The Sound Couple - Hurry Up and Wait!
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- Опубліковано 21 бер 2023
- The Sound Couple is back for a last minute church gig....This day had a much different vibe as it took on a much more loose feeling, but the Sound Couple was at the ready to execute, but other activities, including the food, took priority over sound checks and other show prep as the Sound Couple stood by.
That's the way some gigs go and we needed to recognize and adjust, including sound checking during the performance.
The Sound Couple primarily use PreSonus gear featuring:
PreSonus UC Surface
PreSonus CDL12
PreSonus CDL18s
PreSonus 32R
PreSonus SW5E
PreSonus NSB Stageboxes
PreSonus AVB-D16
Please see our "About" for a more comprehensive list of gear we use.
The highlight for me was watching the two of you discuss the left handed drummer issue! For what it's worth I once read about Phil Collins drum tech who, on his first day, set up Phil's drums as if he was right-handed. And that was a big kit! He survived.
Thanks Greg! It's hard to sit there and stare at things that you know need to get done. Thanks for sharing!
@@thesoundcouple I'm sure that makes you crazy. But the "what if he's left handed but plays right handed?" question makes it even more nuts. The good news, as you know, is that the kick and throne are always in the same spot regardless! So you have that going for you. Which is nice...
@@gregmcveigh9966 Im left handed and play both the drums and guitar right handed. I remember sitting down at a left handed kit and was totally confused
My kinda band.. no bullshit kick straight in, No messing. How they all should be eh..? Makes for an easy life as a sound engineer but that's not how it goes lol Great vid guys. Love from the UK :)
Thanks Chris!
in that scenario use the first song to throw together a quick balance focus on the vocals being clear and rough balance the rest of the band and make your way to the side of the stage as the frst song ends so you can comunicate directly with the band members off the mics between songs. make the adjustments without the audience hearing the conversation. repeat this at the end of each song till they are happy 🤘
I was thinking maybe first letting the sound guy know you are starting? Thanks for the tips!
@@thesoundcouple Been there lol. Never fun. To the uneducated, it may look like you don't know your craft when they hear stuff being said by the players. Could possibly cost you a repeat gig too if the promoter thinks you had a hard time. The players in this video all look seasoned enough to know you do a soundcheck. Maybe they didn't care because almost nobody was there? Or they thought it was gonna rain lol? Hope it's a long time before that happens again lol. Cheers
@@66fitton Excellent insights...all points spot on!
@27:23 its drives me nuts how inconciderate people can be when they do things like this. Like what if I put my drink on their pedal board, guitar, snare, keyboard etc.
That said, I love your videos. I know this is an older video, but Im binge watch the vlog. Love watching were you are now and the past gigs and what you've leaned from them and also getting pointers from you. I do sound for my sons band so i started down this path.
You are correct as there is technically no difference, but for some reason, our instrument does not receive the same consideration a guitar does. It may be an opportunity to educate! Appreciate you taking the time to go through some of the older videos...lots of good stuff (we hope)!
Came back a little later and watched the end of this one again; I wanted to have a bit of a think on this in regards to monitors and changes being broadcast... I have it happen often, and I'm really not a fan. I find the better and more professional bands will use hand signals to make their requests; as seasoned sound engineers, we know what the signals mean, whereas most in attendance wouldn't...which of course emphasises the need to keep an eye on the stage as much if not more than the console.
I do a lot of multi-band gigs, and more often than not the next band doesn't show up until an hour before they get on stage. By the time we do a changeover, a line check is often all we have time for; so we're sorting monitors and FOH on the fly during the first song... It just adds pressure I'd far prefer not to have, and it unsettles the musicians. I'd far prefer to have all the bands do a proper sound check before we open the event, but I can count the times that's happened on one hand....
We are getting more used to the fact that a sound check is the first song. Your comments made us think back to the time that the no sound checks was a shocking reality. Hopefully, we are demonstrating some strategies to help you compensate for the changing reality.
every show, every events or every gigs set up is very well done and always sounds great, nice gear and good mix always.. for me always 👋👌👍🔥...
Thank you! We just do the best we can.
Loving the frequent uploads, Thanks
We do what we can....trying to catch up before we get busy again!
The conclusion was Carlos Santana riff and the lady shout....hyyyyy was awesome.❤😂
Us too...one step closer to getting home!
I'd have left the drums; last time I set up the drums, I encountered my first left-handed drummer! I took it as a bad Omen and opted to leave drums be in future! :D He set the kit up backwards...apparently not all "leftys" do, but this guy did.
