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The $300 (x40) Gig

The $300 (x40) Gig

[A few months back, we ran an article in this space detailing the infamous "$300 Gig" and what it really costs you to take it. Well, everything is relative, and recently one of our Anklebiters took a gig that, for all intents and purposes (and disregarding the low-five-figure payout), was a $300 Gig. In the end, the client got way more than he paid for, and the soundco had destroyed their relationship with the company that supplied much of the gear, pissed off a bunch of crew members and earned very little money for a full week of work. Let's take a look at what went wrong and what can be learned from it. –ed.]

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It's Usually the Little Things That Count

We have trod upon this ground before, but I keep seeing things that make me remember that it is not usually the big expensive whatever that sends a show south. It is usually something small that just got overlooked. Here are a few recent examples.

The first was a bonehead move on my part. I was playing out and trying to get a good audio recording of the gig for demo purposes, and do so without having to ask the house sound guy to change anything he was used to doing or use any unfamiliar gear. A lot of thought and wiring went into building a rack that could feed the house, provide our PM mix (which actually freed up the house guy who had been running mains and two monitor mixes from a sideof- stage position) and feed an Alesis HD24. Got it all done, but failed to really think through the internal routing of the mixer until — of course — I was driving home from the gig. So I ended up with a pretty unusable recording. At least I know how to do it right for next time. I think. Ask me when I get home from that one.

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Tech Trickle Down

It wasn't long ago that the best technology available was priced beyond the reach of many live sound professionals. A certain amount of price segregation makes sense, of course, but manufacturers across the board came to the realization that a customer base could be doubled, maybe tripled, by offering a series of products at a more attainable price point. The trick is to take proven technology, tweak it slightly to get to a more affordable level and keep the quality high.

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On the Bleeding Edge

Last month we discussed the increasing demand for live recording. This month, we take a look at how to get your raw tracks or mixes to the producer and/or band for overdubbing or approval. (Overdubbing on a live CD? I never knew there was such a thing! Tell it to the judge.) Whether you realize it or not, you have likely already participated in a form of digital audio delivery: that iPod you've got strapped to your arm is probably filled with MP3s that have been downloaded from the Internet. Granted, MP3s are relatively small files, and Lord knows the fidelity stinks, but the technological idea is there. Of course, things get complicated when file size increases, and any audio file we might be interested in has got to be huge. In other words, audio at 44.1 kHz/16-bit requires a lot of data. You can't fit a lot of audio at 44.1/16 into your iPod.

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Shows Need Labor, Too

I enjoy the Holiday season as much as the next guy, but quite frankly, the high cost of present-giving has left my bankbook crawling through January, and it's doubtful if it will be off crutches until March or April. Everything is just so damn expensive that, even if I do all my shopping at Target or Best Buy, my bankbook still gets its knees broken. Well, that's life, but fortunately for all of us, the big oil companies got into the Christmas spirit and, in the name of charity, raised the price of oil by only about 25 cents a gallon for the season. Tell you what. When I go visit the relatives during the holidays, it sure gets me in the spirit to top off the tank at "Bah Humbug Oil" before I leave on my journey. I guarantee that the ghosts who visited Ebenezer Scrooge will be making the rounds next year, but that's another story, and in the words of Tiny Tim Crachit, "God bless us. Every one!"

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Monitoring the Big Bang

When The Rolling Stones' "A Bigger Bang" tour came to Chicago recently, we had the opportunity to visit backstage with monitor engineer Mike Adams. It was a cold and windy October evening when Jack Kontney caught up with Adams before the show.

FOH: How did you get started as an engineer?

Mike Adams: I count my career from when I started getting paid on a weekly basis. That was 1981. It was a band called Green Dog, out of Denver, Colorado. As far as getting started, I took the long, stupid, hard road. When I was 16, I just started hanging around, getting myself into nightclubs and finding guys that made it sound really good, and just started trading out my labor for their knowledge. By the time I was 18, I was working all over the Denver area, mixing in clubs. And now here I am.

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Do the Math

[Editor's Note: At FOH, we find very few things more valuable than a combination of knowledge and passion. So, when we have a passionate, knowledgeable reader with something on his or her mind, we try to find space to print it. In the coming months, you will see more of this kind of content on the fohonline.com Web site and in some new electronic projects we are getting ready to unveil. In the meantime, check out what one reader has to say about stadium sound systems.]

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Ghost In the Machine

The band had just finished a 7:00 p.m. setup and sound check at a really cool club in Texas. It's a large stage with huge P.A. system, monitors, stands, mics, sound guy, etc. Most of the band took off to get a little rest before the gig while the guitar player stayed back to watch their equipment and warm-up.

So picture this: The amps are off. The place is starting to get a few people. He's in the dark back corner of the club strumming away, making no sound. Suddenly, everyone hears very loud guitar tuning over the canned house music .

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Life, Death & Iron Maiden

Concert sound isn't usually a matter of life or death, but leave it to Iron Maiden to be the exception. The iconic metal band's recent "Matter Of Life Or Death" world tour proves that after more than 30 years, they haven't slowed down a tick and still demand a P.A. that permeates sold-out arenas with full-range output, while also upholding the first commandment of metal: Make it loud.

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Digital Mixing Consoles

One of these days we'll get it right. We usually do an updated look at digital consoles in the January issue of FOH and last year (Or was it the year before? They're all kind of running together…) we tried to do something called "Digital Consoles for the Rest of Us" and to focus on products that you could afford even if you were not doing national tours and high-profile corporates. But, as we quickly learned, there just weren't any to be found in the price range we set.

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Yamaha EMX 5016CF Powered Mixer, Peavey Kosmos V2, ISP HDM 210 Monitors

Yamaha EMX 5016CF Powered Mixer

By Jamie Rio

I think it has been as least eight years since I reviewed the first Yamaha EMX board. It was nice, but really didn't have enough features and horsepower to propel a band or sound company into the big leagues. So here I am nearly a decade later. I don't know how many versions of this mixer have been produced, but I haven't reviewed one since the first incarnation. So, let's take a look at this unit.

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The Other Buildings

Generally speaking, when we think of house of worship installs, we envision FOH speakers, monitors, outboard gear, mics and a mixing console. That is obviously a very simplistic vision, but it does cover the basics. Well, a short time ago I discovered the "other buildings." Just about every church, temple, synagogue, etc., has additional multi-use buildings at the same location.

I got a call to give a bid on a portable sound system for the youth house of a church in Glendora, Calif. This building was a former home that the church had purchased and set up for the youth of their congregation. The youth pastor wanted a small system to be set up in the living room area with additional speakers to be installed out in the patio area. He also wanted this system to be portable so that, for various events, it could be set up out in the back yard of the house. However, the main use of this system was to provide programmed music for the youth who visited and volunteered at the house.

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