Nawor Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Okay folks how about some reminiscing? It might be fun to hear about the memorable audio related experiences people have had over the years. Studio or live. The funny, freaky, frustrating etc. Dealing with egos, guitarists that play too loud, gear breakdowns, rioting crowds, bad weather, management issues, dodgy contracts, strange occurrences, work arounds when things went wrong etc. The things we recall years later. I remember when...... etc. How about it? "WARNING!" - this artificial fruit juice may contain traces of REAL FRUIT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
- Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 I'm sure I'll think of better stories than this one, but... I remember recording a young punky kind of band... The bass player was tuning up and the guitarist said, "That string sounds out of tune." The bass player said, "Dude! I don't use that string!" It took a lot to not chuckle... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip McDonald Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Originally posted by Rowan: Okay folks how about some reminiscing? There was this time Ringling Brothers circus was in town on a night I was playing at a local club. All I know is, one moment I'm looking down at my fingers, the next I look up and the room is full of CLOWNS. It's pretty creepy. They left their noses behind, but they're in street clothes with full makeup on. Why? I J U S T D O N ' T K N O W. There's one over there, leaning against the bar with a cigarette and a beer in his hand... then another sitting in front of you yelling "play some Hootie!".... a group towards the back kind of keeping to themselves. WEIRD. (shivering.... ) I hate clowns. You know, you just want to go to the gig, do a good show, get your money and leave, but no - freaking CLOWNS have to show up.... ------------------ New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
- Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Originally posted by popmusic: I remember recording a young punky kind of band... The bass player was tuning up and the guitarist said, "That string sounds out of tune." The bass player said, "Dude! I don't use that string!" I thought of another one from the same band... The band stopped, because the bassist wasn't sure what to play on a particular section. The bassist asks, "Am I supposed to play that da-da-da-da part on the refrain or on the chorus?" I almost fell out of my chair laughing, but no, I kept a straight face when the guitarist said, "You play the da-da-da-da part on the refrain and the bum-bum-bum-bum part on the chorus." Apparently, this band had their own special terminology which made a distinction between a refrain and a chorus. Go figure! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
- Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Originally posted by Chip McDonald: There's one over there, leaning against the bar with a cigarette and a beer in his hand... then another sitting in front of you yelling "play some Hootie!".... a group towards the back kind of keeping to themselves. ROTFL!!! That is some disturbing imagery... I'll be lucky if I don't have nightmares tonight... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nawor Posted June 2, 2001 Author Share Posted June 2, 2001 About 6 years ago I was mixing a live pub gig in Melbourne. The band was a temporary conglomeration of various performers from other bands. The guitarist was one of 'em... you know the ones that make your ears bleed from the next universe. This guy had been around for quite a while having played in a rather loud rockin' band for about twenty years. I reckon his hearing was non-existant above 3K. On this occasion he was playing a Tele with a slide, thru a Musicman 135Watt tube head running thru a pair of JBL E120's (metal dustcaps) in a custom cab. All treble on 11!! Well.... I had a 2.5k PA and the room held about 150. The band kicked in and ooooooh my God... bleeding ear drums.I pulled his guitar from FOH instantly but it made no difference... it was all off stage. It was a screeching guitar-fest with some other clowns doing silent Marcel Marceaux impressions on stage. You could not hear ANYTHING ELSE while that guitar was firing! I must have asked him about 6 times to turn down. The last time I began to head for the stage he indignently waved me away mouthing the words F*CK OFF!! I pulled everything out of FOH except for the vocals... but still no good. My head was pounding.... the singer kept pointing at his mouth and then the monitors demanding more level. There was no more to be had. The vocals were pushed as hard as I could take them both in the monitors and FOH. Bass and drums were non-existant... the whole thing was a screaming, screeching ear shattering mess. I wanted to go home! Then I had an idea. Over the next three songs I began to push the guitar through the lead singers monitors. Very slowy... more and more. (Not the FOH just the monitors) The singer kept asking for more vocal level.... I kept giving him more guitar and slowly pulled his vocal down. He was getting more and more pissed and kept requesting me to give him more vocals... I just pointed to my ears and motioned that I had no idea what he was saying and just shrugged my shoulders. Finally in desperation he started going bananas on stage and began waving his arms about like a lunatic. He thrust his finger at his monitors and began playing very pissed off air guitar. I pointed to the guitarist and shrugged my shoulders and pointed down... I then repeated myself and then the singer turned to the