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[Randy Pence]

I'd think it would be a disaster in waiting to have the money channel mic be supplied by the artist for such gigs. Whose fault will it be to the promoter if it malfunctions?

[Chris Hindle]

I'd think it would be a disaster in waiting to have the money channel mic be supplied by the artist for such gigs. Whose fault will it be to the promoter if it malfunctions?

The Sound Guy (Gal), of course.
Chris.

[Tim McCulloch]

The Sound Guy (Gal), of course.
Chris.

Of course.  We get blamed for everything.  We were blamed for the low voltage at a venue - peak of summer air conditioning load across our entire electrical grid region.  Seems the guitar techs for the headline act were having trouble getting the 130V  they wanted from their vintage Variacs.  They complained up the food chain to the promoter.  "Sure you can't do something about that?"  Sorry about the 108V, guys, but we're not in charge of the PoCo's big squirrel cages.  The voltage matches the heat index, if that makes you feel any better. 

Another instance being assigned the blame - not our gig, but a respectable and friendly local competitor.  l'Acoustic rig in a theater, plays a whole bunch of shows a year... all kinds of stuff.  Generally it's friendly to mix on, sounds like you'd expect it to, and seldom do BEs take issue with the rig (mix position sucks but that can't be fixed the PA company).  A few months back the *rig* was scorned in social media after a less than stellar night by a touring act/BE.  Oddly, those that decried the system and cast aspersions on its deployment missed that it was the same rig, in the same place, same drive, same amps... that many of them had raved about previously.  Incredible.

So yeah, if MC Squared's mic dies it's our fault.  Hell, blame *me* the next performer's mic that dies in Berlin, Randy!  I can take it.  I've been scapegoated for bigger things!      My ScapeGoat. Super Powers include stopping traffic on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers (at the same time!) and somehow being involved in a massive pyro display failure in St Louis while I was 400 miles west of there (on the same day, while having nothing to do with pyro displays!).  So some crappy mic on a shitty cable, failing half way around the world?  Yeah, I can take it. 

/satire

If we're gonna get blamed for it anyway, let him kill his mic first.  We'll have our wired spare ready. Like we always do.

edit ps - those SGSP incidents?  Yep, somehow my name came up in every one of them in spite of having nothing to do with any of them.  Don't mess with me, I have super powers!  /evil laugh

[Riley Casey]

If you have access to an ultrasonic cleaner it does a fantastic job AND you get to shake your head at whats left in the bottom after cleaning a dozen or so.

...
Just pull the mesh off, remove the foam (to wash and dry separately) and load up a draw in the dishwasher.
...

[Helge A Bentsen]

Rap doesn't have to be a bad performance experience but you will need to get in touch with your inner MC.  By that I mean.... in order to ring out wedges and side fills you'll need to emulate the technique and physical interactions of speaker, mic, and performer.  Cup the mic.  Shout Dr. Suess (Dr Dre aint' got shit on Horton the Elephant), rap John Denver's "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" (it's harder than you'd think).  Point the mic down into a wedge.  Do what they do, but at this point you can control the potential chaos.  Make it as loud as you can in the monitors without feedback.  Back down on the sends about 6dB as your starting point with the talent.

+1 to this.

Also, use a proper side fill. Around here someone has gotten the idea that a DSR112 or similar on a stick is a side fill. It's not. Not even close. A pair of KF750/850/C4/M3/Flash or similar on a suitable numbers of dual 18" is a side fill. It has headroom enough to give you an easy night with enough low end and SPL if the performers are deaf.

[Mike Karseboom]

+1 to this.

Also, use a proper side fill. Around here someone has gotten the idea that a DSR112 or similar on a stick is a side fill. It's not. Not even close. A pair of KF750/850/C4/M3/Flash or similar on a suitable numbers of dual 18" is a side fill. It has headroom enough to give you an easy night with enough low end and SPL if the performers are deaf.

