Stuff that will happen...

Inaki2

Active Member
...and you gotta live with them.
I thought of this topic cuz a lot of kids in a show the other day started asking me how I cope with certain stuff.
So basically:

Actors will give you trouble, very few don't

Mics, cables, windscreens, and such, will break, you just gotta try to a) minimze how much and b) try to make sure it won't happen during a show.

Most times, equipment is mandated by budget, not needs.

Directors ussually don't know about sound but still think they do!

Yes, people will ALWAYS ask you if you know what all those buttons do!!!

What I mean with this short list (feel free and encouraged to expand, I just got home from work, my mind doesn't work very well right now) is an idea of how the sound industry (and most industries) work.
Basically all of you guys have to remember that real life is real life. Budget is the key element in most shows, the world is capitalist remember? People WILL comment on your sound, ignore who you need to and pay attention to who you must (that includes the diector regretfully). Stuff WILL break, there is no perfect assembly in anything, mics will be beaten up, dropped etc. You just have to minimise the efects of this in the performance of a show. And yes, you are a "frontstage" (get it...you're not back-stage....well I told you my mind didn't work to well) so people WLL ask you what all those buttons do. Children may re-eq a channel strip.
 
I would also add---CD players and playback WILL fail or "skip" or just not cue....have a back-up or asI saw the other nite on a show (I wasn't running sound--a "stage-mom" was) if you hit the PLAY button on the CD player or those buttons that skip it forward--it WILL do just that...skip forward. All you can do is re-cue and go from there...

Cue disks and show disks on lights WILL get corrupted--have a backup.

Key thing to when stuff happens is how you deal with it...if you freak out--it will not get any better. Be calm, be professional--fix what you can when you can and if you cannot until later (cause you would have to stop the show or leave your post) don't freak out over it--because Stuff just happens...perfection is a fine line where the chaos factor is MUCH bigger.. As long as things are SAFE its not a major emergency to get all hyper over. If you can do something perfectly on cue--you are ahead of the curve...be proud! If you can't--weclome to the world of imperfection and variables..and know that you WILL do things perfectly with practice.

wolf
 
...computers will not cue up the right sound at the right time

...the dimmer pack will go into chase mode randomly and the only way to get it out of chase is to smack it as hard as you can (litterly, no joke, you need to smack it as hard as you can to get it out of chase mode...)
 
Ha, yeah I didn't go into lights! :D

Lets se....
Movers will show any glitch during a show. Never fails.
Consoles will quit 5 minutes before the opening number. It has happened to me. Anyone care to hand operate 144 cues ina single scene? I did
Oh yeah, th edimmer packs will have some unexpected problem 5 min before the show.
And the one that never fails due to its inherent nature: Actors wil never, ever stand in the light.
 
Inaki2 said:
And the one that never fails due to its inherent nature: Actors wil never, ever stand in the light.
Or will stare right at the lights and wine that the lights are in there eyes, of corse they are, your looking right at them. I set them up so that they won't be in your eyes during the show, so stop winning!!!

sorry, getting a little mad at the actors, all better now
:D
 
Some classics:

Bad actors / vocalists WILL tap the mic and say 'Is this thing on?' to an SM58.

Young children WILL speak into ANY mic as CLOSE as possible when they are bored.

(kinda the same) Young children WILL tap the floormics repeatedly!
 
New one:

Crappy floor crew will hit the hanging mics when moving set around...ouch!! :evil:
 
I do sound and lights for low-budget rock concerts, not theater.

Musicians will ALWAYS sing and play louder (and set their amps louder) during the actual performance than they did during sound checks.

Lead singers will move back a few feet from the mic when they whisper and kiss it when they scream.

First time in a new venue - the promoter has assured you there are six 20-amp circuits on stage. Well, there are six outlets, all on the same 15-amp breaker.

The least-talented musicians will be the pickiest about the sound. Conversely, the best musicians will trust you to do your job.

I don't do bar shows - there's always some drunk who thinks he knows more about sound or lighting than I do.

John
 
Our the first six receivers of our 14 shure wireless system are configured to be used with handheld or beltpack. But you can not use both at the same time. Well every year during our fast paced Variety show either a performer or our backstage sound crew will sometimes "forget" to turn off one or the other. Which causes our professional sound engineer (Dave Leavit of Accutrackrecordings.com) to pull his hair out.
 
DMXtools said:
I do sound and lights for low-budget rock concerts, not theater.

Musicians will ALWAYS sing and play louder (and set their amps louder) during the actual performance than they did during sound checks.

Lead singers will move back a few feet from the mic when they whisper and kiss it when they scream.

First time in a new venue - the promoter has assured you there are six 20-amp circuits on stage. Well, there are six outlets, all on the same 15-amp breaker.

The least-talented musicians will be the pickiest about the sound. Conversely, the best musicians will trust you to do your job.

I don't do bar shows - there's always some drunk who thinks he knows more about sound or lighting than I do.

John
8)

Your dead on track I have had every one these things happen to me what fond crappy memories Now Im a do sound and lights at a church in Baton Rouge if they screw up on stage Ill kill the sound & lights while holding up my arms saying I din't do it musta blew somthing... see at church they don't throw things at ya...
 
actors love to sit on floor mics. they love to turn off thier wireless bodypack and neglect to turn it back on when they go on stage (despite warnings not to touch the damn thing). batteries are expensive, and actors don't understand. actors never friggin project enough. give me a few more days of rehearsal, and i'll be sure to post some more
 
paulman592 said:
actors love to sit on floor mics. they love to turn off thier wireless bodypack and neglect to turn it back on when they go on stage (despite warnings not to touch the damn thing). batteries are expensive, and actors don't understand. actors never friggin project enough. give me a few more days of rehearsal, and i'll be sure to post some more

It is up to the act directly to reinforce that they are not to be shutting the mics off and that they need to project. If need be put a crew kid backstage on a wireless walkie-talkie so the sound engineer can tell him to turn belt pack 7 on, or etc. Over the years we basically had to create a backstage sound crew to monitor the equipment because of such problems. It has always amazed me how fast parents will complain when they cannot hear their child sing during a solo, and the total look of denial and condemnation to you when you tell them the student muted their own microphone by playing with the switches.
 
The one time you go up to the loading rail to throw weight and dont take out your keys or change it will rain down on thoose below. (This year it was gumballs)

The director waits till doors to tell you about the other 5 actors that need mics.

The paint is still drying at intermission.
 
Dunno bout u guys but at any concert i do, there is this one bloody band that always play, and there lead singer always shouts in his stupid stoner voice.. eh man this mic aint on and taps and taps it, the reason it isnt on is that when he walks on instead of turning the mic on he turns it off. To solve this I wraped it in gaffa, but when he came on stage he shouted i cant turn it on its got tape round it and began to peel it of??!! :twisted:
 
OH my goodness, my sympathies. I had to deal with that about 3 weeks ago. Everything had to be perfect for this guy, and he kept blowing into the mic to check it. Then 3 time or MORE he yelled hey turn on the mic, when it was the physical microphone that was off.

Yea, not too bright, but a good band.

Pocado
 
Oh, singers and mics is a whole new story on itself. I've gone thru so many weird situations (and no, I still haven't worked with Marilyn Manson). I once nearly loose a stage box because a singer threw his wired mic into the audience, and thank god a stage tech realized this before we ran out of cable and dragged the stage box as well!!!! :?
I've had broken mics, battered mics..mics stuck into unusual places..and by far the funniest was a singer that realized the Shure wireless was made of metal and was heavy, so he started bashing his drummer with it!!! That was just the funniest, most out of this world, f*cked up thing I've seen people do with a mic. :D
 

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