guitarist and beckoned him to turn down... and then a second time. Reluctantly he turned to the volume on his amp... I watched him very closely and as he dropped his level on his Musicman I simultaniously pulled his guitar back out of the monitors and fed in just a little vocal.... still not enough so I shrugged again... he gave the guitarist another blast and I followed the same routine. Finally he was happy unlike the guitarist. Then I reset the vocal FOH fed in the kick, bass and snare and AT LAST I was in control again. At the end of the gig the singer came up to me and said what was the story with all the guitar in "My monitors?" So I bullshitted just a little and said if you sing 4 inches from the mic at 110dB and the guitar level although 10 feet away is still hitting your vocal mic at 115db then what hope have you got? He bought me a beer and the next week the guitarist was playing through an AC30! This message has been edited by Rowan on 06-01-2001 at 11:22 PM "WARNING!" - this artificial fruit juice may contain traces of REAL FRUIT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nawor Posted June 2, 2001 Author Share Posted June 2, 2001 That reminds me of another guitar related story. A friend of mine told me about this guy he used to work for. He had a mixing gig at a pub that was on notice from the EPA about excessive noise levels. They had fitted an SPL meter which would automatically trigger the breakers feeding the P.A. thus cutting it out if the SPL exceeded a specified level. There was about a five minute delay before you could restart again. Well it was yet another 'small dicked' guitarist with a double Marshall stack and after the third shutdown and as many warnings, the sound guy had had enough. After taking a pair of wire cutters from his toolkit he casually walked up onto the stage behind the muscians to the backline. A short time later he was back behing the console again as if nothing had happened. The funny thing was none of the band members realised what was going on.. not even the guitarist who started fiddling with his guitar lead and pedals trying to work out where his level had gone. As it was nearly the end of their set anyway, the keyboard player finished off with a solo and the band started vacating the stage ready for the next act. The friend of mine said the look on the guitarists face, when he discovered his Marshall amp's mains lead was missing it's plug was worth a thousand words. Twenty five years ago this same sound guy was AC/DC's live engineer from the time the band began up until the death of Bon Scott. This message has been edited by Rowan on 06-02-2001 at 05:30 AM "WARNING!" - this artificial fruit juice may contain traces of REAL FRUIT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 This happened when I was a student at the Conservatory Of Recording Arts And Sciences: I was involved in a recording session of a metal band that had an extremely loud drummer. We had all the mics up, including a talkback, and we had a headphone mix going that included the drums in the drummer's phones (per his request.) We hadn't started getting tones or levels, so we didn't have anything in our monitors. The talkback was cut. All of a sudden, he starts playing hard and fast. I can hear him CLEARLY through the glass, and as I glance up at the headphone amp I can see that it is clipping hard. He continues for a bit, with a puzzled sort of expression on his face. He then stops, and points at the talkback mic. We open it up. "Dude, I can't hear the drums in my phones." -Danny ------------------ Of all the things that I have lost, I miss my mind the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pro Jules Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 I cried twice during vocal takes (as producer / engineer) because they were so good soulfull and powerfull, on one I felt all the rest of us present were just fools and the singer would outgrow us fast to become a HUGE star... On that one, the singer didn't even come into the control room to hear it back. he just walked out and whent for a walk, the control room full of people was speachless and politely no one commented on my dabbing my eyes with my T Shirt. In the end both artists didn't amount to much in global terms but ...... it was fun being there! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif Jules This message has been edited by Julian standen on 06-02-2001 at 10:35 AM Jules Producer Julian Standen London, UK, Come hang here! http://www.gearslutz.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 i was recording a record for one of the pioneers of hip hop and he wanted the sound of the "beep" when your car door is ajar. so naturally we ran 100 feet of cable out to the parking lot and miked up a car door beeping. upon hearing it, the artist goes "man, the sound ain't right, it's gotta be a cadillac. this sound is too low." so we spent the next 15 minutes listening to the beep as i ran it through the AMS to change the pitch. finally, the artist started jumping up and down yelling "that's it, that's it! now that's a cadillac!"...... -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Chip...what is unusual about that story? Most of my bar gigs have been playing for clowns... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gifhttp://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gifhttp://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif But seriously...you should have played some Sondheim for 'em..."Send In The Clowns"... I'm with you in a way...clowns are kinda freaky...especially after seeing one of those "Chainsaw Circus" movies... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
- Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Originally posted by Tedster: But seriously...you should have played some Sondheim for 'em..."Send In The Clowns"... ROTFLMAO!!!!!! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gifhttp://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gifhttp://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif That's *too* good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tld Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 OK...at the risk of dating myself...I played in a club band in the last 70s, which insisted on using flash boxes, because all bands did at the time. Our light guy, with serious pyro tendencies was responsible for these non-osha compliant things he made himself. He had one huge one fashioned out of a BIG coffee can affectionately known as 'Big Bertha'. We were playing a club in New York state. A huge snow storm prompted them to close early, so we never played our last set...the one where he was going to unleash Bertha. While we were packing up, the other guitarist in the band says 'Damn shame we didn't get to use Bertha'...flicked his cigarette butt at it...and in a once-in-a-lifetime shot from over 20 feet away gets nothin but can. One of the loudest things I ever heard. I was across the room from ground zero, yet got a significant blast of fiberglass dust in the face as three sections of warped drop ceiling floated to earth. ...and yes, it came out of our pay. Tom ------------------ http://www.digitalaudiorock.com The Protools Plugin Preset Co-op http://www.digitalaudiorock.com The Protools Plugin Preset Co-op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenElevenShadows Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 The Evil Sound Man Story Some years ago, I played keyboards in a band around the Hollywood area. We used to play occasionally at Club Lingerie and some of the other clubs. At Lingerie, there was a large oaf of a guy doing sound, knocking back beers while slapping the waitresses on the ass as they walked by. We played our set, and of course, it sounded like garbage since he wasn't behind the boards most of the time. Afterwards, he tried to rush us off the stage, physically pushing our female bass player down the stairs in the process. There was almost a fight over this. We complained to the manager. We were due back in a few weeks, and we said that we didn't want this guy to do our sound. We showed up at Lingerie for our gig a few weeks later. Murphy's Law reared its head. Same sound guy, same ugly attitude. As we played our set, I used my Korg DSS-1 sampler to trigger sounds that I had created in anticipation of this misogynistic slob doing sound again. I had it all: horrid crackling cable sounds, microphone feedback, strange intermittent buzzes, the works. It was all we could do to stop from laughing as we saw this guy diving for the board, trying without success to get rid of a loud 60 cycle buzz or excruciating microphone feedback. To fan the flames of his frustration further, we had some of our friends in the audience continually complaining to him and the manager that the sound was really horrible, and that the feedback and lousy sound was hurting their ears. We played Lingerie a few more times, but never saw him there again. ------------------ Ken/Eleven Shadows/d i t h er/nectar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ music*travel photos*tibet*lots of stuff "Sangsara" "Irian Jaya" & d i t h er CDs available! http://www.elevenshadows.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ken Lee Photography - photos and books Eleven Shadows ambient music The Mercury Seven-cool spacey music Linktree to various sites Instagram Nightaxians Video Podcast Eleven Shadows website Ken Lee Photography Pinterest Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricknbokker Posted June 3, 2001 Share Posted June 3, 2001 One time, my lead guitar player showed up at a very important gig strung out big time. I hit him across the side of his head w/his own guitar. It was an SG, as I recall... The rat bastard wouldn't even get up and play after that. I had too walk off the job. Was I wrong? Sure I was, but that's not the point, is it? Please don't ask me to 'reminence' again. We'll all be better off. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Steve This message has been edited by ricknbokker on 06-03-2001 at 12:00 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted June 3, 2001 Share Posted June 3, 2001 <> i love it! -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippie Posted June 3, 2001 Share Posted June 3, 2001 There used to be this girl, named Delena, that would follow my band around to watch us play. She was a nice looking...groupie. Occasionally, when she used to get drunk, she would sit in a table, very close to the stage area, and flash us while we were playing!! & not just boobs, ya know! This would often cause a "train-wreck" while we were playing, and to this day, when we make a mistake while playing, we still refer to it as a "Delena". -Hippie In two days, it won't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricknbokker Posted June 3, 2001 Share Posted June 3, 2001 Yo, Hippie... That's awesome... Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent_powellpalmercay.com Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 I've always been afraid of clowns. I think it's because, when I was a child at the circus, a clown killed my father. Props to Jack Handy. -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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