We tend to get build more anxiety when there are things you know need to get done that impacts you, but the responsible parties are not present to take care of it.
@@thesoundcouple Completely agree with you there. All par for the course with what we do.
Bart , What matters is YOU GOT PAID , The Band had lots of fun . The people there also enjoyed the show and you will be asked back . Remember you are dealing with a Church and unless you get on Church time you will never get it . That means if you want it to start the show at 11:00 AM Tell everyone it starts at 10:30 AM ... That is called Church Standard time .
Having not consistently done church gigs up until a few years ago, “Church time” makes sense! Thanks for clarifying!
17:42. I would be puzzled with what to do as well! Haha. Nice of you guys to end up helping with setting it up.
Stacy and I were just talking about this... we assumed that the musicians were working the service inside and would be scrambling. It just dawned on us that they were showing up when they were told too, so yeah, this was weird.
mix was great..... 👍
Thanks!
My wife watches your videos with me. She wanted to know what Stacy was working on while you were waiting (around the 15:30 mark), using a punch on some colored paper??
Thanks for all the videos. We both really enjoy them and appreciate your hard work ethic. Every line check though I want to run up and hand you my Sound Bullet so you can experience how awesome it is! Keep up the great work!
Thanks for watching you two and noticing how I use all the hurry up and wait time. I was binding a notepad for a friend- using my handmade marbled paper- one of my other side fills when we’re not doing gigs!
I tried getting Bart to bite on the Sound Bullet, but evidently he already had a tool that did the signal tone part that he never thought to use until we got comments from all of you! Look for it in upcoming videos!
👍🏻✅
I’m sorry if I missed but when will you do a video of what and how everything is connected in that box? I think you said back in a video about doing a video on it in winter. I just want to see how your appliances are organized and connected in the box. Thanks.
Yes, we have been thinking about this and may do an update video since we have recently made some changes that may be of interest to you.
I Understand where your coming from working at a venue, myself I find 60 percent of the time, soundcheck is perfectly fine to make adjustments. they what Typically happens they call out during 1 or 2 songs when they start if they need minor changes then we are good for the night. However a throw and go like this situation i call them, changes will happen and those are your best friend. Sure its not the best thing.. However I also believe your used to wedding bands or bands with IEM that changes are done quietly.... Thats just my thinking...
We have been thinking more about this gig and seeing a lot more wrong with it...it happens but we have some things to address for next time.
Bart, I too like it best when we can get a proper sound check before the show. I don’t get that luxury often enuff! I try to keep a good and professional attitude anyway, but there are times, no so easy.
While I’m on a rant of sorts, didn’t it also drive you crazy that a couple members of the band used your upright stage monitor as a coffee table, lol. Flat surfaces above floors are target rich environments 😂.
You guyz are great, love to watch your videos. I a BIG fan.
Our gear is our instrument....could you imagine if we treated guitars like some people treat our equipment? Maybe there is some video humor there! Hmmmmm. Thanks for you continued support!
I agree with that one - I cringed when the drink went on the monitor. Amateur night. Don't eat on stage.
I have wondered how much you charge for your setups. Like this one this is a really simple one compared to your other videos. How much is the going rate for something like this?
Our rates are typcially offers from the client for us to do the show. We do have minimums, but we don't set a rate. We consider the offer and negotiate if needed. Typically, we get it right, but sometimes we win and sometimes we lose (more work than estimated).
00:17:42 If the drumkit is property of the church i would assembly the kit for them. If it's from a drummer of a band i would only help if they ask me to. 🙂 LoL Lot's of sound guy's where drummers back in there time 🙂
Agreed...I think it was ok. We were really flying blind on this one which typically is not the case for these gigs.
Hi I'm Warwick from PAPUA NEW GUINEA , I'm interested in your work...Can I Apply to work with you both...
Hi Warwick - you can tag along with us on all our videos! That is our goal!
Usually as a musician just using hand language works fine and won't really disturb the actual performance. A seasoned musician knows what he/she needs in the monitor and can quckly explain the balance before the show and then make minor adjustment by hand language. But it takes an active and engaged sound engineer as well. I've been to gigs where using the microphone was the only way due to the engineer caring about everything but what was actually going on on stage.
A side question, do you feel that two 18" subs is enough for that kind of outdoor gig?
I think you summed it well...In a pro to pro relationship, it should be able to be done discreetly.
What tablet you’re using for the mixer
On this day, we were using a Microsoft Surface Pro. Typically, we use and iPad Pro, but either get's the job done.
