What's to chat about?

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Seth
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1246 Post by Seth »

Bruce Weldy wrote: Wed Oct 18, 2023 5:00 pm ...a jaded old curmudgeon.....no Seth, it's not me (but, the description does fit)...
20 years from now, you'll tell this same story and start if off with, "back when I was young".
Build in process - 2 WH6, one Alpha 6a loaded, one PRV Audio 6MB250-NDY loaded

Two 2x6 shorty SLA Pro's
One T39, 16", 3012LF loaded
Tall AutoTuba, 20" wide, 2x 8" MCM 55-2421
TruckTuba, 8½" wide, 2x 8" MCM 55-2421

Bruce Weldy
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1247 Post by Bruce Weldy »

Tom Smit wrote: Wed Oct 18, 2023 9:33 pm Ohhhhh, that would not be a situation that I would want to be in. Actually, not for any of the role players in the scenario you presented. What I mean is that I would not want to be the one that: is fired
: is doing the firing
: is the replacement
: is sorting out the mess
Hopefully, everything will go smoothly.
Fortunately, I have no dog in this hunt.....Don't know any of the people involved other than the guy that asked me to help sort it out. Honestly, this sound guy needs to go. He's been there for several years and there are bands that refuse to work with him and will bring in someone else to mix. He likes to set it and forget - doesn't actually mix. Always complains to anyone who will listen about everything. And the latest is - he's bugging the bands to share their tips. The stories go on and on.

I think he is just burned out. Been doing this a long time. He used to be at a big venue in San Antonio that brought in a lot of pretty big acts. But, now he's working his way down the ladder and is pretty bitter about it.

I don't want to see anyone get fired, but if you aren't doing your job - then it's adios.

For me, it's really about mentoring the young folks to get them started the right way in running live sound. Went by and checked out the system yesterday to prep for the meeting this morning with everyone involved. I hope these kids have at least some knowledge or it's gonna' be a tough weekend for the venue as I'm booked every night and can't come look over their shoulder.

6 - T39 3012LF
4 - OT12 2512
1 - T24
1 - SLA Pro
2 - XF210


"A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't."

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AntonZ
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1248 Post by AntonZ »

So, I have been playing bass guitar for a big part of my life. Never professionally, I was always happy to just recoup some of the money that I spent on it. Confession: I like gear and own more very nice instruments than my abilities would justify. All the gear, no idea. That's me
:fruit:

Anyway, for most of that time I have been playing actively, been in bands. Like most bass players, I never looked for a band. The bands found me. Mostly cover bands, also some jazz 25 years ago. For several years now, life just got in the way of things. A family, job, parents and some other family members getting older and needing more than just visits. I went back to school in order to make a career change happen. The last bit coincided with health issues with a few band members that I was playing with at the time. My scarce time and the health issues made the band go on the back burner. While we never formally ended it, it has been many many years now. We will not play together anymore. Then I contracted covid early on (+3 years ago now) and had a long recovery. That process got me back into sports which has helped both my physical and mental recovery. And took a big chunk of my spare time.

Fast forward to last weekend. I got invited to a birthday party. A friend and her husband are both amateur musicians. They play jazz. For her birthday she wanted to have a jam session party. I dusted off both a fretted and a fretless bass. Take that literally: they had been collecting dust for many years and I needed to vacuum clean the case and bag before opening. I asked to send me some song suggestions that they like to play. I did not get around to any practicing other than half an hour on the night before. Which was more about vacuuming the cases, checking batteries in the instruments (active electronics, they require a 9V battery), tuning them and see if my fingers would still move around the fret board at all. I felt rusty, very rusty.

