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Author Topic: A1 etiquette  (Read 9449 times)

Robert Lofgren

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2018, 02:28:00 PM »

One place that I work for (public place for hire) have two options for those renting the place.

Use of the pre-installed A/V are only to be operated by the designated techs provided by the town council, for a nominal fee. There are normally no exceptions to this.

The other option is for the renter to bring his own gear at their own expense and then use their own people to run it.
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Kyle Rasmussen

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2018, 02:41:20 PM »

Powers that be are your management. You don’t own the gear or the museum. Get over it.

Being condescending is not necessary, thanks.

Short of owning the gear personally, every piece of equipment is spec'd out, budgeted for, purchased, installed, and operated by me, the coordinator of my department.  My ego is not at stake here.  My only concerns are liability, and to an extent, quality control.  It is my job to make sure the client has a flawless event.  When you have eight panelists on a hard wood stage within two feet of each other with wireless headsets, it pays to have a mix engineer who's familiar with the space.  It pays to know if the XLR patch points are at mic or line level.  Etc.  We've had many events where the sound was quite sub-par, and that can reflect badly on the museum.  Standing by while someone else botches the job in front of me isn't exactly in my job description.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2018, 02:46:28 PM by Kyle Rasmussen »
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Kyle Rasmussen

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2018, 02:42:43 PM »

One place that I work for (public place for hire) have two options for those renting the place.

Use of the pre-installed A/V are only to be operated by the designated techs provided by the town council, for a nominal fee. There are normally no exceptions to this.

The other option is for the renter to bring his own gear at their own expense and then use their own people to run it.

Thank you.  Good to know I'm not completely alone on this.  That makes perfect sense to me.
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Laurence Nefzger

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #13 on: March 06, 2018, 03:37:50 PM »

Thank you.  Good to know I'm not completely alone on this.  That makes perfect sense to me.
Without knowing the particulars of the events presented I have several comments based on my own history.
One of the worst experiences I ever had as BE was a situation where the house system was to be touched by house personnel only. The touring group I was working with had a fairly production heavy set with lot's of mix and FX changes as part of the presentation. I had to shout into the house engineers ear every coming change. The artistic outcome was severely compromised!

I also work as a house engineer for a theater. I welcome BEs and end up profiting from the experience as I am exposed to techniques that might not occur to me if left on my own. In that role I am still in charge as it is communicated and understood that any operation that is detrimental to the systems will not be tolerated. But other than preventing harm to the system I do not feel it is my role change the esthetic of the presentation - if the artist/presenter is happy with a bad mix then far be it from me to suggest otherwise.
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Kyle Rasmussen

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #14 on: March 06, 2018, 04:28:39 PM »

Without knowing the particulars of the events presented I have several comments based on my own history.
One of the worst experiences I ever had as BE was a situation where the house system was to be touched by house personnel only. The touring group I was working with had a fairly production heavy set with lot's of mix and FX changes as part of the presentation. I had to shout into the house engineers ear every coming change. The artistic outcome was severely compromised!

I also work as a house engineer for a theater. I welcome BEs and end up profiting from the experience as I am exposed to techniques that might not occur to me if left on my own. In that role I am still in charge as it is communicated and understood that any operation that is detrimental to the systems will not be tolerated. But other than preventing harm to the system I do not feel it is my role change the esthetic of the presentation - if the artist/presenter is happy with a bad mix then far be it from me to suggest otherwise.

That does sound like a nightmare.  The event in question is a fairly straight-forward panel discussion with several power point slide shows, nothing nearly as complicated as a touring group with FX, etc.  Having done sound for live concerts in the past, I agree that's a completely different scenario entirely.  I've had no problem stepping aside for touring acts at venues I've worked at... this is just a different situation altogether haha... thank you for the input!
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Rob Spence

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #15 on: March 06, 2018, 04:35:55 PM »

That does sound like a nightmare.  The event in question is a fairly straight-forward panel discussion with several power point slide shows, nothing nearly as complicated as a touring group with FX, etc.  Having done sound for live concerts in the past, I agree that's a completely different scenario entirely.  I've had no problem stepping aside for touring acts at venues I've worked at... this is just a different situation altogether haha... thank you for the input!

Sorry about picking on you.

What is the AV company bringing in?
Why do you suppose they think they need to be in charge?

The gig as you describe it doesn’t seem to need much beyond your house system.

Think from their point of view. Have you worked with them before? Has there been points of contention?

If you can understand the motivation, then you have something to work with.


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Jay Barracato

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #16 on: March 06, 2018, 05:13:25 PM »

That does sound like a nightmare.  The event in question is a fairly straight-forward panel discussion with several power point slide shows, nothing nearly as complicated as a touring group with FX, etc.  Having done sound for live concerts in the past, I agree that's a completely different scenario entirely.  I've had no problem stepping aside for touring acts at venues I've worked at... this is just a different situation altogether haha... thank you for the input!
My background is more music oriented, but I have been through a large number of theaters, PACs and other venues as a traveling tech, as well as recently holding down a pretty simple house gig.

I would have never listed mixing as high on an A1's list of duties. As a matter of fact, I would say the more the A1 has their act together, the less it matters who is mixing. And that includes other people working on my system, other people working on systems I am responsible for, and me mixing on other people's systems.

When I was traveling, I even often said about venues that unwillingness to work with a visiting tech was a sign of their lack of professionalism.

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Jay Barracato

David Morison

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #17 on: March 06, 2018, 06:06:23 PM »

My job is to oversee, maintain, and serve as A1 for *all* presentations, meetings, events, etc.  However we occasionally have clients that need more video capabilities than our theater is equipped with, and will need to hire an outside AV company to assist.

I'm in a situation where the outside company wants to bring in another A1 and use me as A2, even though they will be using entirely museum-provided equipment.  Since this is essentially "my house", I don't really feel comfortable letting an outside A1 be in charge of the equipment that I buy, install and maintain, or mix on a console that I've patched and saved scenes for the daily needs of the theater, in a room that he or she has never mixed in before.  I typically adhere to a "only museum staff can operate museum-owned AV equipment" policy... does that sound unreasonable to any of you?

I would say it depends who has hired who more than anything else.

If the outside company is being brought in by the museum's client, then I would treat them like a band engineer, to use another parallel. That is; assume they know more about the detail of how the presentations/discussions are going to work, and let them do their thing as long as it doesn't threaten your system (the other respondents' comments about saving settings & appropriate limiting apply here).
Your role would be more along the lines of system tech/house engineer in that case.

If the outside company are being brought in by you, then it's up to you to set the scope of what you're hiring them to do - whether it's just "deliver and set up an extra XYZ gizmo" because you need that one bit of kit, or whatever.
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Lee Douglas

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #18 on: March 06, 2018, 11:52:50 PM »

I'm thinking all this should be/should have been ironed out before the contract was signed.  If you are going expressly prohibit anyone but house technicians from operating house equipment, don't bring in events that require third party operation of house equipment.  Put it in your tech specs.  Don't leave it up for interpretation.  Make it an initialed line item, that way at least you've made it known and somebody acknowledged it.
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Joseph D. Macry

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Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #19 on: March 07, 2018, 09:51:13 AM »

Where I have heard of similar is in television broadcast.
If a band brings their own engineer for a television appearance (say, a late nite variety show), the broadcaster's engineer will mix while the BE is allowed to hover with advice like, "The horns come in right after this guitar solo..."
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Joseph Macry,
Austin, TX

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: A1 etiquette
« Reply #19 on: March 07, 2018, 09:51:13 AM »


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