Shawn wrote:

If you're so professional, did you ever think of hiring a professional
sound crew?

Yeah, and we thought that paying them our entire paycheck, and
probably then some, was not the right approach.
Are you implying that if we don't have a professional sound "crew" we
aren't professional musicians or a professional band?
If you are, then you'd be wrong.

Merlin seems to have a lot of pent up anger. He should probably seek some
"Professional" help to sort it all out. Meanwhile, just ignore anything he
says that sound like an insult.

The sad fact is these days, most club gigs don't pay the whole band as much
as a "Professional" sound man would charge. One alternative is to make the
soundguy a "member" of your band. You're splitting out one more share, but
at least you're not paying out more than you're making.


I may not have a ton of experience with setting up and running sound
in every situation possible, but I am a professional musician.
We were there on time and, to my amazement, found out that a club that
has live music on a regular basis wouldn't allow a sound-check.

OK, wait a minute. You seem to like the word "Experience" almost as much
as Merlin likes "Professional". No insult intended (just making sure we're
all on the same page), but just how much experience do you (and the band)
have playing out in clubs? This kind of thing happens sometimes (and
sometimes the club owner refuses to pay you, and sometimes the acoustics
suck, and sometimes the house electrical system has serious problems).
These are things you have to deal with. You can insist on a written
contract; you can make you tech rider part of that contract, and you can
play hardball on that contract IF you're willing to walk away from some
gigs in the process.


--snip some of Merlin's vitriolic drivel--


And that is our problem. We are probably competent in setting up our
rig and getting it to sound good, but only with a realistic sound
check. Our current sound-person, yes the drummer's girlfriend who is
busting her tail to help us out, is not yet experienced enough to mix
quickly from scratch.
Likely we would have only needed 30 minutes with me sitting at the
board and mixing/eqing individual instruments and then the night would
have been peachy-keen; but noooooooooo!

First, work on removing the word "Likely" from that last sentence. Then
work on getting it down to 15 minutes. Then... Be creative. Do you
always practice at the same place? If so, start rehearsing at each
member's house on a rotating basis. Let the soundchick get a mix at each
place so she HAS A CHANCE to get good at it. If possible, record all
rehearsals (single mic mono at the mix position) for a sanity check. If
recording's not possible, the band members can take turns laying out &
listening at the mix position. Listen to the tapes together & make
constructive suggestions to help her out.

Whether you're paying her a split or not, you should consider her a member
of your band. If your lead singer quit, would you play a critical gig with
a new singer before he/she was well rehearsed & comfortable with your show?


--snip some more of Merlin's drivel and Shawn's responses--


You keep tossing this word "professional" around as like if we don't
adhere to your standards we aren't professional.
Perhaps you should use the word seasoned or experienced instead.
We are all seasoned players who have played in bands for years but
have not had the opportunity or the need to run the sound ourselves.
Now it's a must and we are learning how and are learning that it's way
more difficult than we expected.

I'm having a hard time understanding how you managed to play in bands for
years without ever having to be responsible for your own sound. Granted,
it's been a long time since I started out, but I can't count the times I've
mixed from stage rather than trust a less than comptent "house engineer",
or because no house engineer was asvailable.


In our defense we have yet to play a gig where we got a good
sound-check. I think that will solve most, if not all, of our
problems.

Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it.


Perhaps that shows you just how much of a "professional" band we are!
We were able to impress the audience (dance floor full the entire
night) and the management with something other than optimum sound
quality.

Kinda cool the way that works, huh? Bands have to compete with DJs for
gigs because club owners only look at the bottom line. But audiences seem
to amost always dig a live band more, even if the sound sucks or the band
has an off night. Maybe if they'd get their asses off the dance floor &
buy more beer, the club owners would come around.