Worst live mixing experience?

[bishopthomas]

Originally Posted by chris319

You have something against guys with 13 1/2" peckers??? Hmmm???

No, just green ones...

[Dudevico]

Digging this thread up again. I had fun the last time

So, this is what I am mixing 2night. Don't know if it will be the worst ever experience, but certainly the wierdest... Will keep you posted!

Take a Pic Video by Svenska Flickan - Myspace Video

[jlaco]

My worst live mixing experience so far

My high school...Got a pretty nice new renovated auditorium, but the school didn't put any money into the sound system. not a cent. Allen and Heath GL2000 20 input board, One peavey power amp, no processing what so ever. NO eq, comps or anything. I got called in to mix an award ceremony. Thank god it was pretty simple, one podium mic. The school lost the actual podium mic we have, so I used a beta58. I just finished checking the podium mic, and then i realized that the school's band and choir were performing. The school's mic list were as follows: One beta58, 4 sh***y AT wireless handhelds, One shure lav. . That was the best sounding part of the night. The handheld wirelesses cut in and out all the time no matter what battery level is in them. I gave 3 wireless mics to the choir soloists, hoping to get some sort of level for the soloists. The choir director then proceeded to say he wants the choir miced. Now i'm calling my house to see if my mom can drop of my sm58 to mic a choir. And did I mention we don't have any stands or clips? I borrowed a choir boom stand from the music teacher to hang a sm58 from...No clips in sight, just hanging a sm58 by the xlr cord off a boom stand 12 feet in the air. Overall, i got a reasonable sounding mix, but it was torture. It took me about 3 months of hard convincing the school to buy some reasonable mics.

[cl-audio]

more of a tour story, here it goes.(sorry, pretty long)
In the mid 90"s I was doing FOH for a pretty big, very young R&B group. I mixed all their albums and with a decent prior FOH experience, I was asked to join the tour circus. Fairly big production at the time. Six piece band, back-ground singers, 3 main guys (kids) and an ADAT (oh horror) with a bunch of extra stuff on it. We did everything between 5k and 12k seaters. Had an XL3 with all inputs used and a nice big Turbosound rig to get over the 10,000 screaming 14 year old girls.
Anyway, we arrive in Nashville on a Sunday morning, nice venue. Starting to set up, everybody's hungry and no sight of catering. After a few hours, we send people out to trying to find some grub, no luck. At sometime in the afternoon, right around the time we where debating which one of the stage hands would taste the best, dressing room food shows up for the artist. I'm very close with the artist and I know that besides the snicker bars and the water they don't touch any of the food. So I put myself in charge to make sandwiches for the crew. While in the middle of doing so, one of the artist parents that flew in that day walks into the dressing room and starts flipping out. She's accusing me of stealing her son's food. I try to calmly (at first) explain to her that we have not been eating since the night before and I'm sure that her son would be absolutely ok with me making some sandwiches. Long story short, she calls the management of the group and I get fired on the spot.
So now it's about 20min to showtime and I'm sitting in the Nashville airport about to fly home when the manager comes running frantically looking for me. He tells me that the artist refused to go on stage unless I be hired back. So after a few apologies and a slight raise, I'm back behind the board. The only time I got fired over a few ham sandwiches...

Claudio

[shaddai]

Ever had a speaker leave the stage, take a leak & flush a thunder bucket when their wireless was still turned on? I have...

the whole church knew about it.

todd

[jude]

wasnt at a church, but at a conference with about 800ppl in the audience.... ohhh was i in the sh*t with the boss... pun intended

[jetam]

My worst experience was when a death metal band that recorded some of their songs at my studio asked me if I could do FOH for their gig.
When we arrived at the venue, the first shock was a Behringer board.
No outboard. Luckily I had a pair of compressors with me, but that was not even nearly enough for this gig.
There were five bands performing that night. First band was quite well known, so PA guy asked me if I could do a mix for them too. I had nothing to do, so I agreed.
The problem began when this guy suddenly disappeared.
Second band came on the stage. They cranked their amps that loud that I haven't been able to follow them with the PA for drums and vocals. There were lots of drunk people, so I couldn't leave mixer alone.
I ended up doing all of those 5 superloud bands.
It took me few days to hear well again.
No more metal bands from than.

