and I couldn't figure out what was going on (as it turned out later a couple of the mics weren't even plugged in, what the hell?). Ruined my gig and I had people in the (larger than normal too!) crowd all night telling me they couldn't hear this or that and I was like, sorry, not my fault!

Glad to see this isn't a local thing.

Or not so glad, I guess.

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by Birdi

i wish i was drunk. sigh. just got in from mixing at possibly worst crapshow festival ever. now im going to relax by watching national geographic air disaster episodes, that will cheer me up


B

.

lol

.

[AllAboutTone]

Originally Posted by jimcroisdale

I must admit, when you play in bars so much of the time, it does get hard to separate drinking from playing. It's like they go hand in hand.

lol, not everyone my friend, I might drink in a session, maybe one, I might have a drink at night watching TV but I never drink before, during or after a gig. I will take that back, I do drink a pitcher of ice water during every gig.

[George Necola]

that is why bands rent me.. I dont drink before/while mixing, I dont smoke weed and no other abuse of drugs..

I can't mix that well.. but that doesnt matter

[valthesoundman]

I'm mainly a live sound engineer, and I do shws from 50 to 5000 people.
I think it's all a question of balance.

I can have ONE glass of wine at dinner, and drive home responsabely afterwards, but I know my limit and have a concept of reason.
I can do a 5 hour soundcheck when doing several bands on a gig, and I really enjoy ONE beer before dinner and before the show.

I have to admit that on some of the larger shows, when pressure and stress is an issue, I do enjoy a mouthfull of J'D' before the show. It just takes the edge of the nervousness, and has less influence on my work the stress might.
but it all comes down to being reasonable. I wouldn't do any rigging of heavy equipment or electrical work under the influence of the slightest drop of alcohol. BIG NO NO!!!

Just a question of keeping things within reason, but unfortunately, some people don't have the same mesure of "reasonable"...