While the size of the show won't warrant that much side fill, the topic of side fill has come up a couple of times in this rapper thread.  I am assuming you mean a side wash type monitor  fill for the stage itself. 


Is there something specific about the rap type show (with 5 piece band as well) that suggests side fills be important?  Normally I only use those for bluegrass type shows and then the monitors at up at head height.


This stage is in a old 400 capacity theater and is about 28 feet wide by 18 feet back to the curtains.  The crowd size will likely be 100-200 people.


I would normally use a setup something like shown in the attachment with 3 or 4 monitors across the front, drum fill, etc.  The 4x center clustered subs normally leak back onto the stage and provide plenty of low end for  the performers.  Is there a reason side washes would be needed?

[Helge A Bentsen]

While the size of the show won't warrant that much side fill, the topic of side fill has come up a couple of times in this rapper thread.  I am assuming you mean a side wash type monitor  fill for the stage itself. 


Is there something specific about the rap type show (with 5 piece band as well) that suggests side fills be important?  Normally I only use those for bluegrass type shows and then the monitors at up at head height.



This stage is in a old 400 capacity theater and is about 28 feet wide by 18 feet back to the curtains.  The crowd size will likely be 100-200 people.


I would normally use a setup something like shown in the attachment with 3 or 4 monitors across the front, drum fill, etc.  The 4x center clustered subs normally leak back onto the stage and provide plenty of low end for  the performers.  Is there a reason side washes would be needed?

Side fills are excellent for covering moving performers and multiple performers.
And with side fill I mean a PA in it's own right. Big, bad and beautiful.

You're not going to regret bringing it when the artist bring 15+ people up on stage who do an excellent job of standing around blocking the floor monitors. It will happen at some point in 90% of these shows.

[Spenser Hamilton]

+1 to this.

Also, use a proper side fill. Around here someone has gotten the idea that a DSR112 or similar on a stick is a side fill. It's not. Not even close. A pair of KF750/850/C4/M3/Flash or similar on a suitable numbers of dual 18" is a side fill. It has headroom enough to give you an easy night with enough low end and SPL if the performers are deaf.

+1 The more DJ you can give them in the side fills, the less you have to put in the wedges, cleaning those up to get the vocals at the obscenely loud volumes they will ask for.

[Len Zenith Jr]

Speaking of monitors, did a hiphop show last Friday night. Here in Canada we are having a bit of a cold snap, -30C to -40C in some places. Our headliners flight from Toronto got cancelled, then another regional performer couldn't make it either, all this we find out around 6pm. Last minute we get 2 regional performers jump in their car and drive 3 hours braving the cold to save the show. Needless to say their was no time for a performer sound check, just had to wing it. I thought the stage sound was good, nice and loud with even coverage.

Show starts and one of the performers starts motioning to me more and more monitor. Once the board was pegged at +10 dB I run up to the stage to see if monitors are working, everything looks fine. Being powered monitors I increase the gain on the onboard amp until the monitor is pretty much pegged. Luckily no feedback , performer is still struggling to hear. At the same time the promoter rushes over to me and says we lost all HF energy in the room. I grab a chair and put my head in front of the PA, sounds fine to me up close. I run back to the board thinking that this gig is starting to "snowball" out of control on me, then I look up and see...

Toques! I mean everywhere! Performers- wearing toques with hoodies drawn tight over top of the toques. Promoter - same thing. The audience - all wearing big heavy Canadian style toques! Even the servers had toques on. I run back to the stage and motion to one of the performers to lift up the toque over his ears and he jumps back 5 feet and points at the monitor to take it back down. I put the monitor back down, run back to the board and put all the levels back where they were. Tell the promoter to lift up his toque and ear to ear smiles with the spectral balance in the room.

Just one more gotcha doing rap shows during a Canadian winter.

[RaySoly]

or:

I tell them up front I provide only well "eaten" SM58.

Ray

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