Brat Vocalists purposely creating feedback....

[rcal]

I hate this! happens all the time, I usually tell them that they've broken something and that they owe someone some money, or just cut their mic. my view is that if they can't be professional, why should I?

 

[Anonymous067]

my view is that if they can't be professional, why should I?

Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

 

[NickJones]

I like the foldback idea, I might try that someday...
Say to them "If my gear gets damaged, then you will not be using it" revenge is not a good idea. Although I do like the idea of a stinky mic...
Nick

 

[cprted]

I hate this! happens all the time, I usually tell them that they've broken something and that they owe someone some money, or just cut their mic. my view is that if they can't be professional, why should I?

Because your reputation should matter to you. Fighting immaturity with more immaturity won't get you anywhere.

Best post in this thread so far:

First of all, you are dealing with teenagers who know that they didnt purchase the equipment, therefore they could care less if it breaks. So, telling them how much the gear costs will do you no good. Once you have told them that feedback is taxing on a sound system, you have done all that you need to do as far as warnings are concerned. When they do it again you simply remove their wedges, and they will be forced to perform old-school. No use getting upset over the feedback...just do what you need to do to protect the gear. Purposefull feedback is abuse.

I had a gig with a band whose lead singer would get so angry on stage that throwing the microphone on the floor was commonplace. They were my mics. I fixed the problem in the next tune by replacing my now-dented Beta 58 with an nasty old Realistic switch mic whose grill smelled like 10 week old tuna. You CANNOT teach respect, but you can control the damage.

By the way, EVERY sound company should carry an old tuna-smelling microphone in their arsenal for just these occassions.

Sean Loughry
Freelance Audio Engineer

 

[CenterSpot]

Answer A, knee jerk response;
According to a Humphrey Bogart line in an old movie; "I never met a broad that didn't understand a slap in the face".

Answer B; Tech Related.
When I setup a system, I "tweaked" all onstage vocal mics used around monitors so that I could actually point the mic at any nearby monitor at a VERY near proximity at maximum gain and not cause any feedback using Yamaha Q2030 (?) 3rd octave equalizers on each vocal mic input channel. Being Stereo EQ's, I could put two mic channels through each one in a mono system, which nearly all were.

Of course, I didn't have to pay for these out of MY pocket.

In nearly all cases, I was using SM58's, Beta-58's (I love this mic) and JBL Floor monitors, Yamaha boards, amps and EQ's and dbx delays.

circa 198+ to 1994.