[Dixielandjazz] A sound-man sounds-off

[GWW174 at aol.com]

Sound techs are often the 'whipping boys' in the festival music  scene - 
often times rightly so.  But musicians should try and place themselves in the 
shoes of the sound tech and use a little common sense.  I have been responsible 
for the sound for the Sweet and Hot and LA CLassic for many years and have 
recently started to keep some notes of how musicians can pitch in and make our 
collective lives and their sound much better.  Will occassionally post a few ideas 
of 'stupid things' musicians sometimes do... 
 
 Open to some other contributions to this thread so feel free to send ideas 
to _gww174 at aol_ (mailto:gww174 at aol) .
 
Here's an example.which happened several times at this year's S&H.
 
After the first number in the set, a musician approaches the microphone and 
says "can we have a little more of this mike in the monitor system"  Certainly 
a reasonable request but that's all we hear from the musician.... not another 
word.... dead silence.  So the poor inexperienced sound tech is looking at a 
mass of a zillion knobs to turn and trying to figure out which one and how much 
to turn it up and pray that the musician is now happy or that the system does 
not go into feedback.
 
So, musicians, LISTEN UP ..Solving that particular request means we need to 
identify the specific microphone and how much to raise it in a particular 
monitor channel on the board without starting feed back.  ..  After making the 
request keep talking until you get enough volume in your monitor speaker.... if 
you are bashful, as an alternative scratch the microphone wind screen with your 
fingernails... or snap your fingers....tell s joke but PROVIDE some kind of 
input noise into the microphone while the sound tech trys to raise the level in 
your monitor speaker.  DO NOT BLOW INTO ANY MICROPHONE EVER NEVER...EVER 
NEVER...
 
And PLEASE follow through with your request.... give the sound person a 
little 'feedback/response' that the adjustment is either good or bad... you need 
more or less of such and such in your monitors, etc etc etc..but DON'T MAKE A 
REQUEST followed by silence - hoping the sound person can solve the problem.
 
Gordon of Northridge



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