How was your gig last night?

[tauzero]

5 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Oh people do plug themselves in - I don't even check that, if they aren't plugged in they are going to be pretty quiet, but every socket has a label on it as to what it is so there is no excuse to get it wrong, i wouldn't expect anyone to know the right channel numbers!

 

I let the singer plug his mic in, as he can count up to 1. I do everything else, which is just two mics. Some cable colour coding FOH speakers = orange, monitors = yellow, and the leads are unequal lengths as the mixer is always one side or the other of the stage.

[dmccombe7]

4 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Our leads are colour-coded and numbered, with corresponding numbers on the stage boxes, and numbers on the mixer. The CQ20T mixer also has corresponding colour codes for each channel.

 

Even so, there's a couple of people who don't know how to plug themselves in.

 

I think I might make up some more labels for the stage boxes with people's names and instruments (such as "Greg Bass" and Greg Mic") to make it even clearer.

 

Whilst I'm at it, I ought to colour code the speaker cables and speaker sockets to make it as foolproof as possible. I think I'll take a couple of rolls of electrical tape and a Sharpie to the next gig!

 

Come to think of it, can anyone recommend a good quality, not too expensive 6m dual XLR cable? We're running two leads from the mixer to the sub. A dual cable would save a few minutes

Each of us in the Glam band knows their own input channel number on the desk and therefore runs their own cable to the desk.

Desk is usually on the stage next to our drummer who owns and controls it himself. On the odd occasion the singer will take over control of it depending on stage space.

My XLR cables are all custom made and labelled as Dave 5m or 10m for cable length.

Dave 

[moley6knipe]

Good stuff here folks. Yes, everyone needs to chip in with carrying and plugging etc… and then STOP and let the bass player mix it. End of. Only game in town. Why we’re best suited to this I don’t know: but there it is. Leaving it to eg keys has resulted in eg mic’ing the kit o/h and racks with condensers and not engaging phantom.

 

I’ve drummer-proofed (well, y’know… as much as one can) our setups by getting all of the cables out into piles, out of the way of where people are lugging amps around, shortest to longest left to right:

 

XLRs 1m, 3m, 6m, 7m, 9m, 10m

IECs 2m, 2.5m, 5m

Male XLR to Jack adaptors

Female XLR to Jack adaptors

EDIT: Sure, they’re balanced. I’m not an animal.
 

I always run power around the stage after checking socket polarity and plugging breakers into the wall. Else, the band build a small electric fire for me.

 

Monitor chaining across two auxes remains beyond the reach of m’colls so I do that. Tricky, because the XLRs go “not the same way as for microphones”

Edited Monday at 22:23 by moley6knipe

[moley6knipe]

Oh! And a laminated print of this lives under the mixer. 40% of the band (inc me) can achieve this

[moley6knipe]

49 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Each of us in the Glam band knows their own input channel number on the desk and therefore runs their own cable to the desk.

Desk is usually on the stage next to our drummer who owns and controls it himself. On the odd occasion the singer will take over control of it depending on stage space.

My XLR cables are all custom made and labelled as Dave 5m or 10m for cable length.

Dave 

Come again? The. Drummer. Does. The. PA? Wha? They can do that sort of thing?!

[Dad3353]

45 minutes ago, moley6knipe said:

Come again? The. Drummer. Does. The. PA? Wha? They can do that sort of thing?!

[Geek99]

21 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

I am reminded of Blackadder 2 where Edmund attempts to teach baldrick maths 

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

Monitor chaining across two auxes remains beyond the reach of m’colls so I do that. Tricky, because the XLRs go “not the same way as for microphones”

 

Try telling them that the pins point the way the signal is going and see if that helps them.

[dmccombe7]

10 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

Come again? The. Drummer. Does. The. PA? Wha? They can do that sort of thing?!

Yep he bought the PA and has various desks. He knows his stuff too. Helps that he comes from a pro background and has close friends in large PA hire business.

He has both analogue and digital Allen & Heath desks of varying sizes. Cabs are all QSC from 2 way 12's to 3 way 15's to subs.

Never under-estimate your drummer. They are a sneaky bunch and know more than they let on. 

Dave 

[dmccombe7]

9 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Brilliant. Almost fell of the sofa when i saw this. 

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Yep he bought the PA and has various desks. He knows his stuff too. Helps that he comes from a pro background and has close friends in large PA hire business.

He has both analogue and digital Allen & Heath desks of varying sizes. Cabs are all QSC from 2 way 12's to 3 way 15's to subs.

Never under-estimate your drummer. They are a sneaky bunch and know more than they let on. 

Dave 

Yes, some of them can even read and/or do simple sums (fingers allowed)

[dave_bass5]

47 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Yes, some of them can even read and/or do simple sums (fingers allowed)

What, at the same time? 😵‍💫😎

[dave_bass5]

13 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

Oh! And a laminated print of this lives under the mixer. 40% of the band (inc me) can achieve this

This is what I made up. Their leads are also colour coded and numbered. Still not enough for some though 

 

 

 

[Woodinblack]

55 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Yes, some of them can even read and/or do simple sums (fingers allowed)

 

of course they can - 1, 2, 3, 4 lots.

