My first dirty look from a sound crew

bishop5150

bishop5150

Fractal Fanatic
So I got my first dirty look from a sound crew at our last show. Not for going direct but for having to run extra XLR's to the front of the stage for my AX8. I tried to be polite as possible about inconveniencing them for having to run extra XLR's to the front of the stage. Last thing I want to do is piss off the crew. So that being said I took actions to prevent this from happening again. Thanks to the recommendation of @barhrecords (thanks for your help bro) I picked up the Radial JDI Duplex Stereo Direct Box. I keep my XiTone 1x12's setup as backline behind me so I will velcro the Radial to one of them so I will be stage crew friendly and have my XLR connections where they are used to having them. Bonus is the XLR inputs on the Radial are pre padded and will drop the line level signal down to mic level making me even more soundman friendly! Here are some pics of the unit and a link to more info on it if anyone else is interested. Only downside is that it is not cheap.
http://www.radialeng.com/jdiduplex.php
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Radial boxes of any kind ain't cheap.
BTW , you are a real pain.
(At least that's what I heard from a sound crew that was out drinking in a bar near where you were playing)

Nice effort on your part , but sad if they really gave you "the look". If they do it , they should enjoy it , and that's just part of it. Cool box though.
 
bishop5150 said:
So I got my first dirty look from a sound crew at our last show. Not for going direct but for having to run extra XLR's to the front of the stage for my AX8. I tried to be polite as possible about inconveniencing them for having to run extra XLR's to the front of the stage. Last thing I want to do is piss off the crew. So that being said I took actions to prevent this from happening again. Thanks to the recommendation of @barhrecords (thanks for your help bro) I picked up the Radial JDI Duplex Stereo Direct Box. I keep my XiTone 1x12's setup as backline behind me so I will velcro the Radial to one of them so I will be stage crew friendly and have my XLR connections where they are used to having them. Bonus is the XLR inputs on the Radial are pre padded and will drop the line level signal down to mic level making me even more soundman friendly! Here are some pics of the unit and a link to more info on it if anyone else is interested. Only downside is that it is not cheap.
http://www.radialeng.com/jdiduplex.php
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I just bring my own mic cables and have them run to the backline. Cheaper than that box you have. No pad though.
 
I feel your pain. As long as you have an updated stage plot with all connections needed there shouldn't be a problem. I deal with this many times!! Get them a stage plot ahead of time and they will deal with it. Spring something on them at the last minute and you'd swear the world is about to end!! Most Professionals will accommodate you with what ever you need . .but there is always this guy . . .

 
Hey, really appreciate the heads up. I have some fly dates coming up and we are revising the stage plot for new gear requirements at this very moment. I'll be sure to include the "extra" XLR's at the front of the stage. Both guitars will be AX8, so this is a GREAT tip and important item to include.
Gonna pack a couple extra XLR's anyway, just in case of Grumpy, LMAO!!!
 
Glenn DeLaune said:
I feel your pain. As long as you have an updated stage plot with all connections needed there shouldn't be a problem. I deal with this many times!! Get them a stage plot ahead of time and they will deal with it. Spring something on them at the last minute and you'd swear the world is about to end!! Most Professionals will accommodate you with what ever you need . .but there is always this guy . . .

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That's the thing... I did! I was emailed by the booking agent requesting one and supplied him with it. Whether the soundcrew actually got it I don't know. In the special instructions section of our stage plot I have written in that "guitarist runs direct to FOH with a Fractal AX8 floorboard and requires 2 XLR cables up front by stage left monitor." Don't know how much more clear I can be with that. Is what it is. Won't be an issue going forward with the Radial. That video is hilarious!
 
