Manfred Klose wrote:
regarding the band.
they probably dont know any better.
if its a good band with lots of experience they will pick this up very quickly, and have to discuss this with the engineer before going on stage.
infact bands needs to have a "TECH RIDER", the engineer working that night needs to read through it a few days before the gig, and must be shure of what is it the band must sound like.
Yes. There is some responsibility that resides with the performers as well. Last year, as you may recall, I was asked to put together a lineup for a night at TJs. Once I accepted I started paying a bit more attention to off-stage issues at TJs. It was quite interesting - but I am going to try to not mention any names here.
One thing I found was that some guys would arrive literally less than 5 minutes before going on stage. In some cases they wanted their guitars miked up - and with a mic that they had bought along. This doesn't give the sound guy much chance of getting good results.
Several acts didn't even try to give a heads up as to what was required. They would just arrive with all sorts of kit and just expect things to work. Because of this I decided that for "my" night we were going to insist on being told what each act required. Not to restrict them, but so that we could be prepared (we even re-routed the snake for one act - they requested this up front and had a good reason for it).
The guys who got the best sound (not just on "my" night, but generally) and the smoothest ride
a) didn't spring any surprises gear wise
b) were completely familiar with what they did bring
c) had a good idea of what they wanted in the first place and let us know what they wanted. Which means they
d) could talk in the correct technical terms to the sound guy
This eliminated unknowns and allowed us to draw up a better plan for the evening. Also the guys who knew what they wanted (and this implies some experience) would get through a sound check quicker and more productively.
