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[Tom Bourke]

I think you, the OP, already know how bad your situation is.  Up for sale venue, staff leaving, and pissed clients are REALLY BAD red flags.  I have had too much experience with owner/ management that acts as you describe.  It has never ended well.  These forums have too many posts about "bank locks venue, how do I get my gear back?"

Unfortunately your business is tied to their chaos.  You need to take a very long hard look at your exit strategy.  At the very least you need to make sure your ass is covered when the bank locks the doors and it takes a court order for you to get your stuff back.

[Spenser Hamilton]

Unfortunately, what might make this happen........ is a pissed-off client. You're not given the information you need. You deploy like normal. Client asks you for X, Y, whatever-- "Sorry, but that AV order wasn't placed." Client's mad, which is bad, but the repercussions to the venue owner might be enough of a shake up that he realises you know what the freak you're talking about. (Or he gets mad and fires you-- but then he might just see what true value you've been bringing to the table!)

Years ago I did work in a venue here in town, the owner was always trying to cut costs and maximize profits. This usually meant renting the cheapest gear possible, and trying to minimize labour costs, which led to the brilliant idea of having a tech present for soundcheck and then having a bartender mute and unmute the band between sets.

I played ball for a while, it meant I was home at a decent hour and it still paid enough to be worth getting off the couch. Until the day a monitor amp blew up around 11:30 at night, and I was out of town until the next morning.

Of course, the issue was my fault, I never worked with the venue or that band again. Which, in hindsight was actually a blessing, but it was a valuable lesson for me to not attach my name to work that isn't up to my standards.

[Adam Ellsworth]

Of course, the issue was my fault, I never worked with the venue or that band again. Which, in hindsight was actually a blessing, but it was a valuable lesson for me to not attach my name to work that isn't up to my standards.

I should clarify, I am satisfied if not proud of the quality of work we're doing... that's basically the problem. I'm insisting on delivering a good experience for the client but only by working backwards and over-providing. Too many overnight setups that could have been done a day early. Floorplans are not to scale so the setup crew spends too much time trying to re-arrange tables to fit. I never know if I'm able to set up in the back of the room or backstage until the client shows up. Things like that. We're making it work, it's just way too much unnecessary stress.

I think you, the OP, already know how bad your situation is.  Up for sale venue, staff leaving, and pissed clients are REALLY BAD red flags. (...)  At the very least you need to make sure your ass is covered when the bank locks the doors and it takes a court order for you to get your stuff back.

There's more going on than I should share or even know, and it's beyond the scope of this thread or even my involvement, but a year ago I felt more nervous and really studied those "bank locked the doors" threads. Everything inside has my property tag on it, and the bank knows who I am and what I do. It's still a risk but for "reasons" I'm not feeling like it's going to be closed one day like I was before.

While the venue is not well managed, I feel it's mostly behind the scenes. As far as I know clients are NOT pissed and definitely love the venue itself... it was built to serve a much-needed local niche and that need still exists. I just think there are too many opportunities and disasters being narrowly missed.

I wish I could study how other markets/venues operate... when it comes to the business side of things, I figure way too much stuff out on my own and not all sound guys make good business owners either...

[Ray Aberle]

And Adam, (as far as I can tell) the main reason the clients AREN'T getting pissed is because you ARE stepping up and -- to be blunt, covering for the owner. The best way for you to ensure that all of the AV needs are understood (and charged for appropriately!) would be for you to work directly with the clients. Still billing through the venue, but you meet with them and otherwise get their needs worked out in advance.

It sounds like the owner does not want to allow you that, and so (in my opinion) for the amount of work that you're performing to cover these oversights/lack of communication, you're being underpaid.

-Ray

[ProSoundWeb Community]