@Keefy thread is excellant , so I thought I’d start one for those of us who spend their lives mixing bands to add some words of wisdom.
First thing to say the engineer is there to help you achieve a great gig. There are a lot of things to sort with the PA befor you arrive and get your gear on stage, so bare this in mind don’t just arrive and start setting your gear up without permission.
Once you’ve set up, get off stage to allow crew to set mics up etc, please don’t “just warm up a bit” until everything is ready.
If you need to borrow a lead or mains plug remember to give it back.
Dont ask for a vocal mic if you’re not going to use it!
That’ll do for a start
www.maltingsaudio.co.uk
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Also:
- if you have a mute switch on your acoustic guitar, remember to unmute it again when it's time to play. The amount of times people forget and I think something's not working.
- if you have a wireless pack that you switch off when it's not being used (see above)
- try to be understanding if there's a problem or a delay. If they are dealing with the problem let them work on it.
- don't whack the hell out of the kit while the engineer is setting up.
- try to be nice. It can be a bit of a thankless task doing the sound, and you can get blamed for anything that goes wrong. So try to be aware of how you interact with that person.
I wouldn't dare start a conflict with any sound guy. It's akin to yelling at a chef. Chef can spit on your food, sound guy can make you sound bad (if they really wanted to).
If it's a multiband bash then get your shit off the stage as quick as poss and then have a natter about how it went. We sometimes only get 15 mins for changeovers and every minute of that is needed.
Be realistic about IEM's ... yes I can feed your receiver from a passthrough off a wedge but we don't have time to set you up a perfectly balanced IEM mix ... especially since no ones' given me a realistic PFL level to begin with
Don't tell me "This is a Helix, you probably haven't seen one before, it goes straight into the PA" .... I know what it is, you haven't turned up with anything new in FOH technology.
No I don't want to trigger your BT's from your phone. That's your job, not FOH's or monitors responsibility.
We’re a bit behind the times here…