[Lazerface]

So far, the worst I've had is a presenter requesting a lav mic, using it as such for his first 5 minutes, then proceed to take it off and hold it an inch from his mouth for the next hour. Needless to say, the windscreen did little to help, and I'm pretty certain he killed my low drivers on the first plosive!

[Insain]

Had a shitty rec tonight.
The mix/amp hybrid screwed up halfway, and stopped sending out to my Delta 1010. F***ed up the last two songs. I knew I should've brought my own mixer and amp.

[GordZilla]

Great thread... and great stories! Keep 'em coming

I am sure most of y'all have heard of the legendary "suck button" that grizzled ol' FOH guys threaten to use on a$$hole bands when they try and pull some $hit... well here is a hillariously funny version of it.. I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair... I want my own suck button

[combfilter]

I've been hired for an all-day event with 10 bands playing 45 minutes each, tight schedule due to venue restrictions and no time for real soundcheck.
I'm definitely going to need a suck button!

PS: been havin' a great time re-reading this thread, please keep the stories coming!

[63hz]

I mixed 56 bands in one weekend
3 days 30 minute sets 5 minute change overs
outside in a giant tent, it rained one day i got sunburnt the next
i ate on the desk, some bands sucked some were alright

Ive had far worse gigs
included have to move a 40 deck stage (80kg per stage deck + steel legs)
half way on a hill 5 meters back
then move PA
we arrived at 8am left at 5am the next morning this was outside next to a beach

3phase dimmer rack had a whole tent dumb its rain water on it another gig

a bar gig, cover band, summer coastal region, tourist fight the locals, whole pub (300+) starts brawling, tables getting thrown, a security guard comes in with a fire extinguisher and blasts everyone

the list goes on they stick out at the moment

oh the first leg of the tour 900kms from the factory, i found my amps weren't packed into the truck

supplied pa for a b&s party 500kms from the factory, the place went wild smashed the stage let off fire extinguishers everywhere. our accom was given away and we had to sleep on packers in the back of the truck. someone syhpened our diesel while asleep. there was no petrol stations open the next day. we got about 20k out of town until the truck died, we walked for 2 hours before we found a farm to borrow some deisel from, we had to bleed the truck first, the other quit the next day

[badhatharry]

Originally Posted by shaddai

Ever had a speaker leave the stage, take a leak & flush a thunder bucket when their wireless was still turned on? I have...

the whole church knew about it.

todd

No, but I have had an actor give me her transmitter for her lav and say that it was broken. I asked her how she knew it was broken. She said, "I just dropped it in the toilet." I let go of it and let it fall to the floor. Then I walked away.

[Jim Williams]

November 1980, Boston Garden, Stevie Wonder.

Do you know what it's like to run for your life? I do.

The night before some racist goons attacked the crew in the Mariott bar for giving some white chicks free passes. Mick Parrish was sent to the hospital. I was "promoted" to Stage Manager.

Stevie does the show. At the end he launched into a pissed off rant against the people of Boston, calling them racists and intolerent. Of course, he was right and the folks didn't take kindly to it. The crowd rioted. They tore up all the seats on the floor. Cops lined the stage to keep them off of us.

After they cleared the hall they let us back in to load out. The place was trashed. The main restrooms were smashed to pieces. Very large porcellane sinks and urinals were smashed to bits like after a Terminator movie.

I've always been careful ever since when I'm in Boston.