Hey love you guys channel a couple questions….what monitors do you use? Also I’m sure many people have asked you this but why did you choose the Presonus mixer verse the Behringer rack?
PreSonus was our first digital mixer and we never we went back! It's been a journey, but for our current rack mixer, the footprint of the 32R is unrivaled. For monitors, we use the PreSonus 328ai's which are discontinued but we love them!
@@thesoundcouple ok thanks 🙏🏾 ,what’s equivalent to the 328ai’s that Presonus makes?
@@ryandavis317 I am really not sure....we haven't looked for any lately.
Moving equipment, the keyword is OHIO. Only Handle It Once.
Though obviously if you’re using carts, that’s not realistic, but definitely just take each piece to where it will be used and leave it there.
Unfortunately, doing festival sound, then there can be different requirements for each act … but things like mains, subs, desk, snakes and stage boxes can be “nailed down” and then it’s just mike stands, microphones and plugging in to DI (plus any video projection).
Love the acronym… thanks for sharing!
One additional comment, the saying "It's an easy gig, small room". That is not necessarily true as we find these "easy small rooms" you end up moving the gear around even more because you don't have the room to put things in their place the first time!
Ugh it annoyed me that the bass player used the monitor as a drinks stand, he looked like he didn’t want to be there anyway! Top job guys
We appreciate you pointing this out...it didn't even register with us that day, but yes, good thing we didn't catch it.
The ending monolog was well said about too much minor issues sound dialog from stage to the sound tech during the performance. Always feels odd.
Thanks for your confirmation....Trying to be diplomatic about it, but it hasn't happened to me in years. Most adjustments we do are discreet through hand jesters or preferably addressed at sound check.
I shouted out NO!!! when the bass player decided to use the monitor as a table
We didn't notice! I think we were in auto pilot mode that day. As we mentioned in others comments...there are "educational" video possibilities here.
What decibel was this
I am not too sure...if I had to guess, I am thinking around 95-98dB.
Requests through a PA during a live Is the worts. IMO it is just so unprofessional. I usually try to avoid it by walking to the stage and to get a eye contact with everyone just to make sure they are fine, but usually even then some people at that point are way too busy to give you a hint and they still announce their wishes through the mains while having a tone of being annoyed. There just are that kind of people.
Yes, thanks for saying what I was thinking. There are relevant analogies that would have negative connotations to the musicians and would not be acceptable...well, I feel the same way about the production side as well...it doesn't make us look good.
24:35 Spain - Chick Corea
Nice!
hi bart & stacey just watched this and about 30 mins in notice that the band have placed drinks on the speaker/monitor how do you feel about this for me its a big no no.
We didn't notice it that day, but we certainly don't appreciate it. One other person commented as well and perhaps there is a funny video lurking to the tune of ....if we treated your instrument like you are treating our PA
Maybe it’s time to build some slide offs like you have for the subs?
Snafu for a osb covered stage lol.
The materials were donated, so I guess you take what you can get! It is covered with tarps and it was clear coated, but the elements will ultimately win on this one.
I don't touch anyones gear, that's usually when someone blames you for anything wrong. JMO
That is a good point....in years past when the first priority for the musicians after the gig was to smoke and drink beer and they would just leave their stuff on stage. I would have to yell out a countdown when I am not taking any responsibility for what happens to their stuff on stage so we could get the hell out. Man I don't miss those days in that respect....
@@thesoundcouple still have nights like that, especially with younger bands.
@@mobiletoonz Sorry to hear that...
nothing like pulling bits of hamburger out of the mics windscreen .
Yeah...the comments on this have been really interesting on this video. Maybe it was our state of mind on this day, but thinking back to it, we weren't as annoyed as most of you are about it...in fact, we missed some of the things going on!
If im playing a gig and band members start broadcasting their monitor requests through the PA to a good sound person i feel SO EMBARRASSED
Yes...we fully understand why.
hi
Welcome!
When the band is asking you OUT FRONT over the MAINS for anything it is a sign of amature-ville...... There aare MUCH better ways than drawing attention to problems.......
I am hoping that this isn't a reflection of experience with other sound providers as the only effective way. We occasionally will miss some queues, but it amazes me how many times we are able to sense there is a need.
Why do you have chrome mic stands most Stans are black these days
That's a great question and one I never thought of! These stands are built well and we take reasonable care of them. I guess we haven't felt a need to replace them as long as they are still working.
Pretty disrespectful to put drinks and food on your stuff. I’d be pissed off.
Others have said that too....to be honest, it didn't even register with us that day, but yes, we typically keep a better eye on that.