HI again James,   
      
   Sorry, bumped a button, ended up replying to part II before   
   part I.     
      
      
   You wrote:   
      
   > YEah I know, that's the other thing frustrates me, was   
    RW> drummers who didn't tune the kit properly, expect me to   
    RW> solve their problems with technology, such as noise gates   
    RW> on tom mics, etc.  OFten any signal processing I had   
    RW> available   
    RW> was needed elsewhere, i.e. the bass man who can't play with   
      
   JB> Revisiting my last issue: White-lithium grease kiddies! One dollop   
   JB> on each of your drum-pedals will make you squeak less, and just   
   JB> *might* improve your playing. Tommy Lee (NOT a fan, but an admirerer   
   JB> of his professionalism.) was quoted as spouting off about a certain   
   JB> model of Tama bass drum-pedal, and that he could hear the click of   
   JB> the metal banding used to connect the foot-pedal to the cam. The   
   JB> bass-player from Motley Cru [Umlaut omitted for lack of time/concern   
   JB> on the topic.] Nicky Six, [?] was waxing over that "That's just too   
   JB> much detail, Tommy!" on the topic, but it is FAR from a "mute"   
   JB> point! [Duplicitous meaning *purely* unintentional, but *I* found it   
   JB> funny! ;-] If a band of leather and one well placed rivet can   
   JB> improve your product and you DON'T do it, what does that communicate   
   JB> to the professionals that you are trying to impress? Sally in the   
   JB> front row will tolerate the clicks every time you "kick" the   
   JB> bass-drum, but there's idjiats like Tommy and me in the audience   
   JB> that will pass judgment on you as a musician for *dozens* of these   
   JB> issues.    
      
   Indeed this is true, and what I've always argued.  All those little things add   
   up to a lot.  I always thought GHost kick   
   drum pedals were well built, but the old sPeed king was   
   still my favorite.   
      
   JB> I explained to a local cutie, that a modern PA rig, or even a   
   JB> moderate recording studio begins to resemble a passenger jet   
   JB> cockpit. I don't think she could envision it, but some of these   
   JB> manuals *alone* require an engineering degree, and a masters in   
   JB> linguistics to reverse the logic used to to write such scuttle-butt.   
      
      
   YEp, often translated from Japanese or something to English   
   as well.   
      
   JB> Heck, even a JBL car amp with a built in active crossover has me   
   JB> frustrated at the moment! I've NEVER had a reason to suspect their   
   JB> specifications (Which I *just* found on the back side of the back   
   JB> cover page.) but the document was intended for the Thump-And-Bump   
   JB> crowd, and I expected at first view that a lot of stuff I find   
   JB> interesting would be glossed over. (The slope of the crossover   
   JB> band-passes. PS current dumping? ...) Regardless if it was   
      
      
   YEah I can relate.  I've never been into automotive sound   
   that much, but I've always heard that one should take the   
   specs they give on those things with a good dollop of salt.   
      
      
      
    RW> with the snapshot automation.  THat was a day from hell, two   
    RW> blind guys trying to figure out interfacing that thing with   
    RW> two Alesis adats for a session.  I was glad my buddy still   
   JB> I have to admit to the breadth of my ignorance regarding your   
   JB> "limitation". Pardon me, but isn't this *truly* the blind leading   
   JB> the blind?     
      
   YEp, we were sure having fun, finally we said to heck with   
   it, hooked up the studiomaster and went analog into the   
   decks, got rhythm tracks down.   
      
   JB> I hope to get more into it in the Hinton's echo, but I utilize a lot   
   JB> of brackets, abbreviations, and just stupid contractions that I   
   JB> think might appear "cute" to the sighted. I *was* wondering how this   
   JB> translates through your voice engine/Braille monitor?   
      
   OFten when just reading it doesn't give me the punctuation,   
   but when replying I"ve got the configuration for an editor   
   showing me such things, for obvious reasons.   
      
    RW>   YEah I can relate.  A buddy of mine who services   
    RW> broadcast transmitters is always telling stories about   
    RW> people wearing watches rings and the like and    
      
    JB> Welding classes are down the hall? Cripes... Imagine how many ways   
    JB> "talent"  finds to ruin a modulator's gain structure? [...]   
    JB> neighborhood a "free show". What a  "clipping mess" that product   
    JB> sounded like!   
      
    RW>   sOme people shouldn't be allowed near such   
      
   JB> Ya, and there's a reason they make those little adjustment   
   JB> screwdrivers out of plastic *besides* the potential that you could   
   JB> spot weld it to the mother-board.    
      
   Some folks are just too dangerous to themselves and others   
   to be let out without a keeper  things.  A friend of mine in upstate NY was arguing for a   
    RW> poster in an internet forum to acquire a large format   
    RW> Yamaha digital for a church monitor console because setting   
    RW> could   
    RW> be passworded.  I argued for good old analog, because the   
    RW> "praise team" didn't have sound techs even for front of   
    RW> house, talent adjusted it themselves.   
      
   JB> Hm... I *think* I'm on the fence on this one. Give the pastor an   
   JB> index card containing the instruction to return the board to unity   
   JB> gain and flat eq, then hire a tech for a day to balance it up for   
   JB> the snapshot??? Let the "talent" tweak away, and when the mess gets   
   JB> too smelly... No, I think a simple automated board would be my   
   JB> preference. If the pastor is astute, he could be left with a second   
   JB> index card on how to store and recall a snapshot for when Dwain   
   JB> comes in with his bass guitar. Maybe it depends on the   
   JB> pastor/volunteer tech, and their ability to learn?  Maybe a high   
   JB> resolution snap-shot of a balanced analog board could supplant the   
   JB> automation?    
      