[edwinhurwitz]

Yep, Boston is my hometown. I drove a cab there between gigs for 4 years, off and on, in the late 80s and there were some parts of town that just seemed unreasonably intolerant. One of my gigs was working on Eyes On The Prize in audio post, organizing the archival footage. Working on the footage covering the busing incidents of the early 70s gave me a pretty deep eduction on some memories that were faded and incomplete.

OTOH, it's gotten much better since those days.

[Snap]

Some years ago in northern Spain I was mixing for a powerful rock band in a festival. After the first songs of the set a guy stood in front of me at the other side of the console pointing me with a gun. I was stuck and paralized. He wanted me to turn the volume down until he was satisfied with it. Then he just turned around and calmly walked away. That hard rock band never sounded so weak like that day. It was almost the sound coming from the stage with no PA... Thankfully it was quiet enough for him... and I'm still alive.

For some time the band and me made jokes about becoming a whisper rock band since that day... But I didn't laughed at all that day.

[Snap]

Another one. This one is funny though a hard time for me. Some years ago I had a show with a band in big park in Tarragona (north east Spain) during the city fest. I was doing another band the day before in a different city. I had to take a bus to Barcelona and then another one to Tarragona. So after the show we had some party all night long. I thought, "It doesn't matter, I'll sleep in the bus". I'm the kind of guy who rarely sleeps in cars, planes, busses, etc... When touring with bands I use to travel in the front seat by the driver because I'm the one who never sleeps and can give him some conversation, I'm the one dealing with the GPS, changing CDs and all that.

As soon as I boarded the bus I fell sleep and didn't went back to life until we reached Barcelona. I jumped off the bus totally sleepy. My brain was still in standby mode. I had a 20 minutes gap so I went directly to buy a ticket then walked around the platform trying to weak up until the boarding time. Got the bus and fell sleep again. I woke up like an hour later and after a few minutes I was looking through the window I saw a signal by the road... Girona 31.... Girona!!!!! Damnit! I'm going in the opposite direction! Checked the ticket. Bingo! For some reason I've got a ticket to Girona instead Tarragona. These two cities are 150 Km away. It's the soundcheck time and I'm stuck 150 Km away!

I called the band and explained the situation. After some big laughs from them and plenty of jokes. I tried to find a way to go to Tarragona. No busses at all that late. Then I went to the railway station. No trains that would drive me nearby that place by the show time. A taxi cab! Yes. I convinced the driver to take me there. He wanted the money in advance, so went to a bank, got the money and asked him to drive fast. It was a secondary road so no way to speeding.

When we reached the big park I run like crazy amongst the crowd looking for the show area. When I reached the FOH it took me like ten minutes convincing the security guy to allow me to jump into the control. I was looking like a homeless and sweating like after a basketball match. It was about show time. I finally went into the restricted area right when the band was hitting the stage. The first thing the singer said through the mic was "Hey, Paco. Are you there?" I waved my arms vigorously and all the band started to laugh and started the show. I had a frantic first song reseting all the channels but the show went great. The FOH and lighting guys laughed at me all along the show. Then, after the show all the bands in the backstage made plenty of jokes too. They all nicknamed me "Paco of Girona" for some time.

Of course I did the show "for free". What the band was paying me for a show was exactly what the happy cab driver charged me for the ride.

[tsunchoo]

i just read the entire thread..

great stories and it's given me a new perspective on the job of the soundguy - i'll be more empathetic in future..

[PaulTGarrett]

Last month (Sept '11) I was called up by a local club who's FOH had horribly died. I do a lot of freelancing and had been hitting up both the club and the band that was playing to use me for a gig or two... Was seriously happy to finally get that call!!

So I hook up my trailer and head over to the u-rent-it storage facility where I keep all my gear. The first bad sign was when I punched my code into the gate and it said "Contact Manager"... I'm in a hurry and don't have time to deal with that shit... So I punch in the code for another unit I rent and the gate opened. Yay!! I pull up to my unit with the sound gear and there is a big honkin' disk-type padlock on the door. W T F??!!! I tried calling the office, no answer. I tried calling a manager's number that I had filched a couple of years ago... No answer... And no, I didn't have a bolt cutter.

