Swapping mics - How would you feel?

[Boggy]

Last week I was the technical manager for a high school show. We hired a 400 seat theatre with fly tower along with some additional technical gear. Part of the tech gear was 8 headset microphones for the lead vocalists. While the vocalists are not particularly strong if they are given the right support they can do a reasonable job. Because of this, I got a friend of mine (who I have done several shows with) to setup and mix the sound. Our sound guy spent significant time during rehearsal to ring out (EQ) the headset microphines and to set levels etc.

 

On performance night 1 the system sounded good and I was very pleased with the sound.

On performance night 2 the system again sounded good and I was pleased.

 

When I arrived at the theatre for performance night 3 (final night) the local theatre technicians advised me that they had just received their shipment of new microphones and body packs and were letting us use this brand new gear. I would have said NO but they had already started swapping the gear over and I did not feel that I was in a position to go back. I advised our sound guy and he did a quick check and had EQ problems. We could not get the volume we had the previous night without feedback issues. At this stage we only had 30 minutes to show time and a stage full of kids warming up.

 

How would you feel at this point?

 

We were a bit upset but kept it to ourselves and struggled through.The show was OK but not as good as the other nights.

[dbuckley]

Changing out the mics for the new toys would have been over my dead and decaying body. For the final night, for f**ks sake. Madness.

 

What if one of these brand new packs had decided to die on the spot? Bathtub curve, when new is a very common time for gear to die.

[peza2010]

the "local theatre techs" should know better, and as mentioned above my answer would have been "not a chance, change them back"

 

would a guitar tech buy a new guitar and think.... "yeahhh he can play this tonight".

[paulears]

Did the theatre hire include the hire mics? If so then they may have decided to use you as test fodder. Deduct the proportion of the hire for the poorer equipment from the settlement, write a strongly worded letter to the chief exec/manager thanking them for spoiling the show. They should have known that if it took x long to get the system settled first time, swapping during the run was at the very least stupid, and also insensitive to the needs of the hirer. It's also bad form to not ask before doing. I'd be looking for a fee reduction at the very least, perhaps reminding them of the harm the kids could do telling their friends and family on Facebook how awful the venue acted. A bit of leverage never harms once the deed is done.

 

Sometimes this kind of thing does happen. My band were playing at a large corporate gig, with PA supplied. we never use compressors, and we all sing. Monitors and mics are critical. Big arena style venue. Did a great sound check and headed off for food and an hour or two to kill. Sat eating and heard the dreaded one chew sound check thing start up. Didn't think too much about it. They had swapped our own mics we always use for something else, and slapped a compressor rack on everything. Everything was mega loud, and backing off the mics for changes between lead and harmony vocals didn't work, and even the keys ran through a compressor making the volume pedal ineffective. Two songs wrecked totally before we explained to the monitor guy that we wanted them off, NOW! They thought this would improve our sound, but were unaware how we needed it. Like your gig, I expect they thought they were helping you, but just didn't think it through.

[S&L]

basic principles:

1. on show night you stick with what you know works unless it's not working. you change as little as possible to get it working if it's not working. reliability is king.

2. you field test everything, be that in the workshop or elsewhere before you take it near a live show.

3. never go in to a show of any sort blind - always try to know and understand what's on the other end even if you aren't supplying it.

 

I cannot believe any seasoned engineer/technician would want you to try something previously untested on a show night. does this speak to lack of experience or indifference to the artists and paying public?

[GR1]

Refund ! And a letter to the venue senior management. You were being used as test dummies without your consent which is not acceptable.

[pete10uk]

If it ain't broke DON'T fix it is the motto of the day.

 

We've all had new kit we've been itching to try, I'm sure I'm not the only one to have plans to use it as soon as it arrives on a live show, but I personally just can't unplug something that's working.

At the very least you need to tell them, as you never learn of you don't think there's an issue. Refund wise it all depends if you hired the mics or I they were free.

[kerry davies]

There is only one reason to touch another man's kit after he has set it up and that is to prevent imminent harm to life or limb. That goes so far as never to alter anything unless you are 110% certain it will not affect anyone or anything else once a show is set up.

 

I have had several occasions when "minor" changes have put others at risk of harm when people messed about with power and lighting circuits. It is a huge No-No on safety grounds let alone sheer bad manners.

 

Good to see you concentrated on making it work but they need to know and learn so do make it plain it is not acceptable.

[Junior8]

They might be technicians but they certainly aren't theatre people. In your place I'd have stopped them, then held if neccessary until it was all replaced as was. You were the customer and you were in the right.

[Bobbsy]

Let me join the chorus. Once something is set up and adjusted, you don't change it during the run without a LOT of time to check and fix problems.

 

This was highly unprofessional and, as others have said, I'd be demanding a refund.

