R/E/P Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: 1 [2]  All   Go Down

Author Topic: How far should professional courtesy be extended?  (Read 6659 times)

Conner

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 75
Re: How far should professional courtesy be extended?
« Reply #15 on: August 09, 2004, 08:59:05 AM »

Thanks for sharing opinions and personal experiences,
it definitely sheds more light on the subject. Definitely a frustrating lesson to learn/deal with.

-Conner
Logged

Thomas Lester

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 677
Re: How far should professional courtesy be extended?
« Reply #16 on: August 09, 2004, 10:56:21 AM »

drumsound wrote on Thu, 05 August 2004 23:26

I really hate when a band has a friend who "runs sound" who comes in and tries to tell me how to mix a record, so I don't them how to mix live.



This drives me nuts, too.  And it happens way too often.  It didn't happen to me much when I was working NYC, because it was mostly major label work and most non-band guys didn't make it past the front desk.  However...  now that I've moved to a "minor" market, it happens all the time.   Even if the guy is an ace live guy...  that doesn't mean he know squat in the studio.  

There's a fundamental reason I don't mix live...  it TOTALLY screws up my listening (not hearing... my listening).  Live guys just think differently.  I've found the most live guys can't hack it in the studio and vice versa.  For those handful that do a great job in both...  you are awesome.  For us mear mortals, we have to choose one or the other!

-Tom

Fibes

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4306
Re: How far should professional courtesy be extended?
« Reply #17 on: August 09, 2004, 11:47:46 AM »

The jump from the studio back into a live context is easier, that said i started out in the live arena and some of the problem solving, gain structure issues and other things really helped the transition to the studio. Mixing live sound for bands that i've recorded/mixed is a freaking blast, it's less like a pop quiz and more like a well studied exam with all of the answers already filled in.

I don't do much live work anymore but it is pretty rewarding nonetheless. i'm just glad my guitar teching days are over, uh, wait, nary a guitar comes to my shop that we don't have to futz with.
Logged
Fibes
-------------------------------------------------
"You can like it, or not like it."
The Studio

  http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist ?id=155759887
http://cdbaby.com/cd/superhorse
http://cdbaby.com/cd/superhorse2

debuys

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 83
Re: How far should professional courtesy be extended?
« Reply #18 on: August 11, 2004, 01:08:58 AM »

IMO If the band, house, or band hasn't asked you to do anything with the PA, don't. It's not your place. Sometimes, especially in small venues, crappy sound on stage eliminates any chance of the guy running the PA makeing them sound good. Sometimes it is the guy's fault running the PA. In that case, unless he owns the club, he won't be there long.

I spent last week in Dallas doing a convention. The band was on somewhat crammed riser on the back of the stage. Being so close to my amp and playing a guitar with single coils I was getting a hum when playing dirty. Keep in mind this is a production with a budget probably close to $500,000. The main sound guy freaks out over the hum. I explain that that's normal being so close to my amp when playing with distortion. He say's he's never run into before. I calmly suggest he straps a gate on the channel. He says he doesn't have 3 "fucking" noise gates (3 splits; monitors, FOH, recording). I bet the situation would have been much simpler and solved more quickly had I just moved the amp under the riser and asked for it in my monitor. I should have solved my problem rather than asking him to do it for me.
Logged
Robert de Buys
Dreamcatchers
1818 28th Ave
Homewood, AL 25209

iluvatar

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 84
Re: How far should professional courtesy be extended?
« Reply #19 on: August 12, 2004, 01:41:28 AM »

debuys wrote on Wed, 11 August 2004 01:08

IMO If the band, house, or band hasn't asked you to do anything with the PA, don't. It's not your place. Sometimes, especially in small venues, crappy sound on stage eliminates any chance of the guy running the PA makeing them sound good.



Yeah, tonight (and tomorrow, too) I ran sound for a 50's-style jazz/blues quartet - chick singer, piano, bass, drums. Band was great, but played pretty quietly (though appropriate for the music). I think the chick is going deaf, though, because she needed her monitors blasted and wound up drowning out just about everything else in every other mic. The piano and drum overheads were the worst, but the kick drum mic even picked up more of her than it did the kick drum.

The end result was this really honky sort of boomy/echo-ey/phase-y vocal sound. And aside from some creative EQ'ing, there was nothing I could do about it.

-Dan.
Logged
Dan Costello
Minister of Public Enlightenment
Mercenary Audio

"Well, I've been to one world fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a set of earphones.."

tiggie

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 23
Re: How far should professional courtesy be extended?
« Reply #20 on: September 02, 2004, 06:45:09 AM »

Bored, reading threads, thought I'd bump this one...

I think it totally depends upon how it's done. I've done quite a bit of live sound, and I've had people approach me maybe a handful of times to make a suggestion... generally if you approach the soundperson and say "I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, but do you mind if I make a suggestion?" or you say something empathetic first to show that you know they have a difficult job (if you think that is the case) then they probably won't be offended, and if they are then that's kind of their problem. If they are beginners then it might hurt their pride a little but they'll appreciate it in the long run.

I know if you were in the studio recording a band and someone tried to tell you what to do it'd piss you off (I know it pisses me off) but if someone who clearly knows what they're talking about makes a suggestion in a very tactful way then surely you wouldn't automatically dismiss them...?
Logged

j.hall

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3787
Re: How far should professional courtesy be extended?
« Reply #21 on: September 02, 2004, 09:53:52 AM »

tiggie wrote on Thu, 02 September 2004 05:45


I know if you were in the studio recording a band and someone tried to tell you what to do it'd piss you off (I know it pisses me off) but if someone who clearly knows what they're talking about makes a suggestion in a very tactful way then surely you wouldn't automatically dismiss them...?



i only get pissed if the comments come from some one outside of the band or A&R/president of the label.

it's when the accounting department at the label makes me remix the entire record, "or we won't cut the check" that really pisses me off......................

oh

and live sound guys that show up to sessions thinking that an SM-57 and a butt load of EQ (to tape) is the best approach for a good recording....."Hey, tom petty used it on his vocals......"

"yeah, well jon brion uses them as door stops"
Logged

NelsonL

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1233
Re: How far should professional courtesy be extended?
« Reply #22 on: September 02, 2004, 02:31:01 PM »

I'm going to sit-in on some sessions in LA in a couple weeks.

The producer has made some records we've all heard-- anyway he's been around a long time.

I was interested to hear that his main rule about visitors in the studio is that they MUST be musicians.

Nobody else gets past reception.

Anyway, I'm not offering any criticism unless directly asked--
Logged
Pages: 1 [2]  All   Go Up
 

Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.23 seconds with 21 queries.