On sunday, after sports and a shower, I drove to the party, walked into the house with my instruments and an amp, still feeling somewhat out of place. I felt hesitant and thinking I should just have come to listen, not bring any gear. People were already playing in the living room. I met the hosts, chatted to a few people then sat down to listen and enjoy. An hour or so later the lady of the house had been playing again for a while when she invited me to join. It has been a loooooong while since I felt so nervous about being "exposed" as a "wanna be musician". I hesitated between fretted and fretless. I find fretless works so much better in jazz. Both in how it plays as well as how it sounds. But then again fretted removes the risk of being consistently off tune, especially if you are not used to it. Or if it has been a long long time. Long story short, I got out the fretless (such a lovely piece, it does not belong in my clumsy hands), played and had a great time. I had warned the other musicians up front about how rusty I felt. After we played they all came up to me one by one saying how much they had enjoyed playing with me, and that it had sounded all but rusty to them. Way to go, I need to start playing again!
:hyper:

T_Gowan
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1249 Post by T_Gowan »

Never stop if you can help it. Right ON
DR200 x2
T24 16" x2
T39 20" x2
DCX2496
DEQ2496 x2
FBQ2496
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Bruce Weldy
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1250 Post by Bruce Weldy »

Two things you can play pretty much all of your life is music and golf. My back has taken me away from golf, but I can always play music sitting down.

Keep on playing!

6 - T39 3012LF
4 - OT12 2512
1 - T24
1 - SLA Pro
2 - XF210


"A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't."

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Seth
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1251 Post by Seth »

Great story Anton. I enjoyed the read. Good to hear about the sporting, which I assume means you've gotten past the long COVID headache. I love a jam session party and I'm happy to hear it went well for you. :thumbsup:
Build in process - 2 WH6, one Alpha 6a loaded, one PRV Audio 6MB250-NDY loaded

Two 2x6 shorty SLA Pro's
One T39, 16", 3012LF loaded
Tall AutoTuba, 20" wide, 2x 8" MCM 55-2421
TruckTuba, 8½" wide, 2x 8" MCM 55-2421

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AntonZ
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1252 Post by AntonZ »

Thanks Seth. The sports helped a lot, for me. Physically I am in way better shape then I have been for years. And I have lost some weight. Not that I ever was really overweight, just lost a couple of kg's. Mentally the sports helped me, too, but there is still some remaining long covid effects there. Covid is a bitch.

But let's focus on the party. The jam session was great and I had a great time. The husband's birthday is in summer. We'll have another jam session party by then :hyper:

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Tom Smit
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1253 Post by Tom Smit »

That sounds like a lot of fun, Anton! And, I understand the nervousness of being "exposed". I hope that you will get back to noodling around on the bass to get reacquainted with the bass even more.
TomS

Bruce Weldy
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1254 Post by Bruce Weldy »

Another saga in the life of a soundman......

Just got a phone call from a neighbor who plays in a touring act. On some Fridays, when he doesn't have a show or it's close by, he plays an acoustic duet at a local venue. This venue has had me come in and fix the various issues that have come up. Started with their big stage in December, then they wanted me to get the little stage up and running. Got that going a couple of weeks ago and told my friend that they could use the little stage system and not have to bring in their Bose Sticks.

So, last week he asked if I'd come and get 'em running since it was their first time on the repaired system. We got it all running and sounding pretty good for the lunchtime acoustic crowd......all was good....

Back to my phone call this morning......he said they couldn't get anything out of the system. He had a mic plugged in and nothing - no monitors, no mains. He facetimed me and showed me the gear. Everything was turned on and the controls all looked like they should be making noise, so I told him I'd jump in the truck and run down there.

I was about three blocks away from my house when the light bulb went off......I called him back. "Are you using the mic that needs phantom power?" There was a moment of silence, then "uhhhhh....lemme check." The mixer is a little Berry line mixer with no phantom.

He came back on and said, "You can turn around."

Thank goodness.....'cause parking around there is horrible.

6 - T39 3012LF
4 - OT12 2512
1 - T24
1 - SLA Pro
2 - XF210


"A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't."

Bruce Weldy
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Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:37 am
Location: New Braunfels, TX

Re: What's to chat about?

#1255 Post by Bruce Weldy »

The Saga continues......

I'd just finished posting the above, when I get a Facebook Message from the owner of the same venue. He can't get anything out of the big stage system where they play music. They have an X32 at FOH and the amp rack is down in the basement. It is all on a Furman sequencing power unit.

So, I told him to make sure that the power didn't get out of sequence and the amp rack was powered up. He came back and said it was. That was all of typing in messenger that I wanted to do, so I called him.