 

Just as an example, in a couple of weeks I'm doing some shows in a venue where I've not worked before. I'll be using all their installed gear with the exception of my computer running SCS for playback. I'd love to plug in my interface and just make sure there aren't any of the potential earth loop or whatever problems but, as they're mid run, I didn't ask and they didn't offer. I'm going in on Sunday during their bumpout.

 

-and that's just plugging in two leads, pushing up a fader, then putting it back as I found it.

[Bazz339]

If not broke don't fix.

 

Poor form on the part of the house techs I think especially to do it without any consultation, an absolute no no IMHO. Where there other factors? Where the mics you had been using on hire and the new ones bought? Or were they needed elsewhere?

 

Not a reason, just interested why they would want the hassle, risk etc. of swapping out mics before the final night of a short run.

[Boggy]

Thank-you to everyone for your input and support. This is a complex problem and all of your comments have re-assured me that my reactions were appropriate. A big thank-you to David Buckley for the comment

 

Changing out the mics for the new toys would have been over my dead and decaying body. For the final night, for f**ks sake. Madness.

 

which describes exactly how I was feeling with not enough time to get a good solution.

 

 

To help explain some of the complexity I have included a description of the outcome. Feel free to comment and I am sure some people could raise points I did not consider.

 

The Result

Pre-show. Key cast members made aware that we have audio issues which we are trying to fix. I did not explain the cause of the problem but I asked them to work through any issues which occur. They were concerned but happy to do this due to the large amount of work they have seen me do. They know that I am doing everything possible to fix the issue. I would much rather the cast think I have a minor problem that they can help me with than someone else has caused a possibly major problem (possibly upsetting them).

 

3-4 minor feedback issues during show. The cast performed well and did not falter during issues. The main people affected by the feedback issues were the sound guy and myself (who were already upset). Following the show the director, cast, crew and audience were extremely happy as the whole show was way above expectations. The feedback issues had clearly been forgotten and I did not want to bring anyone down by complaining.

 

During my decision making process:

Be aware that when I found out what had happen, the old gear had been put away and they had starting installing the new gear.

I identified that rolling back to our previous configuration contained many steps and that one mistake would cause a significant problem.

I identified that the process of installing the new gear required many steps and that one mistake would cause a significant problem.

With either choice the key was that I needed the local techs to be thinking clearly and working quickly. They were already doing this with the new install. If I stopped them and asked them to roll back I was concerned that they would not be thinking clearly and would not work quickly because they would be cursing me (or themselves).

 

I agree with Kerry that I should have made it clear to the local techs that their actions had been unacceptable. I did not want to do this before the show as discussed above. I did not want to do it after the show and ruin the buzz. I don't want to do it now because if it gets back to the school it will cause trouble (have you ever worked with a school?). If I run into the techs in the future I will bring it up. When I am working at similar venues in the future I will talk about it at bump in to make them aware. I am hoping that junior techs will read this and understand the issues.

 

If the local techs who caused this problem happen to read this topic, I appologise for not discussing it directly with you but I was very upset.

[paulears]

If the cast and director weren't worried then you shouldn't either. Indeed, throwing a wobbly could easily have backfired if you did not have the requisite number of pips on the shoulder. They should have left well alone but perhaps really thought they were helping?

 

I can remember a show run by keen but technically lacking people who had loads of grief in the first too shows. I knew what was the problem and before anyone came in I turned off the graphic somebody had set with a stupid ld hump that was across the entire pa , and turned up the ld on the track channel. I heard in the Tec somebody saying the track needed more bass and soon after all the radios were booming away. I never said anything and the kid doing sound got the credit!

[paulears]

If the cast and director weren't worried then you shouldn't either. Indeed, throwing a wobbly could easily have backfired if you did not have the requisite number of pips on the shoulder. They should have left well alone but perhaps really thought they were helping?

 

I can remember a show run by keen but technically lacking people who had loads of grief in the first too shows. I knew what was the problem and before anyone came in I turned off the graphic somebody had set with a stupid ld hump that was across the entire pa , and turned up the ld on the track channel. I heard in the Tec somebody saying the track needed more bass and soon after all the radios were booming away. I never said anything and the kid doing sound got the credit!

[Boggy]

If the cast and director weren't worried then you shouldn't either. Indeed, throwing a wobbly could easily have backfired if you did not have the requisite number of pips on the shoulder.

Sometimes, even if you are right, the best thing to do is to keep it quiet and get on with the job. My wife has a coffee mug from the Kobayashi Maru and it serves me well.

 

They should have left well alone but perhaps really thought they were helping?

I am very confident that the local crew were trying to help and were doing so with good intentions. Part of the reason I did not throw a wobbly is that the local crew had been so helpful during bump in, tech rehearsal and dress rehearsal. On several occasions they would make suggestions and then come up with the gear and do the work. As an example they might suggest that the orchestra would sound better with an extra mic. They would then find a suitable mic from their stock, mount it in the pit and then patch it in.