ah, business theatre

[pounce]

if you haven't run sound for this you have no idea how funky it can be to run sound on these supposedly simple shows.

today, the funny thing (that ALWAYS happens) is the guy decides he wants a wireless mic for his presentation. at least we have some decent uhf shure systems and countryman mics to use. but sure as shit the guy who "NEEDS" the wireless for his presentation then proceeds to just stand behind the podium for the entire presentation. right behind the nice wired mic. hhm. and sure enough, the belp pack was muted and he walked onstage with it muted. he didn't know it because at the very begginning i still had the wired mic on. anyway, now i'll be running around changing more batteries and such for speakers who are just going to be behind the podium anyway. funny. and we started this morning with the stage manager running out onstage and turning his damn mic on. i guess the stage manager hasn't figured out that i'm getting tired of him sending people out on deck with their shit turned off. makes us all look like amateurs and i don't appreciate it.

i am not mad about this, i finally am coming to expect this everytime. i think it's pretty silly. it's why i am not in love with wireless mics, at least in this setting. and i know, at least once a year i post something like this. sorry if i seem to be out of "new material" for the forum today, but more to the point the reality of doing this day in and day out year after year is that to some areas of this work you see the same things happen over and over. at this point i'm saying it's funny how almost predicatable this stuff is. and as much as i know better here i am 150 feet away from the stage at the console watching this happen again. such it is. huzza for the business theatre.

[Jason Phair]

Sounds less like a Stage Manager and more like someone who stands in the wing with a headset on, frantically looking around for an opportunity to appear important. Otherwise your stage would've been, ya know...managed.

On the other hand, they may be exonerated on the off chance that you have an A2, in which case, they should be on that. A2's are extra money though, and really, we've already got one soundguy, he can take care of that, despite the fact that he's 150' away up in the balcony and would have to stop the show, crawl over the audience's heads to fix that, crawl back up, and restart the show.

[pounce]

well, i'll comment on your comment someday in the future when i'm not working here. :) but a little more attention from the folks who are supposed to be doing their job on the side of the stage would be nice.

sorry that this is old material for me. more sorry that stupid shit like this stills happens on business theatre.


ps: i still get guys offstage (whether stage manager, a2, or whoever) that don't properly check stuff that is going out to stage. today it's an easy one, there is no excuse for it today. on some busier bigger shows i realize that the "talent" shares responsibility for getting mic'd up at the last second and so forth, but not today. it's just one mic, i'd appreciate if it was turned on.

[eagan]

Major deja vu here.

Pretty sure I've heard this story before (not that it's any less significant or less of an aggravation for you every time it comes up). Annoying as all hell, I have no doubt.


A brief though to suggest, though, for at least one problem there.

A prominently positioned note on the top of the podium facing the speaker, written in thick marker, saying "PLEASE TURN ON YOUR WIRELESS MICROPHONE TRANSMITTER".


JLE

[pounce]

ok, good news bad news.


bad news, they did it to me again. walked out on deck without it muted or something. frantic waving to get my attention, even though that channel was already up on the board and had been working all fine all day.

remember, this is a one mic gig basically. (ok, a DI as well, thankfully it doesn't have a mute switch and therefore has worked fine - go figure)

good news, since this idiot is only standing behind the podium anyway i just turned on my wired mic with just a little extra gain. works perfectly. it doesn't sound all that much different from the wireless because he truly IS just behind the podium.


so to sum up, i'm getting a little pissed that the stage manager, my boss, the guy who makes twice my salary and has run this space for a long time, sent out the mic wrong twice in a day. this guy doesn't know anything about sound, but since he's my "boss" i gotta watch how i voice my opinion on the matter. two, why the fuck did they even offer him the wireless. since the podium mic and the headset worked equally well i am quite confident that it proves my point that a wired mic on a podium works just fine, speakers really do just stay behind the podium, and there is no damn mute switch on my wired mic.

oh well, today is over in 15 minutes or so and then i'm back home to bbq and enjoy the night. i'd prefer to think that when i come in tomorrow that they might do a bit better so that i don't keep getting screwed on the deal.

[vocalnick]

A few years ago I used to "audio-assist" for the odd cricket OB down here, and it never ceased to amaze me how these seasoned announcers/presenters would constantly remember to mute their mics when they were done with a segment, but never un-mute them again before they resumed.

Then there's the time the captain of the Pakistani team walked off with a souvenir stumps after a decisive win (as I understand is the tradition), but happened to grab the one with the rather expensive microphone and transmitter inside it.

God I'm glad I don't do that anymore. Not worth the blood pressure.

[omikl]

I've only eveer flirted with this realm once. Back in '99 or so we had a big "Whoo haaa" launch for some inititative that never came to anything in my day gig. TV, Press, Gov't minister. Mooks flapping jaws.