Told him that they had set up the music input through the Aux Ins, then routed to a DCA, then to the main mix fader. Had him bring up the Aux In to make sure it wasn't muted.....then we were going to check the DCAs.

His reply was, "You got it on the first try..."

If I hadn't moved so fast on the first problem and thought about it, I might not had had to leave my house at all......

Oh well, I'm glad it was easy fixes.

6 - T39 3012LF
4 - OT12 2512
1 - T24
1 - SLA Pro
2 - XF210


"A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't."

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Seth
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Re: What's to chat about?

#1256 Post by Seth »

I had a similar situation with a sax mic. Early in my sound man learning curve, day of event, sound check, my mind was a million different places already. I set the system up, fumbled through EQing the system with RTA, got everyone dialed in, and it was all way more stressful than it played out in my mind. The sax was a cameo and only played one song. Almost chose to not sound check him. Glad I did, because I may not have had the little bit of mind it took to figure it out once the stress of showtime was added to the pile of responsibilities. He got on stage, plugged in, and... nothing. I had him try another input. Still nothing. Okay, so it's a microphone issue. I asked if his mic needed phantom power. "What's phantom power?"

It's interesting how well they work with a little power :)
Build in process - 2 WH6, one Alpha 6a loaded, one PRV Audio 6MB250-NDY loaded

Two 2x6 shorty SLA Pro's
One T39, 16", 3012LF loaded
Tall AutoTuba, 20" wide, 2x 8" MCM 55-2421
TruckTuba, 8½" wide, 2x 8" MCM 55-2421

Bruce Weldy
Posts: 8422
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:37 am
Location: New Braunfels, TX

Re: What's to chat about?

#1257 Post by Bruce Weldy »

Seth wrote: Fri Feb 02, 2024 1:32 pm I had a similar situation with a sax mic. Early in my sound man learning curve, day of event, sound check, my mind was a million different places already. I set the system up, fumbled through EQing the system with RTA, got everyone dialed in, and it was all way more stressful than it played out in my mind. The sax was a cameo and only played one song. Almost chose to not sound check him. Glad I did, because I may not have had the little bit of mind it took to figure it out once the stress of showtime was added to the pile of responsibilities. He got on stage, plugged in, and... nothing. I had him try another input. Still nothing. Okay, so it's a microphone issue. I asked if his mic needed phantom power. "What's phantom power?"

It's interesting how well they work with a little power :)
Yep.....and don't forget the bass players who can't get a signal and they are playing an active bass. "Is the battery good?" ... "What, this thing has a battery?"

That actually happened to me. He'd had the bass for a couple of years and had no idea it was active. Of course, at that point is wasn't active - at all....

6 - T39 3012LF
4 - OT12 2512
1 - T24
1 - SLA Pro
2 - XF210


"A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't."

T_Gowan
Posts: 166
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 7:10 pm
Location: Allenford, Ontario, Canada

Re: What's to chat about?

#1258 Post by T_Gowan »

I always write the date on the batteries in all my basses and check them on a regular basis.
DR200 x2
T24 16" x2
T39 20" x2
DCX2496
DEQ2496 x2
FBQ2496
Mackie DL1608

Bruce Weldy
Posts: 8422
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:37 am
Location: New Braunfels, TX

Re: What's to chat about?

#1259 Post by Bruce Weldy »

T_Gowan wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 8:22 am I always write the date on the batteries in all my basses and check them on a regular basis.
That makes you a professional.

And I bet you show up to the gig with more than one guitar cable, right?


The only thing worse than the guitar player who shows up with only one cable and says, "Well, it was working fine last week.", is the one who says, "Yeah, is was doing that last week, too..."

6 - T39 3012LF
4 - OT12 2512
1 - T24
1 - SLA Pro
2 - XF210


"A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't."

T_Gowan
Posts: 166
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 7:10 pm
Location: Allenford, Ontario, Canada

Re: What's to chat about?

#1260 Post by T_Gowan »

Guitar cables, mic cables, speaker cables, enough to go around the block, Stuff may never leave the van but its at the gig.
DR200 x2
T24 16" x2
T39 20" x2
DCX2496
DEQ2496 x2
FBQ2496
Mackie DL1608

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