GtarLover said:
Hey, really appreciate the heads up. I have some fly dates coming up and we are revising the stage plot for new gear requirements at this very moment. I'll be sure to include the "extra" XLR's at the front of the stage. Both guitars will be AX8, so this is a GREAT tip and important item to include.
Gonna pack a couple extra XLR's anyway, just in case of Grumpy, LMAO!!!
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Ya, bring them anyways. I supplied the booking agent with our stage plot when it was requested but no idea whether the soundcrew got it out not. I would need at least 50' XLR's to go from the AX8 to the snake. I have my own cable snake that goes from my AX8 to my back line so adding 2 25' XLR's to it to connect to the Radial is no problem. The soundcrew can then connect their existing mic cable runs right to the Radial which will give them a mic level signal as well.
 
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Im struggling to understand how any competent sound guy could find a problem with line levels! Have things really changed so much that singers no longer need to sing and sound guys can't plug shit in?
Thanks
Pauly
 
+1 on my own mic cables.. I have an ax2 and I still run my own cables to the snake. I've had guys try to mic my k12 before, so I just hand them my cables, and say this is my guitar. We do our own splitter snake so I usually just plug in myself, the other end of the snake is all labeled.
 
pauly said:
Im struggling to understand how any competent sound guy could find a problem with line levels! Have things really changed so much that singers no longer need to sing and sound guys can't plug shit in?
Thanks
Pauly
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Agreed. In my year plus now of going direct with Fractal I've only run into one or two guys that seemed confused. One guy wanted to mic my XiTone wedge. No!!!!! LOL!
 
dpeterson said:
+1 on my own mic cables.. I have an ax2 and I still run my own cables to the snake. I've had guys try to mic my k12 before, so I just hand them my cables, and say this is my guitar. We do our own splitter snake so I usually just plug in myself, the other end of the snake is all labeled.
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I've run into some union situations where we aren't allowed to touch anything except our gear. Have to use their mic cables and everything. Moral of the story ya just never know what you're walking into at a gig so be prepared for anything and everything.
 
bishop5150 said:
I've run into some union situations where we aren't allowed to touch anything except our gear. Have to use their mic cables and everything. Moral of the story ya just never know what you're walking into at a gig so be prepared for anything and everything.
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Have yet to hit that, but we bring our ear rack and snake, so it's ours, I just hand him the pigtail and tell him to put his lines in our snake.

I have a little bag with every kind of adapter, connector, gender changer, xlr splitter, etc. Cant tell you how many time's I've dipped into that. I keep putting it off, but I want to make a disaster kit, tarps, rope, tape, big ziplok bags for those times when mother nature likes to step in.
 
I make sure to bring a couple of extra XLR's just in case. Unfortunately most of the places I play aren't big enough to ask for a stage plot, so it's more like whether there's an extra XLR up front for a vocal mic that isn't being used. If not, I just run my XLR to the back and connect w/ theirs.

Last place I played was a local TV station, and they did have an XLR for me. The guy even was familiar w/ the AFX, so that was all good. The problem was when he came out from the control room and said "your signal is pretty hot" - but didn't know how to turn down the pad/input. And I was surprised, because I always run my levels well below 0.
 
dpeterson said:
Have yet to hit that, but we bring our ear rack and snake, so it's ours, I just hand him the pigtail and tell him to put his lines in our snake.

I have a little bag with every kind of adapter, connector, gender changer, xlr splitter, etc. Cant tell you how many time's I've dipped into that. I keep putting it off, but I want to make a disaster kit, tarps, rope, tape, big ziplok bags for those times when mother nature likes to step in.
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I like the way you think bro!
 
dpeterson said:
we bring our ear rack and snake, so it's ours, I just hand him the pigtail and tell him to put his lines in our snake.
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This is our plan going forward. We recently picked up a Behringer X32 rack mixer and will run that with our in-ears and hand over a split snake to the venue guys. Even for fly-in's, we're gonna start bringing the rack and running things that way.
Literally to minimize the "unknown" factor.

Of course you never know what you will walk into, however "chance favors the prepared."
Definitely need to put together the emergency kit as well...always have had my tupperware box of "spares" out in the minivan. Can't say I've needed everything, but have needed something MANY times.
 
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