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This past September/October
TM playon wrote: Just curious, when were you last in China? Al On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 20:47:36 GMT, T Maki wrote: (continuing..) If you plan on setting up in normal concert recording style, be prepared to deal with the amplified sound. You will likely not be able to convince them to not amplify. I repeat - YOU will not have any say over it. A Chinese with the tour may be able to convince them, if you can communicate to them. Be prepared for audiences at least as rude as any you've ever experienced here. You will endure cell phone conversations, cigarette smoke that will put you on the floor, crying, laughing, burping, farting, and whatever other environmental noises. Did I mention the lighting systems? Those millions of watts of power are controlled through dimmers. They hum, they have fans. You will most likely not have any trouble with stage crews, especially if you have a helpful attitude. The guys and gals on stage want to learn, and if you make an effort to deal with them as fellow professionals, and show them something they might not know (make something up if you have to - show them the proper way to coil a cable or something), you will make friends. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to help. If possible, do a walk-thru ahead of time wherever you can. More than likely, your buses will arrive 1 hour before curtain, and you will have no time to set up, let alone argue with the house personnel. Just get in there, set up your stuff, and roll tape. You're not going to have an opportunity to do rehearsal tests. You'd better be able to scope out a room, stage, and setup in the time it takes to carry your equipment across the stage. They will not allow the show to start late. You will be awestricken by some of their theatres. If you can, try not to rely on house power. If you can't run all your gear on batteries that you take with you, you will be in my prayers. Determine the number of batteries that you think you can get by with. Triple that number. Do not under any circumstances allow your equipment to get out of your hands or out of your sight. DO NOT. Assume nothing. Do not assume that you will have any kind of load in or load out help. Do not assume that anything is going to work the way you expect. Do not demand anything. You have to have the attitude that what happens, happens; that what you get is what you get. Take four times the amount of money you think you will need. Do not take Amex travelers checks. Take US cash. Do not get fleeced at the money exchange counters. Look for the best exchange rates. Be careful of taking old Yuan as against new Yuan. Old Yuan is worthless, but you will have it pushed at you. It may not appear obvious to you or the people on your tour, but the Chinese will have no trouble recognizing you as a tourist. Learn the details of the Chinese monetary system - as much of the currency denominations as will fit in your brain. Be prepared to do the math for lots of people on the tour. (Just how hard is it to figure out that eight Yuan is a dollar? Two Yuan is a quarter - figure it out...) You will have those experiences, especially with the sourvenir booths at The Great Wall or The Temple of Heaven. Remember that you will be going to a Communist country. You will have no rights there. Do not push your luck with any police or other official. You must have a "Please, Sir; Excuse me, Sir; Thank you, Sir; Whatever you say, Sir" attitude. Make excellent color copies of your passport and put a copy in every piece of luggage and every equipment case. (I scanned mine and printed it - almost looked real). If at all possible, DO NOT allow your passport out of your sight. If you have to surrender your passport, know exactly who has it and when you will get it back. If you fly domestically, be prepared to be fleeced for extraordinary overweight baggage charges. I nearly had to pay $300.00 for a case not much bigger than an Anvil briefcase and two collapsed mic stands in plastic tubes. Do not fail to fill out Customs Form 4457 for all pieces of your equipment. If you are not able to prove that you owned it before you came into the country, you will either have to pay duty (and possibly fines) on it, but may also face confiscation. Get the form at the Customs desk at your US departure airport. Remind the women on your tour that the Chinese are very conservative in dress. Any show of skin on stage (short skirts, sleeveless or low necklines, bare mid-riffs, even shoes without toes) are disrespectful. Anyone wearing questionable clothing may be asked to leave the stage, and may jeopardize the gig. Last, but certainly not least - and there are gobs of other things - try not to pick an airplane that's going to crash. An incident like that can ruin your travel experience. If you like aggressive flying, you're gonna love the way those Chinese military pilots handle an airplane - "Yeah, Baby!" Of course, your tour might be perfect, and none of this will apply. I hope that's the case. TM Carey Carlan wrote: One of the groups I record may let me accompany them to China next year. I have the usual list of travel gotchas (shots, papers, etc.) What audio concerns do I have aside from power? |
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