Another boring "SAC saves the day" story...
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Career choices and busting one's hump....
There are many career choices that end up being "labors of love," and I must admit that being an audio engineer is one of them.
Running sound last night (Wednesday) my day started @ roughly 11:AM Wednesday morning. Time to load my truck full of sound gear. But did my day really start at 11:AM? Truth be told, I had actually done a lot of "recon" work prior to show time. This consists of communicating with bands, musicians and venues regarding power issues, who is bringing what equipment (I try to split this duty with bands so I can charge less to save them money), making sure we're all on the same page with what I'm supplying, etc. Enough diligence helps negate many of the "gotchas" that can happen during any show.
The rewards of making a band sound good are pretty profound for me. Every show I learn new things and last night was no exception.
Lesson 1...
I learned that I do not like condenser microphones on drums. When dialing in a room, drum mic's (and instrument mic's in general) are almost not a consideration (read: Problem). So much so that I have created a vocal sub-group so that I can dial in the room based solely on vocal mic's. This allows the instrument mic's to remain free of E.Q. changes that may not be beneficial to their sound. A good example might be pulling out a nasty 1000Hz standing wave in the room that the snare drum or guitar might actually benefit from for "presence." If the instrument has no "presence," I have to compensate with annoying volume. What you end up with is an instrument that is too loud, yet can't be heard...<:^0 Show after show this has worked extremely well...until last night...
After doing an initial sound check (getting levels), I was having an unusually hard time ringing out the room. After muting all the vocal mic's I was still getting feedback. What the helll? Well this turned out to be from the drum mic's. I *never* get feedback from drum mic's. But sure enough...mute the toms and feedback would go away. Not only would they feedback, but they were *very* sensitive to head resonance. So they would feedback NOT based on room frequencies, but based on the drum's resonant frequency (How it was tuned). This plagued me all night long. I found myself having to mute one or more of the toms or the snare between songs. What a pain. Most engineers would probably just gain them down (and thereby under mix the drums), but Homey don't play that way. Not only are the condenser mic's feedback-prone, but they honestly don't sound that good. Lesson learned.
Lesson 2...
In Ear Monitors or "IEM's" are a godsend. They not only allow the artist to hear himself extremely well, but they improve overall sound by decreasing stage volume. They also never feedback...until last night... Last night's client likes IEM's AND monitor wedges, which was fine with me. What I learned from this experience is that this can be a lethal combination for feedback if the singer pulls his ear bud out and allows it to get too close to the microphone. The ear bud will actually generate feedback through the monitor wedge!! Who saw THAT coming!?!?!? So after thinking I had the system dialed in completely, I would get this rogue feedback that I couldn't find. It would pop up quickly and then go away just as quickly. Lesson learned.
Lesson 3...
I have been using a "Vocal Boost" option on my active speakers. I have found that this *usually* makes the active speakers sound a little more like the passive speakers I'm used to. But last night it was too bright. I kept wanting to change them to "flat," but then I would probably be presented with a whole litany of problems trying to make up for the drastic EQ change, so I just dealt with it. I will know next time to not automatically assume that this "Vocal Boost" option is a necessary one.
I've always prided myself on "zero feedback" shows. But last night was a real tough one. I hate to admit that I had "squeals abound" and was hunting down, isolating and squashing these squeals right up to the last set. Eventually I got 'em, but it wasn't nearly as easy as it usually is.
Making excuses doesn't fly with me....
I know that the audience doesn't know what I'm dealing with. They just know if the band sounds like **** or if they sound good. So I don't make excuses. With the worlds most powerful mix engine in my hands, I stepped up to the plate and utilized the myriad of E.Q. and gate options to combat feedback and drum resonance issues. I was even able to gate the individual drums in the drum monitor! I then utilized compression to gain back missing transients that these condenser mic's seemed to lack. Now THAT is power!
So there ya go. After owning and operating a sound company for over 7 years, I'm *still* learning stuff.
My rich rewards are the compliments I receive from audience and band members - even if I think the sound is marginal. I don't consider last night my best work, but you can bet that I will take what I have learned to every show from now on for the rest of my life. And that makes it all worth it.
I finally tucked myself into bed last night @ 4:AM. So yesterday was an 18 hour day for me. But the day's not done, as I still have a truck load of gear that needs to be off-loaded into my garage. So add another 2 hours to drive home, off-load, and head to mom's house for Thanxgiving. 20 hour days is how we roll. HA!
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DF
I needed a good laugh, and he never fails to deliver! People like this keep the job market safe for the rest of us.
Shall we play "count the insane remarks"?
I'll start: a "1K standing wave" .. uh yeah ... right. Maybe someone should find out what a standing wave actually is.