I'm there as the bloke who can get the MD's laptop working if it breaks.

So we walk into the Hotel conference suite tha's the venue for this media circle jerk and what do we find?

PA? Nah.
Mics even? Nah.

Sweet fuck all.

I went ballistic. Kicked arses. Got the hotel droids to rustle up the PA. Made them sound check it. Taped cables so people wouldn't fall arse oer tit on camera. The usual.

My boss says "How do you know how to do this?"

My reply?

"Ever played in a rock band in a bar full of drunk Hell's Angels?"

"No"

"I have"

No specialist knowledge, however gained, is ever useless.

:D

[G. Hoffman]

Now see, I always just lock the wireless packs ON, and don't let them have any control in the first place. Of course, then it is on my to remember to mute the mic when they go to the bathroom, but I'd rather rely on myself then the "talent."



Gabriel

[pounce]

yeah, on this gig the wireless didn't have the powerlock function, and i got had as a result of it.

[Spock]

When I was real young, me and another guy started doing FOH for small bands. We had a way of dealing with that.

No radio mics, and a lot of times the band would have the PA with cheap mics with an on/off switch. We would tell them to never touch the switch, but we learned very quickly that they always would try to out think you and turn it off.

If they had the locking tab to prevent the switch from being turned off, we would always use it. If not, when no one was looking I'd open the mic and solder the switch to always be on. It fixed two problems. A cheap switch failing, and the singer not turning the mic back on.

[burnsy]

See this is really odd , in the theatre I used to work on we would have a radio mic person , who's responsibility was to ensure that the shit was on before they left the wings.

Maybe Im being nieve but the less you allow them to do the less to go wrong.

anyhow just tape the mute switch?

[pounce]

yes!! i taped the mute switch for the next sessions and no problems at all over the next two days. it was an easy gig and everyone was happy. but i still can't believe how the folks passing mics out screwed that stuff up. not cool.

[burnsy]

eliminate every person other than yourself so that way the level of idiocy stops at yourself.

its a damn shame people have to be so stupid.

:(

[Barska]

eliminate every person other than yourself so that way the level of idiocy stops at yourself.

its a damn shame people have to be so stupid.

:(

Problem is, you usually really want someone to help you out at the other end of the hall.

Obviously you also want that someone to be mentally at least slightly above drunken ape. Too often this is not the case...:Confused:

And the "talent"... Shit. I once had a nightmare with five gays and a beauty passing three mics and speaking too silent way too far past the PA-line....

[Tim Halligan]

A few years ago I used to "audio-assist" for the odd cricket OB down here, and it never ceased to amaze me how these seasoned announcers/presenters would constantly remember to mute their mics when they were done with a segment, but never un-mute them again before they resumed.

Then there's the time the captain of the Pakistani team walked off with a souvenir stumps after a decisive win (as I understand is the tradition), but happened to grab the one with the rather expensive microphone and transmitter inside it.

God I'm glad I don't do that anymore. Not worth the blood pressure.


Boy...that was a very long time ago. :D

I don't remember the system you mention...and I've been doing cricket for the network in Perth since about 1992. They just drop the mics in their lap, or on the floor between overs...which is why you'll often hear the thump as the gate "puffs" at the end of an over.

And the old "talking stumps" went the way of the dodo in about 1995...and usually we had to pry them out of Merv Hughes' hands...and he was never happy about it. :Confused:

I'm so happy those fucking things have gone...everytime the wicket was struck you had to manually re-tune the receivers.
:Twisted:

These days they use Sennheiser SK250 Tx with MKE2 heads for the stumps...and SK5000's with omni's for hand-helds. They look like being replaced over time with Lectrosonics...

Cheers,
Tim

[vocalnick]

I don't remember the system you mention...and I've been doing cricket for the network in Perth since about 1992. They just drop the mics in their lap, or on the floor between overs...which is why you'll often hear the thump as the gate "puffs" at the end of an over.

I could be mis-remembering my presenters - we did a bunch of shitty local games off our own bat (so to speak, hur hur) and also a heap of other non-cricket events. Lack of mic ettiquette seems to have been a universal theme...

And the old "talking stumps" went the way of the dodo in about 1995...and usually we had to pry them out of Merv Hughes' hands...and he was never happy about it. :Confused:

Hmmm... My incident would have been a bit after that (97ish I would estimate?), but perhaps the network folks only brought the old/cheap stuff down to Tassie. It's also entirely possible they over-stated the value of the item to get a rise out of me, I was very much "the new kid from the regional affilliate" :Razz:

[bunnerabb]

I *run* like hell from those gigs.

And the reasons are outlined in these posts.

It's always a clusterfuck.

Every. Single. Time. They haven't printed that much money.