[Greg Edwards69]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

of course they can - 1, 2, 3, 4 lots.

Everyone knows trolls can’t even count up to four!

In fact, trolls traditionally count like this: one, two, three, many, and people assume this means they can have no grasp of higher numbers. They don’t realise that many can BE a number. As in: one, two, three, many, many-one, many-two, many-three, many many, many-many-one, many-many-two, many-many-three, many many many, many-many-many-one, many-many-many-two, many-many-three, LOTS.

Sir Terry Pratchett

[stewblack]

15 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

Come again? The. Drummer. Does. The. PA? Wha? They can do that sort of thing?!

I've been in a band with the guy sat at absolute farthest from the front of house was fiddling with the desk. 

They can, but they really didn't ought to be allowed.

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

I've been in a band with the guy sat at absolute farthest from the front of house was fiddling with the desk. 

They can, but they really didn't ought to be allowed.

 

Makes no odds; they're deaf anyway. 

 

...

 

 

[dmccombe7]

6 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Makes no odds; they're deaf anyway. 

 

...

 

 

Our drummer even has IEM's so he's not affected by his own loud noise. 

Dave

[asingardenof]

2 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Everyone knows trolls can’t even count up to four!

In fact, trolls traditionally count like this: one, two, three, many, and people assume this means they can have no grasp of higher numbers. They don’t realise that many can BE a number. As in: one, two, three, many, many-one, many-two, many-three, many many, many-many-one, many-many-two, many-many-three, many many many, many-many-many-one, many-many-many-two, many-many-three, LOTS.

Sir Terry Pratchett

I was looking for this quote and am glad I haven't been disappointed  

[Bluewine]

Big corporate Christmas Party gig tomorrow night. We're not a Christmas Party band. However who can turn down 2k for a 6:00-8:00. I'm not trying to brag but I don't think I've ever played a 2 hour gig for that kind of money.And it'll be a long time before I see another one. Lol

 

Daryl

[Lozz196]

That’s serious money, good score there Daryl

[Staggering on]

Last night was another concert with my teacher's Young Artists Orchestra, as usual augmented by a few adults in the bass and cello sections since a lot of the kids are too small to play the larger instruments. For some of the easier pieces about 7 of the youngest players aged 5, 6 and 7 joined us on stage for a total more than 35 musicians and as usual it was a great evening with a nice mixture of Christmas songs and the audience of about 300 loved it. Most of the kids started in my teacher's program at age 3 or 4 and so the oldest at 19 are very skilled musicians. For the fourth time my teacher asked me to add to the bass section and this year there were three bassists, two of them play better than I do and they are 9 and 16! I have learned a lot in two and a half years of lessons but these kids are fantastic, the younger one was a prize winning violinist until September when she decided to play bass and she is amazing on it, very smart and very dedicated. I wish I had started with the bow when they did at age 4 instead of 75, I am by far the oldest in the orchestra (78) and get immense pleasure from being a part of the group and as a side benefit my playing has improved and carries over into my jazz and bluegrass gigs. 

Here's the bass section after the concert.

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 20:49 by Staggering on

[zbd1960]

11 minutes ago, Staggering on said:

Last night was another concert with my teacher's Young Artists Orchestra, as usual augmented by a few adults in the bass and cello sections since a lot of the kids are too small to play the larger instruments. For some of the easier pieces about 7 of the youngest players aged 5, 6 and 7 joined us on stage for a total more than 35 musicians and as usual it was a great evening with a nice mixture of Christmas songs and the audience of about 300 loved it. Most of the kids started in my teacher's program at age 3 or 4 and so the oldest at 19 are very skilled musicians. For the fourth time my teacher asked me to add to the bass section and this year there were three bassists, two of them play better than I do and they are 9 and 16! I have learned a lot in two and a half years of lessons but these kids are fantastic, the younger one was a prize winning violinist until September when she decided to play bass and she is amazing on it, very smart and very dedicated. I wish I had started with the bow when they did at age 4 instead of 75, I am by far the oldest in the orchestra (78) and get immense pleasure from being a part of the group and as a side benefit my playing has improved and carries over into my jazz and bluegrass gigs. 

Here's the bass section after the concert.

 

 

 

I'm a very strong advocate of people joining a community orchestra/band as soon as they start playing. I did that with cello when I started in 2011 and also sax about little later. 

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Big corporate Christmas Party gig tomorrow night. We're not a Christmas Party band. However who can turn down 2k for a 6:00-8:00. I'm not trying to brag but I don't think I've ever played a 2 hour gig for that kind of money.And it'll be a long time before I see another one. Lol

 

I sincerely hope that you don't get handed an elf costume when you arrive...

[AlexDelores]

1 hour ago, Staggering on said:

Last night was another concert with my teacher's Young Artists Orchestra, as usual augmented by a few adults in the bass and cello sections since a lot of the kids are too small to play the larger instruments.

 

Sounds like good fun! And might I say, that is a fantastic looking beard 👌