Sound board clean
- Thread starterTechnicalDirector3-W
- Start date
In our sound booth at school there is a paper rack on the back wall. It's made out of plastic and has three tiered pockets that angle out from the wall. All of the sound gear manuals live there inside file folders. That way when I (or another tech) needs to find out about an obscure feature of the Mini-disc unit or CD burner or whether the direct outs on the board are pre or post fader the info is right there. It's great. Also we have a strict no food or drink in the booth rule that's enforced by my high school's TD.
sparky_vision
Member
Just for the heck of sharing an adorable horror story, I was recently the tech for a wedding held at my church. Being the only one there, I had to leave my beloved Soundcraft, and make a quick jog up to the video booth to start a video. By the time I returned, one of the guests, bless their hearts, had spilled almost an entire cup of punch across the last eight channels. The straberry-flavored liquid goodness was now running into the slider slots, dripping down the front of the power supplies, and soaking into my beautiful gaffe tape channel labels.
Food or drink in the sound area is most definitely a bad idea for anyone, the techs included. And if your board is out in the open where the Common People (tm) can get to it, large signs bearing warnings of dire consequenses for even thinking about bringing food near it are a good idea.
Food or drink in the sound area is most definitely a bad idea for anyone, the techs included. And if your board is out in the open where the Common People (tm) can get to it, large signs bearing warnings of dire consequenses for even thinking about bringing food near it are a good idea.
sparky_vision
Member
The rest of the wedding went fine...just needed one mic and the video feeds. But I stood vigilantly by the board while the guests were filing by it to get to the food...no sense taking more chances.
i keep people away from the board by using that yellow caution tape, only it says "reserved for audio crew". it also helps keep away those idiots who think they can mix better than you simply because they own a stereo or they're with the band. don't ya just love when someone complains about your mix, without even knowing the whole story? maybe there's a reason that singer's mic keeps feeding back...maybe it's because he keeps standing 2 inches from the monitor and complaining that he can't hear himself.
of course, i have had people leave bottles of water sitting right next to the monitor board....and right at spill height too. i had a band leave their opened bottle of water sitting on my amp rack. that didn't stay there long. they wouldn't want me to put a bottle of water on their amp would they? once at a private party i put signs on my speakers that said "this is not a table".......seemed to work really well actually. but the best thing you can do is get a nice plastic dust cover....keeps everything out. if the board is small enough you can use the lid from a rack to cover it up too...which gives you a nice hard surface should anything big fall on it. but i keep that cover on it, even when the board is on, all the way up until soundcheck usually. you never know when some musician might wander over there while you're in the bathroom, to check out your rig and accidentally spill their water all over the place.
is it just me, or do musicians (and actors) seem to cause most of our problems? hehe.
of course, i have had people leave bottles of water sitting right next to the monitor board....and right at spill height too. i had a band leave their opened bottle of water sitting on my amp rack. that didn't stay there long. they wouldn't want me to put a bottle of water on their amp would they? once at a private party i put signs on my speakers that said "this is not a table".......seemed to work really well actually. but the best thing you can do is get a nice plastic dust cover....keeps everything out. if the board is small enough you can use the lid from a rack to cover it up too...which gives you a nice hard surface should anything big fall on it. but i keep that cover on it, even when the board is on, all the way up until soundcheck usually. you never know when some musician might wander over there while you're in the bathroom, to check out your rig and accidentally spill their water all over the place.
is it just me, or do musicians (and actors) seem to cause most of our problems? hehe.
Radman
Well-Known Member
My uncle played trumpet in the recent Bette Midler tours and shared a couple stories with me, one of which had to do with a sound board:
On opening night of the tour when they were setting up, a truss or light or something fell on the main console and smashed a few channels to Behringer! Luckily it was one of the high end modular boards and they were able to steal extrra channels from the monitor board and just get by. Phew! Talk about a nightmare! Barely missed a crew member when it fell, too!
On opening night of the tour when they were setting up, a truss or light or something fell on the main console and smashed a few channels to Behringer! Luckily it was one of the high end modular boards and they were able to steal extrra channels from the monitor board and just get by. Phew! Talk about a nightmare! Barely missed a crew member when it fell, too!
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