otek wrote on Fri, 21 May 2004 07:13 |
But what was I to do? They had agreed with the drummer, and with the producer of the other project. If I had actually gotten them to talk budget at a time when I still had a say-so, and they would have disagreed, the only way to enforce that would have been to actually take down all the mics and zero the console. That would probably have cost the drummer his gig, plus I would have come out looking like this large-type asshole, since I work with these people all the time. Plus, I would have caused a scene of sorts in front of my clients, which is bad juju daddy in my book.
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there are polite, yet firm, ways to zero a console and "clean up" after a gig, in front of your client and coworkers.
and then there is the "screw you" way to zero out the room.
personally, i would have found a good stopping place, requested that humpty have a conversation with me outside. i'd explain my concept of "free time"......which is something like this....
"if you choose to not pay, this session instantly becomes part of my free time. and as i love recording and helping out, my free time is invaluable. i could be home with my son and wife. i could be drinking beer, watching TV, hanging out with friends....basically, i could be doing whatever the hell i want to do. so, if you choose to not retain my services for a fee, then i'll be the one deciding how long i stay, if i stay at all, and how much i'm willing to do."
no need to be rude about any of it, it's simple economics. you want my services, you pay the fee. if you don't pay the fee, i'll just go about my day utilizing my free time as i see fit.
the flip side is, you have to know when it's time to "take one for the team"
if you feel compelled enough, you simply head back to the control room and start pulling patch cables. carry on conversations and such, be pleasant. if they don't stop you and offer to pay, move on to the console, then the mics and mic cables and stands.
i wouldn't worry about the drummer, he wants to get paid too and probably would pack his stuff up if they pulled his fee as well. or at least, he'd assess the situation on his own to see if it was worth doing a free gig, just as you need to.
to me, free gigs have to do one of two things
1. be extremely enjoyable, and/or
2. have a foreseeable increase in work after that gig. nothing promised or contractual, just a foreseeable gain.