   YEp, or, you lock up the limiters, the eq and all that in a   
   closet, and give them familiar controls, nobody but your   
   visiting tech who comes by once in awhile tinkers with the   
   stuff in the closet, or the locked rack.   
      
    RW> have those parametric eqs on all the groups and that, along   
    RW> with compression gates and the like, but folks who are   
    RW> boiling hard just to remember to count down to the fourth   
    RW> knob on the keyboard channel if you need more keyboard in   
    RW> your in-ear monitors and turn that one up are going to even   
    RW> have a tougher time selecting things in the menu structure   
    RW> from hell.  Then, since they use in-ears, if some bonehead   
    RW> happens to defeat the limiters that protect his eardrums   
    RW> and deafens himself then he sues the church.  THere are   
    RW> reasons   
    RW> we professionals advocate that anybody monitoring through   
    RW> those earbuds or headphones should strap a brick wall   
    RW> limiter across them.   
      
   JB> For the love of the Lord... YES! A friend told me those in-ear   
   JB> dohickys had a built in limiter/compressor. Not so?   
      
   THey do have, of sorts, and they'll work, but often they're   
   on the transmitter, and can be defeated.  Even then, a good   
   limiter such as an Aphex dominator you know will do its job. Sharp transient   
   spikes can do some awful things to you.   
      
    RW> All you need is somebody defeating that because they suffer   
    RW> from the principle of mild, as in "make it loud dammit"   
      
      
   JB> I now have a new acronym I can "take to the bank".  Yes, I know   
   JB> all to well what you mean, though. Blue Oyster Cult, I saw   
   JB> attempting to destroy a FOH system by trying to "MILD" it.    
      
   DIg it!  That "mild" isn't original with me, a guy I know,   
   Fletcher at Mercenary Audio in Boston, Ma. coined that one.   
      
    RW> up professional dressed, actual shoes on feet, ready to   
    RW> work.   
      
   JB> "Actual shoes *on* feet..." That's *so* funny in so *many* ways!    
      
   YOu wouldn't believe the guys I've seen show up for a load   
   in and set up with sandals or flip flops.  WHen somebody   
   works for us doing a remote if they're working overhead   
   flying stuff I tell him or her that you *will* get a hard   
   hat from the truck, and it will be on your head.   
      
   JB> My mind is repeatedly returning to a PTSD incident were the pick up   
   JB> "lighting tech" couldn't undo the knot on the auditoriums' truss   
   JB> during a tear-down. This *special* guy found the quick fix to be to   
   JB> pull out his Buck knife and let gravity do his work for him,   
   JB> dropping the truss and ALL the pars to the stage four-feet from a   
   JB> BRAND NEW Gretch snare I had just crated, and closer to my head. I   
   JB> think that was my turning point if I was going to waste any more   
   JB> time with *that* band of thieves. Cripes, if I need steel toed boots   
   JB> AND a hardhat to play rock and roll, I needed to find a new   
   JB> profession!   
      
     I've seen that before, watched a guy drop a wrench   
   which barely missed me on the deck one night, same sort of   
   situation.  That's why if they're flying stuff overhead I   
   insist folks working for us wear that hard hat.   
   I watched another guy drop a weight from a line one night   
   and do some pretty good damage to a piano.  HE was tied off   
   up there luckily, but the arbor for the weight was too long   
   a reach, and he dropped it.  IF he hadn't been tied off not   
   just would the piano have been damaged, but he might not   
   have survived the night.   
      
    RW> everything that goes down in documentation is written by the newbie,   
    RW> even if he doesn't understand it.  tHen we go over   
    RW> his session log after the day's work is done, and we   
    RW> explain why he was told to make note of that.  This means making   
    RW> notes of the position of every knob button and fader on the   
    RW> console, what's patched where on the patch panels, etc.   
      
   JB> That's an interesting point the layman can't seem to grasp. Your   
   JB> workday doesn't end when the tape is stowed. Heck, I'll bet most   
   JB> would think the tape says on the deck! To power up, AND to shut down   
   JB> is a sequence in itself. A neighbour *just* expressed, "I'll learn   
   JB> to play the guitar in three months, and get the quantity/quality of   
   JB> chicks you used to." (It's the same *arse* that I can't teach how to   
   JB> wrap a cord, but he's crass like me and a LOT of fun to poke with a   
   JB> stick. ;-) I didn't bother to get into callous management, or how us   
   JB> musicians are #2 in line for carpal tunnel and repetitive stress   
   JB> fractures, but I tried to explain the time commitment before you   
   JB> step foot on your first showcase gig, even IF you're an art-school   
   JB> punk band with better haircuts than equipment. Cripes, if he saw the   
   JB> price of *one* good guitar cable alone, I bet he'd learn how to care   
   JB> for the friggin' thing.    
      
   I"ve seen plenty of them.  Back in the day often you had   
   better recalibrate the machine before you started work that   
   day too.  I"ve been in this business decades, and I still   
   learn something new every job it seems.   
      
   Regards,   
              Richard   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:116/901)