So here I was, having to call the club and band back and tell them I couldn't do the gig after all. It was very late in the afternoon and they were understandably pissed. I seriously doubt I'll ever hear from them again.

Monday I went and had a very loud discussion with the office manager and the area manager. Turns out they locked out the wrong fscking unit. "Sorry" was the best they could give me. I told them that lost income was worth two months rent and I wanted them to give me the rent off. They said forget it and things got louder. Ended up with a lot of name calling and me leaving before the cops got there.

Of course I've since moved into another facility. However, since I was paid through the end of October I left them a couple of choice pieces of roadkill in one of the units as a parting gift... Guess that's going to make cutting my lock off and cleaning the unit pretty interesting for them!

[peterk426]

Originally Posted by XXXEsq

In the mid 80s, I was asked to mix a band of friends in a club. Did the sound check, all was great. Show time gets close and the club's sound guy who was around during the check is nowhere to be seen. Curtain opens, band starts playing.... nothing. I'm pushing faders, turning knobs, total panic. I've got sound coming from the stage out of the monitors, but no mains. Club's guy arrives about 45 seconds into the first song... Shitface drunk. Slurrs word to the effect of "oh yeah, we have a bypass, sorry I forgot to tell you" and without looking at the board, he reaches behind a rack and flips a switch. PA comes to life at full volume... Blows everyone out and pops amps and speakers. Gig over....
Feel better?

LOL I did a high pitch weird ehe to that lol

[peterk426]

I started working at this place and I was assisting that night to another engineer..He forgot to put phantom power on the bass DI and did it w/o muting the digital board first...Bass player gets electrocuted lol...Turns around and says 4 times "I jus got electrocuted...thanks...thanks" LOL

[jude]

Originally Posted by peterk426

I started working at this place and I was assisting that night to another engineer..He forgot to put phantom power on the bass DI and did it w/o muting the digital board first...Bass player gets electrocuted lol...Turns around and says 4 times "I jus got electrocuted...thanks...thanks" LOL

from turning on phantom.... never heard that one

[Corran]

That reminds me:

I was doing a live gig once and some idiot keyboard player had patched in another module with a cheap (and ancient) 2-prong extension cord and had chopped off his ground from the power plug. I grabbed the keyboard sub-mixer without realizing what he had done and somehow or another the voltage was grounding to that mixer's case. So of course I got a full dose of 120 AC. Not a happy camper, I shut down the whole system and rejiggered the power setup and refused to add that module or any others he had brought but neglected to warn me about before (several that is, stupid keyboard players wanting 5 modules, sheesh).

[RobAnderson]

I was doing sound for a small summer concert series in a park some years ago. The whole summer had been great - beautiful weather, great surroundings, nice gigs. Uncovered stage in the middle of a field in a park overlooking the Hudson River - beautiful. Never a hum problem. Lots of interesting music and ensembles - good gig all around.

So the very last weekend of the series, we roll in and start to set up (sound and basic lighting) as we had done all summer long. A massive thunder storm hits out of the blue, drenches us, the field, and any gear we couldn't get covered in time (as the clouds rolled in we managed to cover the rack, console and main speakers). We had not yet powered up, so at least we had that going for us. The storm set us back quite a bit with loss of setup time.

The monsoon passes, showtime is upon us and we power up everything. We are getting a really bad ground hum from the lighting dimmers. So I open up the distro panel, and shift audio power to a quad box I find in there marked "sound" Hum goes away - great!

Finish powering up and away we go. Only problem is, every time I touch the rack or the mixer, I am getting painfully creamed with a lot of voltage (felt like more than 120 to me, but can't be sure - did I mention I was standing in wet grass? - woo hoo!) . Every time one of the singers touches his mic stand, he's getting zapped. He's glaring at me viciously, but doesn't stop the show.

I guess someone had neglected to properly ground (or maybe they cut the ground) for the "sound" quad box...

About 30 minutes into the set, the skies open up again. Show over - we break down in the pouring rain. As we finish loading the van, the rain stops. The loaded cargo van gets hopelessly stuck in the mud. I am drenched, water is literally pouring out of my shoes and the van has dug itself deep into the mud and will not move for anything.

Something else happened that night which I'll refrain from sharing for personal reasons, but needless to say it was not a good day.

[AvenueKRecording]

bump?

I love this thread, but unfortunately I don't have any cool stories to share.

[johnsound]

Mine involved Buckingham Palace, Stephen Fry and Scotland Yard. Can't really say any more...

[Rolo 46]

I have a Buck Pal one that was fun
We were filming the Duke Of Edinborough and his Award Scheme in the Palace with
4000 attendees.
The cameraman and I were recceing the room which contained two thrones
We were sitting in the Thrones and I was feeling down the back of the seat for lost jewels and Tiarras etc when The Duke and his equerry arrived...
This was glossed over,we agreed that my assistant would go into a side room to fit the Dukes radio mic, and when it was fitted that would be the cue for him to enter and the cameras to roll.
The time came ,the room was full, including our 4 award winners all on radios.
I could hear nothing from the Dukes radio and time was running out for the start.
I walked into the room to check the situation
My assistant was on his knees in front of the Duke who had his trousers down around his ankles
My asst had his hands in the Dukes underpants..
The equerry was looking aghast.
We had agreed to mount the mic in his tie
His tie was pinned to his underpants to stop it riding up
My assistant had to manouever this minefield, Philip can be a tyrant, he was actually quite calm and had a bemused look on his face.
My Knighthood has been lost in the post.

[Jarp2600]

To kick this thread up again...

I was doing monitors for a Dutch band "Peter Pan Speedrock" a few years ago. They always travel with their mascotte, Fat Dennis, who is absolutely the grossest, filthiest and most annoying man I have ever met on stage. It's sort of the band's "gimmick" to bring him every show. I have never seen anyone using so much alcohol, weed and enough cocaine to supply a middle-sized ghetto in such a short time, and I've seen a lot of underground bars and venues from their dark sides. This Fat Dennis usually "sings" a few songs with the band, shows his wheener and throws cans of beer through the audience, and the fans seem to love it...

Now you have a little bit of an impression about this Fat Dennis.
To get back at the story, the band's TM already told me to be a little bit prepared for some nasty things, but I really didn't know what to expect.

The band starts to play a few songs, and Dennis has a little bit of an overdose, and starts puking and shitting through the entire dressing room and backstage area. Then he enters the stage bare naked, throwing a sixpack of beer at my head, breaking one of the cans on the desk. Luckily, all channels were still working but hey, that's not my favorite way of getting introduced to someone. The show continues. I have never seen a SM58 (and a guitar stand and a bar chair) completely disappear into someone's digestive system. I don't know how, but apparently it seems to be possible.

Lots of this kind of stuff happened throughout the show, I will save you the details. Finally it ended up in Dennis chasing me around the monitor desk, trying to slap me with his genitals.

My dear lord... I should raise my pay rates...

[toneguru]

One word... "Benefits"

An all star benefit concert... 14 hours of non stop husslin. Just me runnin FOH/Mons and traffic cop too.

Or maybe its a gig I did back in 1994 in West LA where the bass player was shooting heroine on stage... did not end well.

[mixkitchen]

When I was young and foolish I (tried to) mix a gig consisting of about 12 guitar based bands in a University theatre. From the outset there was huge howling feedback from any guitar or bass that turned up the volume on their instrument. We couldn't figure it out! We damped the Amps and Mics with piano covers, moved the FOH desk, all sorts of things with no effect. Eventually we had to go with the show so it was a nightmarish mishmash of muting channels and riding faders just to get through the thing.
The problem?
Hearing induction loop in